Parting Words

Okay!!! I know it's not Easter yet...but I just finished up some virtual house-keeping! So I wanted to pop-in and say Hi to all of you before tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) comes!!

My blog got a face-lift thanks to the folks at the cutest blog on the block! I'm so HTML clueless!! And even though I liked my blog before with the 3 columns I wanted something with a little bit more of a spring-ish colors!! After all it will be April when I come back!! So now thanks to the cutest blog on the block, I can spice up my blog time to time and give it different back-grounds as the season or mood strikes me. I was able to ask them at cutest blog on the block to help me with the HTML coding (getting 3 columns). So Judy there is hope!!

Oh and I want to thank all of you for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers! Well this concludes my virtual house keeping! I will (virtually) see you all on Easter Monday!

God Bless,
SAHMinIL

Vacations: Lenten Retreats

I've given this a LOT of thought! It isn't easy seeing I will admit I have a little bit of an internet addiction. I've been praying and hoping that this blog (along with my others) would be an inspiration to other. I have for the last few months read articles on how to build readers, followers, how to get visitors to your site.

I have networked my site with others and after MONTHS of working, praying, and me just being me I'm finally starting to see traffic to my sites, I'm getting readers and followers. The traffic/followers may be small right now, but I'm thankful for each and everyone of you: Thank-you to all those that have chosen to be a reader and/or follower of my sites.

It is because of you, my followers/readers, that this decision has been even harder for me. I don't want to loose you, because I LOVE having you here, but yet I feel that this is something that I MUST do. I sincerely hope that you will understand all of this and will be willing to wait for my return.

Lent is a time for conversion. A time to turn closer to Christ! This conversion is suppose to be life changing! For most Catholic-Christians this desire for conversion is expressed by making a sacrifice; by given something up. I have chosen to make my PC time my Lenten sacrifice. This is not because it is a sin to be on the PC, but because as a homeschooling mother I think that this would be a better way for me to reconnect with God. I feel like if I'm not spending my time here on the PC then I could spend it more in prayer, doing more scripture and spiritual readings.

These are things that I should be doing anyways, but feel as if I don't have time for them. I feel as if I don't have time for prayer. I feel as if I don't have time to sit and cuddle up with a book, I feel as I just don't have enough time for those things. sigh--Time! Time! Time! I wish there was just MORE time during the day!

I'm sure most of you understand this need for MORE time. However there is no magic wand, we are not Samantha or Jennie. We can't twitch our noses or nod our heads to either to make more or freeze time. However, what I can do is spend my limited time differently. I've decided that spending my time differently is exactly what I will do. I've decided to take a vacation from my PC, from social networks, from blogs, from the world wide web. I've decided that this vacation from these things will ALLOW me to have the Time for those things that my spirit has been craving: time in prayer, time with scripture, time with spiritual readings, time with God, my creator, my Lord, my savior.

If this move causes me to loose my readers and followers then I'm sorry! I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that you remain here. I sincerely hope that you will have patience and wait for my return, while I take this vacation, this Lenten Retreat! Easter Sunday will be here before you know it, and I will be back Easter Monday (April 13, 2009) to share with you my renewed Spirit.

You all will be in my prayers!
Thanks for everything,

God Bless with all my love,
SAHMinIL

First Communion Classes

So today was the first day of First Communion Classes for DS. This is the second stage of the sacrament preparations that he has been doing this year. The first part was the preparation for reconciliation that he did at the end of January.

We are so excited for him. Today for class DS was chosen to talk about Jesus birth. DS told us that he was able to tell the class everything without his book. He even said the teacher asked him to repeat it because of his friends (classmates) weren't listening.

We, the parents, also had to set through a 15 minute presentation. What is communion? Why it's important? What the children are to wear? How we are NOT to use flash or lights while taken pictures during the Mass. etc. We also were given an pamphlet from Catholic Update on the Eucharist. The Catholic Update that received today is just one of the many updates on the Eucharist. Catholic Updates do cover a wide range of topics. To be honest it was a blah, blah, blah moment for me....but I was there because the parents were expected to be there.

