Doesn’t the phrase “keeping the home fires burning” give you warm fuzzies? It does for me. To me, it brings to mind the epitome of home….mother by the stove, cooking up something for the children, Dad outside cutting wood with the bigger boys, toddler playing with the baby, siblings reading on the couch. Peaceful and beautiful!

I know you have had your times like this. It’s not all roses but there ARE roses above the thorns….

More pictures of contentment:

I love to home school and those mornings where all the kids are sitting at the table poring over their books bring a great feeling of satisfaction and order. We often will start our day by doing the Office of Prime from Officium Divinum…..getting off on the right foot.

Spring is in the air. The garden is half planted, the red bud trees are in full bloom. The guys have gone fishing a few times already. Volleyball and shooting bows are creeping in and go-carts are the big attraction! I’m not sure about the go-carts giving me warm fuzzies…especially since the little one the kids are allowed to drive has no brakes! 😛

Oh! And goats! Don’t you think that the thought of milk-producing, self-sufficient goats brings rapturous feelings of blessedness???? Nope, me neither. I love our garden so I don’t like goats. I love flowers, so I don’t like goats. (I’m trying to convince myself NOT to get another goat even though I love the milk).

There are so many factors, so many facets, of what make up a good, Catholic home. It will not be perfect but the all-inclusive and ever-present love of our Faith behind all that we do will produce well-balanced, moral children that become an asset to society and to the Church.

I love working on this kind of stuff and sharing the goodness and beauty of our Faith so I still plan to spend time on more Maglets, along with a couple of books that are in the works.

One of the books is called “Cheerful Chats for Catholic Children”. This one has short faith-filled stories, a few questions at the end to help the story sink in a little bit and then a prayer. The stories are only a page long so tired mothers, who still want to give that “tucking in” time a special touch, can pack a punch in a brief reading.  There is a small poem and a picture at the end of each story. I remember my kids straining their necks to see pictures in the book I was reading them on their bed. These will be great little stories…. sweet thoughts to fall asleep on.

Another book is a “Catholic Mother Goose” Poem book. I think the children (and parents) will love this one. I loved teaching my own children the poems of old. They knew them well but I was always a little disappointed with the random (and sometimes disturbing) words of the Mother Goose poetry. SO…..these are Catholic Mother Goose poems your children can remember, recite and Mom can feel good about! And the illustrator for the poems is fantastic!!!

So stay tuned. Sign up on the blog in order to get word of when these books are available!

In the meantime, let us love our families, do our daily duties, learn our faith and pass it on, always staying on the Ark of Peter. When things get rough, remember Who we look toward and let us not trust in ourselves but in Him Who said He would be with us always and that the Gates of Hell WILL NOT prevail!

I want to close with this beautiful prayer from the Divine Office. It is in the Office of Prime, from the book Divinum Officium. I have wanted to post it for some time now because I think it is a lovely way to start each day:

O God, come to my assistance.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father.

As it was in the beginning. Alleluia.

Now that the sun has risen, let us as suppliants ask of God that in today’s acts He preserve us from all that may hurt us.

May He check and restrain our tongue so that it be not an instrument of discord and strife. May He screen and protect our eyes so that they do not drink in vanities.

May our inmost soul be pure and the folly of impurity find in us no place; may moderation in food and drink wear down the body’s pride.

So that when day has gone, and night, as God planned, has returned, we may be found free from sin through our self-restraint and thus sing praise to Him.

To God the Father be glory, and to His only Son, with the Spirit, the Paraclete, now and forever. Amen.

HAPPY EASTER!!!