Saturday at 11.30 was truly a blessed celebration of 125years of The Josephite Order here in Maitland -Newcastle Dioceses. it was a huge Celebration Mass with so many Religious, I thought I was in heaven.

We were made to feel so special because we came to help them celebrate. The Official date is 3rd September, 2008. We have a connection with the Convent at Lochinvar were most of this order lived.

Apart from Family attending this Convent as boarders, Dermot & I attended a Weekend called Cursillo. It was a blessed and beautiful time of rediscovering God. The Lochinvar convent will always have a special place in my heart.          

Today is the Feast day of St Monica. She is a Saint I can identify with. She is after all the Saint of Mothers.

Pray for us, St Monica.

OUR BOOKS: I thought I would just put up on my blog the type of work we cover apart from lapbooks.

we use Seton & Mater Amabilis, as well as a several read alouds. These are our books at the moment

We all have enjoyed watching the Olympic Games. I printed off some information for Brid to use in a project about the Games. I wanted her to own the project, so I let her decide what to do with it.

She chose to do a Lapbook. I like the way she has taken 'the ball and run with it, in her own way'. She has been very enthused about  this project. I will post a photo soon. She is now making plans to do a presentation for family next week. I think she has all types of ideas in her mind.

Well it has been rather a busy time for us. Every day and every weekend at the moment seems filled.

2 weeks ago we celebrated the Assumption of Our Lady, beautiful mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Brid asked my parents to come along. My Dad really liked the Cathedral. He has not been inside it before. Later that day we met up with Kristie- Who has decided to 'do her own thing' and is really into her music- God Bless her. That was great to catch up.

The Queenship of Our Lady was last Friday. I hadn't looked at my calendar, so I was delighted to be at this feast day celebration.

This last weekend just gone we had our little friend, Campbell's,  Holy Communion. it was a very blessed time for him, but I couldn't stop smiling at Brid. She was asked to Alter Serve, but she already had prayers to read- so she went from one thing to another. I am sure Jesus would hve been smiling to.

Later that day we drove to look at a statue for our Back garden. I have been searching for a statue of Our Lady for our garden for years. We discovered tat there was one 25mins drive away. I got into the car very excited, Brid reading her book, Dermot driving and looking for this particular shop. She was right there in the driveway as we drove in. BEAUTIFUL. We bought her after looking around and chatting to the owners for a while.

The state  was put into our Garden that afternoon, She looks so natural and as if she was there all along. At night i turn the light on to say Goodnight. It is a wonderful sight to see.

Today was hard, so Dermot, Brid & I decided to go the Chapel at our Church to pray. Our Priest rang to come and see us, as he knows of our situation, so we said we would meet him there.

It was lovely sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament, with our little family, and our Parish Priest, all sitting there praying. I feel very blessed to have all this in our lives. We sat and prayed The Rosary. I left the Chapel at leasr feeling a little more at peace.

How blessed are we to have a loving,caring Priest and the ability to just go to 'The Blessed Sacrament Chapel'.

Its been several months since I last blogged. Maybe, I felt I was using too much time blogging and not enough on actually, being family

I was just reminded about My blog- therefore, i feel that I should continue.

Last week was recovery week from WYD08,  This week is rcovery from a cruel blow to our family.

This photo is of me, in my volunteers outfit- great week.

Today we have a new priest at our friday mass. we go every Friday- more often if we can, but this mass starts at 12md, and it symbolises the end of the school week. we have the opportunity for confession, and quiet time with Our Lord. we all enjoy it. After this we head to a friends house for Bible Study- very light but the families enjoy the bond time. 

Tonight we watched Bridge to Terabithia- very nice movie, everyone enjoyed it. My children love fantasy and I am sure it stirred up some in our youngest Brid. Today she got an ideas book for her stories'. so I am sure this will be included in next weeks stories.

Well it has been an interesting week this week. It is Thursday already. Second week of Term and not going so bad. Kieran has had a happy week,  Kristie is slogging away with her almost complete studies for the year. Brid is really having a great week with her compositions. She has written 3 lovely stories.

We have decided and purchased our books for next year. feeling really organised. the vibe is good.

we planted a vege garden a few weeks ago. i have never planted a vegetable garden successfully before. it is coming along slowly but fruitfully. 

On St Patricks Day every year we have planted Sweetpeas. We have waited very patiently for them to flower. we also watched as some became peas. Brid picked them off and looked inside

well after all my hard work of setting up this terms program in the holidays. it is a success. At least today was. it was a fun day filled with craft, experiments and reading and the writing parts as well for Brid. Kristie & Kieran got into their work pretty diligently as well. Praise the Lord.

In between all this, we had a shower being retiled, an orthodontist appointement and a blairing headache. but St Teresa was on hand to help.

Tomorrow is the feast day of St Gerrard Majella. Dermot & I will also attend a couple gathering called Celebrate Love- that will be a lovely time of centring on God in our marriage.

St Faustina pray for us.

Mother Mary asks us to practice humility, purity and love of God. At times I feel i am far from any of these, but I will try my best through the intercession of St Faustina.

Well today was a nice day. We had lunch with our friends today. Our little Godson has a speech delay, and today as Brid and I were leaving he said "bye bye Leanne" & then said Brids' name. I was very delighted. It was lovely to hear little words come from his mouth.

I was also touched when Campbell wanted us to stay longer. 'You can stay longer'. Leanne.

We have slowed down this week. Brid has been  preparing her presentation on Ireland. It has been rather fun helping and researching with her.

ALTER SERVE: Brid is also learning to Alter Serve this week. She has been rather keen.

GYMNASTICS: It has been our last week of gymnastics. That has been fun all term. All 3 of them enjoyed it.

BALLET CONCERT:This week is also Kristie & Brids ballet concert. It  will be a very special night.

ANCHOR WEEKEND: Kristie & Kieran are away at Anchor this weekend. Hope they have a Great spiritual time, and have fun with there friends.

Brid has completed 2 Lapbooks this term. Her first was Ireland- as geography project. Her second one was on Egyptian mummies, as part of her history module.