Fairies have been all the rage the past few years and of course my kids don’t live in a hole so they know it!But instead of making little outdoor houses for fairies to live in we made MARY HOUSES!!! Okay, I have nothing against fairies and a little make-believe play, but it just seemed better to have my youngest girls play act about Our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and Jesus than fairies! It helped to stretch their little minds and think more about what the Holy Family’s home-life was like. So out in our back yard stands a large tree that all 9 of my kids love to play around; a perfect spot for our little village of Mary houses! After collecting moss, stones, sticks, and flowers my little girls each built a home for their little Holy Family dolls. We had houses made from a nook in the tree’s root… It could be a Resurrection set, too! Sticks…… and rocks! Then they got to pretend play! Here is Mary and Jesus sleeping (with their eyes open)! My girls had lots of fun making and creating these little Mary houses!! Give it a try; create a Mary house with your kids!!! We had a BLAST!!!! ~Jen-Marie

I had two little ones receive their First Communion this past weekend and I just wanted to share our First Communion celebration cake with all of you! To make this cake you will need: 9″ round cake pan cupcake pan enough for 12 cupcakes with paper liners large sheet of heavy cardboard  covered in foil or a jellyroll pan ruler one box of cake mix made as directed enough white icing to cover everything (I used about 2 containers) yellow food coloring red food coloring chocolate syrup two or three red gummy bears toothpicks large sheet of paper or wax paper pencil If you decide to make the  cupcake sheep with the extra cupcakes you will need more… Click here for those directions.  Instructions: Trace the outline of the 9″ cake pan onto a large sheet of paper or wax paper.  Measure and cut the paper as directed in the picture below:     Make the cake. Pour half of the mixture into a 9″ cake pan and make cupcakes with the remaining half. Bake it as directed. After the cake is cool, use the paper template to cut the cake. Use the paper templates to decide what size cardboard or pan will work best to place your cake on. If you are using cardboard, cover the cardboard with foil. Design the cake on the pan as shown below. You will have a leftover piece of cake, eat it or share it with your help! 😉  Also, you may need to squish the rectangle section of cake so it’s the same height as the rounded edges of the chalice’s cup and base. Remove the paper from the *one* cupcake you are using as the host.  I often put my cakes in the refrigerator at this point to make sure they are stiff before I add the icing. (about a half-hour) Mix 7 or more drops of yellow food coloring into 1 1/2 cups icing. Spread it over the top and sides of the chalice. I also added a little bit of white icing in a few areas to make it look like the chalice as a light glare. Then I added red icing to the “inside” of the cup, so it looks like it has wine in it. Cut up the Gummy bears and stick them into the icing on the chalice to make “gems”. Add some icing to the bottom of the cupcake-host to help it stay in place. I stuck a toothpick in the top of the cupcake so I could use it to hold the cupcake while I covered it with white icing. Put it back in the fridge so the icing will harden. (about an hour) Now with a toothpick “carve” decorative details into the chalice and make a cross on the host. After you have added the cross to the host you can use chocolate syrup to the indentation so you can better see the cross. You may need to occasionally place it back in the fridge for a few minutes it the icing gets soft as you are working on it. That’s it your done!! Put it back in the fridge for a half-hour before you cover it with foil to store it. This will make the icing hard enough so it doesn’t get messed up when you cover it. Now, what do you do with the extra cupcakes??!?!?!  Well, how about making sheep!!! Click here to see how to make these cute little sheep! Just for fun… If you ever watched “Men in Black” you might like Joshua’s joke! Fluffy is now neurolized!!!  😉 ***BTW: If anyone is worried that our kids are watching questionable movies… My husband is  excellent at editing! He can take an (R) rated movie and turn it into a (G) or at least a (PG) rated movie!!! 😉  I just wish the movies didn’t need editing! 🙁 Hope you are all having a wonderful week! God Bless, ~Jen-Marie

