Litany to Saint Joseph

Husband has been saying this novena through our house purchasing weeks--and today he starts the prayers in prepartion for the Consecration to Saint Joseph with the parish Men's group. I found the lovely little statue the other day.

Litany of St. Joseph

Lord, have mercy on us	Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Jesus, hear us,	Jesus, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven,	have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the World,	have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,	have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,	have mercy on us.
Holy Mary,	pray for us.
St. Joseph,	pray for us.
Renowned offspring of David,	pray for us.
Light of Patriarchs,	pray for us.
Spouse of the Mother of God,	pray for us.
Chaste guardian of the Virgin,	pray for us.
Foster father of the Son of God,	pray for us.
Diligent protector of Christ,	pray for us.
Head of the Holy Family,	pray for us.
Joseph most just,	pray for us.
Joseph most chaste,	pray for us.
Joseph most prudent,	pray for us.
Joseph most strong,	pray for us.
Joseph most obedient,	pray for us.
Joseph most faithful,	pray for us.
Mirror of patience,	pray for us.
Lover of poverty,	pray for us.
Model of artisans,	pray for us.
Glory of home life,	pray for us.
Guardian of virgins,	pray for us.
Pillar of families,	pray for us.
Solace of the wretched,	pray for us.
Hope of the sick,	pray for us.
Patron of the dying,	pray for us.
Terror of demons,	pray for us.
Protector of Holy Church,	pray for us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,	spare us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,	graciously hear us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,	have mercy on us, O Jesus.
He made him the lord of his household	And prince over all his possessions.

Let us pray:
O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Valentines in Latin

My very young students made these for Saint Valentine's feast... and I received a special one! 

Number Five's cards

She makes by hand, and writes, the nicest cards! 

Speaking at the MN conference!

From Number Seven...

Dear mommy,

How you managed to raise seven kids without losing (all of) your sanity, I’ll never know, but here are some things I do know about you:
1. Some of my earliest memories are those of your selflessness, when little 2-or-3-year-old me would come into your room almost every night and you would let me sleep between you and dad, probably making your arm go numb since I would rest my head on it instead of using a pillow. You sacrificed countless nights of comfortable rest for the sake of your little ones’ comfort.
2. You’re a professional at solving (the very seldom) arguments between your kids,, but with that comes the acknowledgement that you somehow raised your kids in a way so that we all worked cooperatively instead of competitively (which partially explains why none of us kiddos got into competitive sports)
3. you have the power to fix up a delicious, professional-grade dinner from a bunch of mismatched, random foods in the fridge. Everyone knows that you should be on food network with a show called “real cooking with ana: the art of improvisational dinners”
4. You claim you aren’t a good artist, but you’re better than most everyone I’ve ever met. Not just anyone has a master’s degree in aesthetics.
5. Although you say you’re no baker, 3/4 of your daughters have turned out out as fantastic bakers (not i, though i try), and all of your kids have inherited at least some of your skill in the kitchen.
6. Despite thinking you’re strict, you let me get most of the pets I asked for as a kid(all of the reasonable ones), and that immensely helped me to deal with personal responsibilities, the reward of training, loss, and failure from an early age.
7. You always put food in the microwave for way too long.
8. If gone unchecked, you’ll fill up the dishwasher too much so that everything gets half cleaned (good thing you’ve got plenty of kiddos to help w/ quality control)
9. You should take more credit for how individually awesome all your kids have become! I mean, not many moms can say they have raised their kids who turned as a software developer, multiple teachers and caregivers, a US marine, an aspiring nun, and a world renowned illustrator... maybe that last one is still a work in progress. 😉
10. You breathe life into any environment you’re in. Whether it’s a new home, a church, a school, a moms’ group, or a garden, your presence and hard work shows so plainly to all. Some people have a “green thumb”, while in the same way you have a “green” soul 🙂
I love you mom. Sorry that you’re probably crying by now,, maybe dad is reading this post out loud to you at this point haha (let me know if I predicted that accurately). I just wanted to make sure that you remember, on your first birthday without kiddos at home in a very long time, that we all love you and can never thank you enough for being such a wonderful role model to so many people in this world. I hope dad treats you to some Indian food tonight! After all, they can’t blame you for spilling the rice on your birthday 😉

Love,
Number seven

+2

Saint Scholastica feast day!

Michigan Winter

Husband and I will miss these windows... 

Dominic is nine months old!