Endurance - Wreath IV

We are not going in order with the book this year.  We were trying to match things up with what is going on with our year.  It just made sense to move things around.  Hopefully it won't confuse anyone too much.

Last Monday began our first official meeting for the new year.  It felt great being back and I could tell the girls were happy to be there.  I handed out their passports for the year and gave them the hand-outs for Endurance and the United States.

Jessica is in charge of the meetings for the month and she sent me all of her notes!!  I am going to go ahead and just post them as is.

Before I post them, I'll post the craft.  We made God's Eyes.  Jessica and her daughter had the popsicle sticks already glued together.  The girls got to pick out their yarn.  As she explained it, since St. Rose - Philippine Duchesne loved the Indians, this was a perfect craft.  God looks with love on people everywhere.

Endurance

• Think of sport events (triathlon or marathon) Also it's a virtue. Difference between perseverance and endurance is that endurance usually attached to different or unpleasant situations.

• EVERY martyr and lots of saints would list endurance as a virtue they possessed. went through lots for Christ.

• We, however, are not always so committed. We are often quick to abandon God's will when it becomes too hard too uncomfortable. We may be convinced of our need to be more generous to a neighbor, but if they respond to our kindness with grumpiness, we storm off, thinking "that's what I get for being nice!"

• Too often we lack endurance because it is just too hard to always be nice, always follow Jesus, but that is what we are called to do. He reminds us "if anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, pick up his cross and follow me"

• It comes from Fortitude, Helps us face really tough stuff. Helps us stand in the face of danger without attacking it or seeking to alter or change it. We are called to different things that we cannot change and endurance is what we rely on and what God gives us.

• In truth, we may never be asked to endure anything. For many of us, our lives are ones of relative comfort and ease. We do not know hunger or cold or danger. In recent times, the phrase "first world problems" has been created. This is a rather casual response to complaints from those who have "nothing to wear" or "nothing to eat" when in truth the closets and cupboards are full - they just don't want what they have.

• So many times now we feel we are entitled to (have a right to) so much and doing without is something we "endure". Too often we may encounter people (or worse yet, BE the people) who feel they are enduring the lack of a phone, new car, trip to Disney, etc.  Our family situation, income, or something else may be preventing us from having “what everyone else has" and we are enduring such difficulty as a result. This is not the case. Endurance is the virtue for danger, pain or the threat of death- not the inability to go out to dinner when we want.

• (That being said - People have to work hard if they want things in life. Can't just think you are entitled to everything in life.)

• Some of us ARE being asked to endure. There are those of us who endure real pain and suffering through an illness or disease that affects us or a family member close to us. Or a recent natural disaster. Let us keep our minds focused on what these virtues really mean and help others know as well.

• Many had to endure it all. Paul challenges Timothy "You have followed my teaching, my way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love and endurance."Paul knows suffering, for he endured it all!" He quiets his critics with the list of all he's endured, from beatings, to floggings, to imprisonment.  This is of great help to us, for while we hope we are never asked to endure a beating, we know from our verse there is “a time of trial which is coming.

1. Helen Keller quote- "With endurance and determination we can help to better the lives of those around us"

·         Saint - St. Rose - Philippine Duchesne

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (Feast day - November 18) Born in Grenoble, France, in 1769.

Rose joined the Society of the Sacred Heart as a sister.

In 1818, when she was forty-nine years old, Rose was sent to the United States.

She founded a boarding school for daughters of pioneers near St. Louis and opened the first free school west of the Missouri.

71-she began a school for Indians, who soon came to call her "the woman who is always praying". 

Her biographers have also stressed her courage in frontier conditions, her single-mindedness in pursuing her dream of serving Native Americans, and her self-acceptance.

She died in 1852. This holy servant of God was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.

We worked on/will work on the following activities:

#3  Passports

#6 We will be trying a form of endurance spiritually and physically next time we meet. (Me- look up patron saint of athletes)

#9 Create list together of individuals or situations that illustrate endurance. We all make list and write it down so we can turn to this during moments of discouragement and inspire us with new endurance.

(Ideas from lesson pulled from Wreath IV Leader's Guide.)

Around the World with the Saints

I am so excited about something we are adding this year to our program.  We are giving each girl a "passport" to travel around the world with the saints.  They will learn about each saint and a little bit about each country. 

We are using photo albums that I got at the Dollar Tree.  Of course I had to snaz them up a bit by adding some vinyl on the fronts (any excuse to use my Silhouette).  The girls all posed for their passport pictures at our first get together. 