On the feasts of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts we made paper hearts. These are made with nothing but paper, markers and glue. They are simplistic but very pretty. You will need: a full sheet of red paper pieces or sheets of yellow, brown, orange, green, and pink markers: red, brown and yellow glue scissors Let’s start with the Sacred Heart of Jesus…  Cut the sheet of red paper in half and fold each half  long ways. Cut out a half heart so that when you open it to will be a whole heart. Cut out a larger yellow “flame” and a smaller orange “flame.” Cut out two strips of brown for the cross. Cut our short pointy brown strips for the crown of thorns. Glue the orange flame on top of the yellow flame and the cross on top of the orange flame. Glue that onto the top of the underside of the heart as pictured. Now make “X” shapes where the crown of thorns should be, all the way across. Now use a brown (or black) marker to make a curved line for the spear wound. Add red around it and a blood drop. That’s it for the Sacred Heart of Jesus! ~*~ Now for the Immaculate Heart of Mary! Do the same as above to make the heart and flames. Glue the flames to the top-underside of the heart. Cut out simple pink flower shapes and add those across the center of the heart. They don’t need to be perfect. When you place them beside each other you won’t see the mistakes on the flower shapes. Use a yellow marker to create the flower’s center. We added small green leaf shapes around the flower, too. This is the “hard” part…making the sword: Cut out a cross shape and round the ends on the handle parts. Use a brown marker to create the look of a handle. Use a red marker to make a curved line for the cut onto the heart and use scissors to put a slit in the red cut. Slip the sword through the cut and glue it on the under side. That’s it!! So paper simple! Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! May God Bless you all! ~Jen-Marie

Here is another one of our Felt Doll Statues. This is Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. She turned out so nice! Again this project requires the use of hot glue, so if you plan to make these with small children they will need help. Older children may be able to do these on their own if they are accustomed to using hot glue. Materials you will need: dark brown felt dress * (see felt cutting instructions below) white felt head covering (habit) * light brown felt cloak * white felt collar * wooden old fashioned clothes pin 4 inch piece of string (for waist) 2 inch piece of string (for scapular) small scraps of brown and white felt for mini scapular  mini old fashioned clothes pin (for baby) scrap piece of white felt for baby wooden ring (to help the doll stand, if it needs help) Gold ribbon for crown hot glue and gun Felt Cutting instructions: After cutting out your felt pieces, (as directed in the cutting instructions above) slip the round clothes pin head into the hole of your dress. You may need to add a drop of hot glue at the upper chest and upper back of the doll clothespin to keep the dress from sliding down the clothespin.  Pull all the dress parts down against the clothes pin and tightly knot a string around its waist. You may need an extra hand to hold the dress down while you knot the waist string. Now, cut off the extra sting ends. If the dress is too long, cut it to the correct length. If the opening on the sides of the dress are showing, hot glue it together.   Now, wrap the collar around the neck and hot glue it in place. Make sure the collar’s opening/seam is in the back.   Take your cloak and fold the corners in. Be sure to test it to see if the neck size and the length is correct for your doll.  When the size is correct, hot glue the corners down, (see pic above) and hot glue the cloak to the doll’s neck, leaving the front of the dolls neck uncovered.  Be sure the folded corners are inside against the dolls dress. Add hot glue to the top and sides of the dolls head and cover the top of its head with the WHITE  (NOT black, as pictured) felt habit.  Note: You may have to cut a slit in the back of the habit, (from the bottom of the habit up to the head)  so it will lay down properly. Then hot glue the back of the habit together so you don’t see the cut.  If the doll has a hard time standing on its own you may need to buy a wooden ring to help it stand. If you can’t find wooden rings, you may be able to hot glue the doll to a small wooden flat shape.  Now for baby Jesus: Cut or break the bottom of the mini clothes pin off so it is the correct size. OR if you don’t have a mini old fashioned clothespin you can use a craft stick. Break the craft stick in half and hot glue them one on top of the other. Now add some hot glue to the top and side of the baby’s head wrap the edge of the felt piece around the top of the baby’s head. Then wrap the rest of the felt around the baby, covering it completely. Hot glue the blanket in place. Then hot glue it to the doll of Mary. If possible, try to use the cloak as an arm so it can look like she is holding the baby. Now make four brown squares and two smaller white squares to make the mini scapular.  Glue the string between the two brown squares and add the two white squares to the front. Now, glue the Scapular to the other “arm” of Mary’s cloak.  Finally add her crown. Use a small piece of gold ribbon to make a circle. Hot glue the ends together and hot glue the gold ring to Mary’s head. That’s it! She’s finished! I hope I explained this well enough, If you have any questions please post a comment and I will respond. I hope you enjoy making this little doll/statue as much as we did!!   Take care and God bless. ~Jen-Marie

