tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28897803813549015222024-03-14T06:43:42.681-04:00Small Things with Great LoveLorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-22866551625109984432007-11-17T20:29:00.000-05:002008-12-11T14:38:51.286-05:00On CalvaryOf all twenty Mysteries of the Rosary, Joyce's favourite one is the Crucifixion. This drwaing was done by Joyce last Tuesday at the Atrium (Catechism of the Good Shepherd). According to her, Jesus is talking to the people there, including Mary, Joseph, and Mary Mother of God (on the right). Everyone is sad.We thought it was John there with the letter "J". But Joyce insisted it is Joseph, Mary's Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-64549990903133916782007-10-11T23:27:00.001-04:002007-12-04T13:17:08.812-05:00Reflections on the First MonthIt has been a month already! Well, I've been pleasantly surprised by a few things.Matthew has a longer attention span than I expected, and is willing to spend at least 1 hour with Joyce and I in the learning room before asking to play somewhere else.Joyce enjoys narration! I had thought she'd be very reluctant to try since she's a perfectionist and hates to make mistakes. But after we made sure Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-66013398230116070022007-10-06T00:08:00.001-04:002007-10-06T00:17:05.873-04:00A Slow WeekMatthew and I have been sick - he has a fever and I have a sinus infection. So it has been a very slow week here and I haven't had much time or energy for blogging at all. Interestingly enough, I found more time to read and also to reflect on our first month of homeschooling. I'll post more on that another day.Happy Thanksgiving!Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-64072115004320989492007-10-05T22:45:00.000-04:002007-10-06T00:07:45.927-04:00First NarrationTonight, after we got DS to bed, we sat down with DD and started her very first narration session. We haven't done this before, so we were not sure whether it would go well or not. We started off by explaining to her that Mommy is going to read her a short story (we picked one from The Early Reader's Bible), and then she will tell the story to us in her own words.Mommy read the story slowly with Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-46492730053911516212007-09-28T15:24:00.001-04:002007-09-28T15:55:05.186-04:00I'll get the waterLast night at dinner...Matthew: "Can I have some water?"Daddy gets up from chair...Joyce: "No, daddy, sit down! You didn't get to rest today at work. I rested so I'll get the water."Daddy and Mommy (melting inside): "Oh, thank you so much Joyce!"Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-72929266706054135072007-09-24T00:11:00.000-04:002007-09-24T00:19:48.165-04:00Novena to St. ThereseThank you Elizabeth for posting this novena which starts today! Joyce's baptismal name is Therese and we are very thankful that she has grown quite fond of her saint. She is looking forward to the celebration on October 1! Which means I need to figure out something really good for us to do :)Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-51525991487818051142007-09-23T23:32:00.000-04:002007-09-24T00:11:24.381-04:00St. Padre PioFor the past couple of years, I've forgotten where I had placed a third class relic of St. Padre Pio. Lorraine's parents, who received the relic almost 20 years ago from a family friend, gave it to her, so I feel really bad about it, and the parable of the servant who buried his talent came to mind. I know I could not have purposely thrown it out, but must have put it in a place so safe that I Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-53556917913311292132007-09-19T15:11:00.000-04:002008-12-11T14:38:54.047-05:00Fun with AdditionJoyce has been having fun with addition using the golden beads and the colored bead stairs. We followed the album pages from MWEI and MTC for the golden bead addition exercises. For now, we're using two instead of three addends because we don't have space to put all the beads and number cards on our coffee table :) We've began with addends that will not involve exchanging. Here're two examples Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-22296469031610061242007-09-15T20:36:00.000-04:002007-09-15T21:21:34.758-04:00The Feast of Our Lady of SorrowsThanks, Elizabeth for sharing this wonderful meditation for this feast. I honestly didn't even know about this feast (I've got lots to learn indeed). This was very powerful and touched me deeply. It was like watching the movie Passion from a whole different perspective - the pain and sorrow she went through seeing the scourging of Jesus, wiping Jesus' precious blood off the ground, watching JesusLorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-75030686561143357692007-09-11T15:36:00.000-04:002007-09-15T21:22:03.642-04:00The Cost and Conditions of True DiscipleshipToday's Touched by