Sadie's Invitation to Meet the Pope

The other day I grabbed the mail out of our mailbox and started towards the kitchen when Sadie spotted a piece of mail in my hand and her little eyes opened wide and she gasped before excitedly asking "What is that?"

I paused and looked down at the envelopes in my hand and saw this:

"Oh... it's a letter...." I said lamely, knowing that she was going to be certain that what is essentially a fundraising letter was an invitation from the Pope himself to attend the World Meeting of the Families.
"What does it say?!?!" She said, pointing to the red words.
"Enclosed is your personal invitation to attend Pope Francis' historic visit to America."  I replied, sighing.
"Are we going?!?!?!" She said, bouncing towards the kitchen after me.  There may have been squealing.  There was definitely giggling.
"Um. I'm not sure."

Now I would love to go.  I really, really would.  But with the babies and the various issues that make it very hard to leave them with just about anybody I don't see it being in the cards for us.

Sadie, however, followed me into the kitchen and begged me to open the letter.  I had the distinct feeling that she was imagining it the scene from Cinderella when the invitation arrives from the palace for the ball.  Then she stood at my elbow and begged me to read the pages that fell out of the envelope when I opened it.

I read it to her and then explained that the people who sent the letter were fundraising for the event.  She was undettered.

And I should probably now keep a closer eye on both our suitcases and Paul's paychecks because the child is ready to go to Philadelphia, right this second, to meet the Pope.

The Prayer That Sadie Would Like Me to Say

"Mommy, I know what I want to do for Religion class today.  Can we work on the prayer?  You know, the one asking for me to be a nun?"  Sadie closed her math book and looked at me expectantly.

"I guess we can do that prayer."  I said, looking around for my book of prayers.  "I'll be right back."  I handed her the book as James began to fuss in his bassinet and went to check on him.

 

We've finished our religion program for first grade and while I have another program picked out to supplement the current program for the rest of the year, I haven't printed it out yet and so I've been doing our religion lesson on a day by day basis, some days learning about saints and other days reading stories from the Bible.

 

When I handed her the book, with it's thin, foil edged pages, I didn't expect her, amid the many prayers between the black leather covers, to be able to find the one prayer that she'd found while we were flipping through it yesterday (she had immediately and enthusiastically asked me to pray it upon learning what it was meant to ask).

 

I came back from checking on James and she held out the book for me, open to this page: 

 

And then she listened very closely, repeating some of the words while I prayed it, before we went on to the next part of our lesson (which involved her asking a question that caused me to have to go onto the Vatican website to find the answer, which thankfully came up as the #1 hit when I googled what she was asking). 

So I guess if I'd wondered if she was still as passionate about growing up to be a nun as she was three years ago the answer is an adamant yes ("Cloistered." She tells me.  "And Carmelite.").

On her third birthday she wanted one thing and one thing only.
A nun birthday part and a nun dress.

Oh and that prayer.  She knows it's "really long" (it takes up another entire page in the book) but she'd appreciate it if we could memorize it together. 

That might take a while... although I have a feeling she intends to make sure I say that prayer every day for years to come!

Sadie and a Hail Mary

For the last week Sadie has been counting down the days to this morning.  We had a meeting for a new club/activity/organization that she's joined and after going to the open house and talking with some of the girls involved in it we were both really excited that she was going to be able to be involved.

This morning we loaded up the car and left Paul with the babies and headed out of the house.  Sadie looked at me and said "I should have brought my winter jacket" as she felt the not-really-cold-at-all air (she may be in for quite the awakening when it actually gets below 60...) as we piled into the car and headed north.

We were a few minutes early, so we helped one of the girls unload a troop leaders car, and then I sat down to knit while Sadie fluttered around the room giggling and talking with the other girls as they arrived.

We stood for the pledge and said the declaration of faith (I'd checked it carefully before registering online and had made sure it was something we could say, although I was fairly certain there wouldn't be a problem since we have other Catholic friends involved in the same organization in other states) and then we settled in for the faith presentation.

If you'd asked me beforehand what I was expecting I would have guessed something light and fluffy and not particularly contentious.  After all, this girls' group doesn't have a particular denomination.

The topic came up and was prayer and I found myself holding my breath.   The first question asked was "what is prayer?" and Sadie's little hand immediately shot up and she answered enthusiastically "Prayer is pleasing to God" (her answer kind of surprised me because while prayer is something that we do, it's not something I remember us really going into all the much in our religion course, or in our conversations).  Her answer obviously wasn't what they were looking for, and the conversation continued innocently.  Prayer is a conversation with God.  Prayer is worship.  Prayer can express repentance.

