2 more days!!

2 more days till Christmas! Presents are wrapped, decorations hung, and my new wooden nativity scene is up that Emma made for me.  The nativity is blocks with stamps of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, North Star, Angel, 3 Wise Men, sheep and a shepherd.  Very cute. I love it. I am looking forward to lighting our white candle in the middle of the Advent wreath, and going to mass Christmas morning.  The only thing that is missing are my parents.  This is my first year again without them. I moved away from them sometime ago, but they moved close to me for a few years, and now they moved to Oregon. So, I miss them.  Next year we are going to fly up and spend Christmas with them though. (HOPEFULLY)

O Come O Come Emmanuel

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Full of Grace Contest!!!

Cam has done it again with a beautiful chaplet of St. Therese the Little Flower. 

This section below is from Cam's contest!!  Make sure you go to her BLOG to enter in to the contest...GOOD LUCK!!!




“It is commonly believed that St. Therese grants the sign of a rose to those who practice this devotion during a period of nine to twenty four days, as proof that the petition is granted…

To pray this Rosary, bless yourself and say on the first bead:
St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, Patroness of Missions, pray for us!

On each of the remaining twenty-four beads say the Glory be to the Father in honor of the Blessed Trinity, in thanksgiving for giving the world the Little Saint who lived only twenty four years.

Prayer to Saint Therese:

Saint Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more.

The prayer above, plus five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys and five Glory be to the Fathers, must be said on five successive days before 11 a.m. On the fifth day, when the fifth set of prayers have been completed, offer one more set, five Our Father, five Hail Marys and five Glory be to the Fathers.”

From My Treasury of Chaplets

Now for the rules of the giveaway (they haven’t changed in a while!):

There's no limit to the number of times you can win (in other words, if you've won before you can enter again!)!

You can earn one entry simply for leaving your contract information in the comment section (only once though!).

You can earn one entry (each) if you tell me that you mentioned this giveaway on facebook or twitter!

You can earn three entries when you become a follower (or if you already are a follower!). Just mention it in the comment section (it can be in the same post).

Lastly you can earn five entries if you post the link to your blog post about this giveaway in the comment section!

Entries will be closed Sunday December 26th at noon and the winner will be announced sometime Monday morning!

And my international readers are welcome to enter! We ship internationally!

Good luck and God Bless!

Book of the week!!

I read Holding Heaven last night. It took me about an hour to read the book.  Not many pages, but the content is great. Absolutely beautiful book.  It is about Mary and Joseph, what happend before Jesus's birth, and a few months later according to Joseph.  One night Jesus was stirring and crying, Joseph stayed up late with him, telling him stories about before His birth.  30 years later Jesus is doing the same thing with Joseph when he is on his death bed.  Jesus stays up late with His earthly father.  Joseph asked Jesus what is to become of Him.  And Jesus tells him that He is here to carry out a mission.  And that mission is save the world from their sins, and He will do this knowing that he will be betrayed.

I cried reading this book!! It is a beautiful book, and I absolutely think that everyone should read it.  It gives you an aspect about Jesus and Joseph that I personally didn't know.  This book is based upon scripture, so I am going off of that.

I hope you all read this book, it is a must have.

One more semester

Well, I have one more semester left then I will graduate with my associates degree as a Medical Laboratory Technician.  Next semester I start my clinicals. Pretty exciting, but scary all at the same time. I am looking forward to having a job that I worked hard for.  If that makes any sense.
My husband has 3 more semesters, then he will be finished as well getting the same degree.  I am so proud of him.  It has been hard with him being laid off due to the economy.  The company just recently got sold, so I believe things happen for a reason. He thought now is a good time to go back to school, and do something that is recession proof, like the medical field.  So I went with him. It has been hard work, but well worth it.  We are looking at apartments to move into in various places that I am submitting my resumes to in April. The places that we are looking at is Colorado, Alaska, Wyoming, maybe Montana, or Washington.  Somewhere like that.  I was raised in Alaska for 8 years, so my heart has always been there. I am hoping that we can start our careers up there.  The girls are excited about the possibility of living in Alaska. Which makes it more appealing. I am also looking at Catholic schools in those areas as well.  I really want them to have a better education, and I don't care what I have to do to send them to a Catholic school.  I am just sick of these public schools that are not doing my girls any justice.  They are in a public school now that is okay, but I am just not fond of some the stuff they are shoving down their throats.  These public schools have become so liberal and politically correct that it is just really sad.  For example, renaming Christmas break to "Winter break" so they don't offend anyone!!! REALLY??? Are you kidding me? I want the girls to be surrounded by their faith at school, and to not worry about if they are offending someone by saying their prayers before lunch, or crossing themselves, or learning about Jesus, Mary and all the saints.  Also, getting a wonderful education at the same time. Catholic schools are also stricter, they don't put up with nonsense children misbehaving.  SIGH!!! So looking forward to our new beginning!!