So DS is excited! His first communion will take place on April 4th. Just before Easter that way on Easter Sunday we ALL can (will not DD she still has to wait another year) receive communion. My home parish tries really hard to make sure first communion happens BEFORE Easter so that our new communicants (I think that's the right word) can receive communion on Easter Sunday with their families.

American Idol: Homeschooler

Diane Keith, the editor of Homefires and the author of "Click Schooling" is asking that this information be passed along. If you belong to any blogs or groups, please spread the word.

An 18-year-old, homeschooled singer from Irvine, CA is in American Idol's top 36. Mishavonna Henson performs this coming Wednesday, February 25th - and her family is requesting the homeschool community support her by voting her into the top 12.

Quiz:

Thanks to Judy at Benmakesten I've found this quiz! If you have a moment I encourage you to take it too!!

My Results:

CLASSIC COUNTRY

You take the inspiration for your home from the surrounding countryside. And why not? The country cottage look has been, and continues to be, the epitome of what a family 'home' should stand for: warm, welcoming, cosy and comfortable. There's nothing at all pretentious about this style, just a love of the good, simple pleasures in life.

Living Room

Your living room brings the best of outdoors inside. The living room is usually the hub of the home, and the country look is perennially popular: it's warm and inviting and unpretentious. In its most classic incarnation, the focal point is the fireplace, and this is certainly a style that's all about comfort, hospitality and connecting with nature, the soul and the seasons. On the off-chance that you're drawn to minimalist accessories, you probably accept that in most people's eyes they'll look incongruous in such surroundings. But if the mix works for you, that's all that matters. Neutral wall colours provide a calm, easy background, while 'quiet' textiles and soft furnishings buy you time to decide on what you want in the long term. Make comfort the priority in your living room: it's where you naturally go to watch TV, relax and de-stress.

Bedroom

It's a man's world in the master bedroom. Sleep is fundamentally important to our well being. Clean, fresh air can truly aid sleep, but so, too, does a well-made bed and the best mattress you can afford. Touch is an important issue in the bedroom, from crisp, linen sheets to wool or even sheepskin underfoot. You have quite a masculine - some might say hard - style in your bedroom, using vibrant colours to make a bold statement.

Dining Room

You're a clean slate waiting for a dash of spice. When eating in a separate area to the rest of the home, the dining room needs to be relaxed and inviting as you will no doubt have to move your guests from either the kitchen or living room at some point. Start with the table and seating and think about softening the overall look with cushions and curtains and adding colour with glass and tableware. When it comes to entertaining, the family takes centre stage and you love to make an effort.

Home Office

You have a place for everything and everything has its place. Working from home is an increasingly popular solution to the challenge of bringing up a young family and making ends meet. A dedicated home office - even if it's just the corner of a room - will help keep you focused and separate work from hectic family life. The modernist adage that form should follow function is nowhere better demonstrated than in the home office: keep things simple and add your own sense of style by using a splash of colour or a single, well-chosen decorative piece.

Kids' Room

Let a child's room reflect his or her personality -- not yours! If you have the space for a designated playroom, great. If not, then giving your kids the biggest bedroom can be a smart move, certainly once they're past the toddler stage: it gives them a designated space to play, enabling you to keep the rest of your home more, rather than less, how it used to be. Cheap and cheerful is ideal when it comes to most things in children's rooms: not only do kids grow fast, they also grow out of fads and phases at an amazing rate.

Conclusion

You're living the dream. At home, at least, the rat-race is a distant memory.

My response to this quiz: It's a romantic idea and I would LOVE it, to bad my house doesn't really reflex my dreams. :) I would LOVE to have a dining room, but don't not in this 3 bed, 1 bath 900 square foot home. Although the fire place in the living room would be the focal point if t wasn't for all the shelves that store our schooling supplies. Office made me laugh too...it's a corner of my kitchen sandwich between the corner and the refridgorator. LOL Oh, if I had my dream then this would be it. I don't hate my house. I do try to make it match up to my dreams as much as possible. :)

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and homeschooling.

