Text Message Book Review (and Faith Table Decor!)

Hello little blog. It's been a while!! I miss you. 

Good-bye August:

Hello September: 

Exhalation of the Cross (Sept. 14) from Seton Art 1 made a few years ago- I should have 3, but boys would always give them away to sisters and grandma!

Saints for Sept. coloring pages from Waltzing Matilda Blog- colored and laminated a few years ago for our "month of saints" study. 

 Also from Seton Art 1- colored by my boys a few years ago. 

And, for those who might be interested, an impromptu text message "book review" from my 19yo daughter, Erin. You get to read it at your leisure- I think the text came through like at 1 a.m. or something! Either way, I enjoyed reading it. 

First Text From Erin: 

"Hey so I picked up that book you gave me for Easter, "extreme makeover", and so far it's really good. I like it because it doesn't really say "you should do this or that" or "this is bad" -it more speaks in general terms and gives statistics (a lot of references to studies). So things that don't really apply are still interesting."

A While Later: 

"I like how it's a more concrete and logical approach to beauty, chastity, modesty, faith and just living life. It's cool cuz like I said the book is more telling stories, listing statistics, sharing personal experiences, then at the end of every chapter there are a list of more personal questions to ask yourself. So the chapters are good to get you thinking and also helps you see how to kind of defend your view..rather than saying "in this christian book I read",  you can say "well I read that 9/10 women would say..blank" you know?"  

And then: 

"It's less idealistic and abstract and has more real information to help for your conscience. :)"

Finally, a return message in response to a text back from me (that I don't have a record of):

"Ya,  I like it cuz it doesn't feeel like a faith book lol. And also I think it's good to not be reading one about couples. I can just focus on myself."

Weird format, I know, but I thought you could get the full "text message feel" that way! :) 

Saint Padre Pio

We have this lovely coloring page thanks to Waltzing Matilda's blog that we will add to our "parade of saints". Plus a short book by Rev. Jude Winnkler, OFM conv. And, we listened to saint of the day about this holy man.

 

 Apostleship of Prayer on Padre Pio.

Two Feast Days

September 14th- The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
and
September 15th- The Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

You can listen to a brief explanation of these feast days by clicking on the feast day name.

We did a craft for each of these days as well as reading about each feast day in our Saint of the Day book. My "go-to" craft source is our Seton Art 1- it is a first grade book (my boys are a bit older than that), but it has a nice simple craft for many of our feast days throughout the year.

While the crafts in this book are simple, they are not childish, so even my older two boys don't balk at helping out. The purpose of these crafts is for us to spend some time together creating while learning about some of the treasures of our faith.

Our two projects:

The boys worked together to make these two crafts.

The cross for the Sept. 14 feast day.

Our Lady of Sorrows mobile- the pictures don't do it justice. Mary is at on top with 7 hearts hanging from a ribbon below- each heart has one of the sorrows printed on it. The bottom oval has the title "The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady".

Even if you missed the Sept. 15th feast day, it is not too late to honor "Our Lady of Sorrows". The month of September is dedicated to this devotion. You can read more about it at About (dot) com and find some more cool craft ideas at Catholic Icing.