Blueberries and Shopping

Shopping for groceries, or anything during the holidays or on weekends is difficult with children.  It is soo draining on Rob and I when we have the girls with us.  We usually do our shopping during school hours during the day, but we didn't today.  Plus it was busy.  There were free samples of blueberries in the produce section and of course I told the girls that they can have a sample, and Reagan (who is not clumsy at all) dropped her little cup of blueberries, so I told her to go get another.  Low and behold, after putting a blueberry in her mouth, she dropped the cup AGAIN!!!! ARGGGHHH!!!! lol
Poor Reagan, all she wanted was her little cup of blueberries and she couldn't hold on to them for the life of her.

Contest Time with Full of Grace Creations!!!!!!

Okay I can't pass this contest up. This is for the The Chaplet of Immaculate Conception.  Cam makes beautiful rosaries, chaplets, and necklaces.  I have a few of her pieces and you can really see the great care that she puts into every link, bead, and cross.  Just go to her blog and enter. 

I think this is soo beautiful!!!! So enter and good luck!!

Contest Time

Alright, there is another contest going on!!!!! Go to this blog and enter! I love contests, they are soo much fun to enter, even if I don’t win.  This one is from Sachiko for Tea Rose Home, and she is giving away handbags.  They are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! So enter!

Finals Done

Well I got finals done; just have to do a take home test that is due by Monday!!! UGH! Then on January 10^th I start my clinicals!!! W00t!!

Put a fork in me

Seriously, you could put a fork in me and call me done for this semester.  My husband feels the same way.  We are so done with this semester that it is unreal.  I should be studying right now before I jump in the shower to get ready for class, but instead I am writing about studying.  LOL…. Does that count?? Let’s see, Rob and I have a test tomorrow in our MLT class on urinalysis, and then tomorrow night I have another test on chapters 8,9,10 in Chemistry 1151, which is Survey of Chemistry. That class is basically ALLLLL the chemistries rolled into this one class!!!! Oh Vey!! So, that is the homework that I am trying to finish up, for chem.  My homework is online for this class, and it’s due on 12/4. Then on 12/8 for chem. I have FINALS!!!!!!! But wait, before 12/8 in this class, I have a lab final on 12/6.  Are you dizzy as I am with all these dates too??!! I’m not worried about both of MLT classes. So, no sweating it there. Alright off to do some homework before shower.

Full Of Grace Contest

Another BEAUTIFUL Full Of Grace contest!!
It is a freshwater pearl bracelet and it comes with your choice of a miraculous medal or small crucifix.
So enter in and win!!!

The Elf on the Shelf Christmas Training Camp

To another wonderful Thanksgiving

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! My husband and I prepared most of the food the day before. So all we had left to do was the ham and sweet potato casserole. I usually bake a double layer pumpkin pie cheesecake, but hubby said no and for me to relax a little with the baking. I felt weird not making it. It’s always a hit when we have other family members over at my in-laws, but my in-laws went to the mountains in N. Georgia this Thanksgiving.  So I guess I will make it this Christmas. YUUMMMYYY!! Emmaline started the prayer before we ate. It was sweet. Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood, and the girls rode their bikes. Tomorrow Reagan’s best friend will be here to spend the night. She is so excited. And guess what we are having for dinner the next few nights?? THANKSGIVING DINNER!!!!! LOL

