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I love saint medals! I kind of have a collection.  Funny thing is, I always wear the same medal around my neck -24-7. My mother gave it to me when I was about 8 and I’ve worn it since.  The rest of my medals are in a box packed away. But I decided it’s time to make use of some of them, and I thought I’d share a few of my ideas with all of you. Perhaps something will inspire you. 1. Use Medals as Zipper Pulls They could be used on purses, coats or jacket zippers. 2. Ceiling Fan Pulls A few months ago one of our ceiling fan pulls was accidentally hit. It swing up and hit the light fixture breaking the glass. So I removed all the heavy pulls that came with the fans and replaced them with light-weight saint medals. -No more broken light fixtures!!  3. Curtain Tie backs Use them to decorate your curtain tie backs. 4. Decorate Candles I found this idea on Pinterest.  -from DustyLu And this is from Tiffany at Family at the Foot of the Cross 5. Use them to decorate gifts and cards 6. Decorate Baskets 7. Hang them on your key chain 8. Hang them on the ring that keeps your kids flash cards together 9. Hang them on spiral ring notebooks 10. Use them to create a bookmark (with two medals and a ribbon) These are all great ways to have a constant reminder of God and the way we should live. The images of the saints can speak of their story even when we are just doing our daily duties. Do you have another idea on other ways to use and decorate with saint medals?  Feel free to share your idea in the comment area. God Bless. ~Jen-Marie

Just wanted to share a cute Advent idea! This year we decided to decorate our tree for the Advent Season! Our tree is decked out all in purple: purple balls, purple bows, and purple tinsel! I also made large purple letters to hang on the tree. The letters spell “PREPARE”. (I know they kind of look white in the picture, but they are purple.) Why Purple? Well, purple is the color of sacrifice and preparation.  And that is what Advent is all about – preparing yourself for the coming of Christ! One great way to prepare yourself is through sacrifice! Maybe doing extra things to help others or giving up a favorite food! So yes, Advent is really about prayer and sacrifice, not celebration! We as Catholics are meant to start celebrating the coming of Christ on Christmas, not before. I know that’s hard, we struggle, too! But it’s a challenge I feel is important to help us build a stronger relationship with God. Since the Christmas season doesn’t actually start till Christmas, I thought this Advent Tree idea was a perfect idea for our family. I first learned about this Advent tree idea at Tracy’s blog “ A Slice of Smith Life “, hop over and visit Tracy. She has a great blog! The kids love our Advent tree! I even bought pink ornaments to add to the tree for the third week of Advent. We plan to redecorate our tree Christmas Eve, and cover it with our typical silver and gold star-shaped ornaments! But for now we wait and prepare for the coming of Christ! Click here to read more about our Manger. Hope you are all having a blessed Advent! ~Jen-Marie

I’m most likely getting this out too late for most of you to use it, but I thought I’d post it anyway. This is a coloring activity for Advent. My oldest daughter, Rachel, drew the coloring pages with the Advent Wreath, the manger, and Baby Jesus. She had hoped I’d share them with all of you. For this coloring page activity, the kids can color the Advent wreath, candles, manager, flames, and Jesus. Then they can glue one flame to a candle each week. On Christmas day they can add Jesus to the manger! I’d like to thank my second oldest daughter, Rebekah, for coloring the Advent wreath and Jesus images.  She did a great job, as always!! 😉 We accompanied Rachel’s coloring activity with our family’s Advent Prayer Chain.  The Advent Prayer Chain doubles as a countdown to Christmas! If you want to make one, too, you can access our free download below. Print it onto colored paper (I used red and green). I cut construction paper down to a regular size sheet of paper and placed it into my printer. Worked great! Then cut on the dotted line to make the strips, which you will need to create the chain.  We used a stapler to attach the ends together as we made our chain. We turned the prayer intentions to the inside.  Each night as we are saying our evening prayers we remove a chain link and say an extra prayer for the special intention listed on that chain link. Download the printable prayer chain here: Since Advent is so short this year, there are more chain links on the printables that you will need. So just pick the prayer intentions you like best and use those to make your chain. Hope you have a blessed Advent! ~JenMarie

The feast day of Christ the King always falls on the last Sunday of ordinary time, before Advent begins. On this day we celebrate Jesus as Creator, Savior, Head of the Church, and Ruler over all the Nations! This truly makes Jesus King of the Kings! Although His throne does not sit upon the Earth, He will remain King over the world for all time. Praise be to Christ the King! I created this simple art project for my kids to make for this wonderful feast day, and I thought I’d share it with all of you: You will need: Jesus is King printable (Download below) green and white crayons Pencil or a black crayon 6 to 7-inch lid to trace a circle blue paper black paper scissors glue stick glitter/glitter glue, sequins, and/or gems (all are optional) Print out this free printable: Trace or draw a 6 to 7-inch circle on the blue paper using a pencil or black crayon. Use the green crayon to add some green to the circle to make it look like the earth. Don’t be too picky about this since most of it gets covered by Jesus. Cut out the images and “Jesus is King of the whole world!” words from the printable sheet. Glue down the earth, the Jesus image, and saying as shown above. The children can “crown” Jesus now if you wish or say a prayer and have them all “crown” Him all at the same time. Use the white crayon to add dots for stars on the black area around the Earth and the letters. It will look similar to this one above. Stop there or you can take it a step further: Have the kids decorate the crown with glitter/glitter glue, sequins, or gems. Jesus Christ is King! And may God bless you all! ~Jen-Marie

