Equipping Catholic Families

Pope Posts continued: The First Communion Dress

March 1, 2013 by Monica McConkey 1 Comment

So, you heard about =&0=& from our friend Elizabeth, and how Elizabeth knitted outfits for my kids as her =&1=& Well, Elizabeth kept on knitting! She even crocheted a =&2=& dress for Emily. Needless to say, all three of our girls will have worn this dress for their =&3=& and we will keep it …for their own girls someday. Elizabeth didn’t stop when she completed the dress for Emily. You see, Kelly came with me often to visit Elizabeth and Elizabeth had a special love for Kelly. She didn’t want Kelly to feel left out on Emily’s big =&4=&day, so she crocheted a smaller version of the dress for Kelly to wear…but insisted that my Mom make a PINK slip and sash for Kelly’s dress, to make it different from the =&5=& In those days Kelly loved the color pink…and so Elizabeth made all her sweaters and hats and blankets pink…and affectionately called her “Pinkie”. Here is Bridget with her two brothers. We love these dresses…and we were so pleased to have Bridget wear “Pinkie’s dress” at Adam’s Baptism…and she will no doubt wear the =&4=&dress next year! Hey, do you have a =&7=&this year? Did you check out the=&8=& as part of the post about =&9=&

Have your kids already made their First Holy Communion?
Interested in Scrapbooking the Sacraments?

Looking for other ideas to help teach or celebrate Sacraments?

Linked to First Communion Link-Up! at Catholic Icing.
Check out the Sacraments Link-Up at Equipping Catholic Families!

Filed Under: family traditions, pope posts, Sacraments

Scrapbook the Sacraments

February 28, 2013 by Monica McConkey 4 Comments

Over the next few weeks, I plan to highlight a few ideas to celebrate the First Sacraments, giving them the significance and hoopla that they deserve. I’m hoping to offer ideas to help integrate the regular reception of the Sacraments into family life… with reverence and enthusiasm!

Filed Under: Printables, Sacraments Tagged With: Catholic Printables, Sacraments

How My Kids Became Part of Penance from the Pope

February 26, 2013 by Monica McConkey 5 Comments

When Elizabeth told us about her meeting with Pope John Paul II, (her husband’s first cousin) and what he told her when she gave him my book A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families, she also told us a few other stories. She spoke about the mischief the two boys would get into, when Karol would spend weeks in the summer with his cousin’s family after his own mother had passed away. Elizabeth told us how Fr Wojtyla had married them in secret, in a cold Church…running down the aisle to chase after the rings when they were accidentally dropped on the floor.

[See My Direct Order from the Pope for the beginning of this story!]

When Elizabeth was brought to Strawberry Island to meet with the Holy Father during his visit to Canada for World Youth Day, the two were meeting as old friends. They both knew that it would probably be their last visit: both of them were in their 80’s and the likelihood of another visit seemed pretty remote.

Filed Under: pope posts

Journal the Sacraments

February 25, 2013 by Monica McConkey 2 Comments

This article launches our new =&0=& series, based on the article I wrote for =&1=&=&2=&

Over the next few weeks, I plan to highlight a few ideas to celebrate the First Sacraments, giving them the significance and hoopla that they deserve. I’m hoping to offer ideas to help integrate the regular reception of the Sacraments into family life… with reverence and enthusiasm!

Filed Under: Printables, Sacraments

My Direct Order from the Pope

February 22, 2013 by Monica McConkey 8 Comments

Back in 2002, I was attending World Youth Day in Toronto. My husband and mom took care of my 3 kids and I attended events all week in the city. My friends and I tootled around Toronto as tourists in our own town. We had our printed schedules, but some of the most memorable moments seemed to happen by chance.

Filed Under: link-up, Catholic Bloggers Network, pope posts

Keeping the Love of Jesus… in Lent!

February 19, 2013 by Monica McConkey 29 Comments

=&0=& =&0=&=&0=&=&3=&=&4=&=&5=& =&6=&

What is your most unique or satisfying Lent Challenge? Leave a comment below!
We’d love to hear from you!

Take away something…but add something too!

Filed Under: Catholic Crafts, Lent

Hey Frankie…it’s a Snow Day!

February 16, 2013 by Monica McConkey 1 Comment

Hi Frankie,
Sorry I haven’t been writing so much this week, but I’ve been pretty busy playing in the snow.You see, last Friday was a “snow day” which meant my older siblings were home from school because the buses were cancelled and most people were just staying home. It was good to have them home, because we had a lot of work to do!

Filed Under: Catholic Toddler Letters, link-up, Catholic Bloggers Network

Revolving Rosary… PRINTABLE!

February 15, 2013 by Monica McConkey 5 Comments

***2015 Update: Deluxe Version of the Revolving Rosary Craft Kit

Available NOW: Mysteries of the Rosary with the Kelly Saints

6 different templates, fully illustrated with Kelly Saints, 3 distinct crafts including the Illustrated Revolving Rosary…with a few new surprises!

Filed Under: Printables, Rosary Tagged With: Rosary

Happy Saints Valentines…for 2013!

February 15, 2013 by Monica McConkey 2 Comments

=&0=& say=&1=&=&2=&=&3=&I used my craft punch to make a circular window in the front of the cards to view the Saint on the inside. We wanted to match up the Saints with the kids’ names…but except for =&4=& for Juan, =&5=& for Lauren and=&6=& for Frankie, we just don’t have Saints for most of the names of kids these days. Bridget was happy to give ‘pretty girl saints’ to the girls and boy saints to the boys.Last year’s =&7=& looked like this:

I just love the excuse to sneak in Saints in place of Spongebob, Angry Birds, Barbie or whoever the commercial valentine packages feature. Every chance I get…I like to remind the kids of these
Superheroes in Holiness!

Filed Under: Saints

All for JESUS Lent Challenge

February 13, 2013 by Monica McConkey Leave a Comment

=&0=&

I thought a neat way for both of our families and our readers to tackle Lent together would be for a good old fashioned All for Jesus Lent Challenge. Hey Frankie, just so you know, there are PRIZES!

So basically, every week people could choose their best =&1=& or a special chore they carried out, keeping Jesus’ Sacrifice in mind =&2=&. They would visit either your Mom’s blog or my Mom’s blog and enter their weekly challenge after they completed it. At the end of Lent, you (Frankie) and I could randomly choose a couple entries and those people would win a free download link to their choice of one of my Mom’s=&5=&=&6=& Now, just so all the nice people know…we’re probably going to be a little biased when we pick the winning entries. =&7=& People can enter by 1. joining the link-up below =&8=& 2. they can leave comments below that include the words=&9=& along with a =&10=& of the challenge that they conquered =&11=&(in case they win!).

My mom will probably add the first one in the link-up, but it might be kind of lame, because we’re just getting started (and she also doesn’t want to win in place of anyone else=)

Filed Under: Lent