Today I’m partnering with CheruBalm to chat baptismal traditions (and offering a great giveaway at the end of the post!). As we’ve been unpacking in our new house, I uncovered the box with the kids’ baptismal candles and special mementos from their baptismal days (such sweet memories!) and I've received a few questions about baptismal traditions so lately so it just seemed timely. Baptism days … [Read more...]
Things You Don’t Have to Do to Be a Holy Catholic Woman
image source As a convert, I came into the Church with some misconceptions about what the life of a Catholic women should look like. We didn’t know many Catholics in real life. Our parish even had to rustle up a sponsor for us because we didn’t have any Catholic friends. I think his name was Mike? God bless him, wherever he is. ANYHOW, my perception of Catholic womanhood came from a small … [Read more...]
Is Your Favorite Saint a Gryffindor? The Definitive Guide to Sorting the Saints
Ever wonder whether your patron saint is a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff? I didn’t start to consider it until last week when my friend Haley over at Home to Catholicism brought up sorting saints into Hogwarts houses on Twitter (she’s @bakeorbake over there, folks). But then I couldn't STOP thinking about it, crowdsourced my queries to Facebook, and ended up with the best thread ever. Granted, I’m … [Read more...]
New Catholics, Here’s Why I’m So Excited for You
The church was dark but I could see the faces of my children illuminated by the light of their candles, lit from the Paschal candle. And my breath caught in my throat at how beautiful it was. This is the night, sang the priest from the Exsultet, an ancient chant only sung once a year, the night before Easter Sunday. We have the ambitious, some might say foolhardy, tradition of bringing our … [Read more...]
Is It Ok for Catholics to Use Essential Oils?
"Is it forbidden for a Catholic to use essential oils?" I’ve been asked this question several times lately since I started my essential oils business and the first time I was baffled by it. For that question to even be asked I think there must be serious misunderstanding of what essential oils are, so let’s start with the basics: What Are Essential Oils? An essential oil is a highly concentrated … [Read more...]
Liturgical Living at a Glance: December 2015
I thought it might be helpful for our family to have resources compiled for the month ahead so that we can plan in advance which special saints days we want to observe and I hope having them all in one place is helpful to you, too! And I pinned all of the following resources on a December Liturgical Living pinterest board for your convenience! As always, remember not to get overwhelmed. You … [Read more...]
Hallowmas with Harry: What Harry Potter Taught Me About Death and the Communion of Saints
“ And in many ways, all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death.”- J.K. Rowling Hallowtide, the three days of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Day (or Hallowmas), and All Souls Day, is an ancient part of the Christian Year. Before becoming Catholic I thought of Halloween as morbid and I couldn’t understand how to celebrate All Souls, or the Day of the … [Read more...]
NFP Should Be a Part of Parish Life
I have a proposal. It’s about bringing NFP out of the shadows and into parish life. Because as young Catholic married folk, we need help. We love and embrace the teachings of the Church on marriage, fertility, and openness to life. We desire to be faithful to these teachings by choosing not to contracept and acknowledging the truth that sex and babies are designed to go together. And we are … [Read more...]
Rob Bell’s “Tribe”, MacLaren’s Pub, and the Homeless Guy I Have (Almost) Nothing in Common With
My 22-month-old daughter had made it through most of evening Mass, but after receiving Communion I was holding her in the back of the church so she could wave to her favorite statue of St. “Shoesoff”“ (Joseph) and kiss his “feetsies.” She waved and beamed to the parishioners walking back to their pews. “Hi!” she grinned at an unkempt man wearing an old military coat and multiple bandanas around … [Read more...]
9 Ideas for Observing Lent with Kids: Holy Heroes Review (and free coloring books for you!) {Sponsored Post}
This post is sponsored by Holy Heroes. Is it just me, or is Lent painfully early this year? I feel like I'm still recovering from Christmastide. On the other hand, I'm a big Lent fan. I love that the Christian Year offers us a time set aside to clean house. And no, I'm not talking about my dusty baseboards, although that would be a good thing to tackle during Lent, too. I'm talking about our … [Read more...]
