Monday, November 24, 2014

Advent: No Internet

For Advent this year we aren't going to have any internet or TV. So this is going to be my last blogpost until after Christmas. So its a little different than last year. So this should be an ultimate, counting-for-months post. I mean, until Christmas we won't be at the screen. So I am going to include a few things which will be happening this blessed week! Tomorrow, family is coming, on Wednesday, friends are coming, Thanksgiving going to be such a blast, and the weekend full of partying! When you have a large house, you can't help giving a few get-to-gethers. (I think is would be great if we had a hoe-down, like a barn dance.) Oh, Dad already found the perfect christmas tree. He was driving home when he saw a large christmas tree on the road. Its beautiful and I want to bury my nose in its boughs. On Dec 31st I am getting an operation on my gums, so please keep that intention in your prayers. I'm really nervous. I really hope your holidays will be splendid as we get together for another christmas and New Year. I will pray that you each have a marvelous time with your families! God Bless You!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Our Thankful Jam

This Thanksgiving is going to be a multi-event for our family this year! Head count in the twenties,and family coming from all around Oregon. So this year, I didn't have much time to do a hand turkey, or the cloved orange, but before we were settled into the month of November, I found this really great family craft in a magazine. Make a thankful jar. All it is is decorate a jam jar, and place it on the counter with a notepad and a pen. When ever a family member thinks of something to be thankful for, they scribble it down and place it in the jar. On Thanksgiving, the Dad with pass the jar around where everyone will read the "thankfulness", and it will get us in the mood to add little bits here and there. (It also helps with handwriting practice:)
Me and Essie made this thankful Jar together. Talk about sister time!

Monday, November 17, 2014

A Living Rosary, or Sermon

I really love reading biographies. To read about people like ourselves become people of inspiration and wonder is one of the greatest joys of being able to read literature. I was reading Pauline Jaricots biography, and it occurred to me that in Oregon, do we have a Living Rosary society? To live the rosary, men and woman formed a group, The Living Rosary. Members would be assigned for a mystery in which they would pray daily. I do think that would be such a wonderful thing to found now, especially for the remission of sins, and for Iraq. Out of one rosary, we could save so many souls! How is it that such a thing as a Living Rosary isn't found in Oregon. We really should be ashamed. We have so many great examples as Pauline Jaricot, Fulton Sheen, St. John Paul II, we should be overjoyed and start right now! For children, we can devote ourselves to saying one decade each night for the bitter war in Iraq and for other intentions which are so dear to our hearts. Another great thing is, WE are never to late to start praying. In fact we are right on time! A family rosary grants each member a plenary indulgence if you say it with meaning in your heart. That is a condolence. We usually use our indulgences to free the soul who has been in Purgatory the longest. (Not that we are a perfect family though.) So as a family, and as friends, why don't we start saying a living rosary, every week? Lets try once and see how we do. Maybe with all of our fervent prayers, we can set Iraq free from the miserable invading. One meaningful Hail Mary means a lot to God.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Wynken, Blynken And Nod

By the celebrated poet, Eugene Field, this really describes a trip to dreamland. How does Disney capture it?

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Goodness, Llama's?

I haven't really told you about how the farms going...as we are sprouting into farmers already. We had a last harvest of apples. We are going to be pruning, and hoping to get a better harvest next year. Oh, we planted eight little trees,cherries and pears which will be giving fruit in three years if they last. And our livestock is as it should be. But I've saved the real news for last! We're going to get a family of llama's. I can hear a pin drop in the background. Its very exciting! Once we went to an apalca farm somewhere in the countryside of Amity,(I love alpacas) and we actually saw a pregnant mother give birth. When it was 'out' finally, and after being rubbed on a towel it began to walk, and it was one of the cutest animal. We all named it Dawn. Life is such an amazing thing. But back to the Llama's, your feet are probably shifting from the other in suspense. When are they coming? What do they look like? The answer is Thursday, and I'm thinking of a white dad, and maybe a brownish red for mama and baby. (I'll have to post a picture when the camera finally connects to the iMac.)
This is an unshorn alpaca. They are shorter than Llama's, and their hair is more luxirant and made into yarns. Alpaca hair is super soft and there is a market for pillows and shawls in Peru, or for the animals themselves.
Here is a llama. See the difference? I think the Alpaca's are much sweeter. Actually, Llama's can die of a broken heart if they are alone so a pack option can be sheep. Llama's are very social, so hopefully Moon will be with them, and give them extra company.

We, Who by the Grace of God...

We, who by the grace of God are Catholics… must steel ourselves for the battle we shall certainly have to fight to fulfill our program and give our country, in the not too distant future, happier days and a morally healthy society, but to achieve this we need constant prayer to obtain from God that grace without which all our efforts are useless; organization and discipline to be ready for action at the right time; and finally, the sacrifice of our passion and of ourselves, because without that we cannot achieve our aim.” Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Turin, Italy, 1922 (1901-1925)