liturgical living // How Sweet is the Way of Love!

Alrighhhttt.... SO. Our Feast of the Archangels was good! It was a grace-filled day and good. The day after was rough. Hidden graces that I have no awareness of whatsoever may have been hanging around but I spied nada. 

It's funny how that can happen sometimes. Admittedly, I felt pretty defeated yesterday, while I was riding a fluffy cloud of blackberry cobbler with those wonderful Archangels all through just the night before!

But, it happens!

At the end of the day, I couldn't be more thankful for sweet St. Therese on the rougher of days. She brings simplicity back to my rambled mess of a brain and heart. She redirects me and tells me it's all going to be okay.

"...how sweet is the way of love! No doubt, we are liable to fall, to fail in constancy, but love knows how to draw profit from everything. It quickly consumes anything that may be displeasing to Jesus, leaving only a humble and profound peace at the bottom of our heart."

-St.Therese of Lisieux

See what she did there? Simple. The way of love! So beautiful and so simple. Reminding us that we are sure to fall and fail in constancy (I can assure you both of these things happened yesterday!). Reminding me that in light of the love I have in my heart for my family and for my Lord, profit can and will be drawn.

But she doesn't just stop there!

That bit on humility - pretty sure I was chewing on a large slice of humble cobbler last night and will continue to do so all day today too. Pretty sure! And all for good reason! All to keep perspective. All to redirect my heart to home and to begin again today.

Sweetly and simply moving forward - erring on the side of love. The place where He meets our efforts and makes them good again.

Oh, dear St. Therese. I heart you tons!

So, in light of her loveliness and ability to always give me needed perspective on a good or bad day I'll be making a sweet dessert to celebrate her feast later this evening. I'm thinking a simple and little one-layer white cake with some white frosting for her purity and goodness topped with strawberries. The plan is to try to form a rose with the yummy red fruit. I'll let you know how that turns out!

On that note, what will you be doing to celebrate this lovely saint? Remember, no small gesture is too small for this beautiful friend of ours!

liturgical living // feast of the archangels

"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels."

-Saint Augustine

Happy Feast of the Archangels! We celebrated today, with an emphasis on St. Michael only because my boys are just all about battles, dragons, and warriors right now.

I'm going to share our day in photos with little tidbits throughout. Overall, it was such a good day! The boys loved celebrating and being able to participate in the makings of today. We did some crafting, ate some yummy food, read some good books, and as you can imagine, had random battling throughout the day.

Enjoy and pray your day has been blessed and filled with goodness!

Not-a-morning-person's breakfast guide for the Feast of Michaelmas:

Apparently you can do a lot with scrambled eggs, some bacon, toast with royal purple jelly, and honey!

Not-much-of-a-crafter's guide to St. Michael armor and shield:

The boys painted some paper plates a few days ago with water paint. I pulled out a few pipe cleaners and tape to put it all together and Voila!

Armor for days!

The boys played battle for a short while which quickly turned to battle in the form of sports and exploration of nature.

They had fun though.

Oh! And we found a flower! Pretty sure this little beauty is the only flower on our entire property (Haha. Like it's a big property..but still! We have no pretties around!). I really need to figure out how to turn my black thumb, green!

A luminary for St. Michael - Craft numero dos:

 The boys were pretty excited about played with glue and for being able to make our table decor for feast!

 I have to admit, the teamwork made my heart happy and I think it made theirs happy too.

THE FEAST:

Dinner Menu:

 (a la traditions and sweet Haley over at Carrots for Michaelmas)

Roasted Chicken

Roasted Carrots with Thyme

(+ potatoes and onion)

Toast

Blackberry Cobbler

 The boys made the cobbler and were so so so proud.

 Mama made all the roasted stuff.

 But the cobbler. Oh, that cobbler! So delicious!

Our table decor was fantastic and the boys were pretty proud about this too! So thankful to Mary for giving me the idea to pull this little craft together last minute!

 Would you look at this dessert! Pioneer Woman never fails! Also, only five ingredients!

Ending the night on a note that tasted so divine was just great! 

