St. Joseph Pray for Us

Rob and I put a bid on a house this weekend. Rob is on his way, at this very moment, to deliver the earnest money to the real estate agency.

Looking at houses has been fun but actually spending the money to buy one is a whole other ballgame.

Pray and breathe. Pray and breathe.

Love in the Little Things

The best advice I ever got from an editor was not to be too heavy handed with the message in my writing. He taught me to just simply tell my story and let the reader find the moral on his own. It was excellent advice I try to remember to this day, many years later.

That editor was Mike Aquilina and he follows his own advice, as you can see from my amazon.com review of his book Love in the Little Things. (If you find my review or other reviews helpful, make sure to click the little helpful button.)

Blessed Toys

I received the following email this morning and thought some of you may be interested:

Could you forward this to your homeschool families? I am a homeschool Mom from Chaplet, South Jersey, Jennifer Racancoj:

Hi, everyone! I started selling Blessed Toys. I bought some for my children also. They are really neat!

You can buy Mary and Jesus, St. Paul, St. Peter, David and Goliath. Samson, Noah, and Moses for the boys. They have a toy nativity set to play with during Advent and a really cute teddy bear that sings "Jesus loves me...the Bible tells me so"

The Messenger of Faith dolls tell their biography and recite Bible verses. Jesus, Mary, and Esther are beautiful dolls and so are Leah, Elizabeth and Abigail. They are called Proverb 31 dolls (tells about a good wife being a blessing). They dress modestly and bring the children closer to God and help bring God and virtue into their imaginations.

If you are interested in buying any or looking at them, please go to my website at www.blessedtoys.com/members/jenmary (if you are ordering, please make sure you are on the website with the "members/jenmary" at the end so I get credit for the sale.) If you click on Contact Me, my email for the business comes up jenmary@blessedtoys.com. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

I really want to spread these toys around because we need to help children to think holy and play holy!

Thank You

The children and I are back home in Michigan, safe and sound. Rob will fly home in a few days so that he may spend a little more time with his dad.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and kind notes of condolences. They lifted us up and carried us through a difficult week.

Continued Prayers Please

Thank you for your prayers. Rob was at his mother's side when she passed away earlier this evening. Her long battle with Parkinson's Disease has come to an end.

The kids and I will leave for St. Louis first thing in the morning. Your continued prayers are much appreciated.

Super Boy (5-years old) put it all in perspective for us when he said, "Grandma didn't die. She went to live with Jesus."

Which Byzantine Ruler Are You?

I had a little fun with this quiz . . .

You’re Eudoxia!

This strong-willed Frankish lady, from a military family, rose to an imperial marriage thanks to the machinations of a eunuch named Eutropius. Eudoxia eventually soured on her benefactor and had him condemned to death. St. John Chrysostom, the patriarch of Constantinople — who was himself no great fan of Eutropius — protested and pleaded for the eunuch’s life. Eudoxia found this annoying, and she took offense at the patriarch’s homiletic assaults on her use of makeup and her habit of erecting monuments in her own honor. She sentenced him to two increasingly arduous exiles, from whose hardships he died. Eudoxia herself died shortly afterward, still quite young.

Find out which Byzantine ruler you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Note: To find out my true Byzantine identity, click on the comments.

"That Ride Scrambled Me!"

If you take your 5-year old to the fair and he begs to ride the Scrambler, don't give in. He may just get off, stagger over to the midway, and promptly throw up.

Just in case you were wondering.

(Said boy pictured here after his mother got a clue and confined him to Kiddie Land.)

From White Ribbons to Gold Medals

The shooting sports awards were Tuesday and the kids came home with loads of medals and ribbons. Teen Son, Teen Daughter One, Teen Daughter Two, and Buster all made their parents proud. Watching Teen Son pick up his gold medals, I couldn't help but reflect on our first 4-H archery competition.

Six years ago we decided to try archery as a family sport. We began in April, meeting every Monday with our 4-H club, using borrowed equipment, through the middle of June.

I'll never forget sitting in my lawn chair watching the kids at that first 4-H competition. Teen Son, then an 11-year-old boy, completely missed the target with his first six arrows. I buried my face in my hands and prayed, "Please Lord, don't let him end up with a zero. Please, help him hit the target. Please!" Most of the next 54 arrows at least hit the target. His end score was dismally low, but it wasn't a zero.

At the award ceremony two weeks later, my son picked up his white ribbon ("C" award) and I assumed that was the end of archery. I thought he would be so discouraged that there wouldn't be enough enthusiasm to continue the sport when spring came around again.

I couldn't have been more wrong. We went home and TS set up a target in the backyard and began to practice. When spring came around, he not only practiced at the coach's house on Mondays, but throughout the week at home. That year, TS came home with a blue ribbon.