Then the conversation turned.  What are the wrong ways to pray?  It's wrong to pray to statues.  It's wrong to pray to "dead people."  And then (to roughly quote from memory): "And do you know how we know that it's wrong to pray to dead people?  Because they can't hear you.  And do you know how we know they can't hear you?  Because they're in heaven and in heaven everyone was happy and if they could hear our prayers here they'd be in tears."

Mangling and misunderstanding intercessory prayer at it's best.

I felt the color drain from my face as my eyes searched for Sadie at the front of the room... Sadie who will tell anyone who will listen that her favorite subject is religion.  Sadie who's ability to memorize just about anything she hears means that it's not unusual for her to quote from the catechism sections that are in her religion workbook.  A part of me was silently willing her not to be listening, while at the same time thinking of the explanation I was going to have to give in the car on the way home about misconceptions about Catholicism and how some people think we pray to statues (we don't) and I was also thinking about cracking open the can of worms about exactly what intercessory prayer is and how we're asking the saints to pray to God for our intentions.

But she was quiet in her seat across the giant room and I started to relax.  "Let's pray before we have our snack" told me that the subject had passed and I began to think about how the meetings might turn into a great opportunity to talk about what we do believe.

Then I heard her little voice ringing from the front of the room.  She wasn't talking loudly, but the acoustics were very good and her small prayer carried all the way to where I was sitting in the back as she prayed: "Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee."  The troop leader began to pray over her.  I winced, because let's face it, I'm pretty shy in real life and this is exactly the kind of attention I would generally avoid.  "Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  Amen."

So... that happened.  

The thing is, if you know Sadie, you know that she's pretty innocent.  Watching her it seemed (and knowing her) it really seemed to be a spontaneous prayer that just bubbled out at the words "let's pray" rather than a response to what had been being discussed.

Afterwards I talked to her about what they'd talked about and she really didn't seem to make a connection between the idea of asking for the intercession of the saints and the "praying to dead people" that was derided at the meeting.

So, we're planning on sticking with this new activity (and in even more exciting news, her new ballet class starts this week too!), although I'm hoping it's not quite as wonderful an opportunity for discussion on what we actually believe on the way home, every single week.  I'm hoping next week is a little bit more "Jesus loves you" and a little bit less what-everybody-else-is-doing-wrong.

Sadie's Best. Day. Ever!

Her third birthday... when she
repeatedly requested a nun party...
And her own habit, based on the
"Holy Baby" habit.

Yesterday was pretty much a dream come true for Sadie.  After Mass she sat in the car practically bouncing up and down in her seats.  Her long legs couldn't hold still and she kept clapping her hands and giggling.

"So," I asked her.  "Do you still want to be a Carmelite when you grow up?"

"No!"  She half shouted in her enthusiasm.  "I want to be a Dominican!  But how did you know?  How did you know to ask me that?"

"Oh, it was just a thought that I had."  And Paul and I laughed at the pure joy that was radiating from the back of the car.

"I don't think she was this excited for Disney World." He said as she continued to giggle nearly an hour later.  And I had to agree.

It had all started when she and I slipped into Mass.  For the last two weeks, Paul, who is truly my hero, has taken Patch and Maggie and stayed in the narthex, because with my back these days baby wrangling can just about flatten me and baby carriers are finally out.  So Sadie and I went in together, ready for a quiet Mass that would be so different from the majority of the Masses spent with Maggie and Patch over the last few years.

I noticed the white and black habits soon after we entered the church and in a tiny voice whispered to Sadie "the nuns are here."  Her face lit up.  She scanned the church.  Finally she spotted the group of Dominicans who have come to teach at the parish school.  Excitement radiated from her.  She sat up straighter.  When everyone got up from kneeling she remained there for a few minutes longer, apparently lost in thought.

When Mass ended and we were outside in the narthex I told her that she didn't have to if she didn't want to, but that if she wanted to we could wait and talk to the Dominicans before we left.  She glowed as she nodded.  We waited in the narthex for a few minutes, and then I realized that they were surrounded with excited well wishers and that it might be a while and told Sadie that she could go over and wait her turn to introduce herself.  She bounded up to them and then waited, bouncing up and down in place.

I made my way over because, because after having been present when she met Mulan at Disney World (her favorite princess when she was four) I had an idea that this might be one of those rare instances when she was so incredibly excited that she wasn't her normal self, bubbling with a million words and questions a minute.

