My Daybook ~ Easter Monday

FOR TODAY: April 13, 2009

Outside my Window... right now it is overcast and chilly. It rained quite a bit last night (thankfully it didn't rain yesterday!) and the forecast is even saying we may have some snow tomorrow and the next day. Later in the week it will be sunny again! =)

I am thinking... about my brother-in-law (my sister's husband) and how I need to call and wish him a Happy Birthday today!!

I am thankful... for Easter, Easter Week, and the Fifty days of Easter!! Alleluia!! We will be celebrating for a little while! ;)

From the kitchen... lots and LOTS of candy. I think we are going to have to make some more Easter Candy Cookies! ;) Lots of Easter dinner leftovers too: BBQ Tri-Tip, Asparagus, Rolls, Roasted Red Potatoes. I never did get around to making the ham I purchased, so we'll be having ham this week too!

From the school room... we have our (much needed) Easter Break this week, but I do have a few fun crafts learning projects planned.

Living the Liturgical year at Home... Once again we will be celebrating the 50 Days of Easter with the Garden of the Good Shepherd!

I am just finished creating... a list of activities for this week.

I am going... to try and sort though the photos I took yesterday and share a few with you all. We had such a lovely Easter!

I am reading.... lots of Easter picture books to my children, including a few new additions, which were found in this year's Easter Baskets.

I am hoping... that it isn't raining tonight during the boys baseball game.

I am listening... to my children asking if they "can eat just one more piece of candy..."

Around the house... signs of Easter everywhere!

One of my favorite things... is receiving roses. I've been blessed with a downpour lately!

A Few Plans For This Week...

I am hoping that, despite Baseball practice and games, I am able to stay home as much as possible.

A picture thought I am sharing:

Our Family ~ Easter 2009

Be sure to visit Peggy for links to other daybooks!

He is Risen! Alleluia!

Wishing you all a Blessed and Joy filled Easter!

Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 11

We were gone most of the day today (baseball photos, a sweet little girls birthday party, and visiting with dear friends!), and I forgot my flash card at home!! I wasn't able to take any pictures. =( So, here is one more picture from yesterday of our Good Friday dinner. I'll post more about it soon!

Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 10

Hot Cross Buns

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

Love's Wordless Response: Weep, Adore and Comfort

"My despised Jesus, nail my heart to the cross that it may always remain there to love You and never leave You again. I love You more than myself; I am sorry for ever having offended You. Never permit me to offend You again. Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will." ~ St. Alphonsus Liguori

Garden of the Good Shepherd ~ Week 1

Last year my children absolutely loved celebrating the Fifty Days of Easter with "The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter!"

We started late last year, so I've been working on coming up with a few ideas for this week's special activities to go along with our readings each day. (You can check out Charlotte's creative list, from last year, here.)

The theme for the first week is:

"The Good Shepherd's Pasture."

I added the bible versus to read, in case any of you would like to join in, but don't have the Garden of the Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd : Read John 10:14-15

• Easter Sunday!! CELEBRATE!!!
  

The Shepherd's Crook: Read Psalm 23:1-6

• Candy Cane's served with Hot Cocoa
• Read The Legend of the Candy Cane or watch the DVD
  
• Another idea would be to make a Candy Cane Coffee Cake, but I am just not up to baking again today! ;)

The Sheepfold : Read John 10:1-6

• Make "God's Sheep" (Popcorn) for a snack.

~ God's Sheep ~

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him all our sin. Isaiah 53:6"

Air-pop the popcorn and serve it warm, if possible. Butter, if desired, can be melted in a saucepan on the stove. Popcorn is white and fluffy, like sheep, and when air-popped, sometimes a piece of popcorn comes flying out of the popper and flies across the room, like a lost sheep. Remind the children that, like sheep, we wander astray sometimes.

The Gate of the Sheepfold : Read John 10:7-10

• Make the Heaven's Gate Collage Craft.
• Watch The Secret Garden
  

The Ewe and the Ram : Read John 21:15-17

• Make this Ram Craft.
• Add a few Schleich Animals (a Ram & Ewe) to our collection .
  

The Lamb : Read John 1:35
(Some of these ideas could also work for The Sheepfold or The Ewe and the Ram.)

• Stop by and visit the Lamb of God at the adoration chapel or attend Mass.
• Serve Lamb for dinner or Lamb of God Rolls.
  
• Make a Lamb Cake or Lamb Cupcakes.
• The Hershey's Lamb with Kisses would be super cute and could be refilled next year.
  
• I purchased a package of Lindt Candy Lambs -- it came with 5, perfect!

The Wolf : Read John 10:11-12

• Read the story of St. Francis and the Wolf found in Legends of Saints and Beasts by Ann Marie Jauss.
• Make Wolf Paw Cookies
  

I hope you all are having a very Happy and Blessed Easter!

