Friday, June 25, 2021

Henry's confirmation weekend, and some summer socks...

Hello everybody, and what a spectacular June day it is! 😎 I have had such a splendid June over here, and I hope you have as well! Since June is somehow nearly over, I'll be putting up a page soon with the July novenas that I'm planning to pray in case you'd like to join along! 

So we had a big sacramental weekend over here in the home of the Catholic Librarian. One of my babies made his confirmation. 🔥😭I can hardly believe how the time has flown. It was an absolutely beautiful confirmation Mass, and Henry chose my dad as his sponsor (and the confirmation was on Father's Day!) so it was all quite special. 💗



I felt so grateful that things went so smoothly, and that the ceremony was so beautiful. Henry chose St. Maximillian Kolbe as his confirmation saint, and can you even believe these absolutely perfect socks I got for him from Sock Religious?!


They were the sock of the month for June, I mean, obviously this was divine intervention. ;-) I highly recommend their comfy and delightful socks! I just got my reminder email that the July socks will be shipping soon, and I can hardly wait to see who it is!

My sister got Henry this gorgeous St. Joseph themed home altar for his desk, and Henry's Godfather gifted him this beautiful wood rosary blessed by the pope:


He also received some St. Maximillian books. 😍 And he got the exact cake that he wanted, and we're all still enjoying it nearly one week later, hee hee!


It's so precious to have these memories. Last year was much more difficult with Anne's First Communion because of the pandemic, and I'm relieved that things are going so much better now.

In crafty news, I've been working steadily on a pair of summer lemonade themed socks:


Currently on the heel flap. They're going a bit slow, but they're the perfect project for upcoming family summer movie nights, and so I'm glad to have them by my side! This week I also received a small order that I placed with Bumblebee Acres, a skein of robin's egg blue sock yarn that I've been admiring for ages, and an outstanding plaid project bag!


Summer is good. The kids are both finished with school for the academic year, and it just feels nice to relax and have things move slower for a bit. :)

OK, that's what has been happening with me! How is your summer going so far? Any sacraments or crafts happening in your part of the world this early summer? I would love to hear about it in the comments! Also, don't forget that we'll be discussing Part 2 of our Summer Book Club novel on the life of St. Francis Xavier right here next Friday! :-0

Friday, June 18, 2021

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 1: Giving away everything...


Happy Friday friends, and welcome to the first part of our Summer Book Club for 2021!

*streamers!*

I hope that you enjoy reading more in the summertime as much as I do! We're taking our time this year, aiming for one segment (Louis de Wohl divides them into "books") every two weeks. Today we're discussing Book 1, so let's dive in!

So, Book 1 gives us a bunch of set-up of Francis's university life and of his family, and we also meet the future St. Ignatius of Loyola, who is known for leading a group of pious men that rely upon begging for their food and other needs. We see that Francis has a devout mom, a few brothers, and also a sister who is Abbess of a local community of Poor Clares. As the story begins, Francis is pretty into his university life and studies, and views the beggers with the same curiosity and suspicion as many of his peers.

To be honest with you, I had a difficult time following who was who (especially amongst anyone who wasn't related to Francis) and getting into the story at this point. As the section started to come to an end, things picked up for me a bit. In a dramatic turn of events, Francis has a conversion of heart, becomes a follower of Ignatius, and decides to join them. I enjoyed the details of what he decided to keep when he gave away all of his belongings, which if I'm remembering correctly, was a rosary, a Bible, and his breviary. Very touching! So now I'm definitely curious to see what will happen next as they set off on their journey!

What did you all think of this beginning of the book? I know that there are a lot of other details in here that I'm glossing over because I didn't fully absorb them, I'm not sure if it was me or the book! I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Discussion of Book 2 will go up on Friday July 2nd. :)

Friday, June 11, 2021

A crafty June...

Hello all and happy Friday! We're enjoying the start to the summer over here in the home of the Catholic Librarian. The kids are nearly done with school for the year, and we're looking forward to some relaxing summertime activities. 