When she finally met one of the nuns, Sister Mary Rita, she was suddenly shy.  She introduced herself, and answered her questions and said a few words, but was mostly just in awe of talking to a sister for the very first time, after basically telling me that she's ready to move out of the house to join a convent for the past three years.

We said goodbye and filed quietly out of the church to find Paul loading the babies into the van.  And then the bubbling stream of words began again.  "Daddy, do you want to know what just happened?  Daddy I just talked to a nun!"

"Do you know what kind of nuns they are?" I asked.

"Dominicans of course!" She said as she continued on with a constant stream of chatter and questions.

And now I can't help but wonder if she'll be requesting a Saint Catherine of Sienna habit for All Saint's Day this year.  I have a feeling that it'll be the first year in a while that she isn't lobbying for me to buy fabric in Carmelite brown.

Do You Wanna Be A Sister

I'm pretty sure that Sadie is going to completely freak out when she sees this.  It combines her too favorite things, religious sisters and songs from Frozen:



A few weeks ago a thick letter from a rapidly growing order of sisters arrived in our mailbox.  It had a picture of the group printed in color across the envelope and Sadie's eyes quickly grew wide:

Sadie:  "What is that?  Who is it from?  We have to open it?" were all the words that quickly tumbled out of her mouth.
Me:  "It looks like it's from a group of Dominicans.  I think those are the same sisters who are coming to teach at the school at our church."
Sadie: "What does it say?!?!?!"
Me:  "Let me open it."
Sadie: (bouncing all around me)
Me:  "I think it's probably asking for donations.  I think it probably says that they have so many women with vocations that they need more buildings!"
Sadie: (more bouncing)
Me:  "But what would you do if it was a letter saying, 'okay, you can come live in the convent with us!'"
Sadie:  "I would go, Mommy!  I want to be a nun, Mommy!"
Me:  "Right now though?"
Sadie:  "Yes!"

Then she launched into her day dream about how Maggie could be a Dominican because she will grow up to be a Carmelite.... like Saint Therese...

I've never seen quite so much excitement over a request for donations.  I can hardly imagine how excited she's going to be when she actually sees the sisters who are coming to live on the grounds of our parish.

She takes All Saints Day very seriously...

It's all about pink around here these days...

Maggie fell asleep around 4 o'clock this afternoon, exhausted after a fun double day of therapy, with both ABA and Occupational Therapy on the schedule.  She dressed herself.  

Right now light pink is big and so are polka dots.  Hot pink is barely tolerable and when I suggested a skirt with purple and pink there was hysterical crying.  So pink it is:

This conversation about Maggie occurred earlier in the week while I was on the phone with my mom:

Me:  "They gave Mae a shot of antibiotics and apparently it's a dose that should kill absolutely anything that's going on in her body."

Sadie (from the other room, sounding frantic):  "Why would you want to kill anything that's in Maggie's body?!?!?!?!?!"

I guess I need to be a little exact with Sadie around... but it did lead to a conversation about bacteria and viruses that goes hand in hand with the many times she's watched the Magic School Bus episodes on that subject.  

Before bedtime tonight another Sadie-conversation occurred:

Me (to Paul):  "I was a little worried that I was getting sick when I woke up this morning.  I had a sore throat that felt like it wrapped all the way around to my ears.  And I couldn't stop thinking about how when she was sick Maggie kept taking my water bottle and drinking out of it and then putting it up for me to drink out of it, in that little way that she does."
Sadie: "My little way is making little sacrifices to please God.  It's a little different, isn't it?"
Me: "Um yeah.  Yeah it is."

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk

She's impatiently awaiting the day...

Last week when we slipped in from the narthex and walked forward to receive the Eucharist I had my hands full.  Paul had Patrick but Maggie was in exceptionally fine form and while she usually tries to rush up to attempt to abscond with her own Eucharist, on that particular Sunday she was adamant that we weren't going forward.  She was noisy and wild and it was taking all of my attention to get her down the aisle without bumping into anyone while trying to hush her at the same time.

Finally we made it to the priest and I received and turned to go.  I made it a few steps before realizing that Sadie was no longer beside me.  Turning I saw her standing there, smack dab in the middle of both lines, face bright, staring at the chalice.

"Sadie!"  I whispered as her sister attempted to escape and drag me down the aisle, but I got no response.  She was in her own little world, her attention fixed on who was before her.  "Sadie!"

