Annual Patron Saint

Years ago, when we lived in Kearney, NE, I was introduced to the idea of annual patron saints. The idea is to randomly pick a saint from a pile or group; and in the coming year, you are to learn about that saint and ask them for intercession in your life. Some say that the saint chooses you.

Early in the new year (or maybe it was December), while shopping at a local Catholic bookstore, I picked out an annual patron saint at the checkout. What a wonderful project for a store to undertake...making sure their 'patron's' have a patron saint to help them through the year. The saint's name and a verse were written on a thin strip of paper. Mine was St. Helena and I'll admit that I don't know much about her, other than remembering she is credited with finding the true cross. If I could find the strip, I'd share the verse, but I can't find it. I distinctly remember Graham holding it and that I took it and put it somewhere safer. Ha!! Haven't we all done that! Anyway, I hope to share more as I learn more.

Shrine to Saint Helena at St. Peter's Basilica

Then, at our first Family Formation parent class in January, I was again given the opportunity to pick an annual patron saint from a face-down pile of cards. After asking if it was okay to have two patrons - as if I don't need more help! - I chose one for myself and my husband, who wasn't able to attend. My second patron for the year is the Infant Baby Jesus. The card showed this beautiful picture of Mary and Jesus with the following phrase and prayer:

Newborn Baby Jesus

"Today when Jesus is born and by His birth brings immeasurable joy, love and peace, I call you, in a special way to say your 'yes' to Jesus. Open your hearts so that Jesus enters into them, comes to dwell in them and starts to work through you. Only in this way will you be able to comprehend the true beauty of God's love, joy and peace." *

~Let the baby Jesus be your guide, pray that all mothers would choose life for their unborn child.

If you don't have an annual patron saint, but would like to participate, go grab a saint book. With your eyes closed, flip through the pages and just stop at some point. Consider this your 2009 annual patron saint. Live and learn with your saint over the coming year.

*From page 321 of 'The Visions of the Children: The Apparitions of the Blessed Mother at Medjugorje' By Janice T. Connell. Check here for more information on the book and author.

Crop Judging

On Saturday, Dash and Angelina will enter the realm of 4-H Crop Judging by competing in their first meet. To prepare, they've been studying weed mounts, weed seeds, crop seeds, and grading grain samples since the beginning of January.

Dad has been leading this endeavor as I've never crop judged; my closest experience would have been an Agronomy course in college. From my own experience in the class, I can tell you that judging will involve a lot of memorization and attention to detail.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the kids do at the contest. A little competition is good and at best, it will create a little motivation for self improvement.

Barley Sample

Are you a MOON mom?

The Spring-Summer-Fall mom spends quite a bit of energy trying to keep sand out of her home, but the cooped-up Winter mom lets MOON SAND into her home!

Step one: The child plays and has a great time!

Step two: The child is done playing and gets up to find MOON mom.

Step three: MOON mom starts the clean-up and realizes she forgot to sweep the floor before playing began. So once again, the MOON SAND on the floor probably shouldn't be saved. MOON mom sees the positive side and realizes that there is less MOON SAND in said home.

P.S. Let it be known that this MOON mom did not buy the MOON SAND.

What to do??

Each year, I save the best Christmas card 'fronts'. In the past, I've saved religious and non-religious themes to use for gift tags - I have a manilla envelope full of potential tags. I've used quite a few, but I must not give out enough gifts because it really doesn't seem like I've made a dent in the pile. Now, I only save the religious themed fronts; except for the snowman on a metal rim tag, that was just plain cute.

These are my picks from Christmas 2008 and 2007*, and they are beautiful. Some of them are definitely frameable. I am compelled to save them and must find a way to display them (maybe a picture here will suffice)!

*Yes, that's right, 2007. I just went through my Christmas 2007 cards! That means I moved a pile of old cards when we moved out to our new home. But, I'm done much earlier than usual with the current year.

Tote Bag Meme

Jamie tagged me; so here's the scoop on my tote bag/purse.

This is my tote/purse. It usually gets tossed on the floor beside my desk & ends up looking like this. It's a good, sturdy tote, though, and has served me well. I found it at Kohl's on sale & then used a coupon. I tend to use my purses until they fall apart, and I like it even better when I can get someone else to do the purse shopping for me (last time, my sister & mom picked out my purse). My requirements are a zippered section for personal items and that it is large enough for my wallet, checkbook and Catholic Woman's Daily Planner.

