Charming the Birds from the Trees

Commitment to Loveliness: No. 51...

2009-11-10T07:35:00.005-05:00

It's time for another Commitment to Loveliness! This is a fun way to increase femininity and beauty in our lives each week without even trying! All you have to do is choose five things that you would like to work on or do during the week that will increase the loveliness in your life!

Here is my list for this week:

1. Plant bulbs so we have lots of flowers in the spring.
2. Store bath toys in a way that is functional for the children, but but also beautiful.
3. Take a family walk at the State Park
4. Celebrate St. Martin's Feastday on November 11th
5. Take the time to pluck eyebrows!

Once you have chosen five simple things, post them on your blog and let us know in the comments section. If you do not have a blog, but have a commitment to share, please post them in the comments section.

Thanksgiving Dinner, Part One...

2009-11-08T19:47:00.007-05:00

BLT Dip

Chili Cheese Dip

The Grown-up's Table

The Children's Table

Sugar Plum Digging In

Little Man's Plate

Birthday/Namesday Pumpkin Pie for Uncle Nectarios

Flan

Chocolate Cheesecake

Peter and the Wolf...

2009-11-04T20:52:00.005-05:00

For many months now, Peter and the Wolf can be heard from our car's cd player each time we venture out. Recently, we were out browsing in a bookstore near the ocean and came across the book, translated by Maria Carlson. PBS also put out an animated version of the story awhile ago. I watched it tonight on YouTube and found it to be quite good! Please preview it before allowing your little ones to watch it though. They might be scared during some parts!

Living and Learning for November...

2009-11-03T22:45:00.002-05:00

Faith

Archangel Michael

St Nectarios

Saint Martin

Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos

Kursk Root Icon

Homemaking

Purchase last bits of warm clothing for the cold weather

Plan for our Thanksgiving Feast with my in-laws on the 8^th

Set up Reading Room

Plan Cleaning List for Nativity Fast

Plant Bulbs

Buy Pansies

Feather the nest with down blankets for the beds, warm throws for the living room, pajamas and slippers, candles, slippers and a stock of teas and cocoa

Read Alouds

Henry and Mudge Books

Themes

Stars

Winter Beds

Turkeys

Thanksgiving

Laura Ingalls Wilder Books (My First Little House)

Rituals

Establish a Firm Evening Routine for After Dinner: A Craft, Games or Puzzles, Bathtime, Prayers, Books, and Bed

Special Days

2^nd Full Frosty/Beaver Moon

9^th Uncle Nick’s Namesday and Birthday

11^th Veterans Day

17^th National Bread Baking Day

20^th Uncle Gregory’s Namesday

26^th Thanksgiving

Goals

Plan for The Tree of Jesse Lesson Block

Little Man’s Namesday, St Nicholas Day, Little Man’s Birthday, and Nativity Gift Planning and Buying

Learning

Practice Being Still and Quiet during Prayers and Services

Singing – “Our Father”

The Sign of the Cross for Little Man

Tidying up Toys after Play

Tidying the floor after meals using the dust buster

Nature table scene and book basket

Visit the State Park

Watercoloring

Go to Story Hour Weekly

Messy Art at the Local Bookstore

Lacing Cards

Caring for Our Fish

The Tree of Jesse – Christmas Preparation

Thanksgiving Vacation Fun (?)

Saint Michael's Day Party...

2009-11-01T20:28:00.004-05:00

Today, the Sunday between Halloween and the Feast of Archangel Michael and the Bodiless Powers, a St. Michael's Party was held for the children of our parish.

Each child dressed up as an angel or saint, and the adults of the parish had to guess who they were dressed as. The children dressed as angels, St. George, St. Peter the Aleut, and St. Alexandra the Royal-Martyr.

Then Fr. John carved a "Christian Pumpkin" with a special lesson on how God carves out the bad stuff in us called sin and replaces it with His light. The pumpkin has eyes shaped like the Cross, a triangular nose to represent the Holy Trinity, and a smile because we we are filled with God's grace we become truly happy.

I apologize for the awful pictures! I was distracted today and didn't do a great job... the ones I took of Sugar Plum were terrible, so she posed for me at her table when we got home from church... note the bedraggled hair minus a halo!

