Our favorite books for liturgical living

One of the talks that I give is on liturgical living, and it's a favorite topic of mine to talk about. I think our Catholic faith is so beautiful and joyful and even, at times, quirky and I love sharing it with others through the seasons and everyday life.

When I present this particular talk I am sure to share lots of examples of ways our family celebrates throughout the liturgical year, along with examples of what our friends do. I also stress what a beautiful, easy tool liturgical living can be for parents and grandparents who are trying to evangelize and form their children, especially when it's done in a way that makes sense for each particular family's home culture, interests, strengths, and season of life. Finally, I make sure everyone knows that because this work of building up the Kingdom of God is vitally important satan will attack it, because he's a jerk like that, so be ready.

In my life books have been so helpful in sharing the faith with my kids and so when I gave this talk I brought some of my favorites to share with the audience. There was lots of note-taking and photo-snapping so people would remember the titles I had shared. But there were also so many books and DVDs I had to leave at home and I thought those should be shared, too, especially as my kids kept saying, "Oh I love this one! And this one! And this one!"

So below is a fairly extensive list of books and other resources we use throughout the year. The seasonal books are stored with their corresponding decorations and then placed in our family book basket for the duration of the season. Some books are read on a daily or weekly basis throughout the year. Some books stay on the bookshelf in our living room for easy access. We have a ton of other books, too, but I don't need to include How the Grinch Stole Christmas here.

I've divided the groups into books for kids, resources for parents / grandparents / teachers, Bibles, and DVDs. All the Amazon and Blessed Is She links are affiliate links, which means I receive a small payment at no cost to you when you purchase through my specific link. I have also built an Amazon page filled with these items so you can check them all out there, if you'd like.  You can find that here.

Take It to the Queen by Josephine Nobisso
The Weight of the Mass by Josephine Nobisso
Saint Clare of Assisi: Runaway Rich Girl by Kim Hee-Ju
Paddy and the Wolves by Steve Nagel
St. Nicholas - the Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Stiegemeyer
Lady of Guadalupe by Tome dePaola
The Miracle of St. Nicholas by Gloria Whelan and Judith Brown
On Easter Day in the Morning by Vickie Howie
My Happy Pumpkin by Crystal Bowman
A is for Altar B is for Bible by Judith Lang Main
An Alphabet of Catholic Saints by Brenda and George Nippert
Angel in the Waters by Regina Doman and Ben Hatke
My Superhero / Princess / Woodland Prayer Book  by Kendra Tierney
The Catholic Field Guide to the Liturgy by Michelle Chronister
The Story of St. John Paul II: The Boy Who Would Be Pope by Fabiola Garza
Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times by Meghan Bausch
The Chime Travelers by Lisa Hendey
I'm Bernadette by Emily Grace Ortega
A Little Book About Confession for Children by Kendra Tierney
I Walk with Jesus by Michelle Chronister
The Way of the Cross from Magnificat and Ignatius Press
Stations of the Cross box tutorial

The Little Oratory: A Beginners Guide to Praying in the Home by David Clayton and Leila Lawler
The Lazy Liturgical by Jenna Hines
The Catholic All Year Compendium by Kendra Tierney
Around the Year with the von Trapp Family by Maria von Trapp
Feast! by Haley and Daniel Stewart
Blessed Is She liturgical planner

Jesus Calling Bible Storybook by Sarah Young
The Action Bible by Doug Mauss and Sergio Cariello
Catechism of the Seven Sacraments - Building Blocks of Faith Series
Catholic Journaling Bible


Nicholas: the Boy Who Became Santa dvd
Veggie Tales St. Nicholas - a Story of Joyful Giving dvd
The Day the Sun Danced dvd
Bernadette - The Princess of Lourdes dvd
Juan Diego - Messenger of Guadalupe dvd
The Prince of Egypt dvd


Also, if you'd like to bring me to your parish or event to speak I would love to! You can check out my speaking page and shoot me an email!

A Special First Confession

Our miracle baby made his first confession last night and it was incredibly special. His big brother helped him pick out some nice clothes. His older sister encouraged him. His godparents prayed for him. And when we came home he celebrated with a big bowl of sorbet and CocoWhip.

JF has a few special needs and so his preparation looked a little bit different than what we did for our previous two children. We brainstormed with his tutor, our priest, and some good friends, including one whose adult son has special needs. Their insights were invaluable and along with having frequent conversations with JF about sin, mercy, prayer, and our relationship with God, we figured out ways to help him in his struggles with speech, reading, and anxiety.

JF has been diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech which can make it difficult for him to communicate, especially when he is tired or upset, and occasionally make him hard to understand. To help in that area we had our priest over for dinner last month. He and JF played card games, which allowed Father to get used to the way JF speaks and let JF feel more comfortable with Father.

We were also afraid that James would be so nervous and anxious that he wouldn't be able to read or remember his list of sins. To help with that we took pictures of him acting out his sins and then made a small booklet. The booklet included not only the pictures, but captions that he or Father could read if need be, and on the back was the act of contrition. We used it as we practiced and JF took it with him to confession. This worked so well and I'm so grateful to my friend who suggested it to me.