The boys and our whole little family really enjoyed celebrating the Feast of Archangels (with an emphasis on St. Michael, for today). And, now that we celebrated two years in a row, it's a thing! Woohoo! Color me excited! Can't wait for next year!

I'm thinking we'll be able to learn more about St. Raphael and bring him into the feasting more or perhaps just solely focus on St. Raphael and St. Gabriel since I think cognitively the boys will be able to grasp their stories better. We shall see!

St. Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle. 
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. 
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, 
and do thou, 
O Prince of the heavenly hosts, 
by the power of God, 
thrust into hell Satan, 
and all the evil spirits, 
who prowl about the world 
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

For any and all explanations of foods chosen to celebrate this feast, head over to Haley's! She does a lovely job of sharing the history, traditions, and fun of old!

Our Little Feast for Saint Nicholas

We started celebrating Feast days more intentionally last year. It has been such a gift to see the beauty our Faith has to offer throughout the year. I love how we pay mind to the sorrow as well as the joy, His death and His resurrection. Times for prayer, preparation, and waiting, as well as celebration and feasting.

It's been a year that has shown me that in diving into what our Faith has to offer, I've been able to grow more and more easily share our Faith with the boys. The Liturgical year keeps me/us mindful. If I didn't have this little guide, I'm pretty sure I'd be all over the place more than I already am!

Here's a quick synopsis of the wonderful saint we celebrated and a little of what he's known for.

As Bishop of Myra, Nicholas lived the qualities that caused his fame and popularity to spread throughout the Christian world. His vigorous actions on behalf of his people and in defense of the Christian faith reveal a man who lived his convictions. Nicholas was not timid—he did what was necessary and was not easily intimidated by others' power and position. His concern for the welfare of his flock and his stand for orthodox belief earned him respect as a model for bishops and a defender of the faith. 

source: St. Nicholas Center

St. Nicholas was not only an amazing defender of the faith but also a very generous man. He lost his parents at a young age and in turn obtained a great wealth. A wealth he insisted to give to all who needed. The story goes that St. Nicholas found out about a poor man who's daughters were condemned to prostitution if he was not able to pay their way out. In hopes to remain anonymous, St. Nicholas would drop bags of money through their open window. Some say the dowries landed in their shoes. The dowries allowed the women to marry rather than go into prostitution and stories of St. Nicholas' kindness continued and spread.

Now onto what our day of feasting and celebrating looked like.

St. Nicholas Eve: Husband and I wrapped a couple books for the boys and set them by some new house shoes we got for them.

I have been working on these sweet little gifts for our boys this last week. I got the idea from the lovely Lisa over at Catholic Missionary Family and decided I couldn't wait to get started on our own little collection of wooden saint dolls. Little wooden figures that have real-life adventure stories of heroism for our Faith. So exciting!

I stayed up way later than I should have but I just love how they turned out and honestly can't wait to make more!

St. Nicholmas Morning: Per Mary over at Domestic Apologist, I've been slipping some leftover candy corn into the pocket of the correct date each day. They boys now check this calendar all. day. long. for more candy corn!

 This is what they woke up to. Two books, house shoes, and wooden saint dolls.

I did Patron Saints (St. Joseph the worker and St. John the Evangalist), St. Nicholas, and Holy Mary Mother of God, because Christmas. ;)

 They were pretty excited and have been enjoying them since. So much so, they tend to fight over them. *womp womp*

Either way, I love how we can play with these little saints meanwhile continue learning about Jesus and how much these wonderful men and women who have gone before us loved and fought for Him!

Love this shot of the boys in their little house shoes! Linus absolutely loves his new shoes whereas Bigfoot just isn't interested. They slow him down from cheetah speed and anything that does that apparently does not make it onto his feet. My whole plan of slowing the little one who loves to run his little heart out inside our home that is not running-friendly so far isn't working. The little man hasn't been wearing the very shoes that would help him chill out in the indoor running department. Of course!

 They liked their books. Or at least they will. We got a classic and a St. Nicholas book.

I will say these boys were in a mood that morning. Or rather, my oldest was in a mood that he shared with his younger brother. At the end of it all, there's only so much we can do. Right?