Learning Basket: Pumpkins...

2009-10-30T20:41:00.005-05:00

Leaves
Flower Fairies of the Autumn (only one or two poems)
High Five October 2009
A Child's Calendar (only October pages)
Circle of Seasons (Autumn pages only)
Out and About (Only Autumn pages)
Strega Nona's Harvest
The Ox Cart Man
This is Not a Pumpkin
The Pumpkin Patch Parable
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie

Activities
Pumpkin Craft
Pumpkin Patch Visit to Pick Pumpkins
Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkin Pie Baking
Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Sonlight Preschool 3/4 Books
Dan the Dunce(Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales)
The Emperor's New Clothes (Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales)
The Ugly Duckling (Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales)

Masterpieces

Picture Study: On an Island with Gauguin
Music Study: Mozart
Poetry Study: A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Loius Stevenson

Pumpkin Picking...

2009-10-30T20:38:00.002-05:00

Pumpkin Craft...

2009-10-30T09:35:00.002-05:00

I found this tutorial for making party favor apples on Chasing Cheerios and like Melissa thought, is also perfect for making wee pumpkins! Sugar Plum and I made three last night before bed!

Our Family...

2009-10-30T09:25:00.001-05:00

Pumpkin Pie Playdough...

2009-10-28T23:08:00.003-05:00

5 1/2 cups flour
2 cups salt
8 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup oil
1 1/2 oz. pumpkin pie spice
orange food coloring (2 parts yellow, 1 part red)
4 cups water

Mix all ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until all lumps disappear. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth. Store in airtight container.

As found on the 4 Real Forums.

Pets...

2009-10-28T22:33:00.000-05:00

The Power of Words...

2009-10-25T21:51:00.001-05:00

Written by the Very Rev. John Breck

A few weeks ago my wife and I pulled into a gas station, and I got out of the car and began filling up. A pickup truck stopped about twenty yards in front of us, and the driver started waving and shouting. He was miffed because he couldn't pull up to the air pump; somebody had parked another pickup too close to it. The driver of the first truck kept waving and yelling something, I thought to one of the other customers, somebody he knew. Finally I saw him glaring straight at me. I called out, "Who are you talking to?" His aggressive response, coupled with a look of combined rage and disdain, was "You!" Then he pointed to the other pickup and yelled, "Is anybody in that truck?" I peered be-hind the pump I was using, then replied to the guy, "Nobody's in the truck." He uttered an expletive I'd do better not to repeat here, then he made a gesture toward me that was one of hostile dismissal, an intentional put-down both for the driver of the other vehicle and for me. He was mad and wanted me to know it.
I finished filling up and was feeling pretty miffed myself. By this time the other truck's driver had returned, he pulled away, and this guy I immediately labeled as a Carolina redneck was busy putting air in his back tire. Rather than get into our car and reasonably, rationally drive off, I walked around the front of his truck and stood a few feet away from him. He looked up and snarled, "What do you want?" My reply, in a normal but none too friendly voice, was "You'd get a more decent answer to a question like that if you'd ask in a civil voice and not just sit in your truck shouting and waving your arms."
It wasn't a very bright thing to say, but I was mad and shaking a little. He stood up and said something -- I forget what. I glared at him for a second or two, then turned my back to him and started walking toward my car. The guy yelled out one last time: "Hey, I waved at you! That's the way we do it in South Carolina!" By the grace of God I kept my mouth shut, which seemed to make him all the more outraged. He was mumbling something as we drove away. Later on I found out that my wife, overhearing all of this, was sure I was going to get a bullet between the shoulder blades. This guy, after all, was hostile, aggressive, maybe a little drunk, and obviously of the redneck species, the kind that carries a loaded shotgun in the rack behind the driver's seat and a .38 in the glove compartment.
A week later I recalled the incident while I was reading Steven Pinker's marvelous book, The Stuff of Thought. That book, which explores the interrelationship between language and human behavior, got me to thinking about the really fascinating dynamic of that exchange at the gas station. The "guy" started off with an aggressive demand for some information: was there a driver in the truck blocking his path? The arm waving was his attempt not so much to attract my attention as to assert his authority: his right to be mad at the offending truck and to exact information from any available bystander. When I told him the truck was empty, he transferred his aggression to me, the messenger with the bad news. Once I confronted him, the aggression mounted in both of us. I called him on his lack of civility; he reposted with an attempted putdown. When I turned my back on him, I was dismissing his complaint as of no worth. He felt shamed, so he fired back with a self-justification ("Hey, I waved at you!"). When in the following second or two that had no effect -- I kept on walking away from him -- he called on a collectivity to back him up: "That's the way we do it in SC!"
If I'd answered what I wanted to, "That's the way rednecks do it in SC!" I may well have gotten that bullet in the back. There's a poorly enforced concealed gun law in this state, and most of its citizens, it seems, are armed to the teeth. "Don't tread on me, buddy!" no matter how uncivil I may get. My own combination of anger, shame and aggression did nothing but compound the situation, to the point that my poor wife was seriously afraid for my life. The guy is probably a very good father and husband, no more of a redneck than me or my neighbors. But whatever, the exchange was fascinating because of what it revealed about the dynamics of a meeting between strangers that's based on hostility and self-justification, both his and mine.
Just maybe, again by the grace of God, I'll learn from this how much language -- meaning attitude as well as words -- can make or break a relationship, between strangers or between friends and lovers. Words have power, as the ancient Hebrews so well knew. It's no accident that the Person of the Holy Trinity who deigned to become incarnate, to take upon himself this very fallen human nature of ours, was the Word of God. With words we can bless or curse, heal or wound. We can reflect the mercy and love of Christ, even in potentially hostile situations, or we can let our nervous system -- our passions -- get the better of us, as I did, and make a bad situation worse.
What that brief little encounter at the gas station accomplished, on the positive side of the ledger, was to remind me of and reinforce for me once again a truth so often spoken by a departed friend, colleague and mentor at the St Sergius Institute in Paris, Olivier Clément. A theme that recurred throughout his writing and teaching career is one I, and I suppose most of us, need very much to keep in mind. That is the truth that every human person without exception -- from the holiest monk to the most aggressive gun-toting redneck -- is created in the image of God and is therefore worthy of infinite compassion.