Piper

My husband Rob and Piper

Our dog Piper is a weird little creature. We rescued her when she was 4 weeks old from Animal Control.  She is an Affenhuahua, in other words she is part Affenpinscher and Chihuahua.  She looks like a mini Chewbacca or a Ewok. LOL! Well anyways, she likes her food heated, she throws a temper tantrum at night in bed if she can’t get in the middle between Rob and I, she knows exactly when the girls are home from school and gets excited about their arrival, and she refuses to go to bed at night until one of us goes to bed.  Piper loves to be cradled like a baby, and she has the sweetest sighs. Oh did I mention that she usually won’t eat her food until the cat eats? It’s like a competition type deal between them.  I don’t know, it’s strange!! 

Piper

Plans for today

Plans for today:

Go to class

Study some when I get home (finals are coming up)

Make the girl’s beds, clean fresh sheets are ready to be put on

Do some laundry

And study some more!

Saint of the day

St. Clement

St. Clement I of Rome (92-101) was one of the first popes; according to St. Ireneus, he was the third after Peter. Clement most probably died as a martyr. Otherwise little is known of his life. It is not certain whether he is the one Paul mentions as his companion in Phil. 4:3. St. Clement's letter to the Corinthians is authentic; in it he authoritatively intervenes in that strife-torn community, a memorable act in the early history of the papacy.
The breviary gives these legendary details. Because of his zeal for souls, Pope Clement was banished to distant Chersonese; there he found two-thousand Christians who had received a similar sentence. When he came to these exiles he comforted them. "They all cried with one voice: Pray for us, blessed Clement, that we may become worthy of the promises of Christ. He replied: Without any merit of my own, the Lord sent me to you to share in your crowns." When they complained because they had to carry the water six miles, he encouraged them, "Let us all pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that He may open to His witnesses a fountain of water." "While blessed Clement was praying, the Lamb of God appeared to him; and at His feet a bubbling fountain of fresh water was flowing." Seeing the miracle, "All the pagans of the neighborhood began to believe."
When Trajan heard of these marvels, he ordered Clement to be drowned with an iron anchor about his neck. "While he was making his way to the sea, the people cried with a loud voice: Lord Jesus Christ, save him! But Clement prayed in tears: Father, receive my spirit." At the shore the Christians asked God to give them the body. The sea receded for three miles and there they found the body of the saint in a stone coffin within a small marble chapel; alongside lay the anchor. "You have given a dwelling to Your martyr Clement in the sea, O Lord, a temple of marble built by the hands of angels." The body was taken to Rome under Nicholas 1 (858-867) by Sts. Cyril and Methodius and placed in a church dedicated to his honor (S. Clemente). This is one of the most venerable of the churches in Rome because it retains all the liturgical arrangements of ancient times.
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.
Patron: Boatmen; marble workers; mariners; sailors; sick children; stonecutters; watermen.
Symbols: Double or triple cross; tiara; fountain; anchor; maniple; marble temple in the sea; cross and anchor; nimbed lamb.

Taken from: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2010-11-23

Advent

Okay so I have been thinking about this coming Sunday.  Advent.  This will be mine and the girls first year celebrating Advent as Catholics.  Even though hubby is not Catholic, he is extremely supportive for us. 

For those that don't know what Advent is, it is derived from Latin word meaning coming. The Lord is Coming.

St. Nicholas

I was looking at what other Catholics do during Advent in the forums that I frequent a lot.  And I love the St. Nicholas one where on December 6th (St. Nicholas feast day) I will have the girls put their shoes outside on the porch, and then St. Nicholas will put gold chocolate coins in their shoes. I think I will also tell them about St. Nicholas as well. 

I also have to get the Advent wreath down from the attic this week and place it on the table with the 4 candles in it. We will say a prayer each Sunday as we light the candles.  I found a neat site containing blessings and prayers during Advent.  Catholic Mom has some wonderful ideas as well for Advent that I am going to do with the girls.

I would also like to have a Jesse tree, but will not this year. Next year we WILL!!! Or maybe we can make one this year.  Hmmmmm.