To help with his anxiety, Father heard JF's confession first and did so in the sacristy, where JF could see me right outside the door. You guys, it was beautiful. Father was amazing and James had an excellent experience.

I wanted to share this with you all because sometimes we need reminders that good things are happening in this broken world, too. There those of us who not only believe but live out the fact that everyone has dignity, that God's grace and mercy are for everyone, that life is beautiful, and that in real life people are awesome.

A Response to President Emmanuel Macron

I don't speak French so maybe I missed some nuanced reasoning in French President Emmanuel Macron's comment, "Present me the woman who decided, being perfectly educated, to have seven, eight or nine children." I'll tell you what though, my first response to that comment was a great big, "Forget you, Macron." 

Once I stopped calling him names in my head I read a bit more and saw that he was trying to advocate for education for girls and an end to child brides.  I appreciate that. I am 100% on board with that. 

But this is not the first time that Macron has talked about Africa as one large place where women unfortunately keep popping out babies. (I found this NPR article written by a Ugandan woman very helpful.) How condescending and sad that he - like most of the western world - does not see fertility as a gift and children as  blessings. And I feel a little furious about this man implying / stating that African women are only having big families because they are not better educated. 

I love that women from around the world (yes, not just white, middle class Americans) have shared pictures of their large families as a way of presenting themselves to Macron.  Look at us: we are educated - some of us impressively so - and we did choose this. Look at us, Macron: there are women all around the world who have not only educated  our minds but have formed our hearts and consciences so that we understand that life is beautiful, our bodies are amazing, babies are gifts, and love is the greatest resource we have.  We want you to know this, too, Macron, because it is beautiful and joyful and powerful. 

I know some of you will want to do more than post a picture of your large family on social media, or like someone else's picture of their large family, so I invite you to do what President Macron was talking about and support education in Africa. We can put our money where our values are. 

My former pastor is Fr. Julius Turyatoranwa. He served at my parish while finishing his doctorate in education. Last December he returned to his home diocese in Uganda and has been overseeing the fruit of several years of fundraising done in the States: he is building a school that will educate boys and girls who live in poverty.

When St. Patrick Boarding Primary School first opens in February 2019 it will serve as a day school for local children but once the dormitories are complete children will be educated and will receive three meals a day and clean water.  This kind of education and nutrition is usually only for the wealthy but Fr. Julius is changing that. 

Fr. Julius purchased the land the school is being built on. He has worked for years to raise money for his people. This is not a white man from an outside country telling the people of southwest Uganda what they need - this is a man born and raised there, with dozens of nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and nephews still in the area, who is using all the resources and gifts God has given him to positively impact generations of Ugandan children. 

Fr. Julius would always say to us, "Fifty cents buys a brick. You give me fifty cents and I can buy a brick to build the school." If you can give $20 to the Building Hope in Kids - Uganda foundation you will buy 40 bricks. For $50 a month you can sponsor a child's education. Give them $500 so they can buy desks and books and posters. Give them anything you can and know that it is going to a school that believes in the value of all human life and exists to give children in poverty - girls included! - a chance to succeed. 

I personally vouch for this organization and I am grateful for any help you can give. You can learn more about Building Hope in Kids - Uganda and give to their efforts by clicking here. 


PS - Fr. Julius would be disappointed in my calling President Macron names in my head and would want us all to pray for Macron to have a conversion of heart and to go to confession. So let's do that, too. 

The Last Bits of Summer

This will not be a sentimental post. 

The weeks before the kids go back to school are super stressful and overwhelming to me with the overload of errands, appointments, paperwork, and more. The house is constantly messy, the kids are bored of the slip n' slide, there's all kinds of fighting, and I am just so tired of feeding them. They want to go back to school and I want them to, too. How did people do it for thousands of years? How do homeschoolers do it? 

To me this is not the end of summer. Summer basically ended on August 6th. I will get out my Fall decorations on September 1st -ish and this time in between is a purgatory of stress and heat and exhaustion. (As an aside, some people think I'm a bit dramatic but I just don't see it.)

I made a playlist to get me through these next weeks. You can see how badly I want to get on with my life in that I titled it "September 2018." Some of the songs are pretty new to me and so I cannot vouch for all the lyrics and content, but if you want to discover some new songs right along with me click over and check it out. There's some safe ones, too, like Ben Rector and Mat Kearney. ;)

School starts with a half day on Thursday, so here's a look the last bits of summer, the things that happened at the end of July and the first week of August. That is, the things that I want to remember.

Jofis celebrated his 5th birthday. He wanted a train cake and party and since his favorite color is green I was able to make all his dreams come true super simply. A few of his classmates and cousins came over, everyone played outside, and we ate wacky cake and drank lemonade. He got a bug catcher and water balloons and his life was made. 