I love the imagination of God! He is Awesome!!!!!! All of us were individually created by this amazing God with an unending creativity! Every one of us is so different! Our personalities, our appearances, the way we walk, the way we talk. The talents we have and the abilities which our wonderful God has given us are truly mind boggling! We are all so different and yet we were all made by this same perfect Creator! I did this art project with my Art Co-op this past school year. It was such an eye opener to me about how different we all really are. Not that I didn’t know it, but this really proved it!! You will need: large paper some type of spot light  pencil, pen, or marker painters tape (low adhesive tape) magazines glue  scissors In a darkened room, tape the large paper to a wall and have the child(ren) stand/sit between the paper and a light source, such as a quartz light, a spot light, or a lamp with no shade.  Using their shadow, draw each child’s profile silhouette onto the paper. Just seeing the different shaped heads, noses, lips, and chins was very fun to see. The kids loved sharing them with each other!! The kids carefully cut out the silhouette and took it home to make a collage of things they like. They used magazines to cut out pictures of things they liked. After gluing on their pictures they had to cut the edges of their silhouette again so you could see the shape of the head. (cut from the back side at this point) When they came back to the next class I was amazed to see so many different projects! Everyone had different things to show and tell about!  Even the way they organized (or not) showed more about their differences! They  all looked wonderful in their own awesome way! I know this project is not as Catholic as I typically create, but it was such a great project to show God’s creativity I had to share it!!  It would work well if you are talking about creation, so kids can see how God can have an unending imagination -for He created everything from nothing, from the tiniest germ to the tallest mountain, and all the different plants and animals, even down to our own personality.  No one is more creative than God!! Praise be to God!! God Bless!! ~Jen-Marie

I’m going to share a few pictures of an old toy box my kids have been using for many years! It was one I decorated for the kids years ago and has been used by all 9 of my kids. The toy box was handmade by a friend who used scrap wood to create this sturdy little box! The stencil design is now a little outdated, but it’s the idea of adding Catholic images to furniture that I wanted to share more than anything….. Before I explain my reasons for adding Catholic images to this toy box I want to tell you a few of my thoughts…. I’m sure most of you heard about the shooting in Colorado at a movie theater. The shooter, who was idolizing the Joker from the previous Batman movie, shot and killed 12 people and injured 60. Now, I have to tell you that our family loves a good superhero movie, but we would not let our kids see that last Batman movie with the Joker. Don’t get me wrong, superheroes are okay, but be sure it’s clear to kids who the villain is and that they are  hurting people when they do the things they do in the movies.  I think it’s important that kids want to imitate the good guy and not the bad guy. The main reason we didn’t let our kids watch the last Batman movie was exactly that! The Joker was evil and as a “joker”, he made evil look fun which is very dangerous for young minds! So why am I bringing up this horrible event? I want to point out how important it is for us as parents, teachers, and guardians to make sure that kids idolize good and holy people! Surround your kids with stories and images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints!  Which brings me back to the toy box…..The neat thing about this toy box is that my kids get to see Jesus and Mary every time they play! And it will always be a reminder of how it is they should act. It may not seem like much, but little things like this can make a difference in a child’s head. So how did I add Catholic images to this toybox? As you can see it has religious pictures on each side. These pictures were ones that I cut out from Catholic magazines. The decorative borders around the pictures were from old wallpaper. (The  original picture which was in the middle was of naked angels -not very kid friendly) So I replaced the original picture with family friendly images of Mary and Jesus! And the green leaves are painted from an ivy stencil. After gluing the images onto the toy box I used a clear sealer to keep the images protected from the kids. Modge-podge will work, too, but be sure to add about 3 coats. Please, say a prayer for the victims and their families. And don’t forget to pray for the shooter, too. Look for a Novena for the victims of the shooting at Life of a Catholic Teen  ~ Click here It’s the 22nd!!!! Time for another Link-up party!!!! * * * L I N K – U P  P A R T Y ! * * * Feel free to share your faith-centered home posts with us! This is an especially important Tea with St. Anne Link-up because St Anne’s feast day falls during this link-up party!!! (July 26th)St. Anne, pray for us, may we create a holy domestic church! The Rules: Please add posts about   anything that can help Catholic families in our every day life . This includes: Catholic décor, crafts and activities we can do with our kids, home-school ideas, organization ideas, etc. Link to me on your blog/post so others can come and join in too! You may use one of my buttons if you li ke, or just make a text link of your own. I can’t wait to see your posts! God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

Here’s a fun, simple, craft for girls to create. It would be good for Kateri Tekakwitha’s feast day! My little girls love necklaces so it was a hit, but they did need help cutting the felt crosses and using the needle. You will need: brown felt string (we used embroidery thread) pony beads  scissors needle (large enough to use on your string) Cut out a cross shape from your felt Thread your string through the top of your cross. Try to keep the string’s entry and exit close to the edge of the cross. That helps to prevent the cross from bunching up when you add the beads. Now add your beads to the string on each side of the cross. Tie a knot in the ends to create a necklace.  Bl. Kateri, pray for us!! Remember she’s being canonized in Oct. 21, 2012!!!!!!! YAHhhhh!!!! 😀 God bless. ~Jen-Marie

