Make Life Meaningful Monday- January 28

How incredibly meaningful to see 650,000+  men, women and children converge on Washington, D.C. and brave the cold to speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.  Aren't photos like this absolutely breathtaking?

I was very disappointed that I could not join in because I wasn't feeling well, but my children and I watched it live on EWTN.  We were with our good friends from church in spirit!

Something that really affected me was seeing the women and men of "Silent No More."  Holding their "I regret my abortion" and "I regret lost fatherhood" signs before almost three-quarters of a million people, the leader of the group's words really were touching.  She said that no one understood her hurt, her grief and her sadness in the days, months and years following her abortion until she met those in the pro-life movement who welcomed her with love and told her about Christ's love and forgiveness.  It was only then that she could begin the journey of forgiving herself.  Wow.

What saddened me was the complete blackout from the mainstream media.  They covered the anti-gun rally of 5,000 people as opening story and front page material, but the pro-life rally with upwards of 3/4 of a million people goes virtually unmentioned, perhaps with just a single mention or a blurb, if anything at all.  The obvious bias of media bothers me.  Cover everything equally and let intelligent people make up their minds.  What they have done and continue to do is nothing short of censorship.  I digress.  I am not here to down the media.  I am here to say how this march and all of the young people who participated in it has made this a very meaningful Monday post.

Those young people are the next generation.  They give me hope for the future of this nation and the world.  They will be the voices of truth and the media will not be able to silence them.  God bless them for standing up for what is right, for speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves, and first and foremost, speaking of Christ's unending love and forgiveness.  We are all sinners.  We all make mistakes, but God will and does forgive us if we confess our faults to Him and ask.  That in and of itself provides me with so much hope and comfort!  :-)

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves."-- Proverbs 31:10

Linking up with:  On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom, Crazy Mama, Homemaking Wednesdays and Raising Mighty Arrows and Titus 2sday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Memoir Monday

Make Life Meaningful Monday- January 14

Well, it is back to the grind for this crew, after a fun and educational week in Washington, D.C.

We took a moment to discuss the Feast of the Epiphany, which took place on January 6th.  We were getting ready to leave on our trip, so we didn't get to do our special activities, which include hanging a special sign over each door, asking God's blessing upon our home and everyone who enters.

The numbers are for the year and the letters come from the Latin Christus mansionem benedicat, which means Christ bless this house.  The letters also stand for the names of the Magi who came to adore Christ, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.  This tradition dates back over five hundred years and begun in Germany.  After a service at the churches on Three Kings Day (January 6th) the children go from house to house to gather offerings for children in poor countries. They are dressed as the three kings and carry sticks with stars on the top. At the homes they sing songs and recite messages of Christmas. At each house they paint the letters "20+C+M+B+__" 

Kiddo #2 did some work on giant squid, something that has always interested him and correlates well with his work this year in Oceanography.  He read a book that he chose at the Smithsonian in addition to some activities I found on their website.  He also made a power point presentation summarizing the book.  I can't wait to see it.  :-)

Kiddo #1 completed some Chemistry assignments in addition to more work in his aviation notebook.

Kiddos #3 and 4 worked on their science, which included a lapbook assignment on rhinos.  Kiddo #4 happily returned to sewing class, as well.

Of course, the day included math and some history, as well.  It wasn't so bad getting back into the swing of things! (especially when you can read a chapter with a cat cuddled on your lap!)  :-)

Linking up with:  On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom, Crazy Mama, Homemaking Wednesdays and Raising Mighty Arrows and Titus 2sday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Make Life Meaningful Monday- December 17

I think this weekend was meaningful for all of us-- a time to hug our children a little tighter and thank God for the gift of them, because that is what they are-- a precious gift and no one but God Himself knows how long we will have that gift.

At Church yesterday, our pastor spoke so eloquently.  He spoke of John the Baptist calling everyone to "repent" and "prepare the way."  This speaks to us, too.  We must be prepared to meet our Heavenly Father and to help guide our children to be followers of Christ and to know and love Him.  Ultimately, that is our most important responsibility-- our children's souls.  If we prepare them for Heaven, whenever they are called home, we have done our job.  It was so beautiful and touching, especially given the events of the last few days.  It is hopeful and encouraging to think of those little children being in the arms of Jesus.
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On Friday afternoon, after I heard of the events that took place that morning, I just wanted to do something fun with my children, so we made a Christmas craft together and I thanked God for the privilege to homeschool.

This is Kiddo #4's Nativity set.  Each kiddo made one and put them in their room as a special decoration.  :-)


Linking up with On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom, Crazy Mama, Homemaking Wednesdays and Raising Mighty Arrows and Titus 2sday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Make Life Meaningful Monday- December 3rd

Advent has begun!  :-)

Although Mondays are typically our crazy days, I did try to incorporate some special activities so our focus can be where it needs to during this very special season.

We watched our first videos and did our puzzles/pages from Advent Adventure.

We made the first ornament for our Jesse Tree.

We read "Merry Christmas, Strega Nona," a very sweet story about the true meaning of Advent and Christmas.

We look forward to making our Advent calendar, more activites/videos and another book tomorrow.

Our weekend was good.  Saturday, my aunt and uncle came over to celebrate Kiddo #3 and #4's birthdays and on Sunday, after Church, the boys helped their dad with some branches and a piece of a tree that was a victim of Hurricane Sandy.  :-)

Linking up with On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom, Crazy Mama, Homemaking Wednesdays and Raising Mighty Arrows and Titus 2sday

Make Life Meaningful Monday- November 19

The kiddos and I had some fun baking this weekend.  We made glazed apple cookies (which they enjoyed down to the very last crumb, lol!)

chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies

chocolate chip muffins

and pizzelles

After sampling some, the rest of these were put away for Thanksgiving.  :-)  Perhaps we'll make some more apple cookies to enjoy on the holiday sometime this week.

