catholic faith | Revolution of Love

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week and that Advent starts the Sunday following! My goal for the last few months has been to spend more quiet time in prayer with God. That is not always easy to do with a house full of rambunctious kids but with some effort, I am able to find pocket of quiet to turn my mind to God.

As I mentioned before, being a part of the Blessed Is She ministry has really helped with my desire to spend more time reading scripture and listening to God. Now that Advent is almost here, I have mixed feelings about my goal. On the one hand, it is even more vital that I prepare my heart for the coming of the Christ Child. On the other hand, I know how crazy the Christmas season can be and it take a concerted effort to not get sucked into the chaos.

That is why I am excited about the tools I will be using to help me make a truly holy Advent. What’s more, I want to share these items with a lucky reader who wins the RoL Advent Gift Package! Here is what you can win.

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Blessed Is She Advent Journal

The first item is my Blessed Is She Advent Journal. Anyone that knows me also knows that I am a sucker for all things paper, especially journals. There is just something both soothing yet invigorating about putting pen to paper.

I just received mine in the mail and I can’t wait to put it to use!

The BIS journal is perfect for daily prayer and scripture reading.

Included are reflections for all four weeks of Advent as well as guided reflection questions for every day of the Advent season.

You can order your own copy of the Blessed Is She Advent Journal here. (All proceeds will help fund the running of Blessed Is She, such as the email list and website hosting. All writers and editors are lovingly volunteering time, prayer and hours to the making of Blessed Is She.) 😉

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Icons & Candles

Anyone who knows me (and who has been to my house) also knows that Brian and I love icons! You’ll find them all over our house. I’ll admit that often when I pray in the morning it’ll be in front of the computer monitor, especially if I am reading my daily meditation online, but sometimes I need to just shut every thing else out and quiet myself without any distractions. So either early in the morning before the kids are up or late in the evening when they are in bed, I will take out an icon to put myself into a prayerful state of mind.

I love the icons from Not of This World Icons.com, especially this mini icon (sized 2 1/2 x 3) of the Kazan Mother of God. Add to that my lavender scented tea light candle from PartyLite and my spirit is already feeling calm.

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This Little Light Rosary

Next in my Advent arsenal is my rosary. I always find Advent a perfect time to reflect on Mary’s humility, docility and openness to saying “Yes” to God without complaint. (All the things I struggle with!)

Although I have a number of fancy and sentimental rosaries, the ones I like to keep in my pocket and stash in my purse are the knotted rosaries.

I especially like the ones made by Jenna at This Little Light Blog’s etsy shop. I first purchased a finger decade rosary from her and I love it. As you may recall from last Wednesday, when I was having a bad day, a decade of the rosary (or even just a Hail Mary) always helps me to calm down and regroup. Even when I can’t stop to pray sometimes just feeling it in my pocket is enough to get me to think before I explode at the boys’ antics.

I ordered this pretty blue one as my Advent rosary. I always try to support other Catholic moms who are running crafty businesses from their homes. Jenna is a sweetheart and I asked her a couple questions so you could get to know her better.

Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m 26 year old mom, wife, and school social worker living in Brandon, FL! I’m a cradle Catholic and an FSU alum, Go Noles! They have an awesome Catholic Student Union, that I was very involved in and met my husband through! I love chocolate and dancing around the bedroom with my 2 year old cutie of a son. My husband and I know more about Disney World than most people, fun facts and stuff, and can be seen there almost every other weekend! I like to have fun and meet new friends!

How did I get involved with rosary making? I learned to make them at summer camp when I was in middle school. I’ve always been crafty and it just came easy. In college, I worked for Catholic Prayer Cards (an online prayer card website) and made rosaries there too. Now that I’m a mom, I love making them to make a few extra bucks here and there.

What Is Your Favorite Advent Devotion? Not really sure what my favorite advent devotion is but I love journeying with Mary through pregnancy. I can’t imagine being 40 weeks pregnant riding so long on a donkey. And then to get to Bethlehem and no inns are available. I like to reflect on the journey that her and Joseph fought so hard to bring our perfect savior into this broken world.

