Christmas Play

Miss Musical brought tears to my eyes today in the Nativity play.  She was absolutely precious as Mary.  The look of pure joy on her face was unmistakeable and she did an excellent job with her lines.  The Sisters told us that she was the perfect Mary.


Miss Comedian was an absolutely adorable angel.....from the audience.  She was a little too shy to go on stage.

Angel and Mary

The Annunciation

Mary, Joseph, and the donkey

Miss Dramatic did a great job singing.

Las Posadas

Las posadas literally translates in English as "the inns" or "the lodgings" and symbolizes the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for shelter in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus.  Las Posadas has origins in Spain but these days it is primarily celebrated in Mexico, Guatemala, and parts of the Southwestern United States.


It is a nine-day celebration lasts from December 16 to Christmas Eve (Noche Buena or "Holy Night") and includes a candle-lit procession of children and parents reenacting Mary and Joseph's journey through Bethlehem.

Today at our Homeschool enrichment day, the girls participated in an abbreviated version of Las posadas that culminated in an Advent/Christmas party.  It was beautiful!  Mary and Joseph knocked on each classroom door and there was a dialog back and forth.  They asked for shelter and were turned away.  After the dialog, those in the classroom joined Mary and Joseph as they processed to the next classroom.  While they were processing, they sang Silent Night.  It was really lovely and the children were really excited to be a part of it.  

The party was fun too.  The kids had pizza and everyone brought a treat to share.  I feel very blessed to be involved with such a caring, faith filled community. 

Christmas Play

Miss Musical was asked to be Mary in a play today.  She is beyond excited!  It is being done by the Sisters of Charity (Mother Theresa's Sisters) in their outreach ministry.  We got a call from the Music teacher at our homeschool co-op asking if my family could participate.  I was thrilled to volunteer the girls.  :)  As soon as we walked in, one of the sisters pointed to Miss Musical and said "I want her to be Mary."  She was so excited.  She told me on the way there that she wanted to be Mary and I told her that we would be happy with whatever part we were able to play - no matter how small.

She has been practicing her lines and is really looking forward to the performance this weekend.  Miss Dramatic will be singing and Miss Comedian may be an Angel.  She was a little too shy to practice with the other children but I think she really wants to do it.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to post next weekend!

Feast of Juan Diego

I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  She seems to have her hand in my life lately and I find her almost everywhere I go.  See here.  Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Juan Diego.  I just love this story.

On December 9th, 1531, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.   Juan Diego, a recent convert to the Catholic faith, was walking to attend the early morning Mass in Mexico City. Passing by Tepeyac Hill he heard the beautiful singing of birds. Looking to see where the music was coming from, he heard a young woman's voice calling his name.  When he reached the top of the hill, he saw a radiant woman clothed in splendid light - the Ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of God. She told Juan Diego that she wanted him to be her special messenger to the Bishop of Mexico City. Juan was to tell the bishop that Our Lady wanted a church to be built where she could manifest her Son and hear the petitions of her spiritual children.


The bishop was reluctant to see Juan, but he was finally granted an audience with Franciscan Bishop Fray Juan Zumarraga. The bishop didn't initially believe Juan Diego and asked him to return another day. Secretly, the bishop had been invoking the intercession of the Mother of God for help. The Spaniards had recently conquered the native Aztec people and were treating them harshly. Very few were willing to abandon their pagan gods and embrace the religion of their new dictators. All of this weighed heavy on the heart of Bishop Zumarraga, whom history now knows as the "Protector of the Native People." He wondered if Juan Diego's story was the answer to his prayers.

Dejected, Juan returned to Tepeyac and asked Our Lady to use someone else more worthy than himself. She assured him that he was personally chosen to be her ambassador. The next day he returned to plead with the bishop. Though impressed by Juan's persistence, he was still unsure. He sent Juan to tell the Lady he needed a sign in order to know if it was truly her.

Upon hearing the bishop's request, Our Lady told Juan to return the next day and she would give him the sign he needed. Returning home, Juan found his uncle ill and close to death. Instead of returning the next day, Juan stayed home and took care of his ailing uncle. Early on December 12th, Juan rushed to Mexico City in order to get a priest to administer the last rites to his dying uncle. He went around the back of Tepeyac Hill in order to avoid Our Lady whom he felt would surely understand.  Our Lady met him anyway and told him that his uncle was already healed. He learned later that Our Lady had appeared to his uncle, and he was restored to health. Our Lady urged Juan to go to the top of the hill were he would find flowers miraculously growing. Juan was surprised to to see so many vibrant flowers during the frosty time of the year. He cut them and gathered them in his tilma (cloak). Our Lady arranged the flowers with her own hands, rolled up the tilma and ordered Juan not to open his tilma until he was in the presence of the bishop.