Our Lady of Snows had a feast day last Sunday (Aug 5)It’s also known as The Basilica of St. Mary Minor in Rome. I remember as a child my mother had a small picture of Our Lady of Snows hanging up in the kitchen. The picture was particularly fun because it was 3D! I just loved it, so even at a young age I had a bit of a fetish with Our Lady of Snows! **************** About Our Lady of Snows A wealthy but childless Roman couple, John and his wife decided to leave their fortune to the Church. They often prayed to the Virgin asking for guidance on how their wealth could be put to use. The Virgin appeared to them on the night of August 4th and told them that she wished a basilica to be constructed on the Esquiline Hill. She would miraculously leave snow in the middle of the hot month of August on the precise area in which she wanted the church built. Pope Liberius also received the same message from the Virgin. The next morning John and his wife and Pope Liberius went to the top of the Equiline Hill which had been covered with snow. After they measured out the area for the basilica, the snow disappeared. Pope Liberius immediately called for the construction of the Basilica. (from: Our Lady’s Promise  ~go visit to read more) Learn more about Our Lady of Snows: Our Lady’s Promise ***************** The fun thing about Our Lady of Snows is that her feast day is Aug 5!!!  So have a little snow fun with the kids in the summer!! 😉 Over the next few days I’m going to be posting three projects my kids and I did together. One is an art craft for toddlers the other two are science experiments. (Homeschool is starting up!!) So please be on the lookout for these upcoming posts!! God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

I can be a stingy mother when it comes to sugary foods, so peanut butter fudge is a rare treat for my kids! But on the feast of The Coronation of Our Blessed Mother (as well as other major feast days) I’m much more giving with the unhealthy snacks! 😉 For the feast of Mary’s Coronation I use our PB fudge to make “golden” crowns for Our Blessed Mother! This PB fudge recipe is easy! So if making fudge scares you this is a great recipe for you! 😉 Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe: 3 cups of granulated sugar 3/4 cup of milk 1 Tablespoon of butter 1 (18 oz.) jar of peanut butter 1 (7 oz.) jar of marshmallow cream Add sugar, milk, and butter into a large saucepan. Mix together and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring as it boils. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter and marshmallow cream. Stir until it is creamy and well mixed. (but don’t take too long or it will turn bumpy) Pour into a greased 13X9 inch pan. Allow it to cool. When it’s firm it’s ready to cut. Cutting the Fudge Crowns: You will need a knife and a toothpick. Cut the fudge into rectangles Use a knife to make a zig-zag line down the middle of each rectangle. Use the flat edge of the knife on each point so it cuts all the way through in every area. Use the knife to put a small indentation on each crown. ( Don’t cut all the way through.) Use the toothpick to make an indentation on each point. That’s it!! In no time at all you’ll have a yummy plateful!! Enjoy your day as you celebrate the queenship of our wonderful Heavenly Mother! God Bless. ~Jen-Marie

Saint George  is often pictured slaying a dragon. Read more about St. George  here . My oldest son is St. George and daughter #4 is the dragon. Okay, I had a very hard time getting a serous picture of these two, they wouldn’t quit fighting!! 😉 But I thought you might like to see these crazy kids! The dragon costume was bought a second-hand store many years ago, but my son carried his stuffed dragon to the All Saint’s Day Party About the St. George costumes: The silver/gray armor was bought, but the cloak is just a piece of red material. The “skirt” was hand made. I used a old belt, and leather-like material which was cut into strips to create this Roman apparel. Super-glue worked great for getting the two leather-like materials to stick together. The white under skirt was just a piece of white material. I also create gold circles on the skirt strips. I used a cap to make an indentation on the end of each flap, so I could use it as a guide to make them all the same size. Then I used gold fabric paint to make the gold buttons.

St. Patrick, patron of Ireland. Read more  here .  St. Patrick could wear a brown robe, but I kind of liked green. It matched his mitre. I made the mitre by cutting two green felt sheets into a mitre shape and sewing just the bottom sides together. I added white and gold trimmed ribbon to the bottom and the two “tails” on the back.It also has a three leaf clover and a white felt cross on the front. I also hot glued a strip of heavy cardboard to the inside of each felt piece to keep it up-right. The staff, robe, and beard were purchased.