Learning Basket: Leaves...

2009-10-25T06:35:00.004-05:00

Leaves
Flower Fairies of the Autumn (only one or two poems)
High Five October 2009
A Child's Calendar (only October pages)
A Tree for All Seasons
Why do Leaves Change Color? (above our little one's listening level, so I shorten the information in the book)
Circle of Seasons (Autumn pages only)
Out and About (Only Autumn pages)
Leaf Man

Activities
Leaf Rubbings!
Tree climbing - on the tree that Papa climbed as a little one!
Leaf Preserving in Beeswax

Sonlight Preschool 3/4 Books
I am a Bunny(20th Century Children's Book Treasury)
Thumbelina(Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales)
Whose Mouse are You?(20th Century Children's Book Treasury)

Masterpieces

Picture Study: On an Island with Gauguin
Music Study: Mozart
Poetry Study: A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Loius Stevenson

Guardian Angel Suncatchers?

2009-10-22T07:22:00.003-05:00

I seem to remember that someone sells a guardian angel suncatcher that children can paint. Does anyone know where I can find them? We'd like to use them as the craft for our Saint Michael's Day Party this year, so I should order them soon if they are actually available and not a figment of my imagination:) Thanks!!

October's Nature Shelf...

2009-10-21T05:12:00.000-05:00

9 Ways to Help Spark Your Child's Imagination...

2009-10-20T05:26:00.003-05:00

A stick fort for children to play in at Longwood Gardens

Read, read, read! Taking the time to sit down with your little one for a little reading time is the perfect way to help them increase their imagination. Each story you read together opens their world a little more. Try to find books that are worth both your time and theirs! Several sites have extensive booklists to help you choose good children's literature - whether you are building your own collection or borrowing from the library. Here are some lists to consider: Ambleside Online Preschool/Kindergarten, Along the Alphabet Path, Early Read-Alouds.