I celebrated my birthday, too. I turned thirty-seven and to celebrate I got coffee with friends, went shopping at Target with Travis, bought a new dress, asked people to donate to baby Olivia's GoFundMe, found a few new grey hairs, and overall had a good day. 

We also celebrated Harry Potter's birthday. The kids listened to several of the audio books this summer and L read the whole series for the first time. They have watched several of the movies, too, so it was a lot of fun to surprise them with a table filled with candles, pretzel rod wands, and this birthday cake. They snacked in the candlelight while watching the first movie before bed. And just so you know, there's a bit of a back story for this cake and you can hear about it if you watch the You're a Bad Mom video here.

In other news, we were given a Days of Creation paper chain (which you can see here) along with a beautiful, giant floor puzzle from WeeBelievers. Both are super sweet but we especially love the floor puzzle because we are just floor puzzle people, people! I mean, look at how happy Tee is with it! The illustrations are so sweet, you guys. I really love it. But the best part is that it's two sided so it's two, two, TWO puzzles in one!

In other news, I caught this super sweet picture of Travis and Tee sleeping one morning a few weeks ago. I mean, be still my heart. 

And now I'll tell you all a secret: this summer we attended 7am daily Mass Monday - Friday. The vast majority of the time the whole family went: Travis, me, and all seven kids. We missed a few days, and occasionally some of us had to stay home but usually we were all there.

Now this was even feasible because:
#1 - we did not have a newborn / someone recovering from major surgery (like last summer)
#2 - Travis is a teacher with summers off and this summer his handyman jobs were all local so he was almost always around to attend with us.

The reasons I wanted to do it are:
#1 - For years Travis and I were daily communicants and I was really missing that Gift.
#2 - I knew that if we attended 7am Mass all summer long our days would still end around 8pm which meant we could keep the same bedtime and evening routine. I knew I wanted to have time with Travis every night and I hoped that the return to the school would feel less like a crash and burn this way.
#3 - I'm hoping it will inspire my boys to love the priesthood and I pray that one of them has been given that vocation.

I don't know what will happen next summer but I know that being able to attend daily Mass this summer was such a gift to me. Even when my kids complained. Even when MJ would not be contained to the pew and had to wander. Even when we had to sit in the cry room because we were so late. It was such a gift.

 Speaking of Mass, this seems like a good time to show you the preview copy of Ginny Kochis's new Mass Journal for Kids. Ginny sent it to me and I promptly passed on to my 10 year old, L. It's really lovely, you guys, and if you're looking for something you can either gift to your own children, godchildren, students or use as a family to prepare for or review the Sunday Mass readings I really encourage you to try this.

L and I were both really taken by the layout and feel of the book. It's big; has room for doodles, journaling, and note taking; and includes all the readings + reflections, quotes from the saints, and more. I also like that it goes by seasons - this one covers the Autumn months - so it's not too bulky nor too big of a commitment. If you're looking for a nice Back to School gift this would be a great one, I think.


One last note: the winners for the Sheenazing Awards have finally been announced! You can head to the original post to see who earned the top three spots in each category! Thank you to everyone who voted - over 1,100! - and congratulations to the winners! I hope everyone had fun along the way!

Alright, time to get a move on. See you soon, you guys!

Seven Quick Takes: music + books + summer

I'm linking up with the wonderful Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum for one of my favorite old school blogging events: Seven Quick Takes Friday


 - ONE -

The first time I heard this song I thought it was Peter Gabriel. It's Francis and the Lights featuring Chance the Rapper, though if you listen you have to give it to me: it sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel, amiright?

 Man, do I love this one.


- TWO -

This summer I signed myself and the kids up for the Summer Reading Program at the local library. I count any time spent listening to the Harry Potter audio books, reading to my kids, and these babies here. Along with my Bible, these are the books I'm reading. 

Orthodoxy has been hard for me - it's so dense with it's page long paragraphs - but I'm sticking with it because those truth bombs he drops are so, so good. 

I've really enjoyed re-reading Sense and Sensibility for the first time in years. I often find myself laughing out loud and unable to explain why to my kids. Jane Austen would surely not approve  but I'm just not as clever. 

Who Does He Say You Are? is an incredible book and I'm so glad I picked it up. I highly recommend it to read by yourself or in a group. Super good. 

A Wrinkle in Time is one I read in middle school and re-reading it now I'm shocked that it was part of my 6th grade public school curriculum with all the talk about Jesus and quoting Scripture. I'm gonna guess that Oprah's version of the movie changes some of that. True?

- THREE - 

My friend Nell gifted us with the sweetest little dress for sweet little MJ. The material has a Secret Garden print on it and is soft and stretchy and just lovely. I wanted to share it with you because Nell's re-stocking her Etsy shop - Whole Parenting Goods - with all kinds of sweet dresses just like this. The shop re-opens at 10am CST on Monday with it's limited stock so be sure you check it out Monday morning for first dibs! You can get a preview on her Instagram account and if you sign up for her shop's newsletter you'll get a coupon code this weekend! Everything I've gotten from Nell's shop has been top quality and super adorable. I promise you'll love it!