I kept things pretty basic for our first country.  Perhaps I'll become more creative as the months go by.  I think we could add some interesting facts about different cultures.  It will be neat to see how many Catholics live in each country.

The second page each month will be on the saint of the month and some basic information about her life.  It will also include the bible verse.

My daughter still likes to look through the scrapbook that we made the first year we were in Little Flowers.  I thought the girls would enjoy having something they look through.  I will share more pages as the year goes on.

Off To A Great Start!!!

 

And so begins a new year for our Little Flowers group.  I'm going to force myself to do a better job documenting our meetings.  Things just sort of fell apart last year.  I think we are off to a great start.  We had two new girls come to our kick off / information meeting and they signed up to join.  This brings our group up to 11 girls.   I think that's a good number.  

We started off with our prayers and then went around the room to introduce ourselves.  I let the girls introduce themselves and then introduce their mothers.  They had to share something about each of them.  Always interesting to hear what kids will come up with to share.  Then we had some snacks and just visited for a while.  I made devils food cupcakes with swords and St. Micheal toppers to celebrate Michaelmas Day.  

Then we had the girls go to one room and the moms to another.  I had sent out an email a few weeks ago for the girls to be praying for our new priest.  Most of the girls brought those prayer totals with them and then they made a spiritual bouquet to give to him.  We had offered up our beginning prayers for him just in case some of the girls hadn't done it, they could still make him a flower.  The flowers were attached to yummy brownies because let's face it, who doesn't love a little treat as well. When the girls finished the bouquet, Jessica had them playing a game to help get to know each other better. 

Meanwhile, in the other room, we were all about getting things set for the year.  We voted on opening up our tea party to all the ladies of the parish.  We also decided we were up to having another sleepover.  Although no one ever get enough sleep, the girls just love it!!  Then I basically went through the registration packet and discussed some of the activities that we have planned for the year.  

The time just flew by and it was time to close with our prayers.  Of course, none of the girls were ready to end which I guess is always a good thing.

Our first official meeting starts next Monday.  We can't wait for another great year!!

Spring Tea

I am looking forward to life getting back to normal around here.  This has been one heck of a year.  Our social hall flooded and was out of commission for months.  This totally impacted our religious education program and our Little Flowers.  We all prayed and prayed that we would have it ready by May for our Sleepover and our Tea.  We also lost our priest when he passed away on Ash Wednesday.  Needless to say, life at the parish has been crazy.  I will be going back to fill in all the gaps on this page, but decided to start with the present and work my way backwards.

Last year, we asked the Ladies Auxiliary to join us at our Tea and we continued this tradition again this year.  Planning was sooooo much easier this year.  Instead of having a dinner, we focused on just desserts and drinks.  It made life so much less stressful.  It helped also because we were able to reuse the centerpieces from last year and the lay out remained the same. 

We started with a prayer and then I shared a little about the group had done over the past year.  The pillowcases were passed out that the girls had made.  This was great because the girls were able to show the ladies what they had made.  Of course, the ladies oohh'd and aahh'd over the girls which is so wonderful. 

The dessert table was wonderful this year.  All the moms made 2-3 dozen treats and then the group provided a fruit tray.  Everything looked so pretty.  I had asked that everything be small and I think everyone liked that.  We were able to get a sampling of everything!!  We even had some of the girls' brothers helping out to serve drinks.  They all wore white shirts and dress pants.  They were looking so handsome!!

After everyone had been give the chance to eat, and I could tell the girls were getting restless, it was time for the fashion show.  I really want to stress modesty with these girls and so our fashion show is a modesty fashion show.  They start off with their tea dress and then do a wardrobe change of their play clothes.  This year, I could really see a difference with the girls as they just seemed so much more confident in their walk.  At the end, they come out wearing their aprons and sing A Song to St. Therese. The ladies loved it. 

I made a table with a display of all the virtues.  I put the virtue, scripture verse, the saint and also a picture of the activity or craft that we did on each page.  It's a great refresher for the girls to see and the ladies enjoy seeing what we are learning.

 
Here are a few of the decorations.  I have two sets of china and then we supplement with the dishes from the church.  This summer, I will be on the look at for more dishes at garage sales.

The desserts all looked so beautiful!  

I bought these beautiful edible butterflies off of Etsy.  I just couldn't resist them.