I'm just glad that, after all the fussiness and moodiness, he told me he had fun and loved his new little wooden saint dolls (especially St. Nicholas, the one they've been fighting over). That made it all better as well as Dwija's post sharing about how all the fuss over instilling family traditions and feasts while the kids were little has grown into a beautiful family rhythm as the kids have gotten older.

Take away: Keep on keeping on in love.

St. Nicholmas Breakfast: 

Menu

Bishop canes and gold coins pancakes

Bacon canes

St. Nicholmas' beard eggs

Bigfoot kept asking me what the eggs were called since the other two pieces of our meal had a name. I just threw out St. Nicholas eggs. After thinking about it, I suppose it can be representative of his big white beard? Maybe?

While Linus was just happy to have pancakes and mooo up (signing Please)! Translation: More Syrup, please!!

St. Nicholmas Dinner and Evening:
We met up with some good friends that we haven't seen in what feels like forever. You know you really miss a family when you get back in your car after eating dinner with them and sighing to your husband while saying, Gosh, I really missed them!

We feasted together with them and their three daughters, who the boys adore, at a nearby burger joint that is awesome! Then went to Santa's Village. A ton of decorated houses, trees, and paths all for the kiddos to explore mixed with a lot of photo ops that I did not take advantage of because it was cold.

I tell you what though, it. was. packed! The boys weren't too crazy about the crowds (especially my oldest) much less the costumed characters. 

 So we left after visiting three little houses to go to a nearby ice cream place. Ice cream for all to finish our feast day was perfect.

 Despite the fussy, the moods, and the crowds, we had such a good day! I loved being able to make the little wooden saint dolls for my boys and love that they've been enjoying them since. In fact, you can expect a whole little post on those little dolls that have been a sort of prayer for me during my evenings.

So thankful for Feast days, for saints who help us to know and love God more, and for my little family that I get to celebrate it all with. Also, so thankful that we got to share a feast day with friends. Feasting with friends and family is just so much more fun! 

What fun did you have on St. Nicholas' Feast day? What fun stories and/or special traditions do you and your family have?

finding beauty // web hugs, mama-tography, and lipstick

This post is going to be a hodgepodge of life lately. Here we go!

Last week, the amazing Bonnie at A Knotted Life and Nell over at Whole Parenting Family mentioned my little blog on their blogs. I woke up and saw my stats abnormally high and felt like a little blogger turned superstar for a day. It was exciting to get those little shout outs and very humbling!

This blogging community has been such a gift of encouragement, mama-support, and fellowship that I never anticipated. So many wonderful new friends that I'm so very thankful for! Years ago I blogged so that extended family as well as friends near and far could keep up with our little growing family and I couldn't be more thankful that I did. So many gifts have come from it. So many blessings and friendships!

Continuing on with wonderful blog friends, Aimee at This Darling Day has shared a couple of my photos and has made me feel kinda awesome! I've been working on taking more pictures that capture what my heart sees. Her choosing some of my photos to share on her blog has been so affirming and makes me feel like I'm improving!

Outside validation not only on my little blog space but also on my photography has really just made my month! Thank you all so very much for being so encouraging.

On that note, these are going to be my photos for the Finding Beauty Friday link-up. It's a couple favorites from our visit to the pumpkin farm.

And one from Halloween.

I treasure this photo because I know my boys won't always look to hold my hand. Right now, they're so sweet about it. Holding his precious little hand makes me happy. I love walking along with them. Moments I want to hold on to. Thankfully, we have cameras nowadays to snap so that we can keep and treasure these moments forever.

Have any beauty finds that you've snapped lately? You should join in on the fun!

Moving on to a little update. My back is doing worlds better than it was last month. I went from having 75% limited mobility (even after all the medication and shot procedure) to having 10% limited mobility. How amazing is that?!! I haven't taken medication in weeks and overall am functioning better with day-to-day duties. Thanks be to God.

I have another shot (Last one for forever, hopefully!) scheduled for next week and physical therapy has been going really well. I''m so ready to put this all behind us and God-willingly not have to deal with this severe of a scenario again until I'm 80!