- FOUR -
Tomorrow morning is the first meeting for the Blessed Is She summer study I'm holding with women from the area. I'm only cleaning my living room and bathroom. That's totally legit, right?

I baked these little rectangular gingerbread cookies so I could pipe sweet little pretty things on them to serve with the coffee. The rectangles look wompy and wiggly and who knows if I'll have time to pipe anything on them in the morning. I'll post it on Instagram if I do and then you can see how unimpressive they turn out to be. ha!

Update: here they are! Roses, Fiats, and Marian symbols. You can almost hear the trombones playing, can't you? Womp, womp, woooooommmp!

And as an aside, if you're looking for a good gingerbread cookie use these from Mary Haseltine. Such a great recipe. We use Crisco and egg replacer and they still are amazing!



- FIVE -

My new planner arrived and I started filling in important dates for August. First day of school, you guys! It's on the calendar! Also, see those pens lined up in a row? That's how I organize my life.
Black = whole family
Silver = Travis
Gold = Me
Purple = L
Orange = Ben
Blue = JF
Pink = Resa
Green = Jofis
Red = Tee
Periwinkle = MJ
So this way I only have to write the what, when, & where on the calendar and not the person because the color tells me the who. It's really nice.

And if you're still looking for a planner Tea with Tolkien did a very nice review of some really popular brands. She was fair and honest about all the pros and cons, and the Blessed Is She planners (regular and mini) are included.


- SIX -
I know I just talked about the beginning of the new school year when summer isn't even half way done yet. We've had a good run so far and I thought I'd share some highlight pictures:

Trying to win a free vacation from a local radio station. We're shameless. 

Sprinkler parks: fun and free. The heat index was over 100 this day so I put on my suit, too. 

Our very dear neighbor volunteers at a local museum and we were so happy to get a special tour from him. 

Corpus Christi procession - Ben was asked to help carry the canopy and he was so honored. Nervous, excited, and so honored. 

The fair came to town and we made the kids clean the whole house and then we took them. 

- SEVEN -

Just a reminder about the Kickstarter campaign for Catholic musician Matt Faley's next album. Go, back it, and then make sure you let me know so I can enter you to win some of the suh-weet prizes that are special just for my blog readers. You won't be sorry you did!



And a great big THANK YOU to Kelly for hosting!

Our Lady of the Legos, the Loo, and the NICU

Thirteen years ago I was using the powder room in someone's home. I had never been there before so when I walked in I was a little surprised to see a large statue of Our Lady displayed on a shelf above the toilet.

As I rejoined my hosts I commented, "I like the Our Lady of the Loo statue you have," a bit of a cheeky grin on my face. They laughed and explained how it was a wedding gift and they hadn't known where else to put it (there was religious art *all over* their home) so they put her in the powder room. It worked!

Our Lady of the Loo has stayed with me ever since, at least the idea of her.

I don't think this is actual theology, this whole making up whatever name one wants for Mary, but it has given me lots of little inside jokes with the Holy Family over the years and has helped me to keep laughter and the Lord in my heart and home.

In the hallway, across from my toddler's door, hangs an icon I have dubbed Our Lady of the Eye Roll because when I'm having a hard time with my toddler I often roll my eyes as a way of communicating to her how stressed out I am. She sees me at my worst.

On my dresser stands Our Lady of the NICU. She holds her Infant, her crown is broken, and her dress is sticky from the residue of hospital tape that secured her to my son's neonatal intensive care unit bassinet. She holds memories of my hardest days and worst fears and prays for the trauma of it all.

I thought of this little way of mine when I was clearing off the dining room table after lunch. I sat the salt and pepper shakers on the buffet, which triples as our liquor cabinet and family altar. When I saw where I had placed them I smiled and said, "Our Lady of the Salt and Pepper Shakers, pray for us."

I hope everyone understands that this isn't me making fun of Mary or her titles. In fact doing this has brought me closer to the Blessed Mother as she meets me in these small, mundane moments of my every day life. The religious art in my home becomes an entry into prayer instead of a decoration and always, always Mary does what she does best and she uses these moments to draw me closer to the Heart of her Son. 

Nothing is too small to be loved by Jesus. Nothing is too boring to be brought to His attention. But it is often in those little moments where I most need Mary's prayers to guide me, I need her presence to remind me. 

And so the serendipitous placing of Lego creations on a shelf so they can be proudly displayed by my older children while protected from my younger children becomes a moment to laugh and then pray.  

Our Lady of the Legos, pray for me that I will delight in my children. Pray for me that I will nurture their creativity and confidence and the knowledge of when to try harder and when to let it go. Pray for me that I will encourage them to share and work together and support one another. Pray for me that I will detach myself from the desire for perfection and will place more value in my children than in a decorated, tidy home. And Lord have mercy when I step on a Lego and curse. +

And then I leave it in her hands, confident that her prayers for me will continue throughout my day. 

Please know that Marian theology and devotion has not always been easy for me. When other Catholics would gush about Our Lady I just didn't get it. I respected her as the mother of my Lord, but there wasn't a ton of intimacy. 

