Rosary Cards

Goodness, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I have million reasons why. The biggest of these being that Husband is taking on some more coaching work over the weekend now and I’ve been expanding my babysitting. Both are good things, but both are leaving us wiped out. Along the way, we’ve had some home and car maintenance projects, several doctor appointments, and I started a non-profit, called The C+A Project. You can read more about it here.

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With all these things going on I’ve felt very stretched. Like, Husband and I have so.much.to.do. Not lofty things mind you, but just the day to day things. Schooling the kids, keeping the house clean, planning meals, jobs, church, bills, and just trying to stay on top of life while still trying to move forward with our long term goals. I’ll tell ya, struggling to stay afloat in the present makes achieving those future goals that much harder.

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I’m looking forward to Lent this year. I don’t like eating meat or dairy much, so that’s never a difficult thing for me to give up, but it IS difficult to cook for three other dairy lovers and one meat lovin’ Husband. I always stress about getting the kids what they need nutritionally wise while not having to fix two different meals three times a day! I don’t limit the kids whatsoever, except for anything they consider treats. Dinner time I expect them to eat wherever we are eating though, so that’s usually meat and dairy free. Personally, I usually try to stop my snacking during Lent. Even more so than food and drink items however, my emotional and spiritual health are usually my primary focus of Lent since those are my weakest point of discipline and control. One of the biggest things I am doing this Lent is not giving something up, but taking something on. ( I know, I was just complaining about how hectic life is, “make up your mind Abby”, right?!) This Lent, I’m aiming for praying the Rosary every night as a family.

Daily prayer is something I greatly lack in. Other than the frequent “God please let me not lose my mind when C spills all his legos again” and “Dear God please let A sleep longer than 45 minute stretches tonight” . Along with my personal lack of prayer comes a general lack of prayer in the house. I’m the longest standing Catholic in my family so I feel a great responsibility towards the our faith formation. I pray in my head to myself a great deal actually, but I don’t voice it, and it’s usually never a solid time of focus, I’m usually busy doing things so my attention is divided. My goal is to have the kids have the Rosary built in as part of their night time routine, have C memorize several of the prayers, and have the whole thing taught to Husband so he can lead it. I’m proud to say C can already say the Our Father, and an entire decade of the rosary by himself (just by hearing us say it!). Z has already figured out that when we ask her what her prayer intentions are, that it’s her turn to pray for people. I’m so proud of them! Pray for me to be able to keep it up!

To enhance the little’s understanding of the Rosary I wanted to make a pictorial representation of the mysteries of the Rosary so they would understand the Biblical references and learn why we do different mysteries on certain days. This idea wasn’t all my own, it’s something like what I grew up with. I actually only remember the mysteries of the rosary because I remember this matching game my mom made, haha! Bravo, mom.

Here’s what I came up with:

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I printed these pictures out that I found online, one set black and white, one set colored. The colored one’s got a colored paper backing. Then I laminated them (don’t ask me how that went with the two kids at the FedEx…Let’s just say it was very Lenten and I already failed to control my emotions…*sigh*)

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Then I cut them up into their corresponding groups.

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So, the idea is that the kids can match the black and white copy to the colored copy of whichever mystery we are on that day. It’s simple, but very effective.

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And because I am thoroughly expecting them to get mixed up at some point, a little color coding on the back doesn’t hurt 😉 . Oh and rubber bands to secure the groups. Those things come in handy so often! I’m leaving them out on our coffee table to help remind me and the kids to prayer our Rosary every night. Kids keep ya honest ! 🙂

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Anyways, that’s part of my Lenten plan. Good luck with yours!  Cheers!

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