 

 

Here is one of the favors that the girls made for the tea.  On the back we put a prayer to St. Therese.  I found this beautiful idea over at Shower of Roses.  I bought the doilies on Amazon.  I just noticed that the price has gone up $4 a box since I bought them, but there are 1000 in the box and we will definitely use them.  I bought the holy cards and medals from The Society of the Little Flowers.  They were each only 15 cents each which made them to be very affordable.

 

Now that we have done this for a couple of years, we are ready to open it up to all the ladies in the parish.  Let the planning begin!!!  Well, first I need to finish washing all the table cloths and take a breath.

Badge Ceremony

Last year I used to hand out the badges at the beginning of each meeting.  I would fumble through the envelope looking for each girls' and I always seemed to struggle (not quite sure why).  So this year I decided to simplify. 

We are having 2 badge ceremonies this year.  Absolutely nothing fancy, just waiting to give out the badges.  We did one back in February and we'll do the other at the end of the year.  It saves a lot of frustration on my part, and really, who sews on badges every month?

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.

Self-Control - Wreath III

I guess I'm a little behind in my posts.  There have just been so many snow days!!! Our meeting for Self-Control was back in February.  I'm finally getting around to posting this.  

Jessica led the meeting.  I was lucky that she typed up all of her notes for me so I'm going to go ahead and just post them as is.  It was a great meeting and the girls really enjoyed the activities.

SELF CONTROL

Set out a cup of M&Ms in front of each girl – do not let them eat it until the end. This will demonstrate self control.

Explanation of Self-Control 

Does anyone know what self control is? 

Once girls raise their hands, I asked them to all raise their hands (that demonstrates right there a sign of self control)

control or restraint of oneself or one's actions, feelings, etc. (from dictionary.com)

·         Remind children that they will never be tempted beyond what God will help them handle *Self control is taking us out of the center of our hearts, minds and universes and putting Christ in it. (from leaders book)

·         It’s even a daily struggle your parents face, but with Jesus as our guide we can do all things well, even control ourselves! (from leaders book)

·         What is a good way you could help yourself maintain self control?

1.    Example, do not sit beside a friend who you enjoy talking to when you are supposed to be quiet, or choose to leave a play area

2.    when tempers are getting heated and you feel angry with a friend.

3.    When doing homework

                       

Kick-off craft

The craft suggested here will help remind your children to practice self-control and is based on

1 Peter 5:8: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around looking for someone

to devour.”

A self-control poster

Directions 

•  Help your children draw or trace a picture of a lion on the poster.
•  Next have your children place their hands over the lion and trace around their hands.
• Write the memory verse of your choice on the poster.
• Use the poster as a reminder that the best way to defeat Satan when he tries to devour us is to pray.
•  Review the questions for discussion below to enhance your children’s understanding of the concepts.

Throughout the day, encourage your children to clasp their hands together tightly when they feel like they are going to lose self-control. Have them come to you so you can help them pray. Explain that Satan is strong like a lion, but we can be stronger than Satan when we go to God for help. Just as the tracing of their hands covers the lion, they can be stronger than the temptation Satan sends when they are full of the Holy Spirit. Tell your children that putting their hands together will help remind them to talk to God and ask for His help in maintaining self-control.

WWJD sign (read #6 and do it in a group)

fulfill #6 on your list for this month

Self-control scenarios

– give scenarios and ask the 3 questions after each one.

• Someone has just taken your favorite toy from you.

• You have had one piece of cake and your stomach feels full. Someone offers you

another piece.

• Someone has just called you a mean name that hurt your feelings – now they are laughing at you.

• You just received some discipline from one of your parents, now your brother or sister is smiling.

Questions for discussion

• Would you need to use self-control in this situation?

• Would it be easy or hard to be self-controlled in this situation?

• If you would have a hard time using self-control, how could you make it easier?

Key concepts

·         When we are full of the Holy Spirit, it is easier to use self-control. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit.

·         Remind them - you will never be tempted beyond what God will help you handle.

           (1 Corinthians 10:13).

·         Close by praying and thanking God that He understands what it is like to be tempted and that He will never let us be tempted beyond that which we can handle.

Talk about St. Felicity  fulfill #2 on your list for this month (http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/0710.asp)

Felicity was a noble Christian woman of Rome. After her husband's death, she served God by prayer and works of charity. Her good example led others to become Christians, too. 

This angered the pagan priests (they worshipped false gods), who complained to Antoninus Pius, the emperor. They said Felicity was an enemy of the state because she was making the gods angry. 

So the emperor had Felicity arrested. Her seven young sons were arrested with her. Like the mother of the Maccabees in the Old Testament, Felicity remained calm. The governor tried to make her sacrifice to the false gods but she absolutely refused. 