Our Lady of the Loo changed all that for me. She was the beginning of a beautiful relationship which has grown through the years to a place where Mary is friend, mother, confidant, companion, mentor, and prayer warrior. And so I share my names for her with you in case this helps you to love her more, to aid you so that you will let her love you more. Her love has been such a great gift in my life. Thanks be to God.

PS - While writing this post I remembered the beautiful work that Christy Mandin creates. Her images of Mary are some of my favorites ever. You can check her out at A Creative Almanac, though most of her Marian prints are found on her inprnt store. The above image of Our Lady of Solidarity was created in response to the immigration crisis at the border. Christy is donating a portion of the profits of each copy sold to Together Rising's efforts at caring for the children and families there. What's more, inprnt has promised to match her donation!

New Music, Marian Art, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my friend Matt.

He's is a husband, a father, a hard worker, a good man, and a musician.

You may remember Matt from my Knot Bad Video where we talked about the Blessed Mother, bad Christian music, and his first album, The Only Light. Gosh, that was a good ep. Didn't you love that one? I loved that one.

Did you hear the good news about Matt? He's got a new album coming, ladies and gentlemen! His first album in five years is called Me + You and is half full of songs about life and love and half full of songs of praise and worship. It's going to be so good, you guys.

Did you hear the other good news about Matt? His wife just gave birth to their third child yesterday!
Yay, Matt and Kara! Congrats to you both! Praise God!

I love babies.

But back to Matt and the music. Me + You will only be made with help from you and me and so I want to invite you to join me in supporting Matt's Kickstarter to fund this album of thoughtful, solid, good music written and performed by the one and only Matt Faley.

Now maybe you're wondering if you'd even like Matt's music, which is a good question, so I had Matt make us a little Spotify playlist. Basically if you like the music on the A Knotted Life playlist you will like Me + You.



And now you have a new soundtrack for your Friday! Happy Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, folks! Listen to some good music, love on Jesus' Sacred Heart, throw a party, and eat some bacon because it's a Meat Friday!

Now here's the fun part!

Matt and I have worked together to build in some extra awesomeness for A Knotted Life readers who support the Kickstarter! It goes like this: When you support the Kickstarter email me and let me know. Then, when there are ten AKL supporters I will choose ONE  randomly to win something from the Bird's Nest tier. That means the winner will get the Me + You album, a mixtape from Matt, a drawing from their daughter Birdie, and a handmade item from Matt's wife Kara. Plus, I will send you a dozen of my famous chocolate chip cookies.

How can you say "no" to that?! These beautiful girls' creations + great music + my cookies! Quick, ten of you go sign up to support the album right now and send me an email so you can have a super good chance at winning this!

Then, when we have twenty AKL backers those names will be entered to win a beautiful print and a handmade rosary from Indy artist Katie Sahm. For example:

I know, I know. Absolutely gorgeous.

And once we reach 35 AKL backers for Matt's Kickstarter we will do a drawing for a free house concert. How freaking awesome would that be!?!? Matt will come to your home and do a concert in your living room or backyard for you and all your family and friends. This is a bucket list item for me, people, and you could win it just because you buy yourself a new album and support a Catholic indie musician!

So just to hash out the details:
- Pledge $15 or more to the Me + You kickstarter and then immediately email me.
- If you do not win the special drawing for A Knotted Life readers you will get only the items that are included in your giving tier. (Example: $15 = digital download. $30 = digital download + signed cd)
- This is open only to residents of the continental USA age 18 and older.
- If the Kickstarter is not fully funded you will not be charged the pledged money and the Kickstarter incentives will not be sent out. However, I will still do a drawing for whoever pledged and one person will get some cookies because I love that you supported Matt and his dream. You can read more about Kickstarter fundraising and accountability here.
- This is not a sponsored post, this is just me supporting a friend in his dream to make good music that you will like and will honor God.

Now go - pledge!

Mary, Mother of the Church - a new feast day to celebrate

Have you heard? There's a new feast day to celebrate.

Pope Francis has asked that we celebrate Mary, Mother of the Church the day after Pentecost, the birthday of the Church.

I love this. Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ and we are the Body of Christ, therefore Mary is our mother, too. Now I know that some of this may seem so weird and overly pious and maybe even wrong. But think about when you were little and you became friends with someone at school. Once you met their mom, went to their house, and had dinner with their family didn't you know your friend so much more? Suddenly you understood things about them that you never would have even noticed just at lunch or recess. And because of that - because of the way their mom talked about when they were a baby, or displayed pictures from their toddlerhood, or called them by a special, family nickname - you were able to love your friend in a deeper, more whole way. So it is with Christ.

This feast day also reminds us of how the Church is our mother. She feeds us with the Eucharist, takes care of us when we are ill, washes us clean with Baptism, clothes us with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit through Confirmation, and brings healing to our brokenness through confession. She teaches us right from wrong, forms us in Scripture, and brings us closer to Christ - just like any good momma would, just like Mary does.

