The Holy Rosary

Well, I guess I lied in my last post on the Rosary.




A poster-board Rosary created by my
oldest girls about 9 years ago.

 I did get the Mary cards printed and cut apart. 27 separate pictures; 3 sets: 2 sets of picture cards and 1 set of title cards. (Along with a 'cheat sheet' in case anyone got confused!)

However, I did not get them laminated. (a job for later when I get some spare time!)


We did do a lapbook, but not the one I had originally planned. (I am saving that one for next May, the Month of Mary).


We completed the lapbook on the Most Holy Rosary by Lapbooks for Catholics.

I had purchased this last year and never did get around to doing it.

Perfect for now.

After we completed the components and put the folder together, I asked the littles what they would like to put on the front cover (I didn't printout the suggested pictures)

Nathaniel came up with the idea of a foam Rosary on the cover. Everyone enthusiastically agreed.

Looking for just the right size and color foam piece.

planning the layout of the foam Rosary

Putting it together
(the tape dispenser is for weight purposes)

The end result - beautiful!

What you see when you open the folder

And when you turn the extra 'page' over

I am thrilled that I actually accomplished (more or less) what I had planned for the month! WooHoo!

A Patient Step

I went to Elizabeth's and discovered she has made another post in the Small Steps category today.

I was very happy. I have missed this! I have had a post bouncing in my head for a bit about this month's virtue: PATIENCE

Patience is that virtue that all my friends tell me not to pray for - God will give me chances to practice it!

But I do pray for it. Really. Mostly because I am discovering I have no patience.

I don't like to wait - period.

And, yet, I DO have to wait. And I have to trust.

I am discovering I have to wait for me. For me to realize that it is not about me.

I tried an experiment over this past weekend. I was not going to speak above a soft voice. Lower than my 'inside voice' but a little louder than a whisper.

NO. MATTER. WHAT.

And I did it! (and it was HARD!) 

There were a lot of "Mom, why are you talking like that?" questions.

I had to really concentrate to do it.

I had to stop my first impulse to yell.

I had to think about why something caused me to feel upset or angry.

And I discovered that I could think more. I could stop and see the situation for what it was instead of what I thought it might be. I could discuss wrong-doings with my children rather than autocratically, and loudly, demand correction.
And I discovered - I liked it.


from last year

It forced me to focus on the person I was dealing with, rather than the situation or how I felt about it. I could be gentle and loving with my children and husband, and most of all, with myself.

Enjoying the mud
(I had to put this one in - he is
too cute!)

I think I will continue this experiment - indefinitely.

Go visit Elizabeth and see what others have to say about patience!

A Late Yarn Along

 

From Ginny

 ~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?

 

I am a little late in getting this one done - been a little busy here.

 

I finished (less finishing ends) a small pouch as a gift for a friend for her special rosary.

My daughters have requested one for their rosaries as well - seems I will be making more of these.

I have completed 4 squares of the blanket I am making for another friend, as well as the beginnings of some more squares:

I can't wait to get a bunch more done. I am going to have a difficult time figuring out the best pattern for these colors - here's what I can do with just 4 squares - imagine 36!

Going to be quite the project!

 

 

 

I am starting St Francis de Sales Introduction to the Devout Life.

 

 

 

I am beginning a discernment period to join a Salesian Association and this is required reading. I have to find a good biography of him and, I think, St Jane de Chantal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Ginny's to see some more great projects.

A Yarn-Along Follow Up

I woke up this morning and discovered some very nice ladies visited yesterday/this morning and left me some very kind comments regarding my last Yarn-Along post.

I felt the need to correct a possible mis-conception and maybe to motivate me. (ok, mostly to motivate me!)

For Emily at The Nest (and can I say, you HAVE to go visit her blog and see some of the most amazing art and crafts she creates, along with the beautiful new baby she has!), and anyone else interested - the pattern for the new afghan can be found at:

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/autumn-log-cabin-throw 

They also have a couple other log cabin designs in different colors there as well.

