April 17, 2013
by Regina
0 comments

Marian Devotions Book Giveaway Winner!

What happens when a family takes a trip to Washington, D.C. with a 10-month-old, 4-year-old, and sixteen college students? The 10-month-old throws up on herself at 2am. Then once everyone makes it back home, the 4-year-old also starts throwing up and doesn’t stop for three days. The washing machine works overtime to keep clean sheets in the house, just as the 10-month-old transitions from vomiting to diarrhea. The 4-year-old then joins in. After a week and a half of ugly sickness dominating the house, the 10-month-old rams her head into a wooden chair, knocks out one of her baby teeth, and swallows it.

And apparently something else happens: a blogger doesn’t post the winner of a giveaway (which I think is probably the worst sin of blogging).

My apologies, everyone. I couldn’t have foreseen how bananas the first two weeks of our Easter season would become, but I’m sorry to have lagged behind in posting the winner. So without further adieu…

Congrats, Sophia! However, since you didn’t leave your e-mail address, be sure to contact me at alivinggarden@gmail.com to exchange snail mail information. Thanks for your patience with me, everyone. Here’s to a calmer spring…

March 22, 2013
by Regina
6 Comments

Giveaway: Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church

Just a little over a week remains in this Lenten season.

Per usual, Lent hasn’t gone the way I hoped it would. Yes, we undertook some of last year’s projects and we introduced others. But after seeing sweet little daisy shoots spring up in Punkin’s Lenten plantings, Sweet Pea (who’s now grabbing and reaching for anything and everything) came along and quickly destroyed them by “investigating” the pot. And our refrigerator is the spot for our Lenten calendars and activity sheets, one of which is was a cross with 40 boxes included in it — as Punkin’ completed kind deeds over Lent, she colored in a box. I placed it too low on the fridge door and Sweet Pea came along again and shredded it. I still feel like there are more days when my home is swallowed up by toys, mail, clutter, and laundry. About half of my organization plans have been shelved until summer. I’ve spent more time reminding a preschooler to use the potty, cleaning up lotion that’s been smeared over a doll house, soothing a teething baby, and washing load after load after load of dishes and clothes than attending daily Mass or praying the rosary. Still…

Some things about this Lent have been wonderful:

The Papal conclave. While Daddy was at work and Sweet Pea slept, Punkin’ and I laid down for a quick nap together and I left CNN on mute so we could see the “smoke cam” as we drifted off. About fifteen minutes after closing my eyes, my phone buzzed with a text from the “Pope Alarm” — yes, it worked! I sat up immediately, turned up the TV’s volume, and explained to Punkin’ everything that was happening. It was thrilling and really fun for both of us — I hope a small part of her will always remember something of the experience. If nothing else, maybe she’ll remember what I told her repeatedly that day: Catholics around the world are joined together as one family in celebration when a pope is elected. (More likely, she’ll remember my bed head and trying to get me to read a Garfield book to her while we waited for the “habemus papam” announcement.)
I joined a prayer group through a local parish other than my own that sends prayer requests via e-mail. If you’re at home with small ones most of the day and don’t have access to something like this group in your own parish, consider starting one! Stepping outside of myself and my own worries for even a short time to pray for those in real need definitely helps to shift my attitude toward something far more appropriate for Lent. And because requests come to me via e-mail, I can keep track of them and keep up with them easily.
Thanks to Lena at JOYfilled Family, I’ve become acquainted with The Breviarium Meum, an app developed by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate that provides the traditional (1962) breviary on my phone. It’s been rewarding to follow the day’s readings while also jogging my Catholic high school memories of Latin classes. I’ve retained more of the language than I had thought!
My sweet baby is in full motion and has six pearly white teeth and a hilarious sense of humor. She makes me melt daily.
And finally, I’ve been blessed — blessed — to meet many wonderful Catholic blogging parents who are endlessly creative, unbelievably witty, routinely hysterically funny, and fantastically generous. A special shout out to Jessica at Shower of Roses and Catholic Cuisine (who, though she doesn’t know this, was the first Catholic mom blogger I started to follow and who has taught me more about the liturgical calendar than I can possibly calculate), Monica at Equipping Catholic Families (whose talents are matched only by her kindness, and who hosted the Lenten Link-Up that helped me to meet so many other fantastic, faith-filled families), Noreen at Rosary Mom (who was my first Link-Up friend and who is as sweet and inspiring as they come), and Lena at JOYfilled Family (who was the second Catholic mom blogger I started to follow, who is making me baby-crazed after the birth of her new blessing, and whose devotion to Christ is evident in her entire blog).