Do you love it now, too? Good. To celebrate this new feast my friend Katie has created the sweetest craft which you can download for free from her website, Look to Him and Be Radiant. She drew Our Lady holding her parish and when you flip it open you find Mary's Immaculate Heart and surrounded by the people of the Church. It's so sweet, so pretty, and is a great way to explain this Marian title to kids (and maybe even adults). You can find the craft here.

Other ideas to celebrate include:
- Pray for your specific parish, your diocese, and the whole Church during night prayers.
- Display a photo of your local parish or the Vatican next to a statue of Mary and a candle.
- Cook a meal for your priest or invite him over for dinner.
- Cook a meal with food from all over the world - curry, refried beans, stir fry, and rice for example
- Pray the World Mission Rosary for the Church all over the world
- Sing a Marian hymn
- Pray a Marian prayer
- Attend daily Mass
- Get ice cream
- Buy or pick flowers and bring them to Mary, placing them near a statue in your home or church
- Do something kind for someone else
- Display an image of Mary in a prominent place in your home
- Read the story of Pentecost and meditate and / or discuss how it must have been for Mary to be there

So those are some of my ideas. If you have an idea please share it with us!

And if you want to learn more about this feast day, listen to the Catholic Stuff you Should Know podcast episode about the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church here.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!


PS - Don't forget to enter to win a copy of Jennifer Fulwiler's new book, One Beautiful Dream!

The JOY of Sweet Miriam

Sweet MJ is sitting and eating baby food and has two teeth. She has the biggest, smoochiest cheeks and the sweetest personality. She's seven months old now, which seems like a good time to finally tell her birth story, which isn't really so much of a birth story but the story of a series of scary adventures sandwiched between something incredibly joyful. 

MJ was a planned c-section after a happy surprise, surprise pregnancy. In order to make things exciting, the day before the c-section things went a little crazy. L had a follow-up appointment with her cardiologist, first thing in the morning and while I was still in my bedroom the kids were in the kitchen fixing their breakfasts. JF went to take his daily allergy pill but instead of taking his pill he took my pill - the one for my gestational diabetes. L went to the cardiologist and JF went to the emergency room. There we were told he would have to stay overnight. "Okay. Good plan," I said. "One thing: tomorrow morning I'm supposed to have a c-section. How do you think we can work that out?" 

In a complicated scheme Travis stayed the night with JF and I woke up bright and early to drive myself to the hospital. In the meantime, my mom was at our house with Ben, Jofis, and Tee while Resa and L were at our friend Katie's home. As I got my IV Katie and the girls arrived to hang out with JF on the Peds floor while Travis came across the hospital to be with me. 

All the normal pre-op stuff happened. The only remarkable thing was that over and over again we were asked the gender and name for the baby and over and over again we told them that we didn't know the gender and the names were secrets. Everyone was so happy to hear it and said that probably only 2-4 moms a week will keep it all a secret. 

During the surgery the anesthesiologist chatted with Travis and I. I remember feeling anxious - both scared about the surgery and excited to meet my child. 

And then the best part of it all happened. My little baby girl was brought out of my womb and held up for Travis and I to see. Travis said, "She's a girl!" and we both had the BIGGEST, HAPPIEST grins on our faces. I can remember the JOY in the room at seeing her and discovering that she was a girl - just as I had wanted. I had prayed that God would give us a girl, one more girl, for quite awhile and all during her pregnancy I hoped and prayed that she was a girl. I remember her traveling to the little nurse table in the corner of the room so she could be assessed and cleaned and I watched her and said, "Hello, Miriam."

Several people in the room asked her name. "Miriam Joan," we told them and they all awed and commented about how beautiful her name was. When they brought her to me I was so happy. 

But you know, c-sections are sorta weird and holding her while they're cleaning out my uterus was weird. Here's a glamour shot of it. 

Once MJ and I were comfortably in our room Trav left us to bring the already discharged JF, Katie, and the girls to meet their baby sister. After their visit Katie and the girls went back to her house and our dear friend Joel came to the hospital to take JF home for us. People, it takes a village! 

Things went fairly well in the hospital though there was confusion about if she did or did not have a murmur and nursing and letting me sleep and, yeah, it wasn't my favorite hospital stay. 

MJ was born on the 8th and we went home on the 10th. We had a good first night but the next day I could not get her to eat. I tried skin to skin. I tried waking her up. I tried making her cold. Nothing worked and so on the 12th we took her to the doctor, got her bilirubin checked, and then headed back to the hospital for jaundice. Her bilirubin levels were critical and for the first 24 hours we could not take her out of her crib at all. She took bottles of my breastmilk under the lights. 

Eventually her numbers were high enough that I could try breastfeeding her again but she wouldn't latch. One of the best lactation consultants ever came and, again, I tried everything. Skin to skin, get her cold, tickle her, give her a bath, various positions - nothing worked to keep her stimulated. We finally figured out that if I gave her the bottle for two sucks, pop it out, two more sucks, pop it out, two more sucks, pop it out then I could latch her on and she'd nurse very happily. It was such a victory!

