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The Year of Faith – I mentioned last week that I was looking for ways to celebrate the year of faith. Brian told me about an app he is really enjoying on his iPhone. It’s called My Year of Faith. It’s purpose is to “engage the faithful each day of the 410 days of the Year of Faith, providing an online community of daily catechesis, challenges for spiritual growth and opportunities for participating in the New Evangelization.” You can also access them online at My Year of Faith.com.

We picked up this painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe by an artist in Peru when we were at the Mission fiesta.

Remember how I told you John-Paul has become a target-aholic like his mother? I told him that if he went to school without complaining that I’d take him with me the next time I went to Target. He behaved and was rewarded. He was sooo happy to help mama like a big boy.

Off and Running – Okay, and there’s a funny side story about that shopping trip. There were two other moms at Target with kids having complete meltdowns. I smiled at them and give them that “I understand look” but in my mind I thought thank God my kids are fairly well behaved in public. I’d hate to be in their shoes. Immediately a voice in my head said, “Don’t be prideful, Bobbi, or God may have to teach you a lesson in humility.” (You know where this is going.)

After John-Paul so pleasantly placed the items to be scanned, he started walking towards the exit. I called out for him to come back because we had to pay first. He turned around and looked at me and gave me that grin that told me he decided to play his favorite game – let’s run away from Mama and see how far I can get before she loses her mind. He walked towards the Target/Starbucks cafe but then turned and went out the exit door. I had to leave Matthew in the shopping cart while the guy was still ringing up my groceries and went after JP. Luckily, he hadn’t gone though the second set of doors that leads to the parking lot.
I knew if I ran toward him he’d bolt so I walked slowly and told him, “Get over here NOW!” He knew he went too far and walked over to me. I kept myself relatively calm as I scolded him but my head was still playing a scene from a Lifetime movie where the child gleefully runs out in the street while his mom watches in horror as he is struck by a car. (My head does crazy things like that all the time.) Thankfully, it was over fairly quickly and Matthew didn’t try to climb of his seat while my back was turned. JP was sorry but next time he’s grounded from Target for awhile. (And when I do take him again he wears a leash if I have too many groceries to stick him in the cart!) So God was swift in teaching his lesson and I decided that if I see a mom with a runaway kid or baby having a meltdown, I’m buying her a Starbucks coffee with a note that says, “Hang in there, mama!”

All Saints’ Day – Speaking of holidays, I have been getting a lot of hits for people looking for saint costume ideas. I posted a list of ideas year ago. I love how cute Bella and Andrew look so young! If you don’t want to reminisce, skip to the next take.
We bought Bella a Dorothy of Oz costume on Halloween and we changed it up to make a saint costume.

The following year Andrew was a cowboy for Halloween.

There is a church 40 minutes north of us that holds an elaborate All Saint’s Day party every year. Looking at the dates on these photos, we haven’t attended that party in four years. I just looked them up online and saw that they are doing it again this year but it’s tomorrow and Brian is working late. I think we may have to plan our own party at home instead.
Oh, and the amazing blog Catholic Icing also has a great list of saint costume ideas for boys and for girls. The photos are priceless!

My time is up so here is one last photo.

Have a great weekend!
PS – I forgot, a big thanks to all of you who LIKED the new RoL Facebook page. (Especially you, Beth Anne, for being the first!) I only need two more likes and I am “official”. 🙂