Jesse Tree Ornament Exchange

If you ever get a chance to participate in a Jesse Tree Ornament exchange, go for it! I recently organized a swap in our community and it was a huge success! Each of the twenty nine ladies made one kind of ornament, then we gathered, exchanged and took home a whole set. The ornaments were beautiful and each one was made with love. I wanted to share pictures of all the ornaments, (because most of us got ideas from blogs just like this!) so you can see them too.

If you would like a little more information about what a Jesse Tree is, click over here. Most Jesse trees are about twenty four ornaments with the option of adding extra bible stories. I added five extra: Melchizedek, Aaron, Joshua, Ruth and Elizabeth. These are not necessary but I had enough ladies sign up so I added them in.

We each had a chance to talk about which story our ornament represented and how we made them. It was so much fun I would love to do it again someday!

Now for the ornaments:

From left to right we have the ornaments representing: Creation, Adam and Eve, The Fall of Man, Noah, Abraham, Melchizedek, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph

Here we have: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Ruth and Boaz, Samuel, Jesse, David, Solomon and St. Joseph

 For the last of the Salvation History ornaments we have: The Blessed Mother, St. Elizabeth, John the Baptist and the Nativity. 

Now for the O Antiphons:

I found some more information about the O Antiphons on Father Z's blog, check it out if you are at all interested, I think it's fabulous. 

Here we have: Jesus is Lord, Jesus the Flower of Jesse, Jesus is the Key of David and Jesus is Radiant Dawn.

Now for the last O Antiphons:

 Jesus is King of the Gentiles, Jesus is Emmanuel and Jesus is the Light of the World.


I just want to give a big shout out to the WONDERFUL and beautiful ladies that made this all a possibility, especially to you, Gabi Karl for preparing your home and hosting all of us! I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. Thank you, Thank you!

  ~ Sarah

"Advent is here. What a marvellous time in which to renew your desire, your nostalgia, your real longing for Christ to come — for him to come every day to your soul in the Eucharist. The Church encourages us: Ecce veniet! — He is about to arrive!"

- St Josemaria Escriva

Practice makes Perfect

This is a guest post written by one of the lovely mothers who writes for the Soul Gardening Journal, a ministry for mothers. If you like what you read, please sign up to receive a journal and make a donation if you can, it's a wonderful cause!


 Want to know a secret?  Sometimes I feel sorry for Judas. It’s like someone wrote a beautiful play, a tragedy, really (but with a happy ending), and needed an antagonist.  Scanning the candidates lined up, mostly bearded men competing for 12 lead roles, he makes the cut and gets a part, not the one he wanted, but hey, its got a lot of lines, and he even gets to throw some pieces of silver at people.

In all seriousness, I am grateful that the Church does not declare him or anyone in particular to be certainly in hell.  I am head over heels in love with the image of Divine Mercy, and juxtaposed  to Our Lady of Fatima’s message regarding the number of souls falling into hell; it makes my heart ache and my head spin… so much that I have almost become humble enough to stop trying to figure it out.  Almost.

A priest recently mentioned to me C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, where Lewis makes the point that many people actually choose hell because they are so absorbed in themselves that they are not ready to spend eternity thinking about someone else (a.k.a. God).  Because in reality, heaven is probably less about the one million flavors of ice-cream and swimming with dolphins, and more about joining the choir of voices that will be singing the praises of the Lamb.  So as much as we want the peace, the joy, the painlessness of heaven, the glaring reality is that heaven is not all about you.

Are we ready to spend eternity NOT thinking about ourselves?  Honestly I am not so sure I am.  I am still too self-absorbed.  But God is a genius.-Really, He is. And He has come up with a genius way to get us there, and it starts with two pink lines on a test strip.  It ends with learning to put someone else’s needs before our own, and to do it so often that we don’t even realize we are doing it.  This plan comes fully equipped with a number of humiliating experiences, like tantrums in the grocery store, so as to protect the whole beautiful thing from crumbling down because of our pride.

All women are called to mother either in a physical or spiritual way and it is God’s plan to bring us to heaven by turning us into the kind of people we need to be to want heaven.  Each putting down of the book, blog, sewing project, whatever, to attend to someone else helps us to live a life where we become secondary, and another becomes primary.  A busy mother rarely has the time to think of herself, and before she knows it, a habit of selflessness is formed.  And you know what a good habit is called don’t you?  It’s called virtue.

When I was in Paris I remember seeing the incorrupt St. Catherine of Laboure, enclosed in a glass coffin.  She was a short little lady with a real french nose like my own, but what struck me about her the most were her shoes.  They were leather, with heavy creases across the front under the toe line, where the shoe had been flexed over and over again from her spending so much time on her knees.  Now those creases are encased forever and she is spending eternity with someone familiar.   

Christian life is Sacrifice.  And just as the bad we have done in this life cannot be undone, the good we have done cannot be undone either.  May our bodies lie in the grave wrinkled and tired and worn, like our dear St. Catherine’s shoes, and may our own creases, be they stretch marks, cesarean scars, varicose veins, or wrinkled smile lines, be our signs of virtue, that our good Lord loves us enough to save us from ourselves.