She was gaining weight and her jaundice had greatly improved. After two days she came home though we had to continue to monitor her with daily heel pricks for the week. The day after she came home her doctor from the hospital called to check on her and I finally realized just how worried he had been. God bless him. 

After one near - death experience she was officially an Engstrom! ;) Once she was home and we were both healthy we held her baptism. 

The dress she wore on her baptism is the same Teresa wore but she got a brand new pair of shoes.

Being baptized by Fr. Julius. MJ's godmother is our dear friend Patti, in the floral dress. 

Here she is with my Grandma and Grandpa W.

The baptismal gown was made by my friend Sr. Marie Noelle and has been worn by all my kiddos. 

She is just the sweetest. Here she is as a wee newborn...

... and here she is at seven months.

Our family feels perfect with Miriam and making her laugh is the best thing in the world. I'm so glad we have her. Thanks be to God for her. 

Heart Surgery Recovery

As soon as we shared our news that our eldest daughter, L, had two congenital heart defects and would need open heart bypass surgery people have been awesome. Like "The Body of Christ can move mountains" awesome. Like every dot, flower, and thorn painted with the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts above represents a prayer, a sacrifice, a rosary, a Mass offered up for my daughter, and those are only the ones that were submitted online. But every time we take a long look at that painting I am overwhelmed by the goodness of others and the way God is glorified by your works. 

The first Tuesday night in May Resa, L, and I sat around our dining room table with L's godmother, Katie, making invitations to their angel penguin birthday party. The next morning, with invites in the mail, I was sitting at my weekly moms' group when I got the phone call from the pediatric cardiologist's scheduler: there was an opening for surgery a week from Thursday. Did we want L to get it? We wanted L's surgery to happen before my c-section so we said Yes and then our life changed gears super fast.

All the potential party-goers were contacted and told that the birthday party would not be later in the month but in three days. The school, whose principal had already said L's last day could be whenever we needed it to be, was told that her last day would be in a week. We made arrangements for L to receive Anointing of the Sick before the surgery, for someone to be with our other kids, for Travis to be off work, for all our "i"s to be dotted and our "t"s crossed. 

The morning of L's surgery everyone got up early and headed to the 7am Mass. We had been given special permission for L to receive a very teeny tiny bit of Holy Communion. Fr. Julius prayed for L  at Mass and asked everyone present to pray for her throughout the day. In fact, a friend of our's had arranged with our priests for there to be all day adoration with a special request for people to pray for L. Parishioners would be at our church until 7pm praying for L and during the school day each grade took a turn before the Blessed Sacrament to pray for our daughter. 

Immediately after Mass our family headed over to the parish school and waited in the gym. Our pastor had arranged with the principal for there to be an all-school assembly immediately following Morning Announcements so that the whole school would be part of the prayers offered during L's reception of the Anointing of the Sick. It was awesome. Our family stood with her on that gymnasium floor as Fr. Julius administered the Sacrament. 

We then headed over to the Children's Hospital of Illinois, Travis, L, and me. From the tremendous outpouring on the blog, Facebook, and Instagram we knew that people were praying for us all over the country and world, and when combined with the powerful experiences at our parish we knew that we were being absolutely covered in prayer and graces. We were afraid and anxious but I can say with confidence that those prayers helped to bring us peace and calm our concerns. We were bowled-over by how many had pledged their prayers and we walked into the hospital knowing that you all were with us as we went.  

Some of Travis' students had made a special blanket for L when they heard about her surgery and as she waited for her surgery she wrapped herself in it. It was covered with hearts, the symbol of love, and anchors, the symbol of hope. I loved it. 

As we waited in the pre-op area we were again blessed in a special way. The hospital is a Catholic one, and in more than name only. The people who update loved ones throughout the operation process are from the chaplain's office. The man who just happened to be assigned to us is also a deacon at our parish's sister parish. He was able to give us a special blessing and as he prayed over us the nurse stopped what she was doing to pray with us, crossing herself when we were done.

After waiting for about an hour, playing Uno and chatting the whole time, it was finally time to go. Different doctors and nurses and specialists had come and gone the whole time, each chatting with L and reassuring us as they explained everything that was going to happen. When it was time for her to head to the OR she gave us hugs and kisses and she walked away from us, hair in a cover, love and hope wrapped around her, Cozy Heart Penguin in her arms, and a smile on her face. 

Travis and I went to the waiting room, getting updates along the way. The worst 

was when the deacon called us to let us know that L was on the bypass machine - meaning her heart was no longer beating. Crazy and horrible and amazing and terrifying, if you can imagine.

Surgery went incredibly well and they finished in just under two hours. We were walked up to the PICU (peds intensive care unit) but had to wait for a bit longer than expected to see her because she was having such a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. When the surgeons finally came out to talk to us they explained how happy they were with how the surgery had gone - they were able to use the hole in her heart as a short-cut to thread her veins through so it could finally be attached in the correct place. They used part of her heart sac to plug the rest of it up and ... all's well that ends well. But it's also just craaaaaaazy.