I know the picture is fuzzy, but that is because Angelina is a first time photographer on my camera. It took quite a while to get this shot & I didn't want to sit any longer! This is the corner of Angelina's newly cleaned room. We'd been working on it all afternoon. 1 black garbage bag later, the room was in tip-top shape. It seemed appropriate to take a picture. This is me, in her reading chair.

I'm usually wearing jeans. Nice solid top - yes, it is long underwear! Cuddle Duds to be exact. For those of you who live in warmer climes, this may seem strange, but long underwear can be stylish and it always keeps me warm. I do not wear this combo out of the house...

Last, but not least, notice my cup of chai tea in hand!

As far as who to tag, how about Michelle and Kimberly.

Intercession

A while ago, I was having an especially difficult time with one of my children - in every area of our relationship. On quite a few days, my mother listened patiently to my struggles and offered me encouragement and solace. After one particularly trying day, she sent me an email with a list of the following patron saints.

This is another of those lists that I paste in my dayplanner.

A few of my friends remember this time in my life and are now at a similar point with one or more of their own children. (This post is for you!) The intercession of these saints, the prayers of my mother, and a lot of forgiveness (70x7 rang in my ears often!) has finally started to heal the relationship between me and this child.

St. Thomas Aquinas – Academics
St. Ambrose – Learning
St. Nicholas of Myra – Children
St. Aloyisius Gonzaga – Youth
St. Jude – Desperate Situations
St. Gregory the Great – Teachers

Heart-Touching

Tonight, my heart was touched.

After my grandmother's death this past fall, family members were given the opportunity to choose something of hers for themselves. Her collection of stuffed animals was set up for the great-grandchildren. Never having given my grandmother a stuffed animal and thinking about the quite large and still-packed box of stuffed animals at my home, I reluctantly chose four for my kids.

My grandma was so tender hearted and known for her love of animals, so it's only fitting that she was surrounded by such a large contingent of stuffed animals. Aside from the huggable 'still' animals, Grandma's constant companion in the years since my grandfather's death was a white chihuahua, named Chica. Chica shed fur (a lot of it), so those stuffed animals had a bit of embellishing! Tonight I finally got around to cleaning them up and put them on the laundry room shelf, intending to hand them out to the kids later.

This little ram is for Dash. He's not really into stuffed animals, but this is small so I hope he'll think it's cool enough.

The teddy bear is for Zeke. Zeke is my only winter baby, so the knit sweater and hat made sense to me.

Graham will get the black fuzzy lamb. This lamb is cute as can be, and Graham is my littlest.

I chose this big pink teddy bear for Angelina, who is named after her Great-Grandmother. I was hesitant in taking this bear because it really was adorable, and I thought maybe the original giver might want it. But I was assured that it was okay and told not to worry about if we gave the bear to grandma, or not. Well ...

Tonight, Angelina and Graham were ready for bed and I was upstairs folding laundry; Angelina popped in and noticed the pink teddy bear on the shelf. Looking up, she said to me, "I remember that pink teddy bear. I think we gave it to Great-Grandma for her 90th birthday or something."

"Really," I said (thinking to myself that she was about 2.5 yo at her Great-Grandmother's 90th birthday party and I was at home awaiting the somewhat imminent birth of Zeke - that's another story altogether!), "Did Grandma help you kids pick it out for Great-Grandma?"

"Yes, she did," Angelina replied matter-of-factly.

"Well, I picked out that teddy bear for you. I thought you might like it in your room," said I, surprised by unexpected emotion. From the smile and look in her eyes, I don't think the moment was lost on Angelina, either. In the days and nights since giving her the bear, it has occupied a prime spot on her bed with a special blanket.

We love you Great-Grandma!

Six minus three equals three

Three left today; Dash and Zeke will visit grandma and grandpa for the whole week and hubby will be attending an ag show for work. That leaves me with two! Angelina, Graham and I plan to enjoy a quiet week.

Thus far, Graham is enjoying the freedom to color in Zeke's coloring books without being reprimanded by his brother. I expect his handi-work won't be found for quite some time.

Angelina finished school early and earned computer time. She has a couple Web-kinz that needed tending (according to her!). My goal is to help her get at least one 4-H project completed.

As for me, well, there's a list that needs to be done, and it isn't anything exciting. Right now, though, I'm going to see if we can figure out Angelina's game: Auditective Bingo Musical. It's pretty much musical intrument bingo. It must be played on the CD player's 'shuffle' or 'random' mode. She was very frustrated last time because the CD player did not have that capability.

My elementary music teacher had a similar game. Well, as similar as vinyl records can be!

