ACTIVITY: Photo Lilies for Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I had been wanting to do this project for some time now, and Mother's Day is the perfect occasion. I had seen paper lilies like these at the local elementary school, and thought - how fun to make them out of photographs! This way mom (or you!) will have beautiful flowers that last forever and provide lasting memories for many years to come. 

WHAT YOU NEED

• printed photographs (TIP: they "curl" better like flowers if printed on standard printer paper and not photograph paper)
• green pipe cleaners (craft stems)
• yellow ribbon
• scissors
• glue sticks or double-sided tape

HOW TO MAKE

• First determine who will be making the flowers. If the hand being used is adult size, print out the photos on 5"x7" paper. If younger children, you can print them out on 3"x5" or 4"x6". Print out three or so of your favorite photos. 

• To make the flower: Using a pencil, trace the hand on top of the photo, putting the best part of the photo (the part you want to keep) under the hand/fingers. Cut out the photo. TIP: I made the fingers a bit wider in the cutout so more of the photo would be preserved. See example above. 

• To make the stem: bend the tip of a green pipe cleaner and tie a yellow ribbon at the top. This will be the inside of the flower. See example above.

• To put together: Make a cone out of the handprint. Glue or tape the bottom. You want to make the cone nice and tight so the pipe cleaner *barely* slides through. Once you have the cone, slide the pipe cleaner through. To hold it in place, use a second pipe cleaner to make a leaf at the base of the flower. See example above. 

• Repeat the process for additional photos until you have a bouquet! 

Note: this post is also featured on Catholic Carnival .

Pentecost: The Power of Versions

Source: http://biblelessonsite.org/images/acts6.jpg

Whether it's the King James, New American Standard, Common English, English Standard, or another translation/version, we're all reading the same Bible, right? ...right? Maybe not.  

I recently preparing the end-of-mass announcements for an upcoming workshop at our parish, where we will be making these adorable Flaming Pentecost Cupcakes. As usual, I sent the wording of the announcement to our pastor for final review, and was initially surprised to receive back a slightly edited version (usually it's a "good to go"). I made the small change without thinking much about it, as shown below, and moved on. 

ORIGINAL: In the Bible, Acts 2 tells us how “When the day of Pentecost arrived, [the disciples] were all together in one place when suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”  (English Standard Version)

MODIFIED: In the Bible, Acts 2 tells us how “When the day of Pentecost arrived, [the disciples] were all together in one place when suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” (New International Version)

Later that night, I started to think more about the change. Was there really that big a difference in the wording? I tried to picture both scenarios: in the original, I imagined the disciples in a room, and flames of fire suddenly appearing, each as a separate flame, above each disciple...almost like bubbles floating and landing. In the second, I again imagined the disciples in a room, but this time the flames - instead of first appearing as separate flames - appeared as a single source which then divided and came to rest above each disciple. 

Truly, this is quite a different image! The Holy Spirit appeared as a single flame, which divided and came to each disciple as opposed to a bunch of random flames popping up and landing on each disciple. I can understand why this change was made. 

What I took away most from this was the importance of reading through and understanding the impact your Bible version/translation has on the way the Story is told. Each translation is slightly different, and while each change may seem small, the net effect of all the changes can add up. It's worthwhile to read not only your version/translation but be aware of the impact other translations can have on the way the Story is interpreted! 

Toddler Rosary: The Noisy Mysteries

My young son is truly a gift from God. He is so special to us, and we love every moment with him. Well...we love *just about* every moment with him. Since the day he came home, he has never been a sleeper at night. At a year and a half now, he's decided that the 12am-3am period is the perfect opportunity to practice the Mommy War Call from the edge of his crib. No amount of picking him up, rocking him, snuggling him, etc. helps - because, in his mind, it's play time. 

Last night was an especially tough one, because it came after the previous night's extra tough one. We've never been one for crying it out (CIO), but last night - for the first time - after the first hour of unsuccessfully trying to quiet the Baby Banshee, I put back him in his crib, told him (in no uncertain terms) to GO TO SLEEP, and walked out of the room. 