That first day was pretty tough. As she fought to come out of the anesthesia she was in a lot of pain and incredibly confused. At one point she yelled out, "Help me, Daddy!" and it was literally one of the worst moments of our lives because there was nothing we could do to help our baby girl. There was a chest tube to make sure fluid didn't collect around her heart, but it was what caused her the most pain and discomfort. She threw up several times because of it - can you imagine how painful that would be with a broken sternum?! 

But the nurses were rock stars. They took such great care of her and did everything in their means to make her comfortable. The whole cardiology team was just amazing and we were so grateful to be at one of the best children's hospitals in the country - just 20 minutes from our home. 

Over the next few days she napped. Once they removed her chest tube (and the pace maker wires) she started to feel much better. She moved from her bed to the chair, then her bed to the bathroom, then from her bed all the way down to the other end of the floor and then out to the roof-top garden. She rested there, then walked almost the whole way back until the nurse insisted that she ride in a wheelchair the rest of the way. It was twenty-four hours after her open heart surgery! The nurses said it was the longest walk they'd ever seen in a patient at that state in the game. Eventually she regained an appetite. I read aloud to her and we watched the live action Cinderella. Her uncles visited, along with her godmother and grandmother, mormor and grandpa.

I love this picture of me, 9 months pregnant, brushing L's hair for her and putting it up in a bun as she requested. She was so worn out she fell asleep while I was doing it, but it was so good to have something tangible I could do for her. 

Our sleeping beauty.

L, resting in the roof-top garden. She's wearing her super hero shirt, a gift from Trav's co-workers. 

Saturday morning breakfast.

Sunday, Mother's Day, L was given clearance to come home. After the surgery she had to cough a lot, clearing her chest, and her Cozy Heart Penguin - a birthday gift from her Mormor - was her go-to object to hug during the coughing. It was also used to soften the feel of the seat belt against her incision. 

We couldn't believe that just three days after having open heart surgery she could come home! As soon as we arrived at our house the very first thing she asked to do was go outside and sit on the swing. Once again: crazy. 

Early on L had a lot of limitations. She mostly napped that first post-op week, took pain meds, and was sore. Many people gifted her with books and crafty things and so she colored, molded, sketched, created, and read. Since she could not lift anything over 5lbs, be in public, or do anything that might lead to a fall she could not run, dance, skip, do stairs, ride her bike, swing high, use the slide, climb anything, attend school or Mass, and so on. But a friend from church dropped off the hula hoops her daughters used to play with - 20 some years ago! - and L became a master hooper! Thank God - literally - that Chris was moved to bring those hula hoops over because they were *just* what L needed - something physical, something new to master, and something that was allowed by the surgeons. Several times a day she'd walk around our house, hooping as she went. She'd hula hoop for minutes - over 8 minutes straight once - and even do the chicken dance while hooping! 

With special permission from her doctors L was able to attend the last day of school, two weeks post-op. As a family we went to the all school Mass and she got to sit with her class, though she had to wear a face mask and she carried her cough-buddy penguin. As a special treat she made heart-shaped sugar cookies for her classmates, which she and her daddy took to her class after the Mass. She chatted with her friends and was able to thank them for their prayers. 

At this point L is able to swim, slide, swing, run (with shoes - no flip flops!), and do most of her usual activities. She cannot roller skate, ride her bike, climb trees, or play contact sports until November (so that her sternum is not re-broken) but otherwise she is free to live her life. One of the beautiful things about this time is that L has really fallen in love with reading. In the past the only books she really read were the Junie B. Jones series but now she's been plowing through the Lemony Snicket books, has started the Narnia books, and has read The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and a few others along the way. 

Over and over again I have said that how well L is doing is a testament to the power of prayer and modern medicine. To everyone who sent money or gift cards or presents or prayers: thank you! Our family was so well cared-for during those difficult hours, days, and weeks and we are so grateful. Learning that L had heart issues was terrifying and we were so scared about the surgery. I admit I was angry at God for giving us another hardship to endure. But on this side of it I also have to admit that we had it easy. L had one surgery, it went well, her incision has healed well, and she has a 99.9% chance of going on and living a normal, healthy life - free to do whatever she wishes - once her body is completely healed. So many heart kids have repeated surgeries and they and their families truly are suffering for a long, long time. We had a community of loved ones supporting us. We were blanketed in prayers. Our daughter is healthy and alive. We are so fortunate and honestly, looking back at the tantrums I threw in prayer I am embarrassed. We've had it so easy. May God comfort and restore those who have not. 

And once again I very sincerely want to say Thank You to everyone who has prayed for us, cared for us, and gifted something to us. I am slowly working on sending out Thank You cards and I'm really hoping that in the chaos that was our life we didn't leave any of the gifts off our record log. Please know that we are so grateful - to God and to you. 

Spiritual bouquet embroidered by Jenna from Call Her Happy