Feast Day Fun: The Conversion of St. Paul

I admit it.  I'm a little proud of this one.  Because I didn't just copy someone else's idea, but actually came up with an idea myself.  Well.... me and Pinterest.  But it wasn't just a complete ditto of a blog I follow, which is usually what happens with these things. 

For today's Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, we read about Saul's adventure on the road to Damascus from the book of Acts.  Our centerpiece tried to recreate THIS Carvaggio painting that we saw for realsies when we were in Rome (in a very "8 year old girl" kind of way). 

We had roast beef with horseradish sauce because... you know... horses. 

And our carbs were scroll-shaped rolls.

To drink, we had "conversion" juice!  It changed with a flash of light (well, the addition of Sprite) from BLUE to PINK!!!  Just like Saul became suddenly blind when he met Jesus, and then... WHAMMO!  PAUL.  And Christian.  Like that. 

Notice the look of awe on Colby's face in the background ;). 

Then we talked about where Paul was buried, and how he was martyred, and how he is symbolized in icons (scroll for the epistles he wrote, and sword for the means of his martyrdom).  We talked about how he was a Roman citizen, which endowed him with certain rights that Peter just didn't have.  And we talked about his mission to the Gentiles, for which all of us Gentiles are truly grateful. 

It was a good dinner.  And here's a little bonus of St. Paul's timeline!

A Fly In

Finally, the weather has turned clear enough for Rob to do some flying.  He has missed flying sorely.  He flew in to his parents house for breakfast before heading up the Keweenaw.  Happiness.

Strange Object In The Sky

ookee there.  You see it?   That blazing thing in the blue?  It's... it's....the SUN!!!  We haven't seen it yet in 2017!  And there it is, plain as day, making all of that snow and ice sparkle and shimmer and be PRETTY, dang it.  We need to soak it in, because it ain't gonna last. 

Feast Day Fun: Epiphany

Following the Star to the baby!  We celebrated Epiphany this year on the ACTUAL feast day, not the "moved to Sunday to be more convenient" feast day, because for US it was just as convenient to celebrate when we were supposed to in the first place!  Twelfth day of Christmas, complete.  Tried to make a star-shaped blueberry and lemon sweet bread... it was a fair attempt that didn't rise like I'd hope, but the kids seemed to like.    Time to take down the rest of the Christmas decorations, I guess, but I'm hesitant to do so, because January just needs some extra lights and cheer. 

Lying Low

So, the day after Christmas, this happened:

You're welcome.

What was supposed to be a pretty straight forward surgery turned out to be not so straight forward... and I am spending life now silent and eating mushy food.  It also means a lot of lying around, which allows for things like this:

and a New Year's Eve like this:

But has also brought me this , which makes me smile:

And helps me to relate to cartoons like this:

Lessons to learn.  Lessons being learned.  Life has slowed down considerably, and maybe it needed to.  So grateful that my parents were here to help, and that we have been abundantly blessed with friends and family that have also been a big help. 

Feast Day Fun: Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus

On this 10th day of Christmas, we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.  This celebration led to a Litany of the Names of Jesus, a discussion about taking the Lord's name in vain, and a reflection on what "God with us" really means.  It was good to stop and think about all of that.  And eat cake. 

Skiing in the New Year

The kids got new ski/snowboarding gear for Christmas, so Rob took them all to try it out!  It was reportedly a perfect day of skiing:  no crowds, warm temperatures, perfect snow.  They look like they had a blast!!