Sunday Inspiration~ December

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Till Next Time,

Monique

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Merry Christmas

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Wishing you all a very, merry Christmas!

Till Next Time,

Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ December

Please Note~ This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to click on a link, add it to your cart and complete your purchase, I will receive a small percentage. We are very grateful for this additional source of income. Thank you. 

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Monique

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Following Yonder Star

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The Three Wisemen are still following that bright star in the night sky.

Here are a few more of our traveling adventures!

Day 1-4

The Epiphany

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Monique

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Wordless Wednesday~ Another Cat Edition

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I think he looks cute, but from the look on his face I think he disagrees with me. 

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Monique

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We Three Kings...

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Stopping in to share another year of our Traveling Wisemen Adventures. 

Day 1 & 2

Day 3

Day 4 & 5

Day 6

Day 7, 8, 9

Day 10, 11, 12

Day 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17

The Days Continue

Happy Feast Day of the Epiphany 

Hope you enjoyed the recap of the three wisemen adventures. Hopefully it provided you with a few ideas for your kids wisemen adventures.

Till Next Time,

Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ December 15, 2019

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Monique

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Adventures of the Traveling Wisemen

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Sadly, now that the kids are older, some Christmas traditions have come to an end. One tradition that I'm sad to see go is the finding of the Traveling Wisemen. We no longer put out our Nativity scene from Play Mobil and we no longer hid the Three Wisemen and Beth the Camel. Even though, we no longer take part in this wonderful Advent tradition, I thought I'd share with a few links to our past adventures.

The Traveling Adventures of the Wisemen 2013
Day One
Day Two
Day Three 

Day Four
Day Five and Six
Day Seven and Eight

Day Nine
Day Ten
Day 11, 12, 13

Day 14, 15, 16
Day 17, 18, 19, 20

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Monique

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Wordless Wednesday

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We woke up to a fine dusting of snow this morning.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!

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Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ December 8, 2019

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Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ December 1, 2019

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Wishing you all a peaceful Advent season!

Till Next Time,

Monique

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ November 24, 2019

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Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ November 17, 2019

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Monique

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Review~ God's Mail Volume 3

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Over the past few, very hectic weeks, I have been reading God's Mail Volume 3 by Ron Hardin from God's Mail. Sometimes when life gets you running, you just need to take a few minutes each day to focus on God's love.

For this review, I received a physical copy of God's Mail Volume 3 by Ron Hardin. The book contains a collection of poems written by Ron Hardin. The poems contain words of encouragement, instruction, correction, and comfort. The poems offer insight into real world issues and problems. The hope is Christians and non-believers will find some kind of  message from God.

The paperback book reminds me of a workbook. The size is comparable to that of a student's workbook. It measures about 8.5 by 11. I personally would like the book more if it was smaller. It would travel a whole lot easier. I could through it in my purse and take it with me as I ran the kids here and there throughout the day

.

. Before I opened the book, I thought it would contain pages for journaling because of the size.  However after opening the book and briefly thumbing through the pages, I quickly realized I was mistaken. The cover is a glossy card-stock and features a white dove holding a letter with a heart on it. It reminded me of a beach scene for some reason. It looked peaceful and helped set the tone of the book. The contains 96 poems covering a variety of topics. It's 221 pages long. The first half of the book contains a forward, an introduction, and 4 pages of endorsements, 7 pages devoted to the people that wrote the forward, introduction, and endorsements. These pages are followed a brief introduction to the illustrator, a page of acknowledgements, and a brief summary about the author. The amount of pages devoted to all of this seemed a little over the top. Most readers just want to jump in and start reading the poems. I felt these pages should have been in the back of the book. I honestly felt that some of the pages were absolutely unnecessary. It just seemed too cluttered to me. They could have easily skipped the pages about the people doing the endorsements. Maybe it was just me, but I honestly wasn't concerned about who these people were and I skipped right over them.

After I got through all those pages, I finally found the table of contents. Here I was able to see a wonderful list of titles for the poems. I read through the titles to get an idea about what some of the poems would be about....forgiveness, worry, blessings, repentance, gifts, etc.

Each poem has a page before it that contains a few Bible verses to go along with the poem written by Ron. The Bible verses quoted help the reader see the words of God. I think this is especially helpful for readers that are unfamiliar with the Bible. These quotes can help them know what God said and where to find it in the Bible. It can help them find God in their own daily struggles and triumphs.

For the most part, the poems are short and to the point. They are written in every day language making them easy to understand. Many of the poems leave the reader wondering and questioning their own lives. Do we love God enough? Are we trying to be repentant? Are we living the life God wants us to?  

I like how the poems help the reader question their own lives. They give the reader food for thought. They help start a deeper look into our own lives. These poems are a great stepping stone to explore more about our own faith and beliefs. They may even help a non-believer finally find God in the world around them. 

What I Thought of God's Mail Volume 3

I enjoyed the real life topics of the poems. They dealt with issues all of us will face at one time or another. I love how they were easy to read and understand. The book could easily be read by a young adult or teen. I did enjoy seeing the different versions of the Bible, however I did not notice any Catholic Bibles used. To appeal o all Christians, it would have been nice to include Bible verses from a Catholic Bible too.

As stated above, I felt the book was too large. A smaller, hardback book would be nicer. It would make a very nice gift and I think it would last longer since it would be more durable. I was annoyed with all the extra pages in the front. they were distracting and I honestly felt a few could have been left out. If they wanted to include all of them in the book, they should have been locate at the back of the book. The people who purchase the book are purchasing the book to read the poems. They shouldn't have to search through 10+ pages to find them. 