As for the quantity of crochet being done lately - lest anyone think it's because I have it all together and have nothing else to do but sit and crochet in my neat and orderly house with my well-behaved children sitting around me (which is good for a laugh if you really think about that one) - it's because not much else is being done...

Let's take a quick tour of the house, shall we?




Kitchen floor not swept




Clean laundry on kitchen table not folded




Dirty laundry on dirty bathroom floor awaiting
move to washer



beds not made

School work not being done - where are
those children anyway?

And back to the kitchen to discover the
dishes weren't even done - ok, not actually a discovery
as I knew they were still there.

And now that we have finished a quick, and quite dirty, tour of my abode - off to accomplish something so my husband can at least find his children in the house when he gets home! They are under the mess somewhere.

~ and maybe a return trip later tonight to see what actually gets done in the couple hours I am here today.

Yarn Along - Oct 12

 

From Ginny

 ~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?

 

I began working on a new project last night.

 

Not one I had previously planned.

 

But it looks like it will be fun.

 

I was talking with a friend Sunday night and she mentioned she was getting a new couch to go with her newly painted living room. The subject of afghans came up and VIOLA! I have a new project.

 

Fast-forward to yesterday and I was visiting my mom and going through her stash of patterns and came across this great log cabin quilt-inspired afghan. I immediately thought of my friend. I texted her and got her color scheme and favorite colors. As soon as I got home, I started rummaging in the basement for some fun colors. I needed to find 7.

 

The colors from left to right are:

Burgundy

Dark Brown

Brown

Hunter Green

Corn

Beige

Soft White

Hopefully she will like it!

As for reading - nope, not much of that.

Off to Ginny's to see what everyone else is working on....

 

October - Holy Rosary Month

In my persuit of trying to live the liturgical year, I am focusing on Mary during October.

I have picked a couple activities to complete this month:

Mary Matching

I created matching cards with different images of Mary.

I printed out 2 copies of each page and cut them apart and them laminated them.

I also have pages with the titles of each picture.

The matching game can be as simple as matching the pictures, or a little more challenging by matching the title with the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The littles have enjoyed the picture cards I made for St Joseph and St Nicholas.  Hopefully, they will enjoy these just as much.

 

Mary Lapbook

I had created a lapbook for one of our co-op class about a year ago. It includes the following:

Mary's Family Tree

Map of Mary's Apparitions

Information of Mary's Apparitions

Special Marian Gifts

Information on the Rosary

Special Marian Feast Days

I am looking forward to seeing the end result.

A Yahoo! Yarn Along

 

From Ginny

 ~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?

I realized this morning, I have not posted for a yarn along in a couple weeks. Been a little busy with beginning school. canning, canning, and more canning. I finally picked up a crochet hook for the first time this past weekend. My fingers hurt now. I had a lot of catching up to do.

Time for a yarn update:


A big giant YAHOO! happened at my house this weekend. I actually completed two projects this weekend.

That's right - two!

One small, one very big!

The small: the pink baby blanket for my friend.



She was quite pleased with it. So much so, that she asked me if I could make a baptismal cape for the baby. A new challenge!

And the big: the scrap afghan I have been working on forever (or at least it seems like forever - but actually since May)

The colors are not as pretty in the picture
as they are in real life
And darn-it, I still can't capture the great texture
of the pattern

It turned out a little longer than I had thought - but as it is for our couch in the family room, it should work out well as everyone sitting on the couch will be able to sit under it at the same time.

Still working on the lace top for a bookcase upstairs.

This project I usually do when waiting in a Dr's office -
 it is rather small and portable.

I think I will put the other baby blanket on hold for now.

Reading: mostly school books to try to keep up...

books on corals

books on islands
books on muscles

The Scarlet Letter (yes, still!)

and I am sure there are more, I just can't think of them right now

Off to Ginny's, probably later after school is done (or we won't get anything done) to catch up on what others are doing!