🌞

For my part, I've been in happy crafting mode, and I'm approaching my annual Christmas in July gift list planning insanity, so you have that to look forward to. ;-) Right now though, I'm making a few thing for myself. As I've mentioned previously, I'm making a hat every single month this year as part of the 2021 National Parks collection, and here is May's edition:

Pattern is Big Bend, by Kristen in Stitches

I am absolutely IN LOVE with the pattern and yarn this month! The pattern is linked above, but here is the link to the yarn if you must also have this lusciousness! The yarn is pooling in the most delightful of fashions as I work, must be my gauge, but I'm just so excited to finish this and wear it this fall!

I've also been working on a cabled messenger style bag, and this one took a bit of time, owing to all of the twisty shenanigans wiht the cable needle. Here she is, I'm planning to use this as a project bag:

Pattern is Quin Cabled Bag, and is available for free!

This was also a fun knit, and it had a few challenges in it for me (provisional cast on, braded icord strap, lots and LOTS of cables) but it was a great opportunity to learn and practice some new skills! I will say that the braided strap was a bit more trouble than it was worth in the end. :-0  Next time, I may experiment with other types of techniques for the strap. It was quite boring knitting that sheer volume of icord, and then they were tangling constantly as I worked to braid them (it's a 4 strand braid, rather than the traditional 3), and it was quite a chore to get all of the cords the same length. In the end, it's done, and I like it!

So my plan is to finish the hat, and then plan out some other fun projects for the summer, yay! Don't forget, we begin our Summer Book Club 2021 in just 7 days! We'll be discussion Section 1, and I can't wait! Just downloaded my Kindle copy of the book today. Check the link for all of the details if you'd like to join us!

Friday, June 4, 2021

Summer Book Club Announcements!

 Happy Friday everybody, and happy June! I began my June novenas this week, and am happily speeding right along with them. Details are on the June Novenas page if you'd like to join me in praying both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary novenas. :) Feel free to also leave prayer intentions on that page in the comments so that others can lift you up in prayer! 

*virtual hug*

And so, it is time to finally announce our exciting Summer Book Club plans for 2021! I got a nice response from people saying they were happy to read about any of the saints, and not really a majority vote for any one title. So I called a bit of an audible, looking through the options on Amazon and deciding based on what I felt inspired by, and the length that I thought would work best for us. And so...

🥁

For Summer Book Club 2021, we're going to be reading about: St. Francis Xavier!


Here is our description, to whet your curiosity a bit:

Saint Francis Xavier's life is, in itself, a dramatic story. With humility and deep religious conviction, the famous Catholic novelist Louis de Wohl takes us into the mind and heart of this great missionary and saint who went by order of St. Ignatius of Loyola to "set all afire" in the Orient. Louis de Wohl captivates the reader as he follows Xavier's life from student days in Paris, through his meeting with Ignatius, his rather reluctant conversion, and his travels as one of the first Jesuits. The story takes the reader from Europe to Goa, India, Malaysia, Japan, and finally, to an island off the coast of China, where the exiled Xavier dies virtually alone. The book captures the dramatic struggles and inspiring zeal of this remarkable saint, giving at the same time an enthralling picture of the age in which he lived.

What drew me to this title is that his role as a missionary means that St. Francis gives us a bit of a travel theme, and that seems perfect for summer! I also don't know much about St. Francis Xavier nor the Jesuits, and this book presents the perfect opportunity to learn more (ideal, given that our current pope is a Jesuit!). We read about a female saint for Lent (St. Catherine of Siena), so I wanted to give our male saint friends some attention this summer. :)

And so here is our schedule, also stickied in our Catholic Book Club page:

  • June 18th - Part 1
  • July 2nd - Part 2
  • July 16th - Part 3
  • July 30th - Part 4
  • August 13th - Part 5
  • August 27th - Part 6

I wanted the pace to be a bit more languid for the summer, and this book, at about 100 pages shorter than the St. Catherine title we read for Lent, and with more, yet shorter, sub-sections, I thought fit the bill nicely. We'll begin with the first part in two weeks, so lots of time to order the book or procure it from your local library, and then we'll move in 2 week increments from there through the entirety of the summer. It's available in both paperback and Kindle form from Amazon if you choose to go that route!

Who's in to learn about St. Francis Xavier and his missionary journeys this summer? 😀