In years to come, gold and silver medals would become the norm and he would compete in archery at the national level. He came to enjoy other shooting sports and this year found himself the national 4-H champion in muzzleloading.

I share all this with you, not so much to brag but to encourage the kids who read this blog. Champions aren't born, they're made. They're made of persistance. If, at first, you don't succeed, try, try again. Champions don't win every competition (even Tiger Woods has a bad day now and then). They're different from others because they put those losses behind them and get right back to practicing. So, if you have a dream and you experience setbacks, don't give up. Try, try again.

Prayer Rquest Update

Rob will soon be leaving from Detroit to head to St. Louis to be with his mom (Mary). Continued prayers for Mary as well as for Rob's safe travel are greatly appreciated. I'm not sure yet when the kids and I will join him.

Prayers Please

Please offer up prayers for Rob's mom, Mary. She's in hospice care and had a particularly rough time last night. We're asking for many prayers, especially today. Thank you.

Friends at the Art Fair

Here I am with famed author Nancy Brown, along with some of my kids, a couple of Linda B's kids, and Nancy's kids at the art fair a couple of weeks ago. It was such a fun day!

The Kid's Library Thing

I stayed up far too late last night working on the Kid's Library Thing. It is far from finished, but I hope that when it's done it'll be a helpful resource to other Catholic homeschoolers, especially newbies. My plan is to have all of the books tagged and reviewed, plus I still have about 500 books to enter. Might be a while! And definitely not today -- we're off to the fair.

Catholic Mom: Ideas for Preschool Science and Math

My monthly column at Catholic Mom is up. In fact, it's probably been up for a while and I just missed it. It's been a crazy summer!

Some homeschoolers prefer a structured curriculum for preschool and kindergarten. Me? I prefer to hold off on formal academics until first grade.

The County Fair

It's officially fair week. We spent our weekend turning in fair projects. Craft, cooking, and food preservation projects were all entered and we already have some results. Lots of blue ribbons, a red ribbon or two, and Best of Shows for Teen Daughter One's salsa and for Teen Daughter Two's bread. Teen Son wasn't able to turn in his writing projects (due two weeks ago) because of our computer problems. He was cool with it though -- it gave someone else a chance to win the Judge's Choice Award for a change this year.

Things will be a little more easy going this year as we don't have sheep to show, but it's still set to be a busy week. We have 4-H volunteer jobs, shooting sports awards, rides to ride, and fair food to consume.

Talking Harry

If you've finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, then head over to John Granger's website for some great conversation!

BTW -- Has anyone read Granger's book Unlocking Harry Potter? I put in a request to my library to purchase it, but haven't heard back from them yet.

It's a Contest!

Lisa from http://www.catholicmom.com/ writes:

I wanted to ask your assistance in spreading the word about a contest I'm running this month at CatholicMom.com. Broadway Books, publisher of The Book of Jane, has generously donated several copies of the book for me to use as giveaways. To enter, readers just need to drop me an email with "The Book of Jane Contest" in the subject line. While not written by Catholic authors, this book is squeaky clean, lots of fun and has a great message. If I get a good response to this giveaway, I hope that I will be able to offer other contests like this in the future! Please help me by spreading the word on your blogs and sites. Readers can learn more about the book and read my interview with the authors at http://www.catholicmom.com/br_dayton.htm

I haven't heard of this book, but I'll take Lisa's word for it that it's good. Anyone else read it yet?

He's Home!

My brother-in-law Tom is home from the Persian Gulf, much to the relief of my sister and their children and the rest of us! Now, they just have to move their lives from California to Chicago, where the Navy has decided to send him for graduate studies. I'm so glad they'll be closer to us and we'll actually get to visit now and then. Thanks for prayers offered up!

Afternoon Tea With J. K. Rowling

I promised to refrain from discussing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for a week or two, but I'd just like to say something about the author. She must be an incredibly interesting woman. I would love an afternoon to visit with her, just chatting like girlfriends around the kitchen table. Forget polite topics such as the state of the weather, I'd want to talk about religion and politics. It would be, I'm sure, a most enjoyable afternoon.

I'm Baaack

Whew, I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now I can get on the Internet and read the newspaper again. I know it sounds silly, but I didn't want any sniff of a spoiler before I finished reading. So, in case you're still reading it or planning to in the near future, I'll refrain from commenting on it for a week or two.

Art Shows and Famous Photographers/Authors

I got to hang out all day today at the Ann Arbor Art Show with a gang of teenagers. It is a great show taking up blocks upon city block filled with artists of all kinds. And, yes, it was pretty kid friendly.

The best part was that we spent the day with famed author Nancy Brown and her award-winning photographer husband Mike Brown. Mike had a booth at the fair and he easily had some of the coolest stuff there. His 3-D photography is really neat.

If you like to purchase gorgeous art for your home or office, check out Mike's website. If you would like to share some beautiful photographs with the kids, check out Mike's blog.