Turn off the Tube! I am the first to admit that my children watch television. They like PBS programs and enjoy one or two shows each day. Everything in moderation, though! It is very tempting for those of us who have television to use it as a way to keep our kids occupied for a little while while we do things without being bothered by them. While I don't think that is a problem once in awhile (it is nice to cook without someone trying to steal the cheese, dip their fingers into the milk, or scorch their hair on the stove!), it can very quickly get out of hand. It is a much better idea to help teach your children to go play when you need a bit of time. The less time they watch tv, the more they are working on a craft, reading/looking through books, playing with toys, spending time outside, etc. Guide your children when they seem to be at a loss for something to do and make it fun!

Some Ideas:

Why don't you cook me some delicious stew to go with the bread I'm making? Guide your child to their play kitchen or offer them some of the veggie scraps you're going to throw away, the cutting board and a child safe knife.

Would you like to give your baby a bath while I vacuum? Set your child up with a plastic baby doll, a sink with some warm water, a washcloth and the stepstool.

Here's the hungry elephant! He wants to eat all the crumbs we dropped while we were eating our lunch! Hand your child a small hand vac or a cute crumb vac and watch your little one happily spend time cleaning up!

Tell Stories! Preschoolers love to hear stories that you make up or that you tell them of the past. There are many stories that we grew up on that are easy to tell to your children. Ones like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, etc. Pre-schoolers love to hear stories about when they were babies or when you were a child. Prepare yourself to tell these stories over, and over, and over again. Oral storytelling helps children to build their imagination as they picture the stories that you tell them in their little heads. It is an entirely different experience than listening to mom or dad read a picture book. Try it!

Playing Store

Offer Toys that Encourage Imagination! Toys that do only one thing are really not very interesting after awhile. When you have a toy that is open- ended and encourages you to try new and different things with it, you can be entertained for hours! Take a set of blocks for example. A child can use them to build towers. She can build a house, a castle, a church, or a store. She can add a train set to the blocks to build a little town. She can make patterns, use the blocks for food in her pretend kitchen, set up a tea party for her animals... The possibilities are endless when you have an open-ended toy to play with.

Help Your Child Imagine! Often times we kind of expect that our children will know what to do with a toy when it is handed to them. Without trying to impede their creativity, you can guide your child when he seems stumped. For example, your child is hanging off your leg while you are trying to vacuum. You could say to your little one, "Why don't you play with some of the thousands of toys your father and I have for you?" or you could say, "Sugar Plum, I think I hear someone crying! I do! It is your baby, Baby Claudia! She must be hungry or maybe her diaper is dirty!" Usually, that is just enough to send a child off running!

Music! Introduce your child to all sorts of different composers and musicians. Encourage them to dance and move to the music. One favorite cd in our home is Peter and the Wolf. Our little ones never tire of hearing it. We also have classical music, country music, showtunes, Disney songs, and oldies playing at some point every day. In the age of mp3's, it is quite easy to build a nice collection of different styles of music very quickly and cheaply.

Fireman climbing up the ladder

Crafts! Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be crafty to create with your little ones! With the internet and a printer at your disposal, you can find all sorts of directions for crafts to try with your children. Elizabeth Foss has two excellent articles that I think you will find to be good for deciding what to stock in your crafting arsenal and also how to handle crafting practically.

Time Outside! For some reason time outside used to seem like such a huge stressful chore for me. I either wanted my kids strapped into their stroller or I wanted to be at a place where there was something for them to do (like a playground). I felt like if I had some playground equipment or a sandbox, or some shade from a tree older than our son things would be easier. Then one day, I handed my daughter a child sized spade, her bug house, and a magnifying glass. Time outside magically became easier! Even our little guy who cannot sit still for three seconds loves to dig in the dirt and ride his little bike up and down the walkway. Yes, it is messy. You know what though? Everything and everybody is washable. Have fun in the dirt. Bring out the hose. Blow bubbles, draw with chalk, water the flowers, ride bikes, etc. If you have a hard time like I did, write down a list of things you can do with your little one outside and then do one thing each day!

Free Time! It is so tempting to fill your child's days with activities, classes, and playdates. Home should be the place that you want to spend as much time as possible. Try to limit your outside activities to a couple of times a week and then just hang out at home! When there aren't unnecessary trips out and demands upon your time, children can actually play with the toys that you have. They can make crafts at the kitchen table and read the books on their shelf. They can actually come up with imaginative games and ideas to entertain themselves with. Life will be more fun and less harried. Trips out will be enjoyed more and times when you go to activities geared toward children will be much more appreciated.