I'm really not into celebrity gossip much! I tend to take it with a grain of salt, but with celebrity news reports of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie homeschooling Maddox (with the assistance of a tutor). It makes me wonder:

Are they really homeschooling?
Is using "tutors" homeschooling?
Why are they choosing to homeschool?
Are their reasons similar to the average homeschooler like myself?

If celebrities are homeschooling their kids does it help to remove the negative stigma at times that are attached to homeschooling? Or does it make it worst?

All kinds of things to ponder here!

Charter Schools

I admit that I'm NEW to the homeschooling world, but at least I can recognize a wolf in sheep's clothing! Okay, public schools are not all that bad! I did send my kids to them and most likely they would still be going if I didn't have this calling to homeschooling. I choose to accept and follow that calling vs. ignoring it or sweeping it under the rug.

One of the local PS (public school) systems here is looking to adding a Charter School. This will be the FIRST Charter School in this greater-metro area. What gets me confused is that I'm hearing local homeschoolers making a comments such as "many homeschooling co-ops use similar curricula to those used by charter school." I'm also hearing that MANY of the 400 students set to be apart of this Charter School are going to be homeschoolers "coming back" to the PS system.

So we have the PS system here cheering that they are getting this homeschoolers back! And homeschoolers saying it's just like homeschooling! Huh? How can public schools be just like homeschooling?? That's right Charter Schools ARE public schools!

There are so many charter school options, even VIRTUAL options. The virtual options allow the student to stay home and be "taught" by the "parent". Which many will calm that's homeschooling, they are being taught at home! But is it really homeschooling??

I know that homeschooling can be done for FREE and that's what the draw to these virtual charter options. The COST is cheap! And cheap is good for homeschoolers, because they are on limited income, especially seeing they are 9/10 times single income families. Am I casting judgment on those that are using Charter Schools?

No, not at all if that's what works for you then great! PS and/or Private schools are NOT for everyone, just like Charter Schools are not for everyone. I think I'm a little distressed about those that say they are homeschooling, but are using (virtual) Charter Schools for their children's education. I just don't understand how public-funded-public schooling = homeschooling. (Remember Charter Schools ARE public schools) So using a (virtual) Charter School is really just public schooling @ home. That may get some tempers up, but that's how this newbie sees it.

That doesn't mean that in order to be homeschooling you have be spend oodles of money. Homeschooling, without the aid of a Charter school (virtual or not), can still be done cheaply!!!

Grolar Bears and Theistic Evolution

First there was Judy's post yesterday about bears; then there was the TV shows last night called Morphed on the National Geographic Channel that got me thinking about God, creation, and evolution!

First, I have to say as a Catholic-Christian I firmly believe that we are monogenesis people, that we are descendants of one set of parents, in accordance to the Catholic Faith. I firmly believe that we were made in the image of God and that we are not descendants of any ape-type creature; again in accordance to the Catholic Faith. There is no questions or doubts in my mind regarding those things.

With that said, I don't dismiss evolution as something that does not or could not happen. I do believe that creatures evolve to adapt to their environment. I even belief that people have evolved to adapt to their environment.

We have NOT evolved from one creature into another, we have NOT come from apes, but we have changed (evolved) to meet the needs of our environment. Hair color, skin color, height, and weight are examples of those changes, those adaptations, that we have done. Just look at the average height and weight changes that have taken place in the last 500 years. Some will say it's because we have gotten lazy and have better food choices. I argue it's evolution based on laziness and better food choices. Even the way we have communicate with people have evolved has change and still is changing. We are always evolving. It's just NOT always measured in our physical appearances.

I also believe that animals have evolved and have changed over the years. Unlike human, I believe that it's possible that they could have gone from one species to another. This is because they are NOT made in the image of God. So for me it's not unrealistic to believe that a dinosaur became a bird, or a 4 legged creature that walked on land became a whale. I DO NOT believe that all animals can be explain that way, but I do believe that it's possible.