For all of these reasons, I can already count this Lent as a success, in spite of my many missteps. And while I haven’t been able to be as outwardly pious as I had hoped, I have spent time giving myself to my family. And each moment we spend with our children — instructing and loving and laughing and modeling — is time spent in prayer. As we tend to our children, we tend to Christ.

To celebrate our upcoming entry into Holy Week and to help others (and myself) to emulate the selflessness of the Blessed Virgin more fully, I’m offering my first giveaway. I adore the Fourniers’ work and I’m giving away one copy of the following title:

Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church, by Catherine Fournier and Peter Fournier

To enter, leave your name and e-mail address in the comments section by Saturday, April 6th and answer the following question: What have been the most and least fulfilling parts of this Lent for you so far?

Earn an extra entry by doing any of the following and providing an additional comment for each you complete:

Subscribe to my blog via e-mail
“Like” my Facebook page
Share the link to this giveaway on your Facebook page
Share the link to this giveaway on your blog
Follow my Catholic crafts board on Pinterest

The winner will be randomly selected on Sunday, April 7th (Divine Mercy Sunday!). Blessings to you all as we head into Holy Week.

**Nota Bene: Catherine and Peter Fournier don’t know that I or my blog exist — I haven’t been paid or in any other way encouraged to offer this giveaway. I simply love this book and want someone else to benefit from it.

March 8, 2013
by Regina
8 Comments

Junior Catholic Messenger: Holy Week, 1953

I’m a freak for old Catholic stuff. One of my favorites is my aunt’s Missal from 1942.

It’s weathered with age, love, and usage. It’s stuffed with holy cards — some from funeral Masses, others from her Dominican nun sister, and many picked up throughout a life of Catholicism. It’s a testament to her faith and its role in her family, friendships, and community. Being Catholic was the common thread that linked all aspects of her life and ran through all of her attachments. It connected her with her ancestors (whose Catholic heritage runs back to the 13th-century) and grounded her in the world around her. When she died a few years ago, I was blessed — blessed — to receive it.

My obsession with this sort of thing was sort of predetermined. First, I grew up loving this movie:

It’s quite possible that I’ve seen The Trouble with Angels, with Hayley Mills and Rosalind Russell (herself a devout Catholic), ~~well over 50 times~~ more times than I can count on fingers and toes. The crazy capers concocted by Catholic school girls and the firm but loving sisters captivated me. And the fact that (spoiler alert) the most rebellious of the girls, played by Mills, experiences a faith transformation and ultimately joins the order upon graduation impacted me in a big way. Add to this the fact that my mom attended the local, Dominican-run all-girls academy in her own childhood. Her stories of play ceasing on the playground at noon so everyone could pray the Angelus and receiving prayers cards as rewards were magical to me. My favorite, though, was when she’d pull out old copies of the children’s magazine she received in school, Junior Catholic Messenger.