Full Of Grace Contest

Cam is having another contest for this week.  I am not going to sign up because I won 2 weeks in a row and I feel bad about it.  I'm afraid of winning again. LOL
But here it is a beautiful single decade rosary.

I Fly Unto Thee: Christmas Parade

I Fly Unto Thee: Christmas Parade: "Emmaline with her troop during parade escorting Santa Claus in. After the parade, cheesing it up!!"

Christmas Parade

Emmaline with her troop during parade escorting Santa Claus in.

After the parade, cheesing it up!!

Saint of the Day

St. Edmund Rich - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Feastday: November 20
1242

Archbishop of Canterbury England, who battled for discipline and justice, also called Edmund of Abingdon. Born in Abingdon, on November 30, 1180. he studied at Oxford, England, and in Paris, France. He taught art and mathematics at Oxford and was ordained. He spent eight years teaching theology and became Canon and treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral. An eloquent speaker, Edmund preached a crusade for Pope Gregory IX and was named archbishop of Canterbury. He became an advisor to King Henry III and presided in 1237 at Henry’s ratification of the Great Charter. When Cardinal Olt became a papal legate with the patronage of King Henry, Edmund protested. A long-lasting feud between Edmund, the king, and his legate led him to resigning his see in 1240. He went to Pontigny, France, where he became a Cistercian. He died at Soissons, on November 16. Edmund was canonized in 1246 or 1247. A hall in Oxford bears his name.

Baby Fix

I am getting my baby fix at this moment.  Isabella is here for a few hours while their parents have adult time, they went to see Harry Potter and to have dinner.  Isabella is 7 months old and just as sweet as can be.  She has been sooooo good.  Emmaline enjoyed playing with her, she also helped me change her diaper and sing songs to her.  I think Emmaline got a little jealous too.  She had a hard time understanding why I was giving kisses to Isabella.  So she cuddled up with her daddy for a while, while I played with Isabella and kept her entertained.

Isabella LOVES Jon Stewart.  We never allow that show in our house, but her daddy watches that show, so Rob and I turned it to Jon Stewart and Isabella quickly looked up and smiled sooo big!

That picture is kinda hard to see but she is watching Jon Stewart.  Poor kid, Aunt Wanda is going to have to teach her right, and show her Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity!!! We have to teach her about conservatism. LOL!!

Birth or Not

I was reading another blog and came across this horrible news.  There is a couple, that is pregnant and they posted a poll on whether or not to have this baby! What kind of monsters would place a poll on their baby's life?? There are so many couples that cannot get pregnant, and this couple is dangling their child's life on a thread. What is wrong with adoption? Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Here is the first paragraph of the article:
Demonstrating a remarkable callousness toward the dignity of the human person, a Minneapolis couple has decided to let a website vote determine whether they should give birth to, or abort their unborn child.

For crying out loud, these people nicknamed their baby "wiggles".  The "mother" says that she is selfish and that she doesn't want to give that up. Ummmm....maybe they should of been more careful not to get pregnant, like maybe charting and not have sex on her fertile days.  
This is what she said

“I’m not convinced that I want to change the status quo,” she wrote on her site. “I feel that as I age, I’ve actually gotten more selfish and set in my ways. I fear that the constant pressure to be the perfect wife and mother while maintaining a full-time job will eventually cause my brain to implode and lead to a nervous breakdown.”

Please go to their website and vote for them to keep the baby, here is the link, since they are basing this child's life on a poll. 

Site of the Week

I have been thinking about covering, so Cammie from another blog suggested this site to me Garlands of Grace.  Their head coverings are beautiful, but simple enough to where i don't draw attention to myself. I like a few of them actually.

It's a pumpkin stretch lace one.

And delicately beaded headband.

I wish I could just post the pictures here so it will be easier to see.

Sooooo....