Grace column in Catholic Exchange is an excerpt from the past Sunday's homily by Fr. Roger Landry:Cost and Conditions of True DiscipleshipThe entire homily by Fr. Landry can be found on his website:http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=homilies&homilies=20070909After reading this homily and yesterday's article on the same topic, I realize that I have the "Jesus is Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-18293015422937239442007-09-10T16:07:00.000-04:002007-09-10T16:42:14.003-04:00Sharing Two Posts I enjoyedSharing two posts I enjoyed reading today:A Gospel to Make you SquirmFor a long time, I held the same belief as the author did - that I just need to be a "moderate" Catholic. I thank the Lord that He has shown me the "need to run for the gold" and not to just "finish the race."God's World Has No CagesI was just feeling really guilty that I'm not doing enough for my children, that I should be Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-15957092404798625062007-09-09T13:19:00.001-04:002007-09-09T13:50:08.126-04:00What happened to those pictures?After receiving emails from some well meaning family and friends (one of whom works for the police) who voiced their concern for the security of our children, we've decided to remove their pictures from our blog for now. We can look at it negatively - "Oh, how sad it is that this is the way the world is right now!" Or we can look at it as more motivation for us to keep our children safe, to Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-22164993270163045282007-09-09T00:12:00.000-04:002008-12-11T14:38:54.358-05:00Some Highlights from Our First WeekThanks be to God that our first week of homeschooling went quite well. I had anticipated that my kids would fight over materials, that Matthew would play with all the materials or hop back and forth between the learning room and play room, that Joyce would complain that she is not interested in any of the work, that they would last through the work period. Well, none of that happened! Each Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-21400072754434155012007-09-07T15:24:00.000-04:002008-12-11T14:38:56.128-05:00Our Learning RoomThis is our learning room in the basement. This space in the basement used to be our family room and now half of it is devoted to school.Starting at the left hand side is our bookshelf of picture books. Next to that is the metal insets and sandpaper letters. Around the corner is another shelf for language material, followed by a practical life shelf, and then the math shelf. And there is Matthew Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-4450580323922153532007-09-06T23:10:00.000-04:002007-09-07T00:13:58.738-04:00First Eucharistic Adoration for JoyceThis morning, we missed the 8 a.m. mass (everyone slept in :) so we went to the 9 a.m. at a parish which is further away. When the mass was over, we noticed a group of people walking into a hallway near the back of the altar. DH had been to the morning mass at this church a few times before so he remembered that they have a little chapel back there where Eucharistic Adoration takes place after Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-18582839455955344592007-09-06T22:56:00.000-04:002007-09-07T00:09:17.718-04:00Give all of yourself to JesusJust before bedtime...Matthew: "Hello, children!"Everyone else: "Hello... Matthew."Matthew: "No, I'm a priest and I'm saying 'Hello, Children!' So you have to say 'Hello, Father.'"Everyone else: "OK... Hello Father."Joyce: "If you want to be a priest, you cannot get married."Matthew: "OK."Joyce: "And you have to give all of yourself to Jesus."Matthew: (pauses and nods) "OK."Mom and Dad: silent, Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-61313442832078681272007-09-05T21:19:00.000-04:002007-09-05T22:00:19.989-04:00Blessed Mother TeresaAs we were thinking of the blog title yesterday, Mother Teresa's quote - "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." - came to my mind. Since we were one day away from her feast day, and have always loved this quote, we came to agreement quickly. Today I read Demi's book for the first time together with my kids. I was moved to tears near the end of the book because I Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889780381354901522.post-63447414076190876772007-09-04T22:35:00.000-04:002007-09-04T23:34:27.701-04:00Our First Day (and my first blog post :)Thanks be to God! Our first day of homeschooling went pretty smoothly. We made it to church on time at 8 a.m., which was incredible considering the kids woke up at 7:30. We came home, had breakfast, and started our designated 1.5 hr work period at 9:40 (only 10 minutes late... which is pretty good for the first day, I think :) Matthew went straight for the practical life activities, which was Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14871254057110330291noreply@blogger.com3