Holy Saturday!

I said I would see you after Easter, but here I am...

My boys were blessed with the opportunity to serve at our local church for the Easter Triduum (I hope I am spelling that right- spell check does not approve!). We are so honored! I missed all these faith-filled services growing up. As an adult, I am wowed by their beauty and reverence.

So, the action began in earnest around here on Thursday evening as we headed out to mass.  As we followed the alter servers (carrying the candles, incense, and cross) to the side hall, Father Mark followed with Our Lord to place Him in the alter of repose. The whole mass, the washing of the feet, and then this, brings all the happenings of Holy Week to life. And then walking by the barren tabernacle as we leave the church is such an empty feeling!! Can you only imagine how Jesus' followers must have felt on that night as Jesus was led away?!

On Good Friday we attended the Stations of the Cross at the Carmalite Monastery near us. We have been attending this for about 14 years. Can you see all the wonderful families trudging up the hill with their little ones in tow? I wish I had known to do that when my big kids were that little! I would love to share a picture of the stunning view, but I was silly and accidently recorded instead of snapping pictures the rest of the time.

*I know I said trudging *up* the hill- it looks like everyone is heading down only because they are turned around to hear the station!

Good Friday service. I sniped a few pictures. I hope that wasn't too irreverent. That is my big boy, Paul, up there setting the alter.

Mark processing in with another alter server. This is not the best picture, but I don't want to post a clear picture of a another's child without permission. I am so proud of Mark, but boy has this been tough on him. I know some 11 year-old boys could handle it, but he is just so wiggly when he is tired. Even so, he has given it his best!

 At the end of service, after the veneration of the cross.

                                                      At home:

We switched out our table decor today. The boys made the standing Divine Mercy images last year using a printable from Catholic Icing. They used different mediums (watercolors, watercolor pencils, prisma color pencils with "people crayons")- declared the most successful were watercolor pencils.

The boys found this at a local craft shop. It is funny that the "JESUS" shows so clearly in the picture- in real life, it is not as easy to see. I have seen directions for making these using Popsicle sticks also at Catholic Icing if you are interested. For a $1.25, I am happy to support a local vendor.

I found this little holy card. Not much, but better than nothing. 

And I think it looks pretty on the vase.

I wanted to wait until tomorrow, but with grand-babies coming over bright and early, 

I had to put a few Easter decorations up.

I left our Lent decorations up too, so for one day, we are going to be a mix of both.

Blessed Holy Saturday!! 

Spring Crafts...

I know it is summer!

 These painted suncatchers are from Oriental Trading Co. I confess that they are still hanging in our window 'cause they look so dang cute. I might take them down this week.

 Another one from a kit from the Oriental Trading Company.

And, the Divine Mercy printable from Catholic Icing. To make this more interesting to the boys, I got out the watercolor pencils and the watercolor paints. Paul used the paints but thought that the pencils would have worked better for this project- the detail was difficult with a brush. It seemed to me that the pencils did work well.

Glory Stories MP3 and Divine Mercy Presentation for Young People

I realize this is probably not news to most people, but I just caught on to the fact that Holy Heroes has some titles available in MP3 format from iTunes and Amazon! We purchased Glory Stories Volume 4: Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta & Saint Faustina Kowalska to listen to! Perfect timing with Divine Mercy Sunday coming up.

I also stumbled upon this set (dvd+cd-rom) at a local Catholic bookstore.

We have watched most of the dvd. This is a very simple presentation- no bells and whistles. Just the information presented by a speaker along with pictures displayed to demonstrate certain points (like the meaning of the Divine Mercy image). None the less, my boys and I have enjoyed watching it and learned a lot. The cd-rom has worksheets/activity sheets for every level of reinforcement organized by topic and grade level and several very cool craft instructions as well.

Divine Mercy Novena

The Divine Mercy Novena begins today.