Hello and welcome!  

This week's gospel reading has a couple different focuses, with Jesus' response to the pharisees on whether or not they should pay taxes.  Rather than let himself be tricked, Jesus states, "repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."  There is a need to pay taxes and live in earthly, human ways, as we are humans of the earth.  However, everything belongs to God, and it's important not to lose sight that He should be the center of our lives.

Life often seems too busy; full of things that are vying for my time.  So many commitments and responsibilities, and sometimes it feels like I'm on a hamster wheel and can't get off.  

In my bible study, I was reminded of this quote by Rick Warren from his book, The Purpose Driven Life:

"If it impossible to do everything people want you to do.  You have just enough time to do God's will.  If you can't get it all done, it means you're trying to do more than God intended for you to do (or, possibly, that you're watching too much TV."  

This week's gospel is an important reminder to put God where he belongs: first and foremost in our lives.  When I do that, everything else falls into place.  

For our family meeting this week, we are focusing on putting God first in the way we spend our time, how we treat others, and how we use our resources.   

So here is this week's slideshow...

Catholic Family Meeting {October 12 Sunday Gospel}

It's really feeling like October here.  Cool air, leaves starting to change, and a pumpkin candle burning as I write this.  I hope your family enjoys this week's Catholic family meeting on accepting God's invitation.  Everything you need is linked right in the presentation below.  Enjoy!

Easter is just getting started!

I hope you all had a very blessed and joyful Easter Sunday!  Our weekend was full of family, which was wonderful and busy!  The best kind of busy.  

Most people think that Easter is over, but not for most Christians!  Easter is a season, not a day, and lasts for 50 days.  Woo hoo!

This makes me happy because there are lots of fun Easter things that I did not get done on my hectic (but awesome) Easter weekend.  Now we have about 45 more days to celebrate!

So, here are some ways that our family is going to continue celebrating Easter until Pentecost (June 8 of 2014):

Track the 50 days of Easter.

Just like with an Advent or Lent calendar, we will print out and color in each day.  I got some fun springy stickers with the egg dye kit I bought, so maybe we will cover it in stickers instead!  Yes we are a little late getting started...better late than never, right?!  Here are a couple to choose from:

Free Printable Easter Calendar
Erin Crisci

Free Printable Easter Calendar
Catholic Icing

Watch kid-friendly Resurrection videos.

We read about the Resurrection of Jesus from our various children's bibles and story books, but videos are another great way to teach them about the Easter story.  The one below starts off just after the Crucifixion and follows through to Jesus' Resurrection.  It gives some great information that is good to know before doing the Resurrection rolls below.  And if you google "Bible Stories New Testament", there are a bunch in this series that tell Gospel stories.

Make Resurrection rolls.  

These are so simple, and such a delicious way to teach about Jesus' Resurrection.  I've seen several posts about Resurrection rolls, but I like this one from Happy Home Fairy because it includes a story to tell as you make them that connects it to Jesus' death and resurrection.

Resurrection Rolls
Happy Home Fairy

Complete our Lenten goals.

During Lent our family set some goals, which are detailed in my post Preparing for Lent with Kids.  We have been collecting money for Lenten Almsgiving, which we decided to send to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital because  Grace's school is doing a trike-a-thon fundraiser for it.  

We also collected toys, clothes, and other items to donate.  Some were already given to a homeless shelter, but we will have to figure out where the rest are going. 

We will also continue with our daily rosary. 

Make an Easter prayer jar or chain.

Grace really enjoyed the Lenten chain to count down the days of Lent, where we prayed for different people each day.  

This is a similar idea for the 50 days of Easter.  I love this Easter prayer jar from Wee Little Miracles.  

Easter Family Prayer Jar
Wee Little Miracles

There are 50 free printable prayers for the Easter season that can be cut out and put in a jar to pull out each day or made into a chain to count down the days of Easter.

Set a new faith goal.

Prayers and Praises Chalkboard
Kijsa

A few weeks ago, I posted this prayer board in my Faithful Favorites #1.  I know that I can be a bit of a procrastinator on making fun objects when there are soooo many things on my to-do list.  So, my plan is to choose at least one tangible thing I want to accomplish during the Easter season that will help bring my family closer to God.  Mark my words, I am going to make a prayer board.  Even if it is on the 50th day of Easter!

Color Easter pictures.

My kids always love coloring pages, and many of them can be used to explain the events or lessons of the Easter story.  I'll be printing a few of these!

Easter Coloring Pages
Free-N-Fun Easter

Have a wonderful Easter season!

Being a mom is hard. I can't do it alone.

Almost always, the greatest challenges in my day come from being a mother (and aunt, in my case).  

My daughters, Grace & Ada, and nephew, Lucas

Raising children is arguably the most important and rewarding job on earth.  But as we all know, the greatest rewards usually (always?!) come with great demands.  

Besides the physical demands, we mothers often expect so much of ourselves, that we constantly feel like we're not good enough:  Not patient enough, fun enough, prepared enough, creative enough, or put together enough.  

Because if I rely solely on myself to be the mother that I should be, I will always be let down.

The best days are the ones that I put in God's hands and rely on Him to take care of everything.  I turn to Him and ask for the strength and grace that only He can give me, to do the critical job at hand.  When I do this, I am more flexible in my plans, more forgiving of my mistakes (and the kids' mistakes!), and more focused on what's really important: serving God.  When I do this, the poopy diaper that leaked, the jelly on the couch, the flat stroller tire, and the torn book don't seem like such big deals.     

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A few months ago at mass, I picked up a prayer card for mothers.  I love it so much, I have it taped to the mirror in my bathroom, so that I see it first thing every morning.  I thought a larger, more attractive version might be nice to hang up, so I made this one:

Image courtesy of twobee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I made an enlarged 8 x10 printable version that you can

CLICK HERE to print free.

I also found these two other quotes that I think 

are just perfect:

The Time-Warp Wife

(By the way, The Time-Warp Wife is an awesome website for wives and mothers!)

from Pinterest, source unknown

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And I'm pretty sure most (if not all) of us feel like the "grouchy mom" every now and then.  I love these FREE Printable Verse Cards for the Grouchy Mom from The Better Mom (below).  Such great reminders when we're having a rough day!

The Better Mom

Focusing on God has been especially important for me as a mother.  I hope you found something here that will help you too!

- Jessica