Happy Birthday Blessed Mother! 2009

May Magnificat Poem

The May Magnificat

May is Mary's month, and I

Muse at that and wonder why:

Her feasts follow reason,

Dated due to season -

Candlemas, Lady Day;

But the Lady Month, May,

Why fasten that upon her,

With a feasting in her honor?

Is it only its being brighter

Than the most are must delight her?

Is it opportunest

And flowers find soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother:

Her reply puts this other

Question: What is Spring? -

Growth in every thing -

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,

Grass and greenworld all together;

Star-eyed strawberry-breasted

Throstle above her nested

Cluster of blue eggs thin

Forms and warms the life within;

And bird and blossom swell

In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing

Mary sees, sympathizing

With that world of good,

Nature's motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind

With delight calls to mind

How she did in her stored

Magnify the Lord.

Well, but there was more than this:

Spring's universal bliss

Much, had much to say

To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple

Bloom lights the orchard-apple

And thicket and thorp are merry

With silver-surfed cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes

Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes

And magic cuckoo call

Caps, clears, and clinches all -

This ecstasy all through mothering earth

Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth

To remember and exultation

In God who was her salvation.

Source: Written by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889); Provided by the courtesy of Catholic Information Network (CIN)

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe 2008

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

We had fun making these simple candles with Modge Podge and glitter to honor Our Lady and remember her miracle!

We ended our craft session with Mexican Hot Chocolate
and Cuernitos (Mexican Wedding Cookies)
Recipe:
1/2 C powdered sugar
1 Cup softened butter
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions:

In large bowl, beat 1/2 Cup powdered sugar, butter, and extracts until light and fluffy.
Stir in flour, salt and crushed almonds or pecans (optional).
Mix until dough forms.
Shape into 1 inch balls, or crescents, and place on  cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Watch closely and take them out when they have set but before they are brown.
Remove from cookie sheet, cool slightly, and roll in powdered sugar.
Let cool completely and roll again.
Yum!
"Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn, please pray for us!"

Mary Garden

We began our very first Mary Garden on Mother's Day, 2008. My dear husband and children gave me this garden statue for Mother's Day so it was the perfect start to our garden. As a family we were recently consecrated to our Blessed Mother so this was also a fitting way to honor her! We began shopping for flowers according to a Mary Garden website that I found. There are so many neat meanings that it was very hard to choose! We tried to stick with varieties that would do well in our area. Here are a few of the beginning photos!

All Saint's Day 2007

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