When I was growing up and attending Catholic schools, this was the bulletin that we received:

I did look forward to receiving a new copy and I’m quite sure that my experience with them was wholly positive. But they weren’t a window into the past as Junior Catholic Messenger was. Photographs (not only illustrations) of Catholics and Catholic treasures worldwide were featured in every edition of JCM. It seemed and seems that they reflected a global Catholic community that was bonded as one Church. Even in grade school, I recognized the difference between this sort of Catholicism and the kind that was often prevalent outside of my family in the early ’80′s. And everyone in JCM was clearly proud to be Catholic — proud to be reflections of the faith. Even as I read issues now, I’m struck by how beautifully Catholicism was depicted and how much a reader could learn about the Church’s history and teachings. Though they were definitely child-friendly, they never dumbed down the faith. Even when comics were presented, they were this sort of thing:

It’s the story of St. Ignatius Loyola. Yes, even comics emphasized the Church’s rich history and the lives of the saints in JCM. I’ve spoken of my love for this magazine before, but now the publisher and copyright holder, the Pflaum Publishing Group, has graciously agreed to permit me to share copies of this periodical with you! I’m starting with the above issue dated March 27, 1953, which discusses Holy Week. Click HERE to open a copy of the entire issue, used with permission of the publisher, the Pflaum Publishing Group of Dayton, OH. So take a trip back in time and see what Catholic children in 1953 were reading as they also prepared for the solemn feast of Easter.

And tell me if you’re familiar with this magazine, if you like it, if you’d like to read more, or if you’re a fellow freak for Catholic memorabilia!

March 5, 2013
by Regina
1 Comment

A Beatitudes Compass & Scavenger Hunt (with printables)

As Lent takes us along the journey of Christ’s life, we come to this lush, beautiful spot: the Mount of Beatitudes. The Church pictured here is a Franciscan chapel built just before WWII that sits atop the Mount in northern Israel. Its octagonal shape functions as a visual reminder of the 8 beatitudes, and it boasts a wrap-around semi-sheltered walkway that fills with the Galilee’s strong hot winds. How strong are the winds at times? I’m wearing a skirt, not pants, in the photo below, if that helps:

The beatitudes are pretty Lent-oriented — they give us the tools to complete a personal inventory and determine just how Christlike our actions are. But they aren’t exactly immediately accessible for a preschooler. Meekness, humility, poorness in spirit — I could see we needed some translation.

I had purchased this coloring & activity book at some point and finally dug it out again.

Its usefulness became obvious because it provides a one-word translation for each beatitude.

Since the beatitudes give us a map of sorts that, when followed, lead to blessings, my first thought was a compass. Because it’s been crafted with a preschooler in mind, I used the one-word summaries for each beatitude and added photos to provide examples of each beatitude in action. There are three circles in this compass, then, with the arrow connected with a brad/brass fastener, which allows the arrow and circles to rotate.

You can print a copy by clicking HERE. Then to make the use of the compass a bit more fun, I created a scavenger hunt/Choose-Your-Own-Adventure activity that gives clues to find and help Jesus’ friends — helping means following Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. The adventure begins with a letter from Jesus, inviting our intrepid explorer to undertake a new journey:

I’ve included blank lines on the copy that can be printed so you can choose where to send your child depending on his or her choice. I used descriptions like “look for a small house in which small people live” (aka the dollhouse) or “find the place where your sister naps.” Here’s a sample of a clue:

The one-word version of each beatitude is enlarged and placed in bold to match with the compass, and the images included on the clues are the same as the images on the compass to help little ones make more meaningful connections. Originally, I had hoped to use “old-timey” paper to print the clues. When I couldn’t find our stash, I came up with a plan to use our sealing wax and family seal set — only to realize that it hasn’t been seen post-move a year and a half ago. Finally, I settled on rolling the clues and tying them with red ribbon. I’m willing to bet that others can come up with something far more interesting. You can download the complete set of clues, along with the invitational letter, by clicking HERE.