I climbed back into bed, and felt shaky and sick to my stomach. It was so so hard to know he was crying in there for me, yet knew that we NEEDED to do this - he has to slowly learn that night time is not play time. I was going to go in every 10min to check on him, and so turned to prayer to help calm my nerves and pass the ten minutes until I could go back in. An entire decade is about ten minutes, so praying the rosary worked perfectly. As I lay there, quietly praying, I realized that - for moms - there may in fact be SIX mysteries: enter the Noisy Mysteries.

The Five Noisy Mysteries

I. The Raging Scream: Disbelief that Mommy Just Walked out of my Room
    ~ Hail Mary...Glory Be...Our Father...
    ~ 10-min check-in? Still raging. 

II. The Temper Fit: Throwing Everything Out of my Crib
    ~ Hail Mary...Glory Be..Our Father...
    ~ 10-min check-in? Give him back his lovey and enjoy silence...for about 2min.

III. The Fake-Out Silence: Letting Mommy Think I'm Asleep, but Just for a Moment
    ~ Hail Mary...Glory Be..Our Father...
    ~ 10-min check-in? Raging turns to whimpers and sniffs.

IV. The Whimper: Still Angry Mommy Left Me, but Running out of Energy

    ~ Hail Mary...Glory Be..Our Father...

    ~ 10-min check-in? Tiny sounds are barely heard. Eyes are closed, and he's laying down. 

V. The Exhaustion: Finally Asleep

    ~ Hail Mary...Glory Be..Our Father...

    ~ 10-min check-in? My sweet little angel is finally asleep. 

Reading the Bible as a Family

We really do believe that a family that prays together stays together! Hubby and I are working our way through the Bible's "one year" reading plan...something that will probably take us two. Our reading plan, with thoughts & input, are shared below. We'll continue to add as we read more!

As this is a learning for us, we absolutely LOVE comments and feedback. Have you read the same section? Do you have a similar or different thought? Please share it in the comments - it is a wonderful way for us all to learn and share! The links below take you to our thoughts...we would love to hear yours.

1: Gen. 1-3	2: Gen. 4-7	3: Gen. 8-11	4: Gen. 12-15	5: Job 1-5
6: Job 6-9	7&8: Job 10-16	9: Job 17-20	10: Job 21-23	11: Job 24-28

Book Review: The Story

At the start of the new year, my hubby and I decided that - each night - we'd set aside some time to read the Bible together. Days 1 and 2 we did great. We missed day 3, and got back to it day 4. Day 5 and 6 were a miss...and we've been on and off since then. We really enjoy the time together reading and discussing, but haven't been able to make it part of our routine. I knew I really wanted to read to better understand the "stories" inside, the timeline for how things happened (we were reading in chronological order), and see how it all fit together. 

Enter: The Story! This wonderful book is written as a seamless tale based on the Bible. It starts at creation and follows every "story" in the bible, using actual Biblical Text (NIV) for a majority of the book and "summaries" where needed to keep the "story" moving along. 

I absolutely loved it! It has the drama, romance, murder, action, and change that traditional books have - yet this one is all in God's (modernized) word. I couldn't put it down, and simply loved how the authors carried the storyline from start to finish. It's definitely abridged, but for those like me - who may not have read cover-to-cover before - it was simply perfect. The best way to describe this is a very detailed and thoroughly Cliff Notes...it's definitely shorter (by far!) than the Bible itself, but it has a similar impact. You'll gain insight into the STORY in such a different way than you normally would. 

While this doesn't take the place of actually reading our own Bible together (in fact, nothing can replace that), this was a great way to get a full picture. It's actually made the readings we've done since then that much meaningful as we already know the storyline...whether it be the story of Noah, Joshua, Ruth, or the many more amazing examples God has provided us with. 

Have you read the book? I'd love to know what you thought of it!


