St. Nicholas, St. Maria Goretti (she also carried lilies), Blessed Mother Teresa, and one of St. Francis’ little friends. ;-)
Our church had a party on November 1st to celebrate, with games, a wiener roast, and “trunk or treat”. The kids had a blast.
We usually carve our pumpkins with a Christian theme for All Hallow’s Eve, but this year, I'm debating whether to even get pumpkins. I feel a bit “stretched” lately, Greg will be working on All Hallow’s Eve and Day, and I’m not keen on dealing with the mess. (I could change my mind later. You never know.)
But the thought of ditching the pumpkins came to me as I was sifting through our craft drawers looking for inspiration for All Hallow’s crafts, and inspiration came. Luminaries.
All of my children have attended story hour at our small library from the time they were wee tots. In fact, my brother, cousin, and I attended the same story hour as wee tots. (Ms. Pam was there even way back then, too. I swear, she never seems to age!)
Today was Juju’s turn to be an “official” participant, along with big sister.
A peaceful, silent witness:
My ten-year-old wrote these words in her journal this week:
”People kill babies all over the world, every day, and it’s wrong! Who would want to kill a baby? Babies are sweet, cute, and fun to love, watch, and teach. Their little voices are…they make my heart explode with joy! I LOVE BABIES!”
That’s what is being destroyed. Babies. Children recognize that babies are babies even when they are still in their mamas’ tummies.
The lawmakers recognize that they are babies—they’ve even enacted laws (the Unborn Victim of Violence Act) to make it a crime to kill an unborn baby. Sometimes.
Medical personnel recognize that they are babies. Doctors and nurses work diligently and lovingly to save babies who are too small to survive outside their mothers’ wombs. If their mothers want them.
The saddest thing of all is that many of the mothers who choose abortion also realize that their choice ends the life of their baby. Some don’t realize it at the time, but make the discovery later. I’ve heard from so many of them through the years—friends and strangers. They often live for years with regret, guilt, depression, anxiety, and even PTSD. They experience infertility and complications affecting future pregnancies. My heart aches for women who carry this heavy burden around, and I want every woman who finds herself in this situation to know…Jesus loves, forgives, and heals. I also want women to know…there is a better choice.
For now, it remains legal for mothers to choose to kill their own unborn babies. We are a split personality nation—on the one hand, we go through great lengths and expense to save the lives of our smallest helpless members. On the other hand, we destroy them and throw them into the garbage. It’s illogical. It’s wrong.
My friend’s son, Little Man, age 10: " It is really a no-brainer, who would not stand up for life? It is LIFE, just stop and think about it.”
Sunshine, age 17: “It was nice to see so many people honking and waving in support. But then there were those people who were driving by making rude gestures at us. When I saw them, I thought it would be nice if everyone were honking and waving. Then I realized…those who are making the rude gestures are the ones who need to see our message the most.”
I’ve mentioned previously that Juju is obsessed with helicopters. One evening when we went to pick his Daddy up from work, we heard the Medflight helicopter taking off. Juju got so excited! We couldn’t see it,—we just heard it--but that was what Juju talked about all the way home.
It occurred to me that maybe we should go see that helicopter. A friend of mine works in the ER; I gave her a call, and she gave me a number.
I probably never would have thought of that if we weren’t homeschooling. But since we are homeschooling, everything that interests us is a potential field trip!
Our Catholic homeschool group and some other local homeschooling friends joined us, so we had a group of close to fifty.
Half of us toured the dispatch station…
…while the other half toured the helicopter. 
The Medflight crew were great! I so appreciate them taking the time from their day to show us around.
Afterward, we went to the park for a picnic.
Some of my friends already know this secret, but now I’m going to blab it to the world.
When I was about to give birth to my first child, I asked my OB for a tubal ligation. My first pregnancy was a surprise; I hadn’t planned on having any children. Ever. So now I was going to have a child, but I was certain that I did not want any more. How certain was I? Absolutely 100%.
Dr. C. refused. “No, you are too young,” he said in his endearing Vietnamese accent. “You’ll change your mind someday!”
Oh, I was peeved. Who did he think he was? It was MY body. I should have the right to choose whether or not to permanently prevent children. Right?
Now…
I just want to say…
THANK YOU, DR. C…
…for not “fixing” me.
Gigi’s first parade…
Juju enjoying the candy he caught…
Standing beside our friends…
Everyone won blue ribbons for their artwork. Sunshine, once again, won a grand champion ribbon.
This is such a fun time of year to be homeschooling!
Today is the feast day of one of our favorite saints…
It appears we are in good company. The internet abounds with Catholic mamas sharing their ideas to celebrate St. Padre Pio’s feast day. Here are some of my favorites:
Padre Pio Coloring Pages (These are beautifully done!)
Cappuccino Mousse
Stigmata Rice Crispy Treats
Look to the right of our page, and click on Caveman’s drawing of St. Pio to learn more about his life.
In addition to St. Pio’s feast day, we are celebrating the first day of fall and our county fair. The fair coincides with Gem’s preschool letter of the week theme—sheep. Our Friday will be spent visiting the fair, writing in our journals, drawing and coloring pictures about our favorite fall things, making treats, and making animal puppets, which we will use to sing nursery rhymes and tell stories.