In the invitational letter, a treat is promised when the journey’s completed. I did this for two reasons: 1) nothing motivates a preschooler like the promise of ants on a log or a new book of stickers, and 2) I’ve always appreciated the tradition practiced in some communities of Orthodox Jews, who offer a few pieces of candy when a child experiences his first Hebrew lessons, to show the child that “learning is sweet.” Learning Christ’s teachings should be a joy, not a chore. Enjoy celebrating the joy of Christ, even in the quiet darkness of Lent!

February 27, 2013
by Regina
36 Comments

Papal Election Playset with Printables

Help little ones to actively engage with the upcoming papal conclave — here’s a papal election playset!

Four pages display the College of Cardinals — simply print and cut around the edges. There are three pages of 30 cardinals each and one page of 25 (we’re working with the assumption that there will be 115 electors):

Then tape or glue toilet paper rolls to the back of each page so each stands up.

Do the same with the stand-alone cardinals:

This set comes with two smoke images — one white and one black — that can be used with the wood stove to indicate whether a vote has been successful or not. I used velcro on the brown background behind the stove and then affixed a piece of velcro to both the white and black smoke images. Easy peasy! Finally, no papal conclave would be complete without ballots. Print, cut, and enjoy casting votes for the next Supreme Pontiff.

And voila! Papal election playset:

Click HERE to print your own copy.

February 25, 2013
by Regina
1 Comment

Lent with the Berenstain Bears

Is it weird that I have a favorite Christmas gift…that my four-year-old received? It’s this:

The Tales to Play Berenstain Bears Learn to Share Game. It rocks! 2-4 players have their choice of playing as Sister Bear, Brother Bear, Cousin Freddie, or Lizzy Bruin. Using a special die, players roll to determine the color and shape space to which they should move. Two other possible rolls exist, too: draw a “Do Something Nice” card or draw a “Get in Trouble” card (more on those in a moment). The game includes the Bears’ treehouse as the die-roller: just drop the die in the top and it rolls through the house and out one of two sides. Did I mention this game rocks? Here’s a shot that shows more of the treehouse:

The game is well-made and a serious hoot. (We may also just play with the treehouse and characters, cramming them in and pretending they need to be rescued, on a fairly regular basis.) But it turns out, those cards that players can draw are actually really great learning tools. Players are rewarded for good behaviors listed on the “Do Something Nice” cards: “You pick up your toys; go to next pink!” or “You comfort Sister Bear after she has a nightmare; go to the next purple!” or “You let another bear borrow your soccer ball; go to next blue!” In contrast, players are told to go backward when they draw “Get in Trouble” cards, which list behaviors like being bossy, yelling, forgetting your table manners, and you eat too much junk food. Punkin’ calls them “good” and “naughty” cards and they’re the highlight of the game for her. Most of the behaviors are very familiar for young children so they’re easy to identify with. It’s an ideal game for Lent because it emphasizes loving, giving, Christlike actions while discouraging selfish, rude, and hurtful actions.

I should say, too, that we’re big Berenstain Bears people. This might have something to do with the fact that our city houses the Strong National Museum of Play. One of its permanent exhibits is Berenstain Bears: Down a Sunny Dirt Road, where kids can act out their favorite stories, and it regularly offers a BB character (Mama, Papa, Brother, or Sister) in person on weekends. Here’s Punkin’ with the Bears a year or so ago:

If you ever visit, don’t miss it! But I mention this game for another reason. I recently purchased this book:
The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story. It’s a young-child-friendly book in which Brother and Sister bear eagerly await the candy they’ll receive on Easter morning. But when they arrive at Sunday school, they watch another Sunday school group perform the Passion and learn that there’s much more to Easter than candy. It’s a gentle story that’s very appropriate for little ones. Additionally, it comes with stickers of the bears reenacting the Passion.

The book’s pages are glossier than normal so I think it’s possible to position and reposition the stickers on them (I’m waiting until Holy Week to give this to Punkin’ so I’m not going to try now). Do your kids like the Berenstain Bears? Do you find them to be useful books when teaching virtues?