There is a name for my beliefs. It's called Theistic Evolution. Theistic Evolution is a general term and the beliefs within Theistic Evolution is very wide to say the least, but my personal beliefs do fall within that category yet they are NOT against the Catholic Faith.

Science and Religion; God and Science do not conflict and the more we learn the better we are able to understand our creator. So what does this have to do with Grolar Bears?? And what are Grolar Bears??

Grolar Bears are a NEW species of bears that are being discovered. They are a cross between Polar Bear and a Grizzly Bear. There has been at least ONE confirmed case of this in the WILD! Why are these to species interbreeding? Some will argue that it's the caused of global warming, and that the Polar Bears are being forced to be more inland. However, before we just drop the ax down on global warming it should be noted that Grizzly's are moving more north. So it's really is a combination of Poplar bears moving more inland and off the ice and Grizzly's moving more north that are causing these two different animals to breed in the wild. Are they interbreeding to survive? Are they evolving?

What does these have to do with homeschooling my kids? Well they are learning about our Catholic Faith from me and they are learning that science and religion are NOT at odds with each other that it is possible to believe in God, believe that Adam and Eve are REAL people, and that some forms of evolution can happen, because of the necessity to survive. The Polar Bears and the Grizzly Bears cross-breeding are prime examples of that!

He knows the Tooth Fairy is NOT real...

So yesterday DS lost yet another tooth. We had him place it in an envelope and put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Well she came last night, but the gig is up!

When we asked DS this morning if the Tooth Fairy came he said "yes". But he had a question for me "Mom, were you sneaking in my room last night?", "Mom were you searching under my pillow?" At first I told him "No" and then he gave me that look of his and said "Honest?" I said honest, and then went to talked to DH.

I told DH what happened and DH said well we need to have a private talk with him. Let him know, and go from there. I said okay. So we asked DS to come into our bedroom and shut the door and had the talked. I first told him that I lied to him and that I wanted him to know so he would have respect for me and know that he can trust his Mommy and Daddy.

I told him I lied about being in his room last night and that yes I was sneaking in this room and that yes I was searching under his pillow. DS just said it's okay Mom, I forgive you and gave me a big hug and honest we could have left it at that, because he didn't seem to have the dots connected, but I felt that I should explain why I was being sneaky.

So I asked if he had any idea why I would be sneaking in his room and why I would be searching under his pillow. He looked at me a little puzzled and asked why? I told him to put the tooth fairy money under your pillow.

The shock was clearly written all over his face and he said "What do you mean? She's not real?" I responded, "She's real because Mommy and Daddy and kids make her real; but if you are asking if she's a REAL person, then no." DH said, "We are telling you because we asked ourselves was what more important loosing your trust or the tooth fairy. We decided that your trust is more important and because you saw mommy last night we thought it was time to tell you."

DS face was still sad looking. Then I said to DS, "You know just because you know doesn't mean that you won't get Tooth Fairy Money. You will still get Tooth Fairy Money and we can still play Tooth Fairy as long as you want too". As soon as he heard that he could still play tooth fairy DS started to laughed and gave me a huge hug, and said "I'll play for as long as I have teeth!!"

Then he asked about DD teeth and how come the tooth fairy didn't come the other night? We told him because we forgot to do it. He just laughed. Then he asked why is it sometimes 1 dollar and sometimes 2. We told him because sometimes we only have $1. DS was rolling on the floor laughing. Then he asked me where I keep the teeth and I told him, by this time he was laughing so hard that he was crying.

His world did not fall apart! This did not crush his believe in God! He thought all of this was funny. I then shared with him that he's not to blow it for his sister that as long was she wants to believe then that's fine. I shared with them that I had to do the same with my brothers and sisters. He said to me "Don't worry mommy I won't ruin her life!" LOL

I then asked him if his life was ruin now because he knows it's Mom and Dad and he said, "NO way!!! It's not ruin!!! I just don't want to ruin it for sis..... Besides I still get tooth fairy money, right??" I at that point reaffirm to him that yes he still gets the money as long as he wants to play. DS then gave my DH and I a huge hug and "I love you guys! You're the BEST!!"