So I had Thanksgiving lunch with my youngest daughter Emmaline yesterday at her school.  Rob couldn't make it, he had to stay at school to learn how to do urinalysis.  :) I get to her school, paid for my lunch and waited for her class to meet me in front of the cafeteria. As I was waiting, I was watching the other little children with their parents, grandparents, etc. Some didn't want to let go, and were sad that it was time to say good-bye for a few hours till school let out. I also saw some children that didn't have parents or grandparents show up.  I felt sad for them.  Maybe their mom or dad had to work or what not. I wasn't able to go today to eat Thanksgiving lunch with Reagan, my oldest daughter, but Rob went and her Papa were there.  But I did go see her in her classroom after I was done eating lunch with Emmaline.

Well, Em's class finally came, and she was soo happy to see me.  I gave her a huge hug, and a kiss.  I love getting hugs from my girls, their hugs are so warm and cozy. We go through the line to get our trays. They served mystery meat turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans and a yam.  It was pretty good for cafeteria food. I talked with her friend and her friends mother that were sitting across from us.  Her dad wasn't there because he is an Kuwait. They are a Navy family. It was really nice talking to them.

I really enjoyed yesterday with Em during lunch and seeing Reagan for a few minutes in her class. I was sad that I couldn't make it today for Reagan. But at least her daddy and Papa were there.  Em didn't want to let me go when it was time for her to go back to class, she kept saying "One more hug mommy!" Made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

This morning when I was hugging the girls as they were leaving to go to their bus stop, Reagan said "Mommy your hugs are so warm, give me another hug!" They both hugged me a good 3-4 times before they finally went off to their bus stop. Sweet girls I have.

Saint of the day

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, Virgin (Feast day - November 18) Born in Grenoble, France, in 1769, Rose joined the Society of the Sacred Heart. In 1818, when she was forty-nine years old, Rose was sent to the United States. She founded a boarding school for daughters of pioneers near St. Louis and opened the first free school west of the Missouri. At the age of seventy-one, she began a school for Indians, who soon came to call her "the woman who is always praying". Her biographers have also stressed her courage in frontier conditions, her singlemindedness in pursuing her dream of serving Native Americans, and her self-acceptance. This holy servant of God was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1940 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.

Hackers

Found out today that one of my accounts have been hacked into.  Sooooooo....time to change all passwords.  They should definitely be changed often.  But it makes me so mad that someone actually hacked into one of my accounts. Don't these people have better things to do then to mess with people???

So instead of passwords you should create pass-phrases, and they should be at LEAST 15 characters long. 

See Me, Feel Me

TSA!!! When is enough, enough??

Okay, so I came across this piece of news this morning, and I am thinking, when is enough, enough??
I mean come on now, this is getting out of hand with TSA.  You can pat me down if needed but you will not touch my children.

I am graduating from college soon, and will be putting my resume out there across the western states. And I am dreading flying now, because TSA has just gotten out of hand.

Maybe they should take tips from Isreal

Surprising and Historic Vote: Archbishop Timothy Dolan Elected as President of United States Bishops Conference - U.s. - Catholic Online

Surprising and Historic Vote: Archbishop Timothy Dolan Elected as President of United States Bishops Conference - U.s. - Catholic Online

very nice

Another contest!!!!

Here is another contest that another blogger is doing!!!

It's for the freshwater pearl necklace.

Good luck to you all!

Her work is beautiful

Contest

Here is a link for a contest that is going on at another blog.  I love this blog. 

Here is the link to the contest.  Enter in for a chance to win a hand made Amethyst Sacrifice Beads.

http://awomansplaceis.blogspot.com/2010/11/full-of-grace-creations-monday-morning_4815.html

Rosaries

I absolutely love rosaries.  I think they are beautiful to pray on, beautiful to look at and beautiful to hold.  There is just something about them.  I get a sense of peace when praying the rosary.  You could say that I have a little collection of them.  I have plastic, wire wrapped, and just other regular rosaries.  My youngest daughter Emmaline has a scented one that smells like roses.  She loves it.  My oldest daughter Reagan has a blue one.  Blue is her favorite color.  I love going to different websites and looking at homemade rosaries.  You can really see the love, and the hard work that was put into each one.  Those are my favorite.  I am already looking at one that I would like to get for Christmas. 

This is one of them that I am looking at.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/48795522/rainbow-moonstone-5-decade-rosary?ref=v1_other_1

There are a few others that I am eyeballing of course.  

We will see.