Finally Paul, who was thankfully behind us, put his hand on her shoulder and said her name softly, which snapped her back to the world in which she needed to walk back with us to the narthex.  She turned, looked surprised, and hurried after me.

Later, in the car, as we navigated through the thickly falling snow, we talked about that moment, which was so reminiscent of her attempts when she was three (and four) to convince every single priest she came across that she was old enough to receive, by kneeling and tilting back her little head and extending her little tongue.  Paul who'd been behind her, had thought she'd been trying to receive but I shook my head.  "I don't think so.  Her tongue wasn't out.  And her arms were crossed."

Finally Sadie, giggling and eyes still bright, said that she'd been daydreaming.  When asked she said that yes, it was about Jesus and when Paul asked if she was telling us what really happened she said that yes she really was.

I think someone might be big enough to appreciate going to adoration occasionally...  She's going to be so excited when it's finally time for her first communion!

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: Sadie on Angels

I just had to share the banner I made for her last night!

You may have already read this yesterday on Sadie's blog but I just had to share it today.  I love it when she retells stories like this one:

Once upon a time God created the angels.  God made many, many angels.  They said we will do everything you want, Lord God Almighty.

But what was Lucifer doing?  What was he saying?

There was Lucifer the bright and shining one.  He said I'm too bright and shiny to bow down before anyone. I'm just as good as God is.  So he said no.  And I will not serve, he said.

And that started a war and Saint Michael said "You think you're as good as God?  Well you're all wrong!  Who is like God?  No one!"

Michael and the good angels cast the bad angels out of heaven into hell . Everyone in heaven is happy with God in their home.  They've passed the test and can see God, the blessed Trinity.

The End.

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk

Earlier in the week Sadie and I were going through her Faith and Life book.  It had gone missing for a week and we were reviewing the questions from the chapters we'd already done.  About halfway through the questions I realized I'd missed a question and starting flipping back through the pages.  This conversation followed.

Me:  "Did we miss a question?  I think we did.  Which one was it?  I can't find it.  Was it 'What makes you a human person?'"
Sadie:  "No, we already did that one."
Me:  "You're right."  (more flipping pages)
Sadie:  "Did you mean to ask me 'What must you do to gain the happiness of heaven?'"
Me: (going back and seeing that I had in fact asked the questions above and below that question)  "Yes."
Sadie:  "To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love and serve God."

Yup.  She humors me by letting me pretend to be her teacher...

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk (in which I go off on a tangent)

Okay, so there isn't any actual talking about nuns in this post, and about ten sentences in I wander off on a tangent and start rambling... but it starts out with a cute Sadie moment that kind of fits my Saturday morning topic:

Last night I had to run upstairs to help deal with a mini-disaster and I asked Sadie to keep an eye on Patrick for a moment.  He was still strapped into his high chair, having suddenly decided that food is wonderful and that he needs to make up for all those months of refusing it, and so she skipped over next to him as I told her I'd be right back as soon as I could.  As I left I heard her say to Patrick in a serious little voice:

"Now Patrick, you know you can talk to Jesus all the time!"

And then she was rambling on in a voice I couldn't quite hear as I went up the stairs.

I love watching the different relationships between Patrick and Sadie and Patrick and Maggie.  Sadie acts like the perfect little mother, ready to swoop in to keep Patrick out of any "trouble" that she imagines that he's getting into.  I have to tell her that she isn't quite big enough to carry him yet about a half dozen times a day (although I think she's finally getting it) because she would very, very much like to lug him around the house.

Maggie and Patrick, on the other hand, are partners in crime.  They're basically inseparable.

If Patrick wasn't so insistent Maggie likely would have been perfectly happy to go along playing by herself, in her own little world during much of her play time time.  But Patrick would have none of that.  He has followed her around the house since he was able to scoot.  He wants to do everything that she does.  And he won't accept being ignored.

The relationship that has developed, from tolerating him to being the best of buddies, which is pretty amazing.  Yesterday I peeked my head out of the kitchen while making dinner only to see Maggie giggling and hugging him.  A few minutes later I saw him climb over her to get to the kitchen door, while she giggled hysterically.

And as I watch them together I can't help but be grateful that Patrick arrived before Maggie's diagnosis. I think if it were the other way around I would have worried far more about how she would react to him.  I know I would have spent months and months agonizing over the dynamic of adding a new baby... when there was really nothing to worry about.  Instead Mae's been blessed with the playmate that she never asked for, but that she most definitely needed and the resulting friendship amazes me!