St Lucy (Patron for eye sight)St. Lucy is wearing a white dress, with a red sash. On her head is a evergreen wreath with red roses and candles. A red ribbon was used to tie the wreath to her head and under her chin.(In honor of St Lucy’s day) Read more about this saint  here . You can also make a paper crown Click here

Daniel was a God fearing man from the Bible. Read more in the book of Daniel. Daniel can be a simple costume. The beard and robe were purchased. I made the lion head/hat from an over sized hat and lots of long looped yarn. It made for one super cute lion!!

St. Tarcisius was a young boy who died to protect Jesus in the Eucharist. Read more  here. Our  St. Tarcisius is holding a wrapped-up loaf of fake bread and a palm. I bought both the bread and the palm from our local Dollar Tree. I purchased the brown robe.

Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to Bernadette in Lourdes, France. Read more  here. Our lovely little Lourdes lady is dressed in a white gown with a blue ribbon around her waste. Her veil is just a piece of white material. I sewed on a gold ribbon to the edge. I also sewed on a gold rose to each front/bottom corner. The roses were actually at Our Lady’s feet, but I didn’t think my daughter would like those on her shoes! 😉 My hubby spray painted a few yellow roses with gold paint to give them their golden color. I bought the white gown. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!~Jen-Marie

St. Stephen was a deacon and was the very first Christian martyr. Read more  here . Our St. Stephen is wearing a brown robe, and white vestments with a brown cross. The white part was made from white felt which was folded in half . I cut a hole for the head in the middle. He also is holding a rock that is drizzled with red paint (for blood). I bought the brown robe.

Happy All Saints day!!!I thought I’d share a display I made with my kids today! During our art class today we made these cute twisted trees and pumpkins! See the instructions for this tree at  Pikadilly Charm  and the style in which I made the paper pumpkins is similar to these . And then I printed off a few pictures of my kids in there saints costumes and we stood them around our trees! I used a paper clip to stand the photos of the kids. Just unfold it and tape one end onto the photo as pictured below. We have a whole parade of saints!! Click image to enlarge it The kids are just loving it!! 😉 Hope you are having a blessed feast day! ~Jen-Marie

We did a number of fun “snow” projects this past week. Our Lady of Snows feast day was Aug. 5th, so I thought I have a bit of wintery fun with the kids!!Our Lady of Snows appeared to a man named John and his wife, as well as, Pope Liberius and sent snow from heaven to show the spot she wanted them to build a basilica.  With Mary’s snow in mind I thought the kids would love to make “magic” snow.  You may or may not have heard of a material called polymer. It’s a super absorbent material that can hold A LOT of liquid!!  I first discovered this material 14 years ago as a new mother with a daughter who had just fallen onto a toy and ripped her disposable diaper. That’s right. Polymer is the stuff inside disposable diapers (no not the stinky stuff)!! So as a science loving homeschool mom I just had to take the opportunity to explore this new found material. Sounds gross I’m sure, but the polymer in an unused diaper is no different than the polymer you can buy at your favorite homeschool resource site!! The big difference is price! You will pay over $5.00+S&H for a tiny bit of polymer when it’s sold as a “magic snow” science experiment! A disposable diaper – $.30! If you don’t use disposable diapers, buy one from a friend who does or pick one up in those vending machines in public changing areas. So yes, I’m using a disposable diaper in a project to celebrate Mother Mary, but if that seems odd to you please feel free to buy the same thing with the name “Magic Snow”.  : -D I’ve done this experiment with my kids for a number of years, and it never stops amazing me! As a warning: the first few times I tried this with the polymer from a diaper, the polymer was the tiny balls that were found in the diaper, but today the diaper “recipe” has changed. The polymer is now the cottony stuff! All diaper brands have different “recipes” so you may want to try this first with the brand of diaper you have before you would try this with a class. For our most recent experiment (this week Aug. 2012) I tried it with  Huggies and Luvs size 3 diapers. The polymer was the cottony stuff both times. Please note: Before starting this experiment please explain to the kids that God made science and we use God’s science to create neat things like the “magic snow”. But Mary’s snow was not a simple science trick. It was a miracle!! Only God can make snow to fall naturally from summer’s warm sky! Our “magic snow” is just a science trick! So to do this experiment remove the cottony material from a diaper.(it may be tiny balls in cheaper brands) Place it into a container, one that’s black works best. You can line a container with a black trash bag, too. Pour a cup of water onto the cotton. See how the Polymer soaks up the water and starts to look jello-y! Add another cup and the polymer gets even bigger and more jello-y. (You may need to stir it. We used a ruler) Let the kids touch it and feel it. Watch for the giggles and screams! I heard: “It feels like jello!!”, “It looks like ice!!”, “It looks like snow, can I make a snowball?!” (You can’t make snowballs -BTW!)  And my favorite response was “You guys have GOT to try this!!! It’s soooo cool!!” We added up to 8 cups of water into one diaper worth of polymer before we decided it was getting too mushy, but it was still soaking up the water!! Now a little bit of the gorgeous jello-y crystals are sitting on my cabinet with a picture of Our Lady of Snows next to it! The kids still walk by it and stick their fingers into it and giggle! By the way:  You can spread a little of the wet polymer out and let it dry. It turns back into cotton again. But it will take a few days or more depending on how wet it is! I imaging our huge bucket of wet polymer will take a long time to dry! 😉 Making memories is always fun!! God Bless. ~Jen-Marie

