"A Gift from God" Baby Shower

During the month of May to honor Mary, we have our annual baby shower to benefit our local pregnancy center.  We set up a pack-n-play at the back of church and throughout the month of May, we ask parishioners to bring in baby stuff to donate.  By the end of May, the crib will be overflowing and we will deliver all the gifts to the pregnancy center.

This is such an easy project for Little Flowers to do and it's a good way to talk to the girls about what it means to be Pro-Life.

Embroidery

For our second meeting of the month of silence we had the girls embroider burp cloths for our baby shower in May.

Since embroidery is (usually) done in silence and doesn't occupy the mind as much as the hands, it is a great way to quiet down and to listen to ones own thoughts...

Unless, of course, you get twelve girls together in a room to embroider LOL

We asked a lady from our parish to come in and give the girls a beginner's course on embroidery. She did a fantastic job! First she showed them some examples of her own work so the girls got an idea of what embroidery is and what all is possible if you put some effort and time into practicing. Then she explained step by step how the girls should go about embroidering the burp cloths. 

Some girls caught on fast and added their own touch to their work, others followed along step by step. But all of them did a great job and they all enjoyed it!

Docility

Our virtue for the month of April was Docility.  First we talked about what docility is and how we can be more docile in our everyday lives. Then we tackeld the different tasks that come with the virtue.

Instead of hosting a potluck and tasting new/different foods there we decided to get some "weird looking" foods for the girls to try. They tried olives, honey mustard, vegetable stew (out of a glass), chia seed pudding and (to make up for all the weird stuff) milk duds. The younger girls were more docile (and adventurous) than the older ones. They would often wait for the younger girls to taste test first before they would try the different foods. But in the end all of them had a great time and some of them were even surprised at how good something tasted.

After all that excitement we talked about the Mission of Comfort, a local organization that donates stuffed animals to hospitals and other organizations in the USA and abroad to support the healing process by giving comfort and letting the patients know that God is with them. They're always in need of stuffed animals and scarves for the animals. So for our craft we decided to have the girls braid scarves that we will donate to the Mission of Comfort.

Here are the notes for the virtue:

What is docility?

- the virtue of listening to and learning from others

- it comes from the Latin word "docere" which means "to teach"

* does anyone know another word that starts with "doc"?

~ doctor > teacher

~ doctrine > that which is taught

~ that gives us the sentence "the doctor teaches the doctrine to the docile"

- docility means to be willing to learn from a teacher

- it's not about sitting at a desk and studying with your books or doing your homework

> that is studiousness (it's still good if you read and do your homework but it's not docility)

- so when you're docile in school, for example, you listen to what your teacher is saying, you pay attention, you ask questions when you don't understand something and take notes so that you can remember it later

* does anyone know what listening attentively means?

~ example no slouching, no doodling in your book and talking to your neighbor but really concentrating on what the teacher says and shows you

- but docility is not just for kids in school, grown ups have to be docile as well.

- even the smartest person needs to be docile

- no matter how smart you are and how much knowledge you have there is always someone who knows more than you do about something

- sometimes it is really hard to ask someone for help

- because if you ask someone for help you're telling them that they know more about something than you do

- so you have to be very humble and accept that you don't know everything in order to be docile and also in order to learn new things

- when you are docile and learn new things from others you are asked to share your new wisdom with other people

- for example, you started a new topic in math

- you were very docile in class, you listened attentively to your teacher and you know exactly what you have to do for your homework

- but your friend who sits next to you wasn't paying attention

- she was doodling in her book and chatting with another kid whenever the teacher wasn't looking

- so she has no idea what she is supposed to do for homework

- because you are such a docile student you can help her out and explain to her what she is supposed to do

- you can share your knowledge with her

- but being docile doesn't mean that you have to listen to and believe in just anyone around you

- you have to pick the right people to listen to, people you trust

* who in your life can you trust to be docile to?

~ parents

~ church

~ teachers

- but even if a person you trust like a teacher tells you to do something that you know your parents wouldn't want you to do

you don't have to do it

- for example, you know that it's wrong to steal something

- so if your friend (a person you trust) tells you to steal something (maybe an eraser from another girl in class) you don't do it because you know that it's wrong

- what does that mean for us as Catholics?

