A Generous Serving of Love at Grace Cafe

Donna Marie Cooper-O'Boyle has given us just that in her beautiful book Grace Cafe.

She fills you up with truths from Church documents, encyclicals and inspiring words from such saints as Therese of Lisieux and St. Joseph. She truly shines her light on Christian motherhood.

Donna Marie shows us mothers how to turn our everyday lives into one constant prayer and offering to the Lord. Beginning our day with prayer for our families. Asking Our Lord to bless our families and our husbands.

As wives and mothers we are placed by God as specially appointed keepers of our domestic churches. The opportunities to holiness are endless. Holiness is found in the teaching of prayers to your children, in fixing supper for your husband and even in the laundry piled high.

I highly recommend this book for those occasions when you feel overwhelmed by it all. This book ends with some beautiful prayers and poems that will renew and refresh you.

Check it out at The Catholic Company.

Rocks For Brains

Just finished reading A Story of A Soul, the autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux. I cannot put into words that make sense, how this book effected me. I know I must read it again, and soon, to really grasp the greatness of this Little Way.

JOT will be happy to learn that only 3 months later (she lent it to me in October) I have finally started Salvation Is From The Jews. I am only a few pages in and I am enjoying it very much. It is opening up the Gospels and is just what I was looking for to jumpstart my New Year. I have read the Gospel's before, but there is just too much there to take in all at once. These books help to open them for me.

Thanks to my hubby, I have also added the Imitation of Christ to my nightly prayers. This is much more of a mediation than a book. It is slow going as I am asking the Lord to help them sink in. Sometimes I feel like a diamond. Not in the beautiful way we know diamonds, but in the fact that it is the hardest rock on the earth. I hope this year to be more absorbent. For the Gospels, the prayers, the peace of Christ to sink in and remain. Like a sponge, except no squeezing here. I want to retain, retain, retain. When I am in the midst of spiritual reading I feel like my little pea brain can't hold it all. That is very frustrating. I make little silent prayers like, you know, help me to use that other 90% to retain! ;)

Any suggestions are always welcome! Happy and Blessed New Year to you all!

Good Eats!

Great food! Great Saints! Great book! I recently read Saints at the Dinner Table by Amy Heyd. This is a gem of a book. Amy has highlighted twelve of her favorite saints with a background or story of their life and how they have inspired her. She has, and this is the best part, created a meal based around the life of each saint. Dishes like Fit For a King Chocolate Mint Cream Cakes and St. Peter's Staffs are absolutely delicious. Amy's recipes are well thought out and produce wonderful results. Her stories shed light on some of the lesser known facts of each saints life. Designed to bring families and friends back to the dinner table and inspire discussion about the lives of the saints, Amy Heyd has hit a home run with Saints at the Dinner Table.

Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Saints at the Dinner Table.

Phantom Friday

We have just completed a week study on The Phantom of The Opera. We watched the 2004 movie and sang the songs. We learned about the Broadway play and made plans to go see it as soon as financially possible. We talked about the Christian themes of compassion, kindness and sacrifice. We discussed how evil can sneak into our lives in what may seem, at first, to be beautiful. It was a good week with lots and lots of great discussion on virtues and vices.

My oldest, in drama, enjoyed it so much that he is going to ask his drama teacher if they can perform this in the future. They are currently in rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz, my son is the Tin Man.

So, today is Phantom Friday..the kids want to make a video themselves. This should be fun. Hopefully I'll get to post it soon.

Next week we will be discussing Johnny Tremain! Check it out from your local library (book or movie).

"Kindle" The Love of Reading

Amazon just created the perfect Christmas gift for your favorite bookie.

It's called the Amazon Kindle. "A convenient, portable reading device with the ability to wirelessly download books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers. At 10.3 ounces, Kindle is lighter and thinner than typical paperbacks, and fits easily in one hand. Its built-in memory stores hundreds of titles. An optional SD memory card lets you hold even more. From Melville to Morrison, your favorite authors can always be with you."

Okay, what about the glare? Reading a computer screen is hard on the eyes you know?

"Utilizing a new high-resolution display technology called electronic paper, Kindle provides a crisp black-and-white screen that resembles the appearance and readability of printed paper. The screen works using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically. It reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.The screen never gets hot so you can comfortably read as long as you like."

Think of the possibilites for homeschoolers! Download classics for as little as 50 cents! No more heavy backpacks! They can bookmark, highlight and make notes as they read right on the screen. It's pricey, but I've spent more on a gaming system and games.

My sister just got one of these for her birthday and she called me right away to tell me how wonderful it is. The Reviews online (5,000 so far) praise it. This sounds like a great gift for the book lover in your life.

Check out video and reviews by clicking here:


Kindle: Amazon's Wireless Reading Device

It's the Little Things

The Prison Angel, Mother Antonia's Life of Service in a Mexican Jail

by Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan

What is a twice divorced mother of seven doing wearing a habit? She is pouring her life into serving the poor, especially prisoners, in Tijuana, Mexico.
Mary Brenner Clarke has a servants heart. Losing her mother at a young age, her father taught his children the importance of helping others. She knew at an early age that she wanted to serve others. But How? When? Where?

This book details her life as a young girl from a well to do family, failed marriages and her search for fulfillment that ultimately brought her to the Habit and opened the doors for older women longing to serve and share their gifts. Mother's order the Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour, gives women, ages 45 to 65, the opportunity to serve their Church and their communities as religious sisters.

Perhaps you also have a desire to serve, or maybe, you feel like something is missing in your life. Joining a religious order may not be possible. So what can you do?
Mother Antonia, making peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches for prisoners, offers this advice, " There are so many things people can do. It doesn't have to be enormous. It's the little things. Anyone can make a sandwich."

This book is an awesome testament to serving others in the face of much adversity. What Mother Antonia has done is reach out, give completely of herself.

" ..once I choose who I love and who I don't, I am no longer God's servant." - Mother Antonia

You can find this book at Amazon.com