February 19, 2013
by Regina
38 Comments

Giving for Others with Love: Keeping LOVE in LENT

“I’m participating in the Keeping LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013, hosted by Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints, Truly Rich Mom and Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families. We’ll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of link-up entries.”

Last year, Punkin’ was 3 years old and when Lent began, so did the questions. As she stared intently at an image of the crucifixion that’s part of our parish’s Stations of the Cross, she asked, “‘Cause why He’s up on that thing?” And when I watched a History Channel program that used the Shroud of Turin to generate a computer graphic of Christ after death, her jaw dropped and she exclaimed, “What?!” and ran from the room. She ran back a few moments later and asked, “Where’s that Jesus?” so I’m pretty sure she wasn’t scarred. But her questions always highlighted a question of my own: how to explain Lent and its purpose in preparation for Easter? And so, when I found a similar message to the one below online last year, it jumped out as a motto to help our family emphasize giving for others and keeping love in Lent:

Our Lenten activity calendar (“40 Days of Good Deeds”) is a help in keeping us focused daily on giving more for others. In a few weeks, our calender will have us reread Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

This book was written by Carol McCloud, who lives in a smallish Michigan town where I was once a children’s librarian. Its concept is easy for all ages to grasp: we fill our own imaginary buckets by giving love and help to others, and full buckets make us feel wonderful. (We also deplete our buckets by being selfish, rude, and hurtful.) There’s an entire web site devoted to this book’s idea, as well, that offers lots of resources. It’s a preschool-friendly reminder that when we sacrifice for others, our happiness and contentment grow. Other activities from our calendar (sending thank you notes, scooping the cat litter, praying for the poor and vulnerable), hopefully, will also keep us centered on giving but also giving with love.

This afternoon, we put together hospitality packs for our local Catholic Family Center. These are bags of toiletries that are distributed to the homeless in local shelters.

While we shopped for these supplies, we talked about the kinds of people who would receive them: ordinary people like us, kids like her, moms and dads. And as we put the bags together today, she spied a purple toothbrush and declared her love and need for it. I pointed out that she has a toothbrush and this purple one would go to someone who doesn’t have one. As with any four-year-old, she wasn’t immediately impressed. But just a few moments later, she carefully discerned which bag should be the lucky recipient of the purple toothbrush and gave a big grin when she settled on one. Giving can be hard — but giving with love can make us feel great.

How do you keep kids focused on joyful giving? My great thanks in advance for whatever advice or ideas you want to share!

Check out the Lent reflections participating in the Keep LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013! We’ll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE.

Discover new Catholic Blogs to follow!

Equipping CatholicFamilies: Keep LOVE in LENT

Call Her Happy:40 Simple Lenten Activities for Kids

Lenten Love: Little Acts of Love

Building Rocks

Grow the Roses: Keep Love in Lent

Family At The Foot Of The Cross: Loving Service

Catholic Homeschooling Joy: A Lenten Activity

JOY:Keep the Love in Lent

Twenty Tuesday Afternoons: Tuesday # 11: Pancake Tuesday / Keeping Love in Lent

Campfires and Cleats: Why a Failing Lent Really Isn’t

Harrington Harmonies: Make a Lenten Holy Hour

A Mommy of Three:Good Deeds for Lent

Loving the Semi Country Life: Lent:special time to reflect and keep the love in lent

Written By the Finger of God: A 7 Step Lenten Plan

Mommy Bares All: Giving Up and Making Space for Love this Lent

The Irish Lassie Shop: Seek God Everywhere

Hand-Maid with Love: Living Lent, Loving Lent

Words On Heaven: IN THE DESERT FOR 40 DAYS

On The Way Home: Keeping LOVE in Lent

Homeschooling with Joy: Keep Love in Lent

Mountain Grace: Keep Love in Lent

Eyes On Heaven: I am Choosing to Live

Joy Alive in Our Hearts:”God’s Love at Work”

Life of Fortunate Chances: Love is Fun: Keeping Love in Lent

Fifth of Five: Keep the LOVE in Lent

I Blog Jesus: for Praying our Loud!