Special thanks again to New Mom for suggesting this topic!

Toys to Build Imagination...

2009-10-19T05:57:00.006-05:00

Treasures from Nature: Never underestimate the fun it is for children to find and collect things from nature! Our children love to head to the beach and bring home rocks and shells to wash and play with at home. Sugar Plum also loves to collect acorns, leaves, and other nuts and seeds to use as food for the little kitchen or for our wooden animal friends. Our little ones also play with shells and rocks in the bathtub (test to be sure that they don't scratch the tub before you try this!).

Dollhouse and Farm: We love our farm yard play set! It is so much fun to re-arrange furniture, set up animals, and make up stories about the things that live on our farm! We add an animal or two to our collection on special days like namesdays, birthdays, and certain feasts (Christmas, Pascha (Easter), etc.). It is a lot of fun to see what our children come up with when they play with their farm set. There are also other play sets that you can start collecting for your children if you want something different than a farm. I love the idea of a castle set or a Noah's ark/ship set. There are also tree houses that you can choose. The possibilities are endless!

Play Kitchen: The play kitchen was the first large toy we bought for our children. It has gotten a lot of use (especially from our son!). We love this small one, but there are a lot of different sizes, shapes, and configurations to choose from! We have a small collection of pots and a set of play food. Add in an apron and pot holder and your little ones will be all set to cook you a lovely meal!

Blocks: There are so many different kinds of blocks to choose from today! You can get ones that are classic wooden shapes and ones that are meant to build certain things. We have two sets: Tree Blocks and Church Blocks. I'd like to add a basic set ( since our children are becoming more interested in building) and interlocking blocks.

Dress-Up Clothes: Now is the perfect time of year to stock up on inexpensive dress-up clothes! There will be many sales following Halloween... our family has the tradition of going out the day after Halloween to buy a costume on clearance for each child. It is a great way to stock your dress-up trunk with great outfits like fairies, ballerinas, cowboys, frontier men, etc. If you have boys, you may think that it will be difficult to gather enough to fill a trunk, but there is plenty to choose from! Amazon carries a set of Community Hats and Career Hats. Add a few bandannas, vests, some knight armor, and a few of dad's old accessories (briefcase, wallet, hat, etc.), and you have a wonderful start to your little guy's dress-up collection. You can set up a lovely area in a closet or corner for your children's dress-ups. A trunk is a great way to store all the bits and pieces you have. Our family really likes the child-sized coat stand we have or you could use a series of hooks. Don't forget to add a mirror!

Puppets: We discovered Folkmanis Puppets at our local children's bookshop a few months ago. They were a wonderful addition to our family's toy collection! Melissa and Doug makes a variety of different puppets and I am sure that you can find other companies that do as well online. We like using them to tell stories both by mama and the little ones. They are also excellent props for the nature table! Monica has instructions on her blog for making a puppet theater to hang on a clothesline (I can't link directly to the post, so scroll 3/4 of the way down to see it posted on October 9th).

Trains and Train Tracks: Our Little Man loves playing with his train set! We have the Melissa and Doug Classic Wooden Figure Eight Train Set and our train is a toy version of The Little Engine that Could. Obviously, this is a toy that can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be. You can have a train table with lots of tracks and accessories, a conductors hat, a train whistle, etc. One of the things that I like best about these tracks is that you can set them up in any configuration that you want. Little Man likes to keep things simple, while Sugar Plum can get more elaborate with her track designs. Our children also like to use their farm and dollhouse accessories with the train set or even build castles, churches, and cities with their blocks around it.

Doll Play: One of the toys that gets a lot of use in our home is the dolls and their accessories. We have four or five dolls that get nursed, put in slings, pushed around in strollers, rocked in the rocker, put to bed in the cradle or a child's bed, fed, etc. We have a cradle and a doll sized rocker for our babies and two of our dolls can be dressed in different clothing. We have not discouraged our son from playing with dolls. We know that he is learning how to be gentle and caring with babies through his play, which is good preparation for him if he ever becomes a big brother or a father.

