Bible Stories for Baby Hands

This past week I had an unexpected package arrive from St. Augustine Academy Press and was absolutely delighted when I opened it up and discovered this gorgeous brand new set of Bible Stories for Baby Hands. These board books will make a perfect addition to our little ones Easter Baskets next month and I wanted to share them with you all right away so you can order them for your family too. Filled with traditional religious art, these beautiful board books will truly inspire our children! 

 

Bible Stories for Baby Hands

Published by St. Augustine Academy Press

• Old Testament Stories From The Pentateuch
• Old Testaments Stories: Joshua, Ruth, David, Daniel
• New Testament Stories: Jesus Comes to Us
• New Testament Stories: Jesus Teaches Us
• New Testament Stories: Jesus Saves Us 

Each book is available separately for just $7.95 each, or save 15% by purchasing the whole set! 

"The color lithographs on each page are based on engravings by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld for his 1860 Bible in Pictures. Each one is meant to dramatically encapsulate the story it represents, so that by simply pointing to elements in the picture, an adult can easily tell the story to the child. Therefore, for the youngest children, the pictures alone suffice.

However, we have not neglected to add text. Beneath each illustration is a quote from scripture that pertains to the story that is depicted above. Then, as the child gets older, the full story behind each picture is provided."

"For the Old Testament books, the original scripture passages were usually far too long, so we did our best to write them in language that fit with the others; however, we tried to include quotes and phraseology from scripture where possible. Many of these Old Testament stories include prefigurements of Christ, so we wove this into the text, mentioning how these characters tell us something about Jesus."

"For the New Testament books, we chose to take the text directly from scripture. Sometimes this required paraphrasing portions in order to fit the full story. We smoothed the vocabulary and syntax in a few places, only where necessary to make it understandable for younger ears; otherwise we allowed the power of the original text to shine through."

Click over to St. Augustine Academy Press to see more and to order a set of your own! 

.: Giveaway :. 

St. Augustine Academy Press has generously offered a few sets for me to give away, one to a commenter on this blog post, another over on Instagram (be sure to keep an eye out for it), and one in my upcoming annual Baskets of Books for Easter post! To enter here on the blog for this first set, simply leave a comment on this post and claim your entry through the Rafflecopter box below. Share this post with a friend and/or on your social media account for a bonus entry. Thank you for helping spread the word about this new series! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summer 2020 :: Gettysburg

Gettysburg was our last outing before the ECSP (Experience Christendom Summer Program) and it was definitely an outing to remember. It's so different going to the East where there have been so many significant historical events practically at every turn, whereas in the West, there are not very many.

Here is an example of the more than 1,328 monuments or markers across the Battlefield, this one commemorating the 8th New York Cavalry Brigade and placed there in 1889.

The 12th and 44th New York Infantry Monument. This monument is located on Little Round Top and you can see my cousin and brother on top of it. 

More detail explains this historical marker.

The monument was able to give us a heightened view of the Devil's Den and the Valley of Death.  Here my cousins are ready to relive the action.

The view from Little Round Top was amazing!!

By the Monument, written on rocks, were names and dates of soldiers who died at that spot. 

There were so many cannons everywhere! ... 630 of them to be exact!

No turning back now boys!

The reenactments that my brother did with our cousins were priceless. 

 

Here are more monuments. Our uncle, Fr. Terrence Gordon wasn't able to join us, like he did when my older brothers visited, but he did give us a tour over the phone! 

We were able to reenact "Picket's Charge" at the location in which the actual charge had taken place over 150 years ago. 

There were many "casualties," but we eventually made it!!!

Not going to lie, the running definitely wore us out for a bit!

We found this rock on the wall by where Picket's Charge took place. It had the name "Philip Lockett 14 VA Inf." written on it. Curious that this name might have been written during Picket's Charge, we asked a Ranger about it. She did some researching and found that Captain Philip Lockett did, in fact, participate in Picket's Charge. However, she pointed out that the rock looked like a new rock (meaning it placed there after it had become a historical site) so we concluded that someone must've written the name of one of their ancestors on the rock. It was still a fun adventure to learn more about him and be able to do some research on it! 

 

It was an amazing day which I will never forget! It was such a blessing to be able to visit historical sites and be able to get to know my cousins more! 

You can find the previous posts shared by Twinkle Toes here: 

Summer 2020: Our First Flight & Washington DC

Summer 2020: The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Lent Calendars

On Ash Wednesday we pulled out our annual Lenten Calendar for our little ones... 

We've been using variations of this calendar for the past 18 years! 

You can find the free printable documents for our current version in the archives: 

A Lenten Calendar for Catholic Children {revised}

Another annual favorite is the lovely printable calendar from Kimberly's daughter Lydia. These two requested it before I had a chance to even look for the download this year! It can be found here.

Ever since their gorgeous Easter Calendar last year we have also really loved incorporating the illustrated calendars from Liturgy of the Home! 

I printed out the first part of the Illustrated Lent Calendar and hung it on the bottom half of one of my pantry doors for our little ones to discover and study. 

Illustrated Lent Calendar 2021

 

It didn’t take our three year old long to spot St. Peter’s Chair, when I asked if she could find it after she woke up Monday morning, on the feast of the Chair of St Peter! Even my brother-in-law (our local pastor) was amazed at all the details included for each day when the children were showing it to him yesterday afternoon when he joined us for lunch.

 

You can read more about how our family has observed Lent in the past here:

The Lenten Season In Our Catholic Home

Our Lent & Easter Book Baskets

Grant us Lord, the grace to begin the Christian's war of defense with holy fasts: that, as we do battle with the spirts of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial.

Summer 2020 :: The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

During our visit to the East Coast last summer, my brother and I were able to visit the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born United States citizen to be canonized a saint. 

The Stone House is one of the very first houses that St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lived in after arriving in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

 

Unfortunately, we arrived to the Stone House and White House after hours so they were locked but we were able to look in the windows to see the rooms in which St. Elizabeth Ann Seton taught, cooked, went to Mass, and (maybe) died.

 

Some of the pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but here is the chapel. 

We tried to figure out if this is the bed where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton died but there are also rooms upstairs in the White House so we weren't sure. If any of you know which room she passed away in, let me know!

 

In the picture to the right, you may notice a small building in the cemetery. That's the Mortuary Chapel where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's body was eventually placed. Her son, William Seton, was away at sea at the time of her death but when he returned six months later, he had this chapel built in honor of his mother. Her body was then transferred to the chapel's vault until the time of her beatification. 

St. Elizabeth's body is now inside the Shrine's Basilica (we were also not able to enter due to after hours). It was such a blessing to be able to visit this shrine. Having written a paper on St. Elizabeth Ann Seton a few months before this trip, I was so excited to be able to see her home and learn more about her life in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

If you'd like to learn more you can Explore the Shrine and find many Resources on their website. 

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Pray for us!