Overall, I think the book was rather nice. It would make a wonderful gift for a new Christian, a teen growing in their faith, or someone struggling with their faith. 

Discover more about this collection of poems. Just click the image below and read what some of the other crew members had to say.

Till Next Time,

Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ November 10, 2019

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Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ November 3, 2019

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Monique

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All Soul's Day~ November 2

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Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood 

of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, 

in union with the masses said throughout the world today, 

for all the holy souls in purgatory, 

for sinners everywhere, 

for sinners in the universal church, 

those in my own home and within my family. 

Amen.

~ Saint Gertrude

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Monique

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All Saint's Day~ November 1st

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All Saints Feast Day

November 1st

How shining and splendid are your gifts, O Lord

which you give us for our eternal well-beingYour glory shines radiantly in your saints, O GodIn the honour and noble victory of the martyrs.The white-robed company follow you,bright with their abundant faith;They scorned the wicked words of those with this world's power.For you they sustained fierce beatings, chains, and torments,they were drained by cruel punishments.They bore their holy witness to youwho were grounded deep within their hearts;they were sustained by patience and constancy.Endowed with your everlasting grace,may we rejoice foreverwith the martyrs in our bright fatherland.O Christ, in your goodness,grant to us the gracious heavenly realms of eternal life.

~Unknown, 10th Century 

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Monique

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Happy Halloween!

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Monique

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Sunday Inspiration~ October 27, 2019

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Monique

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Review~ Drawing Program from Creating a Masterpiece 2019

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After studying art in high school and college, I always knew I wanted to expose both my kids to the wonderful world of art. Over the years, we've tried a variety of resources. I was thrilled when we were given the opportunity to review the Drawing Program from Creating a Masterpiece. 

This is our second review for Creating a Masterpiece. Two years ago, we reviewed the monthly plan from Creating a Masterpiece. Creating a Masterpiece is an online fine arts curriculum for students and parents of all ages. The lessons are led by Sharon Hofer. She's the mastermind behind this online art program. Her goal is help students of all ages explore their creativity, further their artistic abilities, and grow confident in their finished projects. The program provides students with step-by-step instruction through the online videos.

 

Creating a Masterpiece offers students a variety of art resources and curriculum.

~Drawing Program~

Step by Step instructions on basic drawing skills

~Core Program~

Learn to create 24 works of art using different media

This is what reviewed earlier.

~Unlimited Access~

Access to all the videos on the site

~Art History Program~

Art history lessons with projects to complete 

~Books~

Two series of books created by Sharon Hofer, Exploring the Art of Yesterday...To Create Art Today and Step by Step: Fine Art for Kids

Each program comes with multiple levels. Students of all skill sets can work through the programs at their own pace.

For this review, we received a one-year subscription to the Drawing Program from Creating a Masterpiece. Subscriptions can be set up monthly or for the entire year. Monthly rates are $19.99. A yearly rate is $199.

The drawing program comes with 4 different levels.

Beginning Drawing

Drawing Level 1

Drawing Level 2

Drawing Level 3

Students will listen to 48 lessons and create 30 different projects . 

Cartoons, Animals, Flowers, Scenery, Buildings, etc.

Students are introduced to 3 different types of drawing media...colored pencil, pencil, and charcoal.

Students will learn about various art techniques and terms. 

Project planning, value, shading, proportion, composition, highlighting, and many more.

With Sharon's step by step instruction, students will be on their way to becoming better at drawing and possibly becoming an accomplished artist.

Even if your child doesn't want to become an artist, drawing is an important skill to have. Anyone can learn to draw and it will benefit them in life. I know over the years it has helped me along the way. I've had to draw garden designs for my yard, costume designs for the plays Therese is in, Halloween costume ideas, our kitchen layout when we were remodeling, science experiments with the kids, pictures on the board when teaching at co-ops, religious education classes, and even my own kids. It truly does help to have the ability to draw when teaching. Kids will not have to ask what it is that you are drawing. Stick figures only go so far!

Since neither of Michael or Therese are amazing artists, we started with the Beginning drawing level.. Both will tell you that they suck at art. Their words, not mine. I've always encouraged them and told them "with practice you will improve, just like everything else in life."

Our first project was the cartoon giraffe! He's actually kind of cute.

When you click on the lesson, everything you need is listed. A supply list is there and a few helpful hints to help aid your drawing lesson. 

The first thing we did was collect all the supplies we needed. White paper and drawing pencils.

We then watch the 4 videos. I loved how the lesson videos are broken up into sections. This helped with our internet connection. Since the videos were shorter they were able to down load easier and we had almost no freezing up. This made the lessons go on without a hitch!

Following the step by step instructions, we were able to create a fun cartoon giraffe.

If you're looking for a fun, yet thorough art program,  I can't recommend Creating a Masterpiece enough. Students will enjoy the lessons. They'll be able to follow the step by step instructions, and be on their way to becoming better artists. The variety of projects allows students to find something that will appeal to them. It really is a fantastic program! The entire program is cost effective and it really is like getting personalized art lessons in your home.

Discover more about Creating a Masterpiece!

Find them on Social Media

Facebook

Be sure to stop in and see what other amazing works of art the rest of the students created.

Just click the link below and you're on your way!

Till Next Time,

Monique

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