August 22 is the feast of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary! So my four youngest girls (Ages 3 to 8) helped me to make a few crowns for the statues of Mary which we have around the house. I’m going to show you one of the ways we sculpted a crown. Yes, I did say “sculpt”, but fear not, this is simple, clean, art fun!  It’s easy enough that my 6 year old could do it with only minor help, yet this can be challenging enough for adults to try, too! Just be as creative as your artistic level allows. 😉 You will need: pipe-cleaner (any color) foil (regular or gold) sharpie markers First you need to tear off a sheet of foil about 2 to 3 inches wide. Fold back the ends of the pipe cleaner just so it is slightly shorter than the foil. Place the pipe-cleaner into the foil, longways. Roll the foil around the pipe-cleaner so the entire pipe-cleaner is covered in foil. It should look like a long silver stick! Now place it on the statue you are going to place it on and measure it so it’s the correct size. Twist the end around each other to form a circle. Use another piece of foil to make the front of the crown. We folded the foil over the circle (half in front and half in back). Now sculpt the foil to look the way you want your crown to look. Use sharpie markers to make “gems” This is a picture of our first attempt. The pictures just don’t look as good as the real thing!! Foil is so hard to get a good pictures of!! Here are a few more we made. The girls and I had a fun time! The more crowns we made, the nicer they looked. I guess practice does make perfect! Hail Holy Queen enthroned above! Pray for us! ~Jen-Marie