NOTE: This post also appears on Catholic Bloggers Network.

RECIPE: Pentecost Flaming Cupcakes

Celebrating Holy Days with praise and worship is a given...and bringing that celebration home (and not just leaving it in the church parking lot as you leave after mass) is just as important as attending the Holy Day celebration. 

A great way to bring that celebration home for Pentecost is to bring the fire of the Holy Spirit right into your kitchen with some flaming cupcakes. These make a great activity to do together as a family, and while the cupcakes bake you can read Acts 2:1-47 and meditate/share with your family on the importance of this day. Don't forget the impact your Bible version may have on this passage!  As Pentecost is often called the birthday of the Church, baking some cupcakes - or making one large cake - become even more relevant. I first fell in love with this idea when I saw Kelly's white flame cupcakes, and modified the design a bit to add more color into the marshmallows and icing. I'm so happy with the way they turned out! Noreen also came up with a great candy melt to make her flames - worth checking out. 

WHAT YOU NEED

• cake mix (I used strawberry cake mix , but red velvet would work great too)
• white icing
• food coloring in red and yellow
• sugar sprinkles in red 
• mini marshmallows
• kitchen scissors
• muffin/cupcake pan
• muffin/cupcake liners

HOW TO MAKE

• Bake cupcakes according to package directions, and allow to thoroughly cool
  
  
  
  
  
• In two separate plastic storage bags, mix approx. 1c mini marshmallows, 1/8 tsp (a few drops!) of water, and a few drops of yellow food color. Do the same in the other bag, but add the red food color. Shake to mix the color onto the marshmallows...it won't evenly spread, and that's perfect. Lay the colored marshmallows out on a plate to dry. See photo above.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Divide the icing into two bowls. Color one bowl red and one yellow. Ice the cupcakes with the two colors, allowing the colors to merge as you decorate the cupcakes. I did this by putting alternating spoonfuls of the yellow and red icing into a piping bag and piping small stars onto the cupcakes. Tip: Make the red one really red! I had to come back and add more coloring to the orange shown above to make it not just mesh with the yellow when they were in the same bag.
• Cut the marshmallows diagonally, and dip the sticky part of the marshmallow into the sugar sprinkles. Stick the "flame" into the icing and lightly pinch the tip of the marshmallow so it gives a more realistic flame appearance.
  
  
  
• Be creative! There's no right or wrong way to do this. I made a few samples and played around with different styles until I found one I liked!

Note: this post also appears on Catholic Carnival .

...but Mom, I don't *want* to be Pope!

One of the things I've often wondered is what happens (gasp!) if the newly elected Pope doesn't *want* to be Pope? I mean, what if he knew he were getting to old/sick, really believed that he wasn't the right choice, etc.? Can he say no? 

Interestingly, he can. 

There were three previously elected Popes who all turned down the offer of the job - at least three, if you think about it. As the conclave is sworn to secrecy, it's more than likely happened where someone has said no and they have had to make another choice - we just aren't told. Back to the three that we "know" of - two of them were later made into Saints, so appariently there is some understanding if you say no, too!
1. St. Philip Benizi: during the long (three year!) papal election started in 1268, the cardinals were in heated disagreement over who should become the next Pope. Legend has it that - in 1271 - Philip Benizi came to the Cathedral to try to get things moving along, but fled and went into hiding when he heard his name was being considered as the next pope. Talk about not wanting the job! (source) 
2. St. Charles Borromeo: not much info available on this one (no matter where I searched!), but in the 16th century, Charles Borromeo was said to have said "no" to the position. (source)
3. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine: again, not much info available other than that Cardinal Bellarmine declined his election in 1621. (source)

For me, this is such an interesting process. Unlike the election of a President of the United States, where a person willingly WANTS to become President and puts their name out there, this is so so different. You may not want to be elected Pope, but - through prayer - your peers may feel you are the best choice to lead the Church. What a strange, intense, powerful feeling that must be! 

Note: This post also appears on Catholic Carnival .