Juan had a difficult time getting an audience with the bishop, but he was finally allowed in and  after recounting every detail of his conversation with Our Lady, he let down his tilma and the flowers fell to the floor. Juan was surprised when everyone in the room also fell to the floor on their knees. The image of Our Lady had miraculously appeared on Juan's tilma! Repenting for his unbelief with abundant tears, Bishop Juan Zumarraga promised to build the shrine that Our Lady had requested.

Soon the church was built and the holy image transferred. The story spread and people began to stream in to see the heavenly image and hear the story from Juan Diego. Many miracles starting happening and in the following years some 10 million were baptized and converted to the Jesus Christ!

Prayer to St, Juan Diego:

You who were chosen by Our Lady of Guadalupe as an instrument to show your people and the world that the way of Christianity is one of love, compassion, understanding, values, sacrifices, repentance of our sins, appreciation and respect for God’s creation, and most of all one of humility and obedience;

You whom we know is now in the Kingdom of the Lord and close to our Mother;

Be our angel and protect us, stay with us as we struggle in this modern life often not knowing where to set our priorities;

Help us to pray to our God to obtain the gifts of the Holy Spirit and use them for the good of humanity and the good of our Church, through the Heart of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Heart of Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception

What is the Immaculate Conception?

Although many non-Catholics (and even some Catholics) believe that this refers to our Lord Jesus being conceived by the Holy Spirit, it actually refers to the conception of Mary.  Catholics believe that God intervened in the conception of Mary and created her without the stain of original sin.  How else could she be pure enough to give birth to our Lord?  

Prayer:

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, didst prepare a worthy dwelling place for thy Son, we beseech thee that, as by the foreseen death of this, thy Son, thou didst preserve her from all stain, so too thou wouldst permit us, purified through her intercession, to come unto thee.  Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

Kid-ism of the Day

Miss Musical:  "One of the chocolate coins that I got from St. Nicholas says Elizabeth on it."

Me:  "That is Queen Elizabeth.  We have a President here in the United States, but in England they have a Queen."

Miss Musical:  "Well Mary is our Queen.  She is Queen of Heaven and Earth."

<3  She *gets* it!  Better than I do sometimes!!  :)

Turkey Craft

Today we made a colorful turkey craft for Art class.  The girls got to practice their cutting skills and work with glue.  We had a good time putting these together and we mixed our holidays a bit by listening to some Christmas music while we worked.

Cutting Circles

Such a Comedian!

Scissor Skills

Even Miss Busy slowed down to make a turkey

Thanksgiving decor

Bunch of turkeys!  (and the craft they made)

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

Miss Musical lost her 4th tooth last night.  There was a little assistance from Mom because that little guy was holding on for dear life.  The tooth fairy felt so bad for her that she left a whole dollar!  Yippie!

Monday

Today we took a field trip to Baltimore.  Daddy had a meeting and we tagged along for the ride.  After dropping Daddy off at his meeting we drove to the Baltimore Basilica.  http://baltimorebasilica.org/  What a gorgeous Cathedral!  It was commissioned by Pope Pius VI after creating the diocese of Baltimore and naming John Carroll as the first Bishop of the United States.  It was the first Cathedral built in the United States (shortly after the constitution was adopted) and was designed by Benjamin Henry Latroube, the same architect that designed the United States Capital building

The Basilica was renovated and re-opened in 2006 and was restored to it's original vision.

We got there in time for the last half of Mass, which was a nice treat!  It also worked out that they lady sitting behind us worked there and offered to give us a tour.  The girls and I got a private tour and it was spectacular!

The Papal Umbrella

The girls said a prayer to Mary

The Altar

Fresco of the Ascension

These Frescos were uncovered during the restoration.  There are 4 of them and they are around the dome on the ceiling.  They say Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in Latin.  I wonder who covered them?