I hope you had a wonderful, meaningful weekend with your family!

Linking up with On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom, Crazy Mama, Homemaking Wednesdays and Raising Mighty Arrows

Make Life Meaningful Monday- November 12

A wonderful Friday was followed by a fun and relaxing weekend.  On Friday morning, I took the kiddos out to breakfast and the rest of the day looked something like this:

On Saturday, we continued our laundry and even canned some cinnamon apples.  I'll post the recipe tomorrow for Try a New Recipe Tuesday.  :-)

Sunday was another good day with church and watching our football team lose.  :-(  But, it was great to spend it together nonetheless.  ;-)

Linking up with On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom and Crazy Mama

There are only a couple of days left to vote for the blogs nominated in the Homeschool Blog awards.  I would very much appreciate your vote and support in the two categories in which I was nominated.  You can vote once a day per computer.  Thanks SO much!  :-)  Here are the links: For best homeschool mom blog and best photos. 

Make Life Meaningful Monday- November 5

I do feel guilty posting happy posts and photos while so many around us are suffering having lost their homes or without power and heat.  But, my family is what is meaningful to me and I am enormously grateful for them.  Tragedies such as last week's, just make me all the more grateful for the blessings I do have.  So, yes, I will post what made my life meaningful this weekend, and that is indeed my children.

The local townships all recommended that trick or treating be postponed until Saturday because there was still so much debris in the streets and power crews, etc.  They even asked that the children go out during the daylight hours.  So, that we did.

I did take the opportunity to explain to my children the real meaning of All Hallow's Eve and how the tradition of "trick or treating" came about.  Many years ago in England and Germany, children would go out praying (in chant and song) for the souls of those who had died.  The local townspeople would give the children "Soul Cakes." "Soul papers," with solicitations of prayers for the deceased, accompanied the cakes which were given to the parish poor. Householders, as well as churches, bestowed soul cakes as a charity in behalf of the departed.   We didn't get a chance to bake any, but are thinking about doing it soon.  I'll let everyone know how they turn out.  :-)

Kiddo #4 was delighted to finally get to dress in the Hershey Kiss costume that she made with her grandfather.  She got many compliments and comments.  :-)

P.S.  I also just found out that my blog was nominated in 2 categories in the 2012 Homeschool blog awards.  I would much appreciate your vote and support.  Here are the links:

For best homeschool mom blog and best photos.  Thank you!  :-)


Linking up with On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom and Crazy Mama

Make Life Meaningful Monday- October 29

I have been MIA the last few days, as my children and I attended our church's family retreat this weekend. (hubby had Army duty and couldn't be with us.  :-()  And the word "meaningful" is an understatement in trying to describe how amazing our retreat experience truly was.

The theme of the retreat was "refresh, renew, rejoice."  It was held at the magnificent Malvern Retreat House in Malvern, PA.  What a beautiful location, especially this time of year with the stunning foliage.

We on the committee tried very hard to come up with a weekend that would be prayerful and uplifting, yet have some time for fellowship for ourselves and our children.  And it was indeed all of those things.

We had night prayer walks by flashlight.

talks that encouraged our children and called the adults to be living contradictions in the world and have "holy boldness" in all we say and do, even if it means stepping out of our comfort zones.  These two things really resonated with us.  By living our lives as authentic Christians, we are being contradictions, contradictions of everything that the world tells us we should think, say and do.  And to be bold in the truth may be uncomfortable at first, but our faith is not something that is reserved to church on Sundays.  A small first step could be the praying of grace in a public restaurant.  We should not have to hide or be ashamed.  And, who knows?  That very act may encourage another or plant a seed, whose yield could be extraordinary.

We had free time where the adults and children alike were able to play and socialize with one another, go for walks on the grounds or just read, relax or pray.

We had so many different opportunities for worship and praise.  We also made a family craft.  Each family's was unique, but had a central theme-- a tree with the handprints of each family member as its leaves.  I put our wedding date on the trunk, as I believe that was the beginning of our tree, with each child adding to the tree's beauty and fullness. (I put each of their birthdates on their "leaves.")  The kids loved picking out the fabric for each of their handprints and helping me to arrange photos I had brought along of significant events that had taken place since last year's retreat.  I look forward to framing our masterpiece.  :-)))

Many of us stayed up well into the wee hours, reflecting upon the sermon or talks we had heard, laughing together and just enjoying each other's company.  It was so encouraging to be able to spend the time with like-minded and valued people in a safe and nurturing setting.  Our children all played so well together.  We were very proud of them.  The older ones encouraged and helped the youngers, even volunteering piggy back rides and including each other in their different activities and invented games.

The main chapel in our building had lovely windows behind it with the sun and foliage looking truly like God's masterpiece through them.  There was a cross made of wooden branches outside the windows that was just stunning when seen from inside the building.

Not sure if you can see the sculpture inside the altar.  It is just so perfect for a family retreat center.  St. Joseph is sitting Indian style with Mary, holding baby Jesus, sitting on his lap.  His arms are securely wrapped around them both.  What an example of family for us all!!!!

The 10 families who participated this year were all very blessed indeed!  :-)

Linking up with On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom and Crazy Mama

P.S. If you haven't entered already, I would love for you to check out my Advent giveaway.  An author was gracious enough to give me an autographed copy of her Christian fiction book entitled "Destination: Bethlehem, An Advent Family Adventure."  It is a wonderful journey through the Holy Land to be read with your children each day leading up to Christmas Eve.  I know you would love it!  Thanks!  :-)