It from seeing this type of reaction from my DS today that makes me wonder why SOME people are so against the tooth fairy, Santa and all the rest. I've heard the arguments that it's because it will make them question if God is real. Well I can reaffirm, to my readers, that my DS is NOT questioning if God is real and he's not hurt by knowing there is no tooth fairy, perhaps because DH and I told him that we would still play tooth fairy with him, even though he knows it us. That knowing does NOT change game. He still can leave his teeth under his pillow and while he's sleeping the Tooth Fairy (Mommy and Daddy pretending) will still come and leave him some money.

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Blogger Friend School Assignment 120

Blogger Friend School Assignment 120

Going Shopping! Redo the bedroom for $1500

• Bed Frame- $91 @ target.com
• Dressers wicker/metal 1 six drawer and 2 five drawers $418 for all @ amazon.com
• Bedding in a bag. Complete Set Queen Size $55 @ walmart.com
• Behr Venetian Plaster for the walls in a orangy/red sundown color est. cost $280 plus $100 for tools @ homedepot???
• Window treatments mini blinds in dark color est. cost $150 @ anywhere

Total Cost: $1094

Leftover $ 406 for personal touches such as paintings, pictures, fresh flowers, etc



Editor's Notes: If you want to read more assignments from other bloggers then click on the Blogger Friend School Assignment Button on the right hand side!

Curriculum For Next Year

Wow! My first year of homeschooling my children is coming to a close. I estimate that I have about 10-12 week left and then we will be done with our material/books that we have.

12 weeks from now will be about the first week of May! Imagine being done with the school year the first week of May. When we are done with the school year we are going to take at 4-6 weeks off and then start up the "new" school year. After talking to my DH we've decided that there is no reason to have a long huge break, i.e. summer vacation. We generally are done with our school work by noon, which would give us the afternoons to do whatever we want. Plus we are free to take a day off here or there as needed. So no worries.

We for next year going to buy our core books through Catholic Heritage Curricula. I don't need all the core books seeing I will be able to reuse many of what we have, but I do need more especially the Math, Spelling and Grammar books. It's going to cost us about $150 to get all the books that I need for both kids this year.

That's a little bit pricey and I know many homeschoolers that do it for less, but I don't mind spending around $150, especially seeing I spent that much for the Public School registration fees for the the kids...and not to mention all the back to school supplies that had to be bought, pencils, crayons, markers, shoes, tissue etc. (Between 2 kids that easily was another $100)

Of course being homeschool we still have to buy those things, but I don't have to buy as much nor do I have to buy it all in one sitting, I buy it as NEEDED! i.e. when we run out. Heck for this homeshooling year I have only bought 1 box of crayons and 2 boxes of markers. Everything else, the pencils, colored pencils, pens, paints, folders, binders, were the LEFT OVER supplies that the kids brought home from PS. What' funny is that I wouldn't have been able to sent the use supplies back for the new school year, but they are good enough to be used at home.

We are going to be buying our NEW curriculum books at the end of the month. I can't wait.

Catholic Social Teachings

The beauty of homeschooling allows me to give my children an affordable Catholic-Christian Education. I was looking up movie reviews and trying to find info about a movie and book that I saw and read in about 6th-7th grade. (Where The Red Fern Grows)

It was in the course of looking for this info that I STUMBLED upon resources that are available for FREE on the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) web-site. This stumble was so great that I thought I had to share it here. USCCB offers resources and lesson plans on their web-site for educators to aid them in teaching Catholic Social Teachings to children (and adults).

The resources include a list of books that can be read to children. This list also explains what subjects those books teach. What's so cool is that many of the books can be found at any good size public library and/or library system. So I'm really excited about this!! Many of the books on the list (for my kids age range) I have already have check out and read to my kids. I just didn't think about how these books could be teaching my kids Catholic-Socialism.