Overflow: Loving Lent with Little Ones

This Cross I Embrace: Keep LOVE In Lent

Sole Searching Mamma: 15 Ways to Experience a More Meaningful Lent

Catholic All Year: My Biggest Lent Fails and How I Learned Mortification…

Four Little Ones: Keeping Love in Lent

Gaels Crafty Treasures Keeping Love in Lent

Bear Wrongs Patiently: Lent for the Scrupulous

Rosary Mom: Keeping Love in Lent

LoveLetters 7.10: Teacups {Keeping the Love in Lent}

Little Saints in the Making: Keep Love in Lent

Blessed with Full Hands: Keeping love in Lent- Praise Him

Normal Chaos: Our Own Personalized Lenten Journey

These Little Blessings: Gifting Love this Lent

The Cajun Catholic: The our Father; a lenten reflection

Truly Rich Mom: Keeping Love in Lent… Even When It Is Difficult

GATHERING GRACES:Keeping LOVE in LENT

SaIsa Pang Sulyap – Fullness Of His Love

LiturgicalTime: Keeping Love in Lent – Finding Balance

Grace Loves Iggy: love in lent

Sacred Oysters: Empty (Keeping LOVE in LENT)

Tercets:Make Heart Rosary Decades to Pray for Others

The Diary of a Sower: Our Lenten Prayer Tree

Homegrown Catholics: Motivated by my childrens’ activities {Lent}

MyBroken Fiat: Keeping Love in Lent… Barely

Journey to Wisdom: Keeping Love in Lent: Bands of Love

Softening My Heart: An Anniversary Lesson duringLent

February 18, 2013
by Regina
4 Comments

The Passion & Resurrection: Preschool Style

A few nights ago, Daddy started reading this book to Punkin’ at bedtime:
I’ve always loved the original book: that lonely lamppost in the snow, Turkish Delight, Mr. Tumnus (poor, poor Mr. Tumnus)… It’s a magical story and, of course, it provides a very Christian allegory. The sacrifice of Aslan mimics Christ’s passion: the lion is bound, shaved and humiliated, and killed. And as his friends mourn his death, he reappears, resurrected. But this isn’t just The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: A Graphic Novel. It is abridged (repeat: it is abridged), yet it’s exceptionally captivating visually. What’s missing from the original novel is made up for in beautiful illustrations and a reverent comic book style that’s appealing to many age groups.

Originally published by HarperCollins, it’s now out of print — but used copies are available at Amazon. I was searching our house for the original (which Punkin’ also could easily sit through) when I stumbled upon this version, which proved to be an ideal tool for initiating discussion of the resurrection. At Punkin’s age, staying focused on the resurrection makes it possible to discuss the Way of the Cross without overwhelming her with grief that she can’t yet cognitively or emotionally process. Aslan’s glorious return and the kids’ ultimate triumph over the White Witch highlights the purpose of his death. This resurrection play set was $5 at Hobby Lobby and its place on our mantel also emphasizes what’s being awaited throughout Lent:

(I first saw this at Three Sided Wheel last year but they were sold out before I could snag one.) By the way, Punkin’ decided that this play set’s soldier should have green skin because he got sick from riding a roller coaster. Who knew that this is how the ancient Romans passed their time?

There are other Narnia-related resources online, as well. Check out the printable coloring sheets at HelloKids.com, which we spent the afternoon with:

There’s also a printable Narnia wardrobe cube here — too advanced for a preschooler but not for older kids (I put this one together for Punkin’):

A lap book’s available for $2 through Confession of a Homeschooler’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe unit study, and the C.S. Lewis Foundation offers educational guides. You can also make Turkish Delight by trying a recipe from Allrecipes.com or Food.com. (For me, this delicacy has always been too fantastic to be actualized — the real thing could never compare with what my brain’s created.) Activity Village has Narnia crafts, printables, and other activities, as well.