Sadie's Saturday "Morning" Nun Talk

On Thursday afternoon I announced that we'd finished our school work for the week.  Sadie looked sad and insisted that we should still do our religion class over the weekend.  So today I asked her if she wanted to make a movie answering "her questions" (the questions from the "Our Father" book that we use) and she said yes (she loves that book and she loves making videos so double the excitement).  Here she is answering the questions:

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: On Saint Therese

Sadie was on the phone with my mom yesterday when she launched into a conversation about the solar system.  As it got funnier and funnier (at least to me) I began to type what she was saying: 

"I was a little surprised. I thought God was going to make Pluto the same size as Jupiter. But he didn't he made it little... And Saturn has rings. And it's not closer to the sun. And there's something I have to tell you. Mercury is near the sun and it's hot. It's not like Pluto. It doesn't have ice all over it. No. It's close to the sun."


Earlier in the week she asked me to get the camera and record while she talked about Saint Therese... she's a little shy at the start and then she gets going:

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: The Fourteenth

Sadie and I were driving from her swim lesson class to the library this morning to pick up the books for this next week when she launched into a daydream monologue about becoming a nun.  As I steered the car out of the community center's driveway towards the library the following conversation unfolded (although I know I'm leaving stuff out since she really goes on and on about nuns when she starts talking about them...).  I thought I'd throw a few questions out there to see what she was thinking about the whole "I want to go away into a convent to pray for the world" thing that she'd talked about so much last spring, since it hadn't come up for a while:

Me:  "So when you're a nun are you going to come visit me?"
Sadie:  "No Mommy of course not.  I'm going to be a Carmelite not a missionary."
Me:  "Oh.  Okay.  So you want to be cloistered then?"
Sadie:  "What's cloistered mean?"
Me:  "Those are nuns that go away from the world to pray."
Sadie:  "Yes.  I would love to be cloistered.  I want to be cloistered.  I want to go away from the world to pray."
Me:  "Oh."
Sadie:  "Don't worry Mommy.  You'll still have Maggie and Patrick.  And you should have more babies too.  I hope you have another baby when me and Maggie and Patrick are grown up."
Me:  "Just one?"
Sadie:  "No.  Not just one.  One and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and nine and ten.  You should have ten."
Me:  "Ten in all or ten plus you three."
Sadie:  "Ten more."
Me:  "So thirteen?"
Sadie: "Yes, thirteen.  Or fourteen.  I think you should have fourteen babies."

So there you have it.  Sadie's grand plan for the next 20 or so years.

Sadie's Saturday "Morning" Nun Talk

I had a cute little video of Sadie telling the story of Saint Therese's life all ready to go for this morning, using my old camera which works 25% of the time (if I turn it off three or four times it usually comes into focus one of those times and it won't manually focus either so I just keep tapping it and hoping it comes on with the focus working)... but then the video wouldn't transfer to the old computer so... written post it is!  If you're on the facebook page you might recognize some of these from earlier in the week.

This week Sadie was very interested in a little book she has on the Works of Mercy.  After having both Paul and I read the book to her over and over again she was proudly reciting those she could remember and then...

She happily came across the room to ask me to get her a glass of water. When I didn't immediately jump up from what I was doing she smiled sweetly and said: "I'm asking you so that you can do an act of mercy. So that you can please God."

Okay then.  I laughed and gave her a cup for herself and one for her sister so that she could "give drink to thirsty" too.

An hour or so later Patrick began to cry and Sadie suddenly looked oddly happy by the development.  After a few seconds I knew why: "Look Mommy! Patrick's crying! I think you have a chance to do another work of mercy. You get to feed the hungry!"

She's been on a roll.  She's also become the enforcer of the family rosary ("Mommy, why are you cleaning up?  Don't we say are rosary first?  We're still saying our rosary aren't we?!?!?!").

And perhaps the funniest part of the week was when I was reading her a library book and the main character started casting a magic spell.  Now we read fairy tales frequently and she loves to talk about "this is imaginary" and "this is real" when we're reading.  But this book had her distressed because the little girl went to school with nuns and then went to magic school (it was actually a book by an author who does a lot of saint books, which was why I'd picked it out at the library).  

"Is this pretend?"  She asked suddenly.  "You know what God says about magic!"  When did we even talk about magic.  I can't remember.  But she did.  And she was frowning.
"This is pretend."  I replied (I had yet to read the back cover).
"But there are nuns in it."  She continued shaking her head.  "There are nuns."
"It's pretend even though there are nuns in it."
"But..."  She was getting more and more