Okay, this was not what I planned to do today! But with a little help from my 8 year old, it kept the little kids happy while I worked with the bigger kids and finished up some school! I saw Tiffany’s post over at Family at the Foot of the Cross this morning and I showed it to, Elizabeth, (my 8 year old) she was sooo excited and jumped right on it!! So with my 8 year old in charge of craft time with the little kids, I hopped into a school day. She handled the little kids okay…I had to step in a few times to help, but the tilmas turned out great!! Feel Free to use this download if you need a coloring page with Our Lady: Check out the directions to make this at: Domestic-Church.com Hope you are all having a great day! God Bless. ~JenMarie

Wisemen Adventures ~ Days 17 to 19 This is our Elf on the Shelf Alternative: If you missed the first few post click here to learn the whole story! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 17 Meeting new friends is always good, but these friends are a bit odd! Particularly the hairy one! I’m not sure they can understand a word he’s saying! Balthazar and Melchior are asking for directions. They had hoped that these strange strangers will have an idea of where the Infant King is hiding.  Sorry no luck, let’s see if Caspar fared any better…. Caspar has engaged in a friendly light-saber battle and he’s winning against two Jedi!!WOW! Way to go, Caspar! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 18 Balthazar and Melchior are checking out the pencil basket in our school room! That Balthazar is a spry older fellow! Look at him scale that basket! But, where is Caspar? Oh no, Caspar! It’s not a pool and that ruler is not a high dive! Don’t jump! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 19 Today we found them in the DVD cabinet looking through the movies! Balthazar and Melchior are looking for a clue as to where to find baby Jesus. They think they may have found something that could help. Caspar became distracted by Zoe in her tutu! He made himself a tutu from a hair-tie and a cut-up tissue! He really does like tissues! He is one crafty fellow! 😉 They don’t have much time left to find baby Jesus! Let see what happens tomorrow! Blessings till then! ~Jen-Marie

The search continues… Searching for Jesus ~ Day 11 Today we found the wisemen searching through the knick-knacks above my kitchen cabinets. This one was hard for the kids to find since the kings blended in with the stuff so well! That made it interesting! Balthazar and Melchior have teamed up to look inside of the tin cans. But Caspar has his eye on that fun little antique car!  Good thing we hid the keys, or he might have taken it for a spin! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 12 While looking for baby Jesus in our mini pool table, Caspar was still having a grand time! Balthazar and Melchior are likely to get hit with a ball as Caspar makes a shot! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 13 Ah yes, the junk drawer! We all seem to have one! It’s the drawer that holds all the little broken things that need fixed and other stray items that need a home.  Balthazar and Melchior are digging through ours looking to find the infant King. Caspar seems distracted by the idea of finding a new staff No luck again, maybe tomorrow will be better! Until then, ~JenMarie

Five years ago, my husband and I bought the house of our dreams or is it the house of our nightmares?!?!? We have had to fix or replace almost everything in or on the house – roof, floors, siding, plumbing, electrical, etc…  Everything has just been going bad – sometimes even after we have already fixed them!! During this past 5 year we have felt like the devil has been on our back. Everything we did just seemed to be met with difficulty. My father, who is a excellent carpenter and electrician, has been helping us on recent projects (since his retirement) and commented that he has never seen such simple projects turn into such horrible, time consuming problems. So after 5 years of dealing with these crazy construction catastrophes we decided it is time to fight back! We have had the house blessed after we moved in, but we wanted to do a little more than that.  So we decided to dedicate our home to St. Michael – and St. Michael’s feast day just seemed too appropriate! I found these prayers to purify & protect a home on this website:   HERE These prayers were originally published by order of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. They are wonderful prayers!  I printed them out so our kids (the ones who can read) could follow along as we prayed them.  My husband and I wanted to have a small memorial of our dedication. So we made a ”sign” to place in the ground in our front flower garden. We used a wooden cross stake and a laminated picture of St. Michael to create this sign. Jon (my husband) used a staple gun and hammer to attach the picture to the cross.  We chose a cross because of Jesus’ cross and also because to looks a bit like St. Michael’s sword, but you could use a simple straight stake or stick.  We only stuck the nails through the clear laminate sheet so the rain wouldn’t destroy the picture: So after attaching the picture to the stake, we read the prayers (as directed) and than all 9 of our kids and Jon and I took turns hammering the stake into the ground.  With St. Michael’s protection, we pray that we may have a better year. May our home be filled with God’s Grace and may our hearts be filled with God’s love. St. Michael, Protect us! ~JenMarie