How To Pray For Your Child

I cannot remember how this set of prayer instructions came into my hands, but I've kept it close. I've shared it with many friends, and I usually paste it in my day-planner (I need to do that, yet). I haven't always rememberd to say these prayers, but I should remember. Maybe the daily struggles wouldn't seem so overwelming!

My Little Flock on Christmas Day 2008

How to Pray For Your Child

1.Pray NOTHING hinders your child from accepting Christ as his personal Savior early in life. (Matthew 19:14)

2.Pray your child learns to know God and will have a deep desire to do God’s will for his life. (Psalms 119: 27,30,34,35)

3.Pray your child hears stories from the Bible that will be a basis for his decisions throughout life. (Ecclesiastes 12:q, Psalms 71:17)

4.Pray your child will develop a keen sense of right and wrong and that he will truly abhor evil and cling to that which is good. (Psalms 139: 23-4)

5.Pray your child will increase in wisdom (mentally) and in stature (physically) and in favor with God (spiritually) and man (socially). (Luke2:52). This prayer covers his total development to his full potential.

6.Pray that your child will develop a thankful heart and a positive mental attitude. (Psalm 126:2-3, Romans 8:31)

7.Pray that God protects your child from Satan and his wiles in every area of his life. (John 17:55, Psalm 121)

8.Pray that God would destroy the enemies in his life whether they be weaknesses, lying, selfishness etc. (Psalms 120: 2, 140)

9.Pray that God would make him successful in the work God has for him to do. (Psalm 118:25, 139:9-10)

10.Pray he will have a strong sense of belonging to a family that is loving and dwells together in unity (Psalms 133, Colossians 3:12-14).

11.Pray he will respect authority. (Romans 13:1, Ephesians 6:1-4)

12.Pray that his entire life will be a testimony of the greatness and love of Christ. (Philippians 2:15-16, Thess. 5:2-3)

If you pray one of these a month, you will have your child covered for a year!

Remember Today

Lessons learned and ...

put to use for this game!

We've used Child-Sized Masterpieces (also called Mommy, It's a Renoir) by Parent Child Press for art study since we began homeschooling, and it sure is fun to hear and see the time spent on those lessons being put to task effectively. The paternal grandparents discovered that Angelina can play along with them and hold her own. Dash can play well, too, but from what I've heard Angelina must have more of my competitive genes. I don't think she's lost a game since she started playing, and she's quite proud of that fact. I'll have to see if my mom will let us have the copy we played in my childhood or if another game can be acquired. Now that my kids are getting old enough to play 'real' games (sorry to all of you who like Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Sorry!, and the like - I cannot enjoy myself while playing those games), I may just start having Game Days as a treat during the school week. Sounds like a blast to me!

Presidential History

Today is the Inaguration of our new President. I'm going to watch and I think I'll have the kids watch with me. It would be nice to avoid the pre- and post- summaries by the media, but I suppose we'll see a bit of that, too. My hope is that the changes aren't as drastic as feared and that there is more good than expected from the new administration and leadership. In doubt and uncertainty, my only recourse is prayer; prayer is hope.

Updated Later in the Day:

Well, it's done. We did watch. Among the many interruptions, I can honestly say that the most moving part for me was the musical quartet. Just plain beautiful music. Music can be felt immediately. I could have stopped watching right there and been on a high for the rest of the day!

The words spoken by the 44th President were, I'm sure, moving for some. I wanted to feel something new and different, but I did not. I'm left, still, with an uncertainty. Words are easy to speak, but they must be put into action if they are to have real consequences - I do not want some words to be put into action.

The kids were talking about living in the White House. The best part, they thought, would be a new pet! They talked about the kinds of pets that would be allowed at the White House - apparently, the White House, in their minds, brings freedom from Mom & Dad's restrictions on pets living in the family home!!

The First Post

Well, I didn't think I'd start another blog. However, I've had soo much fun with my cooking blog that I decided to give this a go. I really wanted something that would capture more of our life. So, this blog, Shepherding My Sheep, is about our family. At this point, I'm not sure who will be reading because I haven't decided to open it up! But, it's a record of our daily life ... the joys and struggles of raising our little flock to love life and the author of life, our Lord. The references to shepherd and sheep are numerous in the bible, and I have a special regard for sheep as animals, too. Sheep are stubborn, don't like change (that's not necessarily me, but for sure some of our family members would fit that description!), like to follow a leader, are loyal, and need protection at times. There are many similarities between Christ's followers and a flock of sheep, thus the name of this blog. I'm trying to 'shepherd' my little flock to know and love Christ - this is my vocation.