I Fell in Love with Mr. Lawrence (Jennifer-Marie’s Side of the Love Story) I grew up in a Catholic family and I went to a Catholic school / high school. By the age of 17, I had dated a few fellows. The guys I dated were sweet and kind (mostly), but no matter how much I thought these young gentlemen were nice I just didn’t feel that I was meant to be with any of them for the rest of my life. It all felt wrong. I wasn’t sure why it felt wrong, it just did! Sure I could marry one of those guys who were nice and kind to me, but I felt God was calling me to something more! So I began to look into a religious life.  It was my senior year in high school and my Catholic high school had a few requirements before graduation. In early October I was required to go to a retreat. While I was at the retreat I told the liberal nun who was in charge that I wanted to be a nun. She began to tell me that I needed to do more soul searching and that I may realize that I was wrong. I was a heart broken confused teen! I felt like God left me on the doorstep with no way to see in the dark. For a few weeks I prayed! I prayed and prayed and prayed!! Finally, just as I was about to give up, I noticed that my bookmark-stuffed Saint’s book, which was laying beside me on my bed, had slid onto the floor and landed on it’s pages. A single prayer card had fallen out. I picked up the card. It was an old one that I had for many years. My mother had found it in one of the horse-hair plastered walls of our Civil War era farmhouse, which my dad had remodeled. My mother had given it to me many years earlier, but I never really looked at it very closely. Today, it caught my eye. It was a holy card of St. Gerard, the patron saint of mothers. I opened the saint book to look up this unfamiliar saint, and I found his feast day was Oct. 16, which was that very day!  I was stunned!  I realized that God was trying to tell me that I was to get married and be a mother! But I was shaken by the thought of marriage since I just didn’t feel comfortable with any of the guys I knew. I told God, I trusted Him, but that he would have to help me find a good guy to marry! In truth I thought God would take years to pull that *AWESOME* guy out of his “miracle hat”! But God does things at his own speed: sometimes fast and sometimes slow!  This time I’d say it was fast!  My high school also required service hours for graduation. My aunt directed me to my much older cousin, Sr. Paula Mary, who was our parish’s Director of Religious Education. Sr. Paula Mary was also the 8th grade RE teacher. She asked if I would be her teaching assistant. So I started helping Wednesday evenings as a teacher’s assistant. She was a sweet nun with more years behind her than ahead, and she taught me so much about life. I enjoyed helping her with her class. It was only after a few months of helping that my service hours were complete, but I continued to help for the rest of the school year anyway. In January, Sr. Paula asked if I would teach the high school class for the evening. She said “Mr. Lawrence” was sick and couldn’t make it. Well, I can tell you I was not thrilled about this idea. Keep in mind I was only a senior in high school myself so I was going to be teaching kids that were only a few years younger!! But I could see she really needed some help, so I took on the temporary position as High School RE Teacher! Now, I had never met “Mr. Lawrence” and had no idea what I was walking into. So when the class of 3 kids came in I asked them where they were in the book. They all seemed confused!! They told me Mr. Lawrence never used the book! WHAT!!! My mind was going crazy! What RE teacher doesn’t use a book!!!! Well, I improvised and did what I could to teach a random chapter in their religion book. Needless to say, my view of “Mr. Lawrence” was not one of any value.  A few months later I was walking down a flight of steps and passed a bearded fellow who I figured to be in his late 20’s maybe 30’s. He smiled nicely and he seemed so sweet. Figuring he was way too old for me, I put him out of my mind. A week or two later Sr. Paula introduced me to “Mr. Lawrence”, who just happened to be the bearded man I saw in the stairway!! I finally met the high school RE teacher who didn’t know how to use a book!!! Sister Paula is a wonderful lady!! I think she was up to a few tricks, because she seemed to take every opportunity to put “Mr. Lawrence” and I together! And she made it a point to inform me that “Mr. Lawrence” was 22 years old, and only 4 1/2 years older than me. It was obvious Sr. Paula was trying to get us together, and after she joked with “Mr. Lawrence” about his girlfriend he made it very clear to Sr. Paula and I that he was 100% available. A few months later Sr. Paula, put “Mr. Lawrence” on the spot and asked him to take me to my senior prom!!  She is one bold nun!!! He turned 5 shades of red and asked me if he could take me the movies instead. And so our relationship began, and this time everything felt right! It truly felt like love and “Mr. Lawrence” seemed like the kind of guy I could spend the rest of my life with! “Mr. Lawrence”, Jon, is now my best friend. He’s not just sweet and kind, he’s my other half. He makes me feel complete and he makes me feel like I’m worth something. If I need help he’s there to help, even if that means doing laundry or dishes. He’s always there to make me laugh on a bad day, and he brings such a joyous feeling to our house. Our 15 years of marriage have been very full, I discovered I was pregnant just 8 weeks after we were married. We now have 9 kids whom we homeschool. Jon, has been working with me every step of the way. He tells me every day that he loves me (even if I act shy about it). I can see his love in all he does! He has tried to provide myself and our kids with only the best. Without complaint he goes to work and when he comes home he works at repairing our fixer-upper house. We are not rich in money, but we are rich in love! He is my best-friend and I thank God for him every day! And just to set the record straight….”Mr. Lawrence” DID end-up taking me to my senior prom!!! Here’s a picture to prove it! BTW: I understand his teaching style now. He figured books and teens  are not a good mix,  so he didn’t directly use the book with them.  😉   -It’s all good!  I even let him teach our kids religion now!!  Here is Sr. Paula Mary at our wedding… (She was the lector at our wedding, too!) Yes, “Mr. Lawrence” is beardless here.  