Thanks, Jenna. 🙂 Visit her etsy shop at Etsy.com/shop/thislittlelightblog and check out the other rosaries she has available. (Like the basketball one for boys! I’m thinking it would make a nice St. Nick feast day gift.)

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There you have it! These four items – the Blessed Is She Advent Journal, the mini Mother of God icon, 4 lavender tea candles and a beautiful knotted rosary (that Jenna generously donated for the give away) can be yours! The contest will run until Tuesday, November 25th, midnight. I will announce the winner on Wednesday the 26th.

Note: If you want to be assured you get a BIS Advent Journal by Advent, order one today! If you do happen to win the contest, just keep the other items and share the journal with your sister, mom or friend!

So join the fun and good luck!!

To enter the contest, click here –> A Rafflecopter Giveaway

(If you don’t like using Rafflecopter then leave a comment with “add me to the contest” and I’ll add your name to Rafflecopter as a +2 entry for leaving a comment. 🙂 )

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. 😉

The 31 Day of Writing Challenge continues. It’s Day 12 of my 31 Days of Gratitude.

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Happy Sunday! I was going to write this post last night but it was too late and I was too tired. We spent the day at a friend’s ranch/farm, which was about an hour out of town, for a birthday party. I have to admit that when Brian and I get invitations from friends our first response is – can we get out of it? Well, maybe it’s not that bad but these days we are more prone to stay home than to venture out.

This used to be the little schoolhouse.

However, lately I have been feeling like we need to get out of our little “bubble’ more often and spend time with other families. And not just families that believe exactly the way we do, but those who differ in their faith. We all share a common love for our kids and are trying to raise them within a moral compass but we don’t necessarily see eye to eye on certain things. Finding common ground and learning to be respectful of our differences, without necessarily changing our own beliefs, is not always easy. However, it is essential to learn how to interact and live peacefully amongst our neighbors (or even family members.)

Cotton candy and popcorn. What more could you ask for?

In the end, we had a great time. The party was so fun and the kids absolutely loved all the carnival games and bouncy house and looking at all the different farm animals. (Although John-Paul inherited his mother’s dislike of certain smells and did not want to stand near the “stinky cows.”) I loved talking to the other moms and Brian was in awe over the little ranch chapel that our friend’s mom built. He already has plans to remodel our current outdoor shed into something similar. 😉

I also thought it was funny that this was my second time in one week to spend time at a farm. As I mentioned earlier, I am a city girl and not used to being around horses and cattle and other live stock. I’m not keen on all the flies everywhere but something about this ranch just took my breath away. You could see the hard work and dedication that was involved in maintaining it. Although it looked different from scenes of the ocean or the forests, there was an undeniable beauty in the land. At one point I wandered around with my camera and took a few shots. As my feet kicked up the dirt and the sun beat down on my back, there was a sense of God’s presence in the simple beauty to be found. A beauty I had not appreciated before.

My attitude reminded me of a stranger coming into our home and hearing the boys yelling and playing, seeing the Legos and the toys on the floor, seeing the crayon marks on the walls, stains in the carpet and the dishes in the sink and thinking, “How can they live in all this noise? How can they continually keep cleaning up after all these kids? I’d hate it.” But if they looked deeper they’d see that beyond the noise and the mess, there are giggles and laughter. There are sweet kisses and tight hugs. There are acts of kindness and reflections of God’s love. Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to see the beauty in the mess.

Being at the ranch today not only opened my eyes to the simple beauty in front of me but opened my heart to welcoming in other people and enjoy their companionship. Those are not things I would have learned had I just stayed home. For that, I am very grateful.

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For more 31 Days of Gratitude, visit the home page here.

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: catholic faith

Enter the RoL Advent Gift Package Giveaway!

Blessed Is She Advent Journal

Icons & Candles

To enter the contest, click here –> A Rafflecopter Giveaway

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 20 & 21): Blessed Is She

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 16): Lord, Come to My Assistance

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 15): In Their Father’s Footsteps

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 12): Leaving the Bubble and Seeing God’s Beauty in Creation