The dome - it is stunning and this picture doesn't do it justice.  At the very center is a white dove (the Holy Ghost/Spirit)  and around it in the mini dome are windows that you cannot see from directly below, only at an angle.  They call the effect "the mysterious light."  There were no artificial lights on at the Cathedral while we were there and it was very bright.  The painted flower carvings in the dome are not just beautiful but they add to the acoustics.  

Fresco of the Assumption

Organ

The Cathedral (chair)

Pre-Vatican II Artifacts in the museum

The Cardinal with President Taft (our distant relative)

The original Tabernacle and monstrance used by Archbishop Carroll

Bust of Pius X

Underneath the Basilica - catacombs.  This is a picture of the inverse of the upper Archways.  This was all uncovered during the renovation.  It was covered up over the years with dust and debris.  There is a chapel down here and it is a really neat place.

Statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe - she seems to be following me around these days, but I will do a separate post on that!  :)

Tabernacle in the chapel.  This was used in the upper Basilica before the renovation.

Statue of Our Lord.  Miss Drama took this picture and we thought the lighting effect was really neat!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

After our pilgrimage to the Shrine, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.  It was a gorgeous Fall day and we probably wont have too many of those left.  There is something to be said for spending a Monday afternoon at the zoo.  We almost had the place to ourselves.  Miss Busy was even given free reign to run around a bit instead of being confined to a stroller the whole time.  Yeah for homeschooling!

Miss Musical and Miss Comedian checking out the Prairie Dogs

Miss Busy and The Baby riding in style

Polar Bear or as Miss Busy kept shouting "Care Bear!"

Arctic Fox - he was so cute and sad looking.  

Gorgeous Tree

There were zebras, rhinos, and ostriches in this exhibit

Amazing picture that Miss Drama took of the cheetah.  You can't even tell it was through the glass

My Penguins - or most of them

This baby elephant was the hit of the zoo.  He was playing with a toy tire and it was so fun to watch.  He kept getting his legs in it and trying to yank it off the fence.

This giraffe came very close to us to see if we had any treats for him, then when we didn't he moved on.

My lovely ladies

Love this picture!  These frogs would climb the glass and follow our hands

Mother/Daughter Tea

So I took Miss Drama to a Mother/Daughter Tea at Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine in Doylestown on Sunday.  http://www.czestochowa.us/  It was sponsored by Fertility Care Friends of Philadelphia http://www.fertilitycarefriends.org/ and Generation Life http://www.generationlife.org/.  What a fantastic event!

We started with a slideshow about What it means to be a woman, including how a Woman's body works and how her fertility is a gift from God.  Fertility Care Friends follow the Creighton Model Fertility Care system and I think that I even learned something new!  :)  They had a teenage girl that talked a bit about her life and how she tried to stand strong against today's culture and they had an excellent speaker from Generation Life that talked about Chastity.  I could not begin to do her talk justice by trying to explain it but she was excellent and I am sure that she planted some good seeds in the girls that were in attendance.  The girls each got a copy of a book about living modestly and finding the right person.  http://www.howtofindyoursoulmate.com/  She is really enjoying the book and keeps reading small parts to me.

They had a modest fashion show and asked Miss Dramatic and her friends to participate.  She chose an outfit that met their guidelines for "hanging out with friends."  This is what she picked:

Overall it was a lovely day.  Wonderful company with my daughter and friends and an excellent presentation of a subject that is just not well presented to our girls these days.  I will definitely attend it again!

Test Update

She said that the test went well.  All three girls said that it was easier than they thought it would be and much easier than the practice tests.  Now it is just in the Lord's hands.  I took them out for a pizza lunch to celebrate and then we ended up going out to the Movie Tavern with the three girls and Moms.  It was fun.  We saw Puss in Boots.  We were hoping to see the Mighty Macs movie but it wasn't playing anymore.  Puss in Boots was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  There were some off-color references but it was also cute and redeeming in some places.  The girls enjoyed it!

Friday - Test Day!

Prayer for my 8th Grade Miss Dramatic and her two good friends who are taking the High School placement exam as I type this.  May God bless them with the Grace to do well and to accept whatever the end result may be.  Love and blessings girls!!!

First Prayer

O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

Through Christ our Lord.

St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.

Amen.

Second Prayer

O St. Joseph of Cupertino who by your prayer obtained from God to be asked at your examination, the only preposition you knew. Grant that I may like you succeed in the (here mention the name of Examination eg. History paper I ) examination.