They finally threatened to kill her sons one by one if she did not do as she was told. The governor said to her, "Unhappy woman, if you wish to die, die! But do not destroy your sons." And Felicity answered "My sons will live forever if, like me, they scorn the idols and die for their God."

This brave woman was forced to watch her sons being put to death. Four months later, Felicity, too, was beheaded. Her strength came from her great hope that she would be with God and her sons in heaven. 

St. Felicity, it could be said, was martyred eight different times as she had to watch each of her sons die. Then she too gave up her life for Jesus.  

Look how praiseworthy it is to die for the King (Christ). This woman (St. Felicity) feared not the sword, but perished with her sons. She was given eternal life.

Bible Story and questions

Picking fights

Read Genesis 26:17-22.

Questions for discussion

1. What do other kids do when they want to pick a fight?

2. How about your brother/sister?

3. How do you feel when someone says that something you own is his/hers?

4. What happened to Isaac’s servants?

5. What did they do?

6. How many wells did they have to dig before the herdsman of Gerar didn’t bother them?

7. What is the best thing to do if someone picks a fight with you?

Key concepts

Isaac’s servants had moved into a new territory. Part of moving into new territory involved finding water for the flocks they were caring for. As Isaac’s men dug wells, the herdsman living in the new territory argued with them and kept claiming the wells as their own. Instead of fighting back and fighting for the wells that were rightfully theirs, Isaac and his people just kept moving on and digging another well, until the herdsmen of Gerar left them alone. These men exercised self-control and didn’t fight for their rights. Isaac and his servants set a good example for all of us of what to do if someone picks a fight with you. The best thing to do is to walk away and keep the peace.

Giggle game

Then I selected one LF to go before the entire group to attempt to make the group laugh.  She had full reign to be silly and the audience had strict instructions not to laugh.  A good time was had by all.  Upon completion of this round, the girls discussed their strategy to exercise self-control so they did not laugh despite the silly antics. 

We held one more round.  This time the silly girl could not get her audience to laugh.  We discussed the reason for this outcome, was it because it was not funny or was it because it becomes easier to exercise self control after time of practice?

http://joyfilledfamily.blogspot.com/2011/11/saint-felicitas-was-widow.html

After the game, talk about self-control. Explain that it is usually okay to laugh in life, but there are times when we shouldn’t laugh. We should not laugh when someone is hurt or sad, during quiet time at school or church, or if they are somewhere where they have been asked to be quiet. The following questions will help to clarify this for young children.

Questions for discussion

• Can you think of some times in life when we shouldn’t laugh?

• Eating is fun, like laughing is fun, but there is a time to eat and a time to stop eating. When is it

time to stop eating?

• Playing is fun. But when Mom or Dad say it is time to stop, it can be tempting to continue. When is it time to stop playing?

• Chasing around and being silly is fun, but there is a time and a place for silliness.

• When is okay to be silly?

• When is it not okay to be silly?

• How can you have self-control in these situations?

Key concepts

There are times when we need to obey the instructions of parents and stop doing what seems

to be fun. Even though it is tempting to do what feels good instead of stopping, we can ask God to help us be self-controlled and to choose to stop what we are doing.

Relevant Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven. . . . a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Clap Hands Game(or use a drum)  (http://mattbgomez.com/fun-activities-for-practicing-self-control/)

Children crouch down with eyes shut on the floor and can only jump up like a Jack-in-the-box when you clap your hands, or hit a triangle etc, The length of time before clapping is varied so children have to really listen and not jump up impulsively.

Games (http://kelleyward.hubpages.com/hub/Focus-and-Self-Control-Life-Skills-For-Children)

·  Mirror what I do. For this game the parent and child sit in a chair directly facing one another. The parent plays the role of the leader and the child plays the role of the follower. The parent sits still in the chair using few words, so the child focuses on controlling his or her body movements. The object of the game is to have the child mirror the movements of the parent. This game increases self-control skills in children and helps them learn to become more aware of body placement and positioning.
·  Story sharing. Story sharing is a great activity that can be played anywhere— even in the car. One person begins a story with a short sentence and then the other members of the family take turns adding one sentence at a time. Story sharing helps children laugh their way to becoming more cognitively flexible, attentive, and self-controlled.

Finally they can eat their candy- this demonstrates the virtue self control. J

Most of above came from - http://www.kidsofintegrity.com/lessons/self-control/hands-options