No Greater Love

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul I pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment; while I contemplate with great love and tender pity Thy five wounds, pondering over them within me, having in mind the words which David Thy prophet said of Thee, my Jesus: "They have pierced my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones.

The Divine Mercy Novena Begins Today

My Grandfather, who recently passed away, had a very special devotion to the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and (in addition to his many rosaries) he prayed it daily. I remember when I was still a child, my Grandpa telling me all about Sister Faustina (she had not yet been canonized), and teaching me how to pray this Chaplet. On the day that Grandpa died, my mom made it down to see him just in time to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with him at 3:00pm -- the Hour of Great Mercy.

Jesus said to Sister Faustina:

"Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you. Anyone who says it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as the last hope. Even the most hardened sinner, if he recites this Chaplet even once, will receive grace from My Infinite Mercy. I want the whole world to know My Infinite Mercy. I want to give unimaginable graces to those who trust in My Mercy...."

"....When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person not as the just judge but as the Merciful Savior".

Jesus asked St. Faustina, that the Feast of the Divine Mercy--which is the Sunday following Easter--be preceded by a Novena of Chaplets to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday. There is a special intention for each day of the novena. (I'll be praying especially for you Grandpa!)

In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her:

"On each day of the novena you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls. By this novena I will grant every possible grace to souls." (Diary 1209, 796)

How to Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet

Start: the Crucifix

1. Make the Sign of the Cross.

Optional opening prayer:

"You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

(3 times) O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!"

1. Pray the Our Father.
2. Pray the Hail Mary.
3. Recite the Apostles' Creed.

On the large bead before each of the five decades (set of ten prayers):

"Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world."

On each small "Hail Mary" bead:

"For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

After five decades, conclude by saying three times:

"Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world." (This prayer is based on the Trisagion of the Eastern tradition.)

Optional concluding prayers:

"Eternal God, in Whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen."

If you don't have your rosary handy, you can click here, and pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the computer!

Jesus I trust in You!!

A Lenten Tea on Holy Thursday

Thanks to Alice's amazing creativity, my children and I enjoyed a lovely and symbolic Lenten Tea this afternoon!

Here is what was included in the menu:

~ Palm on the Road ~

Hearts of Palm were new to my children, and only Rascal liked them.
I thought they were delicious!

"And many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields." Mk. 11: 8

~ Costly Oil ~

All I had was regular olive oil, but it worked just fine!

"And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her." Mk. 14: 9

~ Thirty Pieces of Silver ~

Alice suggested Munster cheese, but since cutting out 30 pieces of cheese into circles was a bit more than I wanted to take on, I opted for Four Cheese Rice Crackers.

"Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What will you give me if I deliver him to you?' And they paid him thirty pieces of silver." Mt. 25: 14-15

~ Unleavened Bread ~

For this we used Ezekiel Pita Breadcut into wedges.

"And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the passover lamb, his disciples said to Him, 'Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover?'" Mk. 14: 12

~ The Mount of Olives ~

When my children saw the "Mount of Olives" their jaws dropped to the floor and asked if they really got to eat "all those olives!" Yes, olives are a rarity in our home, but my children *love* them!

"And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." Mk. 14: 26

~ The Cock Crows Twice ~

I already had Turkey breast in the fridge, so I used it instead of the chicken.

"And Jesus said to him, 'Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.'" Mk. 14: 30

~ Gethsemane Figs ~

Fig Newtons... YUM!!

"And they went to a place which was called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here, while I pray.'" Mk. 14: 32

~ Judas' Kiss ~

I loved the idea of Hershey Kisses, but my children gave up candy this Lent, and so we opted for the Strawberries. My children could hardly wait for the Strawberries, but when I told them what they stood for, they responded with wrinkled up noses "You mean it's suppose to be Judas' lips!!!" I calmed them down by reassuring them that the Strawberries were just the same shape as Hershey Kisses, and just happened to be red. lol!

"And when he came, he went up to him at once, and said, 'Master!' And he kissed him." Mk. 14: 45

~ The Clouds of Heaven ~

For this I used the whip cream we had already... You can see it behind the Strawberries in that last photo.

"And Jesus said, 'I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.'" Mk. 14: 62

~ Peter's Tears ~

None of my children would even try one of these! ;)

"And immediately the cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, 'Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.' And he broke down and wept." Mk. 14: 72

While the children ate, I read excerpts from St. Mark.

We all really enjoyed this Lenten Tea. My boys kept wishing that daddy could have been home to join us!


Visit Cottage Blessings for the Bible readings, recipes and shopping list!

I hope you all had a very blessed Holy Thursday!

Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 9

Somebody kept sneaking into the marshmallows while we were making Resurrection Rolls earlier today!