09 Thursday Jul 2020
Posted in Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
David and Margy’s special day turned out to be lovely in many ways. The weather was beautiful and it was a special miracle to have Rosie well enough to see everything through. We are grateful.
There are two videos after the gallery so come back and take a peek!
Click on the first picture to view the gallery….
06 Monday Jul 2020
Posted in Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
This week is going to be a photo week! I am going to post David and Margy’s wedding photos, hopefully soon.
Here are photos from before the wedding ceremony and the pictures of a “We Love Our Country” Rosary Rally we held in Topeka, KS.
After the gallery there is a few videos so come on back to the post!
Click on the first picture to view the gallery…
“I have tried to show you , that you cannot become good and strong men and women, that is, men and women of character, unless you have Will-power, and further that you will be of little or no use to your country if you are weak-willed. It has been well said that ‘the only way to be a patriotic American is to do your best to become a perfect man.’ and a perfect man you will not be unless your Will is strong.”
25 Thursday Jun 2020
Posted in FF Tidbits, Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
I wanted to get in one more post before the wedding this Saturday. We had pressed the pause button due to so much uncertainty. Now that the time is upon is, we are going to be very busy pulling loose ends together. We’re getting it, though!
We ended up having the Wedding Ceremony at our Home Chapel…which is small but doable. At the last minute we also had to change the hall due to so many Covid Restrictions at the original one. It is lovely, though, and all seems to be falling into place!
I will be posting photos of the wedding…but I don’t plan on taking many myself. So I will wait until the photographer does his thing!
Click on the first photo for the gallery. See you next week! Please keep us in your prayers….especially David and Margy!
22 Friday May 2020
Posted in Motherhood, Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
by Marie Spartali Stillman 1885
From Counsels of Perfection for Christian Mothers
My daughters, I seek an answer to a most important question: Why do we not advance? The subject is too broad to be treated in one chapter, so we shall divide it.
Here is the first answer: We do not advance because we are ignorant of the things we ought to know. We do not advance because our intelligence is not sufficiently enlightened, that is, we do not possess, in an adequate degree, the science of the things of God.
Are you fully aware of the importance of light in the spiritual life? If you ask me what relation there is between clear knowledge and progress in the matter of spirituality, I will tell one simple sentence: Knowledge always precedes love. Suppose, for example, that you have before you the most beautiful picture in the world; if you close your eyes so as not to see it, or if, on account of some distraction, you see it obscurely, will you love it? Never! It would be impossible for you to love it under these conditions.
Again, if after partly opening your eyes you close them again, or direct them towards some other object, will you love this picture? Perhaps, but how superficially! You have not sufficiently regarded the object before you; you are not well enough acquainted with it to admire it, to say nothing of loving it.
Let us apply this principle to our subject. However admirable and worthy of love God may be in Himself, and whatever admiration and love the things of God may merit, you will love God, and the things of God, only when you know Him and then in the measure in which you ought to know them.
Here I must anticipate a false interpretation of my words. From what has been said pray do not conclude, that spiritual progress is intended only for the learned, and that in order to strive for perfection, it is necessary to possess a mighty intellect and profound learning.
There are two kinds of knowledge. The one resides in the mind and consists in merely knowing one’s religion. This sort of knowledge is worth little or nothing. If it does not stimulate the heart and direct the conduct, it will be a source of condemnation.
The second kind of knowledge is that which is acquired by meditation, that is to say, by fixing the mind on the things of God and contemplating them seriously and profoundly; but above all, it consists in loving them. Now the poorest servant who knows neither how to read or to write is as capable of acquiring this knowledge as the most learned doctor.
Certain geniuses like St. Bonaventure, or St. Thomas, have possessed this knowledge in all its fullness, but a poor menial in their convent could have attained it as well as these princes of the Church. For example, it is related that a poor servant to whom St. Bonaventure had expounded the truth that I have just set forth, ran to every one whom he met, crying out in his excess of love: “Do you know that I can love God just as much as our great theologian, Brother Bonaventure?”
This humble servant loved God as much as the great Bonaventure, because he had acquired that knowledge of God which is founded on prayer and meditation.
My daughters, we are all capable of acquiring this knowledge, regardless of our degree of intellectual culture; and if your progress in the spiritual life has been slow or insignificant, it is due to the fact that you have not sufficiently known God nor the things of God.
Let us now consider the principal points of this knowledge. Do you reflect profoundly on your dependence upon that God who has given you life, who conserves it, and in whose hands you rest like a crystal globe which would break into a thousand pieces were that hand withdrawn?
How important it is for you to know your true situation relative to God, you must remember that he has every right over you, and that in relation to Him you have only duties!
How necessary it is for you to be convinced that His presence envelops you on all sides, that His eye follows you everywhere, and that nothing of your inmost life, thoughts, desires or affections, can ever escape that infinitely penetrating eye!
My daughters, do you consider well what your lives would be, what a great change they would undergo, if these fundamental truths were profoundly engraved on your minds? Do you not know that they would direct your conduct, and hold you unceasingly in your place relative to God?
Are you well acquainted with Jesus Christ? Do you meditate on His mysteries? Do you study that Heart which inspired all His actions? Are you convinced that the Incarnation, the Redemption and the Holy Eucharist are proofs of His love?
Do you center your thoughts especially on the Eucharist? Does It arouse an immense gratitude in you? Oh, if we had a profound knowledge of what the Eucharist really is, we should be astonished that the entire universe does not bow down in adoration before the tabernacle.
But alas! is not Jesus in the Sacred Host a stranger to many among you, my daughters? Is not the manner in which you treat Him after Communion a sad fulfillment of the words of St. John: “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not”?