How do you discuss the passion and resurrection with your young ones?

February 12, 2013
by Regina
11 Comments

Give More: Lenten Activities with Printables

Lent is almost here! Here’s an overview of some of our plans…

Our approach this season is guided by this motto, a version of which I found online somewhere last year:

Love it! The first thing it made me think of was this — a Lenten activity calendar. Each day lists some action (some big, most small) that can positively impact someone else: 40 days of good deeds. Just click on the image to access a pdf copy.

I’ll try to say more about some of these activities as Lent continues, especially those that relate to Water for South Sudan and specific picture books. I’ve made ours preschool-friendly, but I imagine the idea could be replicated for various age groups with different activities. It could also be easily paired with Elisa Love’s good deed bean jar.

Punkin’ liked having a Lenten calendar that could be colored last year (we used Catholic Icing’s calendar) so we’re also using the calendar below. The story of the pretzel in connection with Lent is legendary but as usual, I’m a bit late to the party. But no time like the present to join in!

“[T]he pretzel is the most appropriate food symbol for the season of Lent. It still shows us the form of arms crossed in prayer over the chest, reminding us that Lent is a time of prayer. It consists of flour and water only, thus proclaiming Lent as a period of fasting.”
– The Catholic Cookbook, by William Kaufman

And to mark tomorrow as Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, we’re adding another bookmark:

There are other activities we’ll be completing, too, and I’ll try to record whatever I think is worth sharing. Good Lent, everyone!

Check out what others are doing this Lent — hop over to Catholic Inspired’s Lent Link Up and Catholic Bloggers Link-Up Blitz.

February 10, 2013
by Regina
0 comments

Our Lady of Lourdes Celebration (+ Printable Coloring Bookmark!)

So we sort of overdid it for the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes tomorrow. It always reminds me of my Grandma Margaret, who died many years ago. She had a very special connection to the Blessed Virgin and her devotion was legendary. She prayed the rosary daily in her rocker while overlooking the birds out the window — if ever you were traveling, taking a test, celebrating a birthday, sick, or just needed some special love, you could be sure that she’d say a rosary for you. She lived an extremely simple, pious life — a remarkable role model who is much missed! One of her favorite films was The Song of Bernadette. My mom recently reminded me that in the days before it was possible to simply buy your own copy of a film, Grandma Margaret would keep a vigilant eye out for The Song of Bernadette on TV. We had plenty of inspiration, then, when thinking about how we’d celebrate tomorrow’s feast!

We started with the coloring page portion of Smart Martha’s Our Lady of Lourdes craft. I meant to put the whole craft together but we got distracted by other options — so this turned into a lovely page to put up on a kitchen cabinet and remind us of the feast.

What distracted us? Ad Iesum per Mariam’s beautiful craft! Ours turned out to be a bit, uh, more “rustic” that Cyndee’s. I found a box with a top that’s attached and swings open (this one came from our cable provider back when we had a land line). Then we taped down some cups to the back:

Next we dealt with the aluminum foil. I recently had a post about painting foil, and that definitely could work. But to save time, we coloring the foil with a brown permanent marker.

Then it was Punkin’s turn to gleefully crumple!

You don’t want to get too crazy with the crumpling — it can be tricky to uncrumple later without tearing the foil. We colored some foil blue, too, to use for the stream in front of Bernadette. Finally, we attached the brown foil with tape to the box over the plastic cups to make the grotto section where the Blessed Virgin appears. Then in the bottom half of the box, we used the rest of the brown foil as ground, added the blue foil as water, created some foil rocks, and added some of Punkin’s rock collection. Finally, we cut out pictures of Our Lady and Bernadette and taped them on, as well. Voila!

Lastly, here’s another printable coloring bookmark to add to the collection — just click on the image and print!