* who should we be docile to regarding our faith?

~ the church

~ Jesus

- the Catholic Church was instituted by Jesus Christ

- when it comes to faith and morals that's the only teacher we need

- the church will teach us everything we need to know in order for us to become saints

How can we be more docile?

- we listen to what God wants for us in our life

* how do we know what God wants for us?

~ we pray

- about big decisions (what job we want when we grow up)

- but also about smaller things (was it okay for me to be mean to my sister even if she did something mean to me)

- the more we talk to God the better we know what He wants for us in our lives

- and even though sometimes we might have the feeling that God didn't hear our prayer

- we must always remember that God answers every prayer

- he may not answer it right away or how we want Him to answer it but he will answer it

- that's what Jesus promised us when he said

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Mt 6:7-8

Our passports for the month:

Showing Zeal to the World

I'm a little slow with updating this blog.  I had better get caught up before the New Year begins.

For our second meeting in November, we went to the assisted living community.  We are so blessed that one of our religious education teachers volunteers there.  She not only gets us put on the schedule to visit there, she arranges the crafts for us as well.

This month, we did two crafts with the residents.  The first one was a cute little jar with a picture of St. Mary Star of the Sea.  Charlene gave a little talk on why Mary was given such a name and then passed out the jars along with the rest of the supplies.  The girls got to fill the jars with beautiful shells and then mod podge pretty pictures of St. Mary the Cross.  Simple enough for them all to complete on their own.

The second craft was making a paper bag puppet of St. Mary MacKillop.  I shared a little about her with the residents and a refresher for the girls. 

It is so wonderful watching the girls and residents interact.  We had one of the little sisters just steal the show.  She is from Germany and has a sweet little accent.  She was going around to all the residents, absolutely not shy at all and showing great zeal.  She has all the residents smiling which was so great to see.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of their wonderful projects. Something seems to happen once we get home from our meetings.  The girls' projects go into their rooms only to reappear months later.  Perhaps one day  I'll be able to post some pics.

A Night Out at the Assisted Living Home

This year, I have been trying to add more service projects for our group.  It was suggested that we visit a nursing home.  I was truly blessed that one of the religious education teachers volunteers at an assisted living place here in town.  She was able to get me connected with the activities director.  I told her that these girls weren't used to visiting so if she had some ideas for us, we would appreciate it.  She was so awesome.  She told me just to show up and she would have Bingo all set for all of us to join in.

It turned out to be a wonderful experience for all of us.  She led us in and got the game going right away.  It was so neat to see how much some of the residents enjoyed playing with the girls.  Each girl was given a chance to call a game.  While there wasn't a whole lot of visiting, it gave the girls a chance to get used to going there. We were invited back to spend another evening there.  It is my hope that each time we go back, the girls will feel more comfortable and start interacting with the residents.

Now to think of a craft we can do with them.

First Service Project of the Year - Get Well Cards

Over the summer, I received a letter from the Pastoral Care Department of a local Catholic hospital.  They were asking for handmade pick me up or get well cards.  I thought it would be an easy and fun idea for our group.  Also, it was a great way to get the girls thinking about helping others.

I had to really think about how to do this project.  My daughter can work on one card for an hour if she is really into it or spend a minute slopping it together. Because I wanted to make sure the cards were thoughtfully done, I decided to pick out 5 designs for the girls to choose from and let them assemble the cards.  They were then able to write some encouraging words inside and draw a picture if they wanted to.

I wrote some suggestions up on the chalk board for what they could write inside.  It's important to remind the kids that God is capitalized.  From past experience, kids forget to do this a lot!!  I also had a handout with ideas.  It would have helped to actually hand it out.  Next year, I won't forget.  The girls certainly needed help with ideas.

Here are the designs we used.  Having a die cut machine definitely comes in handy.  I had a sample of the design with all the pieces for the girls to assemble themselves.  They did a great job.  The girls and moms were able to complete almost 70 cards!!!  I can't wait to take them to the hospital.