So, thank you everyone for your prayers and for those who have asked me how I'm doing. I'm doing very well and couldn't be more grateful!

St. Gemma Galgani, thank you for your continued prayers.

Okay, now onto something amazing! I won two giveaways in one day! What? So crazy! Sarah from Two O's plus More had a giveaway for a St. Nicholas DVD for kids and Christy from Fountains of Home had a giveaway for SoulCore, a workout that involves praying the rosary. I am so excited about both of these! Thank you both so much for that!

And, lastly, I found a red lipstick! Oh my goodness! I think the last time I purchased a lipstick was back in high school. And, that's a maybe! I've always done glosses (even on my wedding day). It's just how it's been. Lip gloss for my big lips and slight tints to go with my skin color.

With some encouragement from Jacqui and Jenna, I was able to find one while out with a good friend. In fact, my friend had this lovely number in her possession and thought that I should try it. Tried it I did and felt so pretty, classic, and all kinds of fancy! 

Cider Berry by Clinique

After finding this lipstick I think everyone should find their red! Let me know if you do! Or if you already have one that you love! I'd love to know about it. Like I said, I've never been a huge lipstick person. I've, for the most part, always kept it pretty plain and simple. I love how I now have this lovely color that doesn't make me look scandalous nor like I'm trying to hard. It just is. I feel like I'm putting on high heels for the day (Rarely do that ever too!) that just fit.

Thanks so much for stopping by! What have y'all been up to these last weeks? Fun All Hallow's Eve? All Saint's Day? Pumpkin farms? Kid crazies? Funny kid words or to-dos? Share in the combox! :)

Linking-up with Jen for 7 Quick-Takes and Aimee for Finding Beauty Friday. Thanks ladies for doing what you do!

Happiness. Lately. October Love.

October has come and gone. Sweet, sweet October, how I love you! 

It was a good month for us. Even though I had some crazy back problems starting late August, I feel like October is the month that I started feeling like I was going to be okay. I've been more agile and able to do more with the boys which has been such a blessing to our day-to-day as well as my sanity! 

October was filled with family and friends. Lots of love, good health, and so much fun. Crafts and feasts that just make my heart swell! October, you were so good. Thank you.

For starters we had the Feast of the Archangels and Guardian Angels.

We had some glorious outdoor time. The weather has been amazing!

Bigfoot and Linus have enjoyed having lots of fun Daddy time.

And this mama has been putting on her crafty-pants a. lot.

Evening softball games were out of this world for the boys! And, I loved watching my hubby play!

Feast, feasting, and more feasting! The kitchen and I have been getting along very well this past month!

Grumpy funny faces.

More crafty pants.

Sweetness.

Mixed in with tidbits of mama-fashion.

We celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Borgia. It was lovely and delicious and perfect for a meatless Friday meal! Do check out this awesome Spanish saint when you get a chance!

Crafty in the home decor department continued. I tell you what. I didn't mess around this October in this department. Very unusual for me, but I'll take it :)

We went to the ZOO!! I heart all things zoo for so many reasons.

This one below is definitely one of them. Those crazy beautiful animals just love to surprise you!

We had our annual Family Bible Study trip and it was amazing!

Loved every moment!

Seriously.

Every moment.

These boys have just been growing into their brotherhood and it's all sorts of beautiful.

Bigfoot has taken to reading to Linus. There have been so many moments!

 Mass has been a little rough. Most Sundays one of us is out in the narthex with the little munchkin on the right. But, they sure are cute, adorable, and all things God-made.

 We made cards for Priesthood Sunday. So glad we did that!

 Celebrated All Hallow's Eve with chef St. Pascual and his Kitchen Angels.

 And, St. George's dragon may have made an appearance too.

 The boys loved it.

And, we love them. 

October, thank you for being so wonderful! 

What happiness did October bring you? Or, what do you love and miss already about October and it's awesomeness?

Linking-up with Theresa from Ordinary Lovely and Jenna for tl;dr. And special thanks to Haley at Carrots for Michaelmas for helping us celebrate the liturgical year with deliciousness!