Fall...My favorite season!

I'm not sure why my kids look forward to hunting chestnuts in the Fall.

When I used to teach Kindergarten, I would ask the kids to go with me to a city park that I knew had six to seven chestnut trees. We would collect the smooth, brown nuts to take back to school to put in a sensory table for the Kinders. Well, after three years of teaching Kinders, it became a family fall tradition.

I still take some to school...this week they will be in the estimation jar on the math table...but most of the beautiful nuts will end up in a hurricane on my coffee table.

The kids prize for the afternoon is when they find a "twin" nut!
Happy Fall!
p.s. Don't forget to pray for Fr. Bob...

Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!
Let every action of mine be something beautiful for God. Blessed Mother Teresa

Prayers Requested...

I am requesting prayers again today. As we were leaving Church this morning, I overheard two elderly men talking about Fr. Bob Stegmann. Fr. Bob used to be the Priest at our Church before we were merged into a larger Parish. They were talking about how they were shocked to hear that he has colon cancer. It was obvious that I had overhear them speaking but I couldn't just walk away after hearing news like that!
Fr. Bob was the Priest that made it possible for our oldest daughter to be Confirmed...with just a few weeks of preparation before Holy Saturday.
I believe that he is just 50 years old. (or close to that)

I am going to send him a note telling him of our family's prayers, but also of my class's prayers. Please, please also pray for this gentle, kind, loving Priest. He has a beautiful conversion story...entered the Priesthood later in life after converting from the Methodist faith and working in the business world with computers. Anyway, please pray for him. He holds the Blessed Mother close to his heart. :)

Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!
Let every action of mine be something beautiful for God! Blessed Mother Teresa

Children's Prayer to Mary

Dear Mother of Jesus,
look down upon me
As I say my prayers slowly
at my mother's knee.

I love thee, O Lady
and please willest thou bring
All little children
To Jesus our King.


Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

St. Anthony the Abbot

I was closing out of my blog and I looked at the picture of St. Anthony the Abbot on the side bar of my page. I thought to myself, here I have a Patron Saint for the year and I really don't know anything about him.
Soooooo....
I looked him up.
Those of you who know me personally may be amused at what I found...

Every time he (St. Anthony the Abbot) heard of a holy person he would travel to see that person. But he wasn't looking for words of wisdom, he was looking to become. So if he admired a person's constancy in prayer or courtesy or patience, he would imitate it. Then he would return home.
Anthony was not known for his writings nor for his worldly wisdom, nor for any art, but simply for his reverence toward God." We may wonder nowadays at what we can learn from someone who lived in the desert, wore skins, ate bread, and slept on the ground. We may wonder how we can become him. We can become Anthony by living his life of radical faith and complete commitment to God.

Saint Anthony, you spoke of the importance of persevering in our faith and our practice. Help us to wake up each day with new zeal for the Christian life and a desire to take the next challenge instead of just sitting still. Amen

I do look to the Saints for ways to love Jesus more.
And again,
I'm off to tend to my family. :)
I can hear Maddie's cello calling to me...

Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

Shining Christ's Light

We were extremely blessed this school year. We have a new Principal. She is awesome! This morning we prayed the Rosary before the start of the school day. Talk about a great way to begin the morning. :)
She had to help me with a situation that happened in the classroom yesterday and it seems to me that she understands the passion that I bring to the children. It is so very, very important to me that each of my students know without any doubt that I care about them and the decisions that they make. I want them to learn to love Jesus and the Blessed Mother. It's kind of funny at this time of year...they really do not know me yet. When we pray they see me bow my head and hold my hands clasped in front of me and boy oh boy do they stare at me.
hehehehehe
Just wait until I post in a month or two-- I will share with you what I see every single school day when we pray. It's awesome. I've posted this before, but these children are so hungry for Jesus! They just don't know it yet.

Just a quick note on my beautiful family...
Last weekend we made our second annual pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadelupe Shrine in Lacrosse, WI. They opened up a new prayer space since last year and I have to share the magnificent sculpture that they added. (That's a picture of it at the top of my post, I know you really can't see it too well, sorry)
It is our Blessed Mother looking down at her arms that are folded in the front of her. In her arms are three tiny babies sleeping peacefully and each is in a different sleep position. Well, it's hard to describe the beauty of this sculpture.
It is facing an enclosure that has JPII quotes on them. I can not describe it very well to let you picture the beauty.
We waited to attend Mass there. At Communion the Priest announced that it was tradition at the shrine to use the Communion rail and receive on the tongue. I happily shared with my daughters about my First Communion.

Got to go, I've spent too much time here already.
Our son is on a retreat this weekend.
Pray for him.
thank you. :)

Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!