Vehicles: One of the best toys our son has ever gotten was a wooden firetruck. It has removable men and two removable ladders. He loves to push is around, have his little men climb up the dollhouse or barn on the ladders, and make siren noises. We also have a variety of smaller cars, buses, tow trucks, and airplanes.

Cash Register: We received a cash register and conveyor belt (no longer available) as a gift earlier this year and it has been a big hit! I added a metal basket from Home Depot and some play money from the dollar store. Our little ones love to play store and pile all of their play food into the basket to play store. The hardest part of them is sharing - they both like to be in charge of the register!

**While may of the toys featured are made from wood, you can be just as imaginative with toys made from other materials. Also, I have found it helpful to compile a list of things that I'd like to add to our collection of toys for times when people ask what to get our little ones for a gift, for when there is a big sale, or for when I head to garage sales/thrift stores.**

Special thanks to New Mom for suggesting this topic! 9 Ways to Spark Your Child's Imagination will be posted tomorrow!

Test Your Knowledge of Angels - The Answers...

2009-10-18T11:36:00.003-05:00

1. Angels? Who in their right mind believes in angels anymore?!?

a. those who know that things exist which cannot be seen by the human eye
b. those who believe the Word of God in the Old and New Testaments
c. those who have even some awareness of the spiritual world, including non-Christians
d. those who are possessed by demons

e. all of the above

Answer: e - all of the above.

2. True or False: According to the Holy Scriptures, there are 7 ranks of angels and 9 archangels.

Answer: False. There are 9 ranks of angels and many archangels, seven of which are known by name in Holy Scripture and Tradition.

3. The word “angel” means:

a. spirit
b. servant
c. messenger
d. holy one
e. none of the above

Answer: c - messenger

4. True or False: Angels can be present in two or more places at the same time because they don’t have physical bodies.

Answer: False. Angels are bound by time and space as are human beings.

5. The word “Satan” literally means:

a. father of lies
b. prince of the world
c. accuser or adversary
d. evil one
e. all of the above

Answer: c - Though all the descriptions apply, “Satan” literally means “accuser” or “adversary”.

6. True or False: Angels and demons, by their very nature as super-natural, highly intelligent spirits, not only know everything that has happened in the past, but can also read our thoughts and fore-tell the future.

Answer: False. Angels do not know everything in the past, cannot read our thoughts, and do not know the future, unless God informs them of this.

7. If an angel came to you and gave you a different teachings from what was already given by Jesus Christ, should you listen to him?

Answer: No. See Galatians 1:8 and the errors of Islam and Mormonism for instance.

8. True or False: When little children die, in heaven they become angels.

Answer: False. Though they may go to Heaven. Human beings do not become angels, nor angels become human beings.

9. True or False: God created Satan as a fallen angel so that man’s free will would be tested, having the option to follow God or follow the devil.

Answer: False. Everything God created was made good, including Satan, who was formerly an angel of light and willingly chose to dwell in darkness.

10. How many angels are there?
a. 144,000 angels, plus an unnumbered amount of demons
b. 99 angels, as indicated by the Lord’s parable about the 99 sheep that didn’t wander
c. somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000
d. innumerably more than the number of people ever created

Answer: d - Though there is no exact figure given in Holy Scripture or Tradition, the Church teaches that there are in-numerably more angels than human beings ever created.

Sense of Humor Needed...

2009-10-18T11:35:00.001-05:00

A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because he was short of time and couldn't find a space with a meter. Then he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: "I have circled the block 10 times. If I don't park here, I'll miss my appointment. Forgive us our trespasses."
When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note "I've circled this block for 10 years. If I don't give you a ticket I'll lose my job. Lead us not into temptation."

***

There is the story of a pastor who got up one Sunday and announced to his congregation: "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, we have enough money to pay for our new building program. The bad news is, it's still out there in your pockets."

***

A minister waited in line to have his car filled with gas just before a long holiday weekend. The attendant worked quickly, but there were many cars ahead of him. Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant pump.
"Reverend," said the young man, "I'm so sorry about the delay. It seems as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long trip." The minister chuckled, "I know what you mean. It's the same in my business."

***

People want the front of the bus, the back of the church, and the center of attention..

