All Saints Eve Costumes

Here they are!

Introducing the Saints (L ro R): St. Barbara, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Maria Soledad Torres Acosta, and St. Peter!

We're off to our annual All Saints Eve Party with fellow Catholic Homeschoolers!

Happy All Saints Eve!

Some more uniforms

HLI audio cd: The Fight for Life Around the World

I just finished listening to another wonderful talk on cd by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer titled "The Fight for Life Around the World" in which he:

"highlights the struggle against the culture of death around the world using worldwide statistics on the state of abortion laws, the staggering quantity of abortions, and plummeting fertility rates." - back of cd cover

At the very end of the cd, he makes this absolutely chilling statement as he shares this truth:

"……I can guarantee you that some people in the abortion industry are practicing witchcraft and Satanism. Some people in the abortion industry call abortion their sacrament, alright, and we have to know that. It’s their sacrament. And they believe that it’s a sacred thing for a woman to offer up her baby. So we have to always be very spiritually strong when we go against the anti-life……we are not fighting flesh and blood."

Solemn Profession of Vows

We had the privilege of attending a rare event! One of the sisters of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration made her Solemn Profession of Vows on Friday afternoon, October 1st. My four oldest children along with Grandma Shingledecker went! Levin stayed at home with Grandpa Shingledecker......THANK YOU GRANDPA!

Solemn Profession from Diocese of Charlotte on Vimeo.

Here are pictures from the Charlotte Diocese website from the beautiful event. You'll notice in the pictures that Sr. Marie Therese had a wedding cake and a Groom's cake! The groom's cake was decorated with a cross & Jesus' Sacred Heart. How special!

We enjoyed some tasty hor d'oeuvres and fruits & veggies at the reception. We also enjoyed sitting at the same table as Sr. Marie's Grandmother. She shared a copy of a letter that her grand-daughter had written when she was about 7-8 years old stating 'what she wanted to be when she grew up'. She had already known at that precious young age that she wanted to be a nun with the Poor Clares, just like Mother Angelica, and she hoped that becoming a nun was God's will for her life. How special!

New Tennis Uniform

We started tennis last fall. So we've been playing for over a year now! It has been so very wonderful for our family to learn this sport. It is so great when daddy can share a love & talent of his with his children!

However, I had been in a slight dilema for a while trying to figure out what to have my girls, mainly Olivia, wear for practice (& planning ahead for tournaments in the future). I brainstormed many ideas for months. I ordered an outfit from tennisworld.com to see if I liked it enough imitate sewing it. I did not like it at all, at least the skirt. Although she still wears it, my first impression was that it was way too short for my little girl. So, I started praying about it....which is where I should have started. The Holy Spirit & our Precious Lady told me to go ask my husband. *PING!* The light went on......yeah! I'll ask my husband, DUH! So I asked him what is the traditional womens/girls dress for tennis. He quickly answered, a white polo shirt, with a white pleated skirt. I said oh yeah...duh, I should have recalled that! Tennis trends have changed so much over the years that I figured I could use the polo shirt/pleated skirt idea, but make them fun colors! Thus began my search for a skirt pattern & I found this: Perfectly Preppy Skirts & Skorts by the Scientific Seamstress.

WOW! It's such an EXCELLENT pattern...AND it has the option for built in shorts! DOUBLE YAY! When I finished making the skirt a couple weeks ago I was SO elated I could burst! It was EXACTLY what I wanted! My dear husband John was excited as well & so inspired that we immediately all got dressed & went out to the courts that Sunday afternoon!

The polo shirt I found at Target for $7.00 (can you believe it's a women's size xs??) I don't think I'm going to purchase a pattern for polos....they are available everywhere & for fair prices. For now I'll concentrate on the skirts. I made one for Vianne as well & have 7 more in the works right now with some fabric I found on clearance at Hancock, so each of the girls will have 3 for now.

Olivia looks adorable in this outfit & she's even more adorable because she matched her earrings, and sunglasses with her outfit....she wore her pink pig earrings, and her cute white rimmed sunglasses! I told her I think tennis is a fun sport because you can 'dress up' for it....& she smiled :)