In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

O St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for me

O Holy Ghost enlighten me

Our Lady of Good Studies pray for me

Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of divine wisdom, enlighten me.

Remember, when you succeed in the exams then you should thank St. Joseph of Cupertino.

Monday - School

I haven't done a "back to school" post yet and we are already 9 weeks in!  Goodness the time goes fast.

Miss Drama is in 8th grade this year and she is taking classes through our co-op.  She goes to the school building for 2 academic days and one enrichment day.  She works at home the other two days and it is going really well.  This year is a busy one involving Confirmation preparations and thoughts of high school.  We have been visiting high schools and trying to discern what we should do for school next year.  She is sitting for an entrance exam on Friday for an all girls private Catholic high school.  It has a good reputation and we have gotten a strong recommendation from one of our fellow parishioners.  They have a great music and drama program and the academics are top notch.  This is Miss Drama's top pick.  We also are considering a school that was started as a homeschool co-op and has grown.  They just opened their high school program a couple years ago and are adding grades as they go.  It is a Classical approach and I love it!  It seems to be a strong faith filled community, which is paramount to me.  I am leaning towards this one as being my top choice.  I see many rosaries and prayers for discernment in my future.  I am still trying to come to grips with the fact that I will have a child that is old enough for high school next year!

Miss Musical is in 1st grade this year and is going wonderfully!  I think that I am enjoying it as much as she is.  We changed this year from Seton to Catholic Heritage Curriculum and we are loving it!  Not that we didn't like Seton - I just really really like CHC.  We have incorporated some elements from Mother of Divine Grace and Charlotte Mason as well, but we are mostly doing CHC. Our daily core subjects are: Religion, Reading/Phonics, Math, Handwriting.  We do Science twice a week and Social Studies twice a week.  We use our Art Curriculum weekly but do lots of projects during the week.  She attends her piano lessons weekly and practices daily.  She goes to the same enrichment program that Miss Drama does.  (We all do - I work in the baby room with the littles.)  She has a music class, gym class, and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.  She LOVES enrichment day and has made lots of friends.  Next week we are adding Spelling and Latin to our studies.

Miss Comedian is our preschooler.  She is probably my most eager student and just loves to learn.  She wants to do whatever Miss Musical is doing.  I incorporate her into our religious studies and all of our art projects.  She has her own curricula for handwriting, numbers, colors, shapes etc... We have been using the Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book and it is going really well.  She read her first real words the other day.  She also loves enrichment day.  She attends the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd with other 4 year olds and then she has a preschool class.  She has always been our shy child and it is wonderful to see her coming out of her shell and making some friends.

Miss Busy keeps us on our toes!  School is never boring with her around and she makes sure that we get breaks when we need them.  I also incorporate her in any art projects that we do and we try and work on our colors, letters, and numbers.  She learns so much just from playing with her sisters.  She has a great time at enrichment day and has also made quite a few friends.  I spent the first couple Wednesdays trying to chase her around and keep her out of everyone's lunches, but now she is starting to play and interact with the other children.

The Baby is my teacher's assistant.  She usually plays in her pen, jumps in her jumperoo, or sits on my lap while we learn.  She is working hard on new skills like standing, cruising,  and trying to follow her sisters.  She is crawling like a pro, sitting up, climbing.  She seems to be following closely in the steps of Miss Busy.

This is what school looks like around here:

Elementary and preschool.  We all sit around our cool, kid sized table and learn about things.  We like to use the chalk board for math.

Another view of the elementary school area.  The girls each have a colored fabric "cubby" to keep their books and supplies.  My books and teacher guides are on the top shelf.  I have a cup of pencils, pens, and rulers.  There is another cup with math manipulatives and coins.  A bin of dominos, a basket of flash cards, construction paper, pencil sharpener, crayons, markers, paper clips, puzzles, math and sight word games, etc...

The computer area.  We have some cabinets that need to go up as soon as they are stained.  We also need to tidy up the cords a bit underneath.  We have another chair for the other "station."  I found that table on craigslist and it fits the space perfectly.  We got the big decal whiteboard calendar at Pottery barn and the cork boards at Staples.  

Miss Drama usually does her book work and reading in her room aka Middle School.  She has a desk and supplies in there and it is quieter for her to be away from siblings and distractions.  I am afraid to post a picture of that area at the moment!  :)