I asked him to shave it for the wedding. My mistake!!!! But, WOW, it made him look younger!! Searching for Mrs. Lawrence (Jon’s Side of the Love Story) Like all good love stories, this one begins with a single young Catholic man full of attitude and empty of hope. This fellow in many ways was an average 20 something kid. He stopped going to church when he got to college. He thought he could do whatever he wanted and it would turn out okay. Cocky. Insensitive. Selfish. A real “catch” for any young faithful Catholic girl! And even though he thought he was “the man”, there was one thing he was at least humble enough to admit that he needed: a good woman. In the garden of Eden, God had said it was not good for man to be alone and this guy (who didn’t know his Bible yet) instinctively knew that all too well. Yet date after date, he could never find one to come back for seconds and his youthful hope vanished. As tragic as his dating story was, his life path would fall victim to his own pride. In college, he was a Math major and a fairly decent one, too. He loved the beauty that Mathematics had. The rules, the harmony, the peace. But taking it for granted, he left college early in pursuit of a faster path to fortune. But like all too goods to be true, it fell apart rapidly. One of the surest signs that you are on the wrong path is when everything turns bad quickly. But pride doesn’t admit mistake. It doesn’t stop and ask for directions. It keeps going. There’s no going back. Onward and upwards. Full steam ahead. In the cake of life, it’s a recipe for disaster. Pride doesn’t just come before the fall. It’s normally there for the whole trip. And you pay the tolls. So after ruining his career choices and squandering his life options (sounds like a prodigal son, doesn’t it), this sap ended up flat on his back, angry, and alone. While he had once been poised to seize academic opportunity, he was now positioned to finally admit he made mistakes and ask for help. The dark and despair of life can either destroy you or make you open to God. Grace would have it’s day with this one but the battle was far from over. Realizing that one is wrong and asking for forgiveness doesn’t undo bad choices. God respects the bad choices as much as he does good ones. So this sap had to play the ball where it lied. He made the bed, now he had to sleep in it. He dug the hole now he had to get himself out. No matter how you metaphor it, he was where he put himself. Accepting his new lot in life, he took whatever job he could to help work off his college debt and the debt he built up with his parents. And it did work. He rapidly paid off his creditors and found stability. But attachment to sin would not go away that easy. Self Centeredness is a subtle idol. It’s not obvious like addiction to cigarettes. But it will certainly keep you from being with God. Scripture says that you cannot serve two masters. There can be only one. And I sensed that mine was keeping God from sending me what my heart most desired. A woman. If I was in the wrong frame of mine and not committed to the right course, I would not be able to properly handle being with the right young woman. I would wreck that relationship just like I messed up everything else. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Or choose to change. Something had to give. Self Centeredness got the boot. I gave my life over to the Blessed Mother. I told her that I had nothing to lose. If giving her everything didn’t work, I could always take up where I left off and be no worse off. A small price to pay. Up to this point, I had started going to church again. One day, our pastor suggested that the people of the parish should do more. I thought that was a good idea so I prayed about it. In short order, my mom asked me to help her teach her religious education class. Grrrrrrrrrrr. I thought I was praying for other people…okay, put your body where your prayer was. I signed up to help. In three short weeks, they needed someone to take over teaching the high school class and I was the only one who could do it. Double Grrrrrrrr. This was not going as planned. Mental note to self: be careful what you pray for! Trying to be faithful and still thinking that I could do anything, I agreed. After a few months, it was unbelievable! Bad that is. I was frustrated and burnt out. I hated the kids. Hated myself for taking the position. Lots of pain and suffering. Thankfully I got horribly sick and missed class one week! Ah, there is a God and he is merciful! They got some poor unsuspecting teacher’s assistant to take over for me but I didn’t care.   It was around this time that I gave my life (such as it was) to Mary and I started noticing this very beautiful young lady at Sunday morning Mass and Saturday morning Mass, too. Wow. Cute and devout. What a combo! My mom thought she was too young for me but I still kept my eye on her. I noticed her at Religious Education, too. She did look young enough to be a student but she didn’t act that way. Mature and sweet, she was very charming. I eventually came to realize that she was the helper for the nun who was my old six grade teacher way back when I was in school. She seemed old back then, too. But I guess the saintly ones always do. And if there was one thing I didn’t think she would ever do it was help me get a girl. Ah, but grace has it’s way. In time, the helper, the nun, and the sap where walking down the hallway together after class (sounds like the beginning of a joke). The helper mentioned in passing that she wasn’t going to her senior prom that year because her date cancelled. I being the great guy that I was, tried to be helpful and say just the right thing to this really cute girl. “Ah, don’t worry. I didn’t go to my prom either. No biggie.” Not very sensitive but I was shooting from the hip. The nun, with a twinkle in her eye, acted on behalf of heaven and said, “I got an idea, why don’t you take her to the prom?” Wow. Five years out of high school with zero desire to go back and I now was being asked to do something again that I didn’t feel like doing. I stammered a little bit and the nun gave me a temporary reprieve. “Don’t tell her right now. Make her wait.” Whew. The girl was cute but I wasn’t ready to invest in a tux and hang out with some high school kids for a night. But destiny wouldn’t let me off the hook that easy. One of my female co-workers thought it was a great idea for me to take her to the prom. I pulled out every lame excuse I could but then she hit me with the something I couldn’t defend against. “Don’t you want her looking back on this time and remember you as the one who was with her?” Wow. I was dead in the water and sinking fast. I ran up the white flag and surrendered. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. I took her to the prom…and had a great time! Fifteen years and nine kids later, she’s as cute as ever and no less devout! Thanks, Blessed Mother! I can’t believe it’s been 15 years! God has truly blessed us!