Permit me to acquaint you with a very important subject for meditation. I refer to the supernatural life, the life of grace that is within you. The angels contemplate with ecstasy the marvelous operations of grace in your souls. They are astonished at the goodness of that God who gives to His creatures the treasure of all treasures, divine life. And do you ever give it a thought?
Seldom if ever do you reflect on the fact that grace has deified you, and yet more seldom do you center your eyes on those marvels of grace which are continually taking place in your souls.
How astonishing it is that you take so little pains to augment divine grace in your souls? How strange it is that you do not use all the prudence necessary to guard and protect this treasure.
My daughters, let us now make a serious examination of conscience, and be convinced that if we have not advanced in the spiritual life, it is owing to the fact that our knowledge of God and divine things has been very insufficient.
Let us promise our Lord that we shall strive to acquire this knowledge by serious meditation on all the great truths which have just been expounded. Let us strive to know God better, so that we may love Him more ardently.
Be sure to treat all alike. Nothing is so disrupting to home life as favoritism for one or the other child. The same measure for all! – Christ in the Home, 1950’s, Fr. Raoul Plus, S.J
Thank you so much for the prayers for my mom. She is still having a rough time so please keep her in your prayers! She loves to sit outside among her flowers and listen to the birds sing and feel the warm sunshine!
Make a statement with this lovely and graceful handcrafted “Our Lady of Grace” apron….fully lined, lace overlay….made with care. Aprons tell a beautiful story…..a story of love and sacrifice….of baking bread and mopping floors, of planting seeds and household chores. Sadly, many women have tossed the aprons aside and donned their business attire. Wear your apron with joy….it is a symbol of Femininity….”Finer” Femininity! 🌺 💗
Available here.
A wonderful book showing how the angels have visited people innumerable times in the past, how they do so today, and would do even more if we asked them. Also, how they prevent accidents, comfort us, help us, and protect us from the devils. Contains many beautiful stories about St. Michael, St. Raphael and St. Gabriel; plus, angel stories from St. Gemma Galgani, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John Bosco, etc.
A very optimistic book showing how an “ordinary” Catholic can become a great saint without ever doing anything “extraordinary”–just by using the many opportunities for holiness that to most people lie hidden in each day. Written with an assurance of success that is totally convincing and infectious. Many easy but infallible means of reaching great sanctity.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
29 Wednesday Apr 2020
Posted in Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
Well, we started off our Lent thinking it would be like any other Lent. As we all know…it wasn’t. Sometimes we just don’t know what is around the corner, do we? God is good and we are grateful for the good times…and the hardships that bring us closer to Him and to one another.
Please continue to keep my dear mother in your prayers. She is close to all of our hearts and will leave such a gap when Our Lord calls her home….
What a privilege it is to look after our parents who have sacrificed so much for us through the years…
As a side note, I am posting this video here. It is important and balanced and should be watched. Draw your own conclusions. Youtube keeps taking it down. It had millions of hits in a few days when the first one was taken down. Be informed. (Scroll to near the end of their post for the video)
Open Up Society Now, Say Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi
The following is a gallery of our Lent…into Easter. Captions are below the photos. Click on the first one to see fullscreen.
18 Tuesday Feb 2020
Posted in FF Tidbits, Give-Aways, Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
….this is number 31 and there are three more on the way! God is good.
Everything went well for Theresa. He is a little boy and his name is Adam Joseph, 7lbs. 12 oz.! They will have a double Baptism as Devin’s brother and sister-in-law, John Paul and Julianna, also had a baby on the same day!
Nurse Sarah with newborn baby.
Happy parents!
At the Birth Center for the post-partum checkup, two brothers with their wives pose for a picture.
Cousins…. (Paulina and Adam)
Grandma (me)
Theresa a couple days before baby was born.
New mamas…Theresa (Tweety) and Virginia (Gin)
Gemma and Angelo headed up a lot of the activities for the evening.
Gemma had the kids write out St. Valentine cards for their cousins.
Fun conversations!
Colin…The holes are from hard work….(not to be in style) hehe
The girls decided to learn a little ukulele!
Vin & Gin…at home with their new ride.
The girls are at their favorite place…God’s Storehouse. Doing a little proselytizing.
Vincent is building this fireplace for our daughter and son-in-law, Mike and Jeanette.
Dominic and his niece, Anne Marie.
Anne Marie
Colin makes bread
Zaelie makes dinner. 🙂
Hubby is not usually so much on the ball for St. Valentine’s Day. This year he surprised me with these beautiful roses!
A couple of Valentines!
Margy is making a blanket for David for St. Valentine’s Day.
Working on the Cabochons for my jewelry and rosaries.
“DON’T take a picture of my face!”
Curls, curls, curls!
Togetherness… Look at that hairdo on Avila! haha
When I am listening to Democrats. There. My big political statement of the year.
I want to thank all of you for your very kind words on the comments of the Giveaway! Not one of them went unnoticed and I was touched by your encouragement and goodness. You have been an amazing support to me as I continue to do this website. It is a joy to me…so are you. You are in my prayers, please keep us in yours. I depend on them.
Congratulations, Martha! I have sent you an email!
14 Tuesday Jan 2020
Posted in Advent/Christmas, Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
Ah! Catholic Family Life! There is nothing like it.
Home should not be just a place. Rather, it must be the place. All else should be “outside.”
Home should be the center of activities and interests. It was built for births, courtship, marriage, and death. It is maintained so that children might grow, trained by precept and example – so that they will develop spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, just as they do physically. -Fr. Lovasik
Below is a gallery of our doing’s in the last month. Don’t forget to read the comments to get the (amazing! hehe) narrative. And don’t forget to click on the first picture to view the gallery!