-Hope writes on a clear, starry night, with her windows open.


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Canada Day Anniversary!

 Happy Canada Day! 

I am not Canadian but I married one. Today is the 5th anniversary of the beginning of our life long adventure!

We met in Vancouver, BC doing a cross country walk witnessing for the sanctity of human life. The walk is called Crossroads, check it out! It was the most amazing experience of my life. I met my husband, saw Canada on foot and got to talk to thousands of people about the unborn! It was awesome.

A dear friend blogger walked with me (a year earlier in the US) and I wrote a small post about it here. It's a life changing experience and a wonderful cause to get behind. I am forever indebted to Crossroads.

I had a huge crush on Cyril almost the whole walk and it turns out he did too. Could I tell? Not really, do you ever know when a guy likes you? 

We went out to celebrate Canada Day festivities in Winnipeg. It was a wonderful evening. I didn't think it was a date, but looking back it was totally a date! Dating was discouraged on the walk for good reasons so I figured no dating, right? rriiiiiiiight. When love happens, it happens, no matter what you call it. :)

He asked me out at the end of the evening with a wonderful spiel about how much he liked me and wanted me to be his girlfriend. No one had ever been so sweet to me! I didn't know WHAT to say so I simply said, "I like you too." Just like that, being very timid.

Then he leaned in for a kiss and guess what? I didn't kiss him back. In fact I didn't move. I didn't expect it! I was still trying to process what had just happened. "Oh my gosh, what just happened? He asked me out? Im his girlfriend? whoa this is awesome, I can't believe it, YEAH!!!!!!! "  You know something like that. I wasn't ready for a kiss. So I said, "I'm not ready". Just like that!

I went to sleep that night with a smile on my face. I made sure to give him a big hug. Here's to our life long adventure starting on Canada Day! 

Our group! Some of the best people you will ever meet.

The road less traveled . . .

Till death due us part!

Are you young and able? Look into walking with Crossroads, it will be an adventure of a lifetime!

If you have time, read this story of an Italian mother who sacrificed her life for her unborn child. It will blow you away. 

God bless your day!

“The truth is that this cross – if you embrace it with Christ – ceases to be as ugly as it looks. If you trust in him, you discover that this fire, this cross, does not burn, and that peace can be found in suffering and joy in death,”  - Enric, the husband of Chiara

The Family

I am so proud of my family, I can't contain it. My parent's sacrificed and sacrificed to make ends meet, and yet they were always open to life. What a witness. Thank you Mom and Dad. 

Click on the picture to read a bit about my wonderful parents and siblings:

"Happy is the man who has
his quiver full of them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate."

 - Psalm 127:5

Make sure to enter in the GIVEAWAY for RootsSoapCo Soaps!

When I am weak . . .

Does your kitchen look like this? 

 . . . because this is my kitchen!!!

I can make all these wonderful post about what I do in my perfect little kitchen but it wouldn't be real. This is what my kitchen looks like most of the time.

I am always weak and I always need help in the kitchen.

Underneath the little picture of St. Gianna (above) says, "One cannot love without suffering or suffer without loving." -St. Gianna. 

It's so true! Suffering can also include the dishes and the dreaded laundry. In fact, those are my sufferings. I dream of being a missionary and going back to the days of doing pro-life work. But for now, this is my suffering and boy does it stink.

It's the silent suffering that only God knows about. It's this vocation of motherhood that I have chosen, and it is really hard.

I  have realized that it's OK to ask for help when I am weak.

My mom was just talking to me about being a supermom. She said the idea that we have to be a supermom is worldly and ridiculous. We are not supermoms, and neither should we strive to be one. We are weak and need help from those around us. Being a wife and mother is hard and it's absolutely necessary to ask for help.

 What do I need when I am weak?

 I need strength to make better choices regarding what I eat and feed my family. 

I need help in the kitchen to make better foods for my family.

How do I get this help?

 I have to ask for it. I can't expect my husband (or children) to read my mind.

I have to be specific. If I need the dishes done, I can't assume my husband knows that, I have to say it!

I need courage to say no to foods that make me tired and grumpy. For me this is sugar and gluten. 

I need humility to realize that I have to take care of my health. I have different food needs and I cannot ignore or pretend that things are different.

How do I get all these things that I need?  

I pray. 

In fact,

I cannot afford not to pray. I have to make those dishes and laundry a prayer and a sacrifice. It's what gives me the strength to get through.

"With God all things are possible." - Matthew 19:26

Linking up at Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, and Real Food Wednesdays

Saving Lives . . . ONE sacrifice at a time . . .

I had to share this video. The inspiration almost brought me to tears! My husband and I met walking across the country with Crossroads - the grassroots organization that spreads the Gospel message of life. This is a video of the walkers on the Northern walk.

(read all about it here)

This video adds a lot of humor to the walk . . . mostly because it's the hardest thing you'll ever do! (and you need humor to get you through all the blisters and pain!) 

If you feel inspired, say a prayer for these guys. If you feel really inspired, share the video, get on your knees and pray the rosary for women in crisis pregnancies, they need you!

God bless your day!