My goodness, I knew that the girls would love balloons, but I don't think I realized how much!! I led the meeting this month and our virtue was Joy. I wanted to show them how when we try to use stuff to make us happy, we have to keep "feeding" ourselves to keep that feeling going. We used a regular latex balloon and the girls got to play "keep the balloon in the air". Every time they hit the balloon in the air, they had to name something that they thought would make them happy. I let them play for about 5 minutes until it seemed like it was becoming work to them. I then brought out the helium balloons. The oohs and ahhs were great!! They represented the joy that God can bring. Sure, helium balloons can start to deflate, they can be filled back up. Our joy can be restored when we spend time with God. It's not hard work. I'm not sure if they heard the lesson as they were so excited about the balloons.
I shared a wonderful story about what happened to me today. I attend Mass this morning and prayed the rosary afterwards. Then I went to the Adoration Chapel to spend some time with Jesus. I admitted that even adults can struggle with believing that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. After kneeling and praying for a while, I sat back just to take it all in. I had the most overwhelming feeling that Jesus was there. I started to cry as I felt so unworthy to be in His Presence. Then I was filled with incredible joy. It was the most amazing feeling as I realized that Jesus was there!!! It was a great lesson, if not for the kids, us moms.
This was the perfect example of adoring the Blessed Sacrament which is something Saint Clare of Assisi, our saint this month, certainly did. I read them a short story of her life which I got over at Holy Spirit Interactive Kids Zone.We did a short craft to end our meeting. We made monstrances out of cardstock. It is a craft which I got over at Catholic Inspired. I cut them out of gold cardstock and glued them on white paper before the meeting to help save time. The girls got to decorate them with glitter glue. I found big bottles at the dollar store. They all turned out so beautiful. In the middle of the monstrance, there was a picture of Jesus. I had them glue a host over top of Jesus to demonstrate that Jesus is still present even when we don't see him.
The girls got to have a few minutes at the end to play with the balloons again and they all got to take a helium balloon home.