It was an WOW moment for me. Many of the books I will be re-reading to the kids. There will be others that I will be seeking out now. This is truly a hidden gem for me! I have browsed the USCCB site many times before, I just didn't know that all of these Educator's Resources were there until tonight.

I'm hoping that my US Catholic-Christians readers knew this Educator's Resource was available at our bishops' web-site. If not that's okay; you know it now!!! (Please share this with others homeschoolers, especially Catholic homeschoolers. Our bishops' have this on their website for our use, so I think we should take advantage of it.)

Moving Big Rocks! The Secret of Stonehenge

This video is a MUST see! Especially for any little engineers that you may have in your home!

WOW!!! I think that this must be the secrets to Stonehenge. If not it's awfully close!

I Swear I didn't dropped her!

I swear I didn't do it!!! Honest I don't know what happened, but I blame my husband. (HA, HA)

DD, she will be 7 in April, today decided to FLOSS her toes. She took out dental floss and flossed between each toe. She was so proud of her actions that she said "Now Mama put that on your blog! Let everyone know I flossed my toes. Here I will even go get your camera for you so you can take a picture!"

LOL I don't know why she would think I would share that with the whole wide world. I told her that I would think about it and she said okay, but will you at least IM (instant message) daddy and let him know.

Now she's dancing around the house singing "I flossed my toes. I flossed my toes. I flossed my toes." It is a catchy tune, but seriously to think that I would share this with the whole wide world. I swear I didn't dropped her. (It's all my DH's fault! LOL) (Honey I do love you! smile!)

Pizza Hut Book-It

My kids have been reading books for Pizza Hut Book-It! They really enjoy being able to "earn" a pizza. I know that fall is some time away, but if you want to be in the Pizza Hut Book-It program for the 2009-2010 school year then NOW is the time to enroll.

Enrollment is FREE! They send you everything you need for FREE in September. This was one thing my kids did while in PS (public school) and this was the one thing they were happy to learn that can be done at home also!!!

Pizza Hut's Website has more info on Book-It for homeschoolers!! Personally I think it's awesome that it is open to homeschoolers too!!!

Oops!! I did it again. I...

Okay it really wasn't me. It was DD and yes she did it again. The first time was Saturday Morning at breakfast and again today at dinner. Both times it happened while she was eating her food.

In the course of the meal we hear the shirk, "MY TOOTH!!!". We all turn to my DD and say "What about your tooth?". My DD replies "I swallowed it!!!"

Just so we are clear she swallowed one tooth Saturday while eating breakfast and she just swallowed a second while eating dinner tonight. The first time I wasn't all that worried, after all my DS had done that as well and he was fine, but now with the second one I'm a little more concern. Seeing it's most likely the first one hasn't passed yet? Or has it? How long does it take for those things to pass?

I have no idea why she's swallowing her teeth, other then the fact that she 6 (almost 7) and it's normal for them at that age to loose their teeth. Loose them yes, but swallow them!!!

In the course of this I had an Freudian slip! Of course things got in an uproar with DD swallowing another tooth. So I was trying to get her to settle down and finish her dinner, seeing there really isn't much we can do about her swallowed tooth. (I'm a little worried now, but again not much I can do, right?). So I'm trying to get her to settle down and I say "Now sit down and eat your teeth!!!"

LOL I told her to eat her teeth. Freud would have been so proud! LOL

Should I be worried seeing she has now swallowed 2 teeth within 3 days one on Saturday Morning and one today just a few hours ago at dinner?? Oh and what am I going to do with her??

One of the first things DH did this evening after she swallow her tooth was to check her mouth for any more loose teeth. He told her we don't need you swallowing any more of them. LOL

Body Of Christ

I know that this above doesn't look like much it's just some soft flour tortilla shells broken up and some cups of grape juice, but it provided hours of fun for my kiddos.