Happy feast day of Bl. Mother Teresa! (September 5) I made a copywork sheet for my kids which includes a very nice quote of hers. “If you ever feel distressed during your day, call upon our Lady. Just say this simple prayer: ‘Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.’ I must admit this prayer has never failed me.” — Blessed Mother Teresa I just loved this quote it’s such a real reminder that even saints had bad days and had to ask for help. So many times in my days I forget to ask God or Our Lady for assistance. Oh, how I need to remember!! Download this copywork page here: Anyway, here is a picture of the copywork sheet I made (download above): Mother Teresa, pray for us. ~Jen-Marie

This FREE DOWNLOAD is a copywork page with a quote about Our Lady’s Holy Name, Mary. This download contains three versions for: Beginning Writer Middle Writer Experienced Writer Choose the one that works best for your student! At the top of each page is an area for the kids to draw and decorate the Holy Name of “MARY”. The page reads: “Men do not fear a powerful hostile army as the powers of hell fear the name and protection of Mary.” -Saint Bonaventure It’s a perfect quote! See how it speaks of the power of Our Lady’s name! So this is a great copy-sheet for the feast of The Holy Name of Mary. (Sept. 12)Download these pages below! It’s Free! Download the Copywork Pages Here: So don’t forget to call Mary by her holy name whenever you need help! God Bless! ~JenMarie

A few weeks ago, I posted about an ”Our Lady Star of the Sea” craft which I made (with a little help from my kids). That craft included a glass bottle or jar. We’ll I’m sure many of you are like me and don’t want your kids to have a glass jar or bottle in their bedroom! So, after my craft-lov’n, 9 year old daughter kindly asked to make one of the jar crafts for her bedroom, I decided to make a kids-save version of that craft.  You will need: images of Our Lady Star of the Sea Sand Paper (we used 150 Grit) Twine or Raffia glitter glue (silver) small shells white glue scissors pencil or pen with a point First decide on the size you want your finished craft to be. Choose the sizes in the files which are listed above. I made ours with the ”6 on a sheet” file so I could get a large number out of one sand paper sheet.  Six small images fit nicely on a regular sized sheet of sand paper. Cut the sandpaper a little bigger than the image(s) Oh, and in case you don’t understand why I’m using sandpaper: It’s to resemble the sand on the beach. We had a little misunderstanding at our house about that. 🙂  Cut the edge of our sand paper boarder to have a rough edge. (If you wish) Next use the white glue to spread glue the back of the Mary image and then glued it to the sand paper. If you would like to add a twine/raffia hanger to your craft now is the best time to do that. Use a pencil or pen to carefully poke a hole in each of the top corners of the craft. Be sure to leave plenty of space from the corner so it doesn’t rip. (Tip: I always do this on carpet – it’s much easier!) Tread your twine / raffia through the holes and tie a knot in each end to keep it from sliding back out the hole. I have decorations on the craft which is shown in these pictures, but believe me, it\’s much easier to add the holes and sting before the decorations!! 😉  Now, add your decorations!! This can be your way – your style! I added glitter glue around the edge of my picture.  Then I used more glitter glue to glue on a twine bow and small shells. My craft-lov’n 9 year old and her three little sisters each made one and had a blast! I’m excited with how sweet these look – my kids did a great job! They are now the newest decorations hanging in their bedrooms! All made with tender love and care! Our Lady Star of the Sea, Pray for us! Till next time, take care! ~JenMarie

Rebekah wanted to be Bl. Imelda Lambertini, but she did not want her picture posted, so Elizabeth said she would model the Bl. Imelda costume. Thanks Elizabeth! Blessed Imelda is an amazing saint that had more faith in her short life than most people have even after living 90 years!! Imelda wanted to be a nun at the tender age of 9. She was allowed to live with the Dominican sisters, but was not treated kindly by them. She desired to receive her First Holy Communion but was refused. At that time children did not receive their First Communion until the age of 14.  When she was eleven years old she attended the Ascension Day Mass with the other nuns. All the others had received their communion and Mass was over. The nuns were preparing to leave when they saw what appeared to be a Sacred Host hovering in the air above Imelda, as she knelt in prayer. The host was glowing with a remarkable light! They called for the priest. The priest give the Host to Imelda. Imelda was filled with such love that she died at that very moment! Read more about her amazing story here . Our Imelda is dressed in a white robe and had a white veil, which is actually a pillow case. I used a headband to create the look of a Host hovering over her head. To make this hovering Host, I folded a decorative foil paper in half (back against back) and cut out two star shapes like above.  I twisted two silver pipe cleaners together (to make it stronger) and then hot glued them on the back of the star shape, like in the above picture.  I added more hot glue to the silver pipe-cleaner and laid the other star shape on top making sure the star shapes covered each other.  I added a felt circle to each star shape, and used a black pen to make the cross. Then I wrapped the pipe-cleaner ends around a white headband. I also added a little bit of glitter glue around the host to make it look more interesting. It worked great!! She can comfortably wear a shining Host above her head! Bl. Imelda is an amazing young lady! I try to remember her as I go to Holy Communion! She has shown us how we take our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for granted. Blessed Imelda, Pray for us!