***

The minister was preoccupied with thoughts of how he was going to ask the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting for repairs to the church building. Therefore, he was annoyed to find that the regular organist was sick and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute. The substitute wanted to know what to play. "Here's a copy of the service," he said impatiently. "But, you'll have to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the finances."
During the service, the minister paused and said, "Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected and we need $4,000 more. Any of you who can pledge $100 or more, please stand up."
At that moment, the substitute organist played "The Star Spangled Banner." And that is how the substitute became the regular organist!

Grant Eternal Rest O Lord!

2009-10-18T06:11:00.004-05:00

Please keep the Handmaiden of the Lord, Mary in your prayers! She passed away last night after a long illness. Mary was one of the older ladies in Fr John's church growing up and was always lovingly referred to as Auntie Mary by all the children in the parish.

Test Your Knowledge of Angels...

2009-10-17T06:42:00.003-05:00

1. Angels? Who in their right mind believes in angels anymore?!?

e. all of the above

2. True or False: According to the Holy Scriptures, there are 7 ranks of angels and 9 archangels.

3. The word “angel” means:

a. spirit
b. servant
c. messenger
d. holy one
e. none of the above

4. True or False: Angels can be present in two or more places at the same time because they don’t have physical bodies.

5. The word “Satan” literally means:

a. father of lies
b. prince of the world
c. accuser or adversary
d. evil one
e. all of the above

6. True or False: Angels and demons, by their very nature as super-natural, highly intelligent spirits, not only know everything that has happened in the past, but can also read our thoughts and fore-tell the future.

7. If an angel came to you and gave you a different teachings from what was already given by Jesus Christ, should you listen to him?

8. True or False: When little children die, in heaven they become angels.

9. True or False: God created Satan as a fallen angel so that man’s free will would be tested, having the option to follow God or follow the devil.

10. How many angels are there?

a. 144,000 angels, plus an unnumbered amount of demons
b. 99 angels, as indicated by the Lord’s parable about the 99 sheep that didn’t wander
c. somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000
d. innumerably more than the number of people ever created

I'll post the answers tomorrow!!

Oreo Cookie Pie...

2009-10-17T06:35:00.004-05:00

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups cold milk

2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O OREO Flavor Instant Pudding

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)

5 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, halved

Preparation:

POUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in half of the whipped topping.

POUR into pie crust.

REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until set. Top with remaining whipped topping and cookie halves just before serving. Store any leftover pie in refrigerator.

I did use some substitutions for this Nabisco recipe:

I used Vanilla Pudding instead of the Oreo Pudding. Fr John said that his grandmother made it with chocolate pudding, so I'll try that next time I make it.

I also substituted real whipped cream for Cool Whip.

Enjoy!

Autumn Leaf Fairies...

2009-10-16T08:21:00.002-05:00

I came across this tutorial for making felt flower fairies and decided to make my own version of Autumn Dollhouse Fairies. Ideally, I'd like to make some for each season... especially since I just found a local source for beautiful wool felt! When I saw the plaids, I was thrilled!! Check out the rest of the WeeFolk Art blog. The author has some fabulous tutorials for things like a wooden autumn forest (*ahem*, Fr John!), a mini pumpkin patch, rolled felt flowers, and felt flower garlands!

Cheep Chicken...

2009-10-16T07:38:00.002-05:00

We are fortunate to have a BJs club about three minutes from our new home. Last Saturday, I dashed in to pick up a few odds and ends and decided to check their rotisserie chicken prices for a quick meal after church. I was so happy to find that they stocked Harvestland rotisserie chickens which we not only normally cheaper than the the Purdue ones (which are local to us, by the way!) at $6.99, but also had a coupon for $1 off on the bag!

We enjoyed the chicken very much for our dinner and last night I made some chicken stock from the bones. I ran out again and got a second chicken and used about half the meat for the soup. I have a feeling that we will be purchesing at least one chicken a week for a long time. Yummy!

I couldn't serve chicken noodle soup without corn muffins though. I really want to try Ina's recipe for cheddar cornbread... maybe for next week's pot of soup!

The Forecast is Calling for Rain Until Tuesday...

2009-10-16T07:18:00.004-05:00

We were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch yesterday, but hit a bounce house instead. Our little ones slept hard last night!