We had cheese quesadilla for lunch. It was while eating lunch that my DS noticed that the tortillas were like the communion bread. He said look sis the body of Christ. She said no it's not. He responded with yes I know but it's fun to pretend.

I asked him if he knew what the difference between this and what we receive at Church. He said the difference is that this isn't blessed by God. I then asked, Why doesn't God bless it and my DS responded with, "because we need a priest". The next thing I know DS is asking if there are any more tortillas leftover. He and DD decided that they were going to play mass.

So what you see above is the grape juice and broken up tortillas shells that they used to play mass with. DS, of course played the priest, and DD rolls were everyone else that you would find at church. LOL They played mass several times. Everything was done under the direction of my little priest here (aka my son)

He would say things like the 1st Reading from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus was a good man, he loved everyone, Mary and Joseph were his parents and they loved Jesus. They listened to God. Jesus did not sin, the end.

Or the 1st Reading In the beginning there was Jesus and he is God. Mary is his Mother, Jesus taught us to love each other.

For the song they sang "blah, blah, blah, blah," unless it was the song before the Gospel then they sang "Alleluia" When it came time to bless the bread and wine DS said, "Remember this is my body, do this" and "Remember this is my blood, do this". (A little off LOL)

Then he had my DD line up to receive communion. He said things like "God loves you" or "May God Bless You" or "Let God into your heart" when she received "communion". I tried telling DS that 'they' don't say that when you receive communion, but he responded while rolling his eyes at me "I don't care. They don't sing blah, blah, blah, either. We are just pretending here!" LOL He had me there!!! I know why he said what he said to DD because that's what he gets told when he goes up.

Our Parish (church) encourages everyone to go up, even those that cannot receive communion. Those that can NOT receive are given a blessing. Both of my kids have never receive communion. DS just received the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time last Saturday and will start is first communion prep classes later this month. So he has time to learn all of that.

After they were done playing Mass DS try saying that ALL of the "leftovers" were his! I asked how he figured and he said because that's what the priest does after all the communions are done. He gets to eat the leftovers!! LOL That's true, but I put a stop to that and said well it's good to pretend, but we need to be "fair" LOL.

I divided up what was left between the 2 of them. My poor DD wouldn't get anything, because she can NEVER be the priest, seeing she a girl and all, so I had to divided up what was left after their game.

To be honest I was surprise that they decided to do play that way. I didn't really think it would last as long as it did! I'm glad that they had fun.... DD is cool with not being the priest, she just wanted the leftovers too! LOL

Blogger Friend School Assignment 119

This is a verse that I just came across this morning and I think I'll add it to the cover of my daily journal. I already have Proverbs 22:6 on the cover of my journal it reads "Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray. (I forget right now what translation is that).

The verse that I came across today is from Sirach. Sirach you wonder?? What book is that?? Well I'm a Catholic-Christian and the Bible Cannon that I use is different then what many non-Catholics in the "west" use. Eastern Christians, such as Eastern Orthodox, have a canon that is LARGER (i.e. has more books) then Catholic-Christians. Wikidedia does have table that shows the different cannons.

The bible verse that I'm going to add to the cover of my journal is Sirach 30:9 and it reads "Pamper your child and he will be a terror for you, indulge him and he will bring you grief."

There is truth in that! Nobody want their kids to be "spoiled brats"; after all they are never happy. They spend their whole life searching for THINGS to filled this void in their heart. What they don't realize is what they are missing is LOVE! So instead of seeking LOVE, instead of seeking GOD, they look for THINGS that will make them happy. They may get what they want, but they are never truly happy, they keep searching, for that next best thing.

I want my children to be GREATFUL for what they have!!! I want them to be filled of LOVE, I want them to be filled with God. That doesn't mean I can't treat them every now and then, of course I will. Treats are fun, but they should NOT be the NORM.

I think that Proverbs 22:6 and Sirach 30:9 are good verses together. The first, proverbs, remindes me that is it my job to raise my kids in the "right way" and Sirach 30:9 is an example of what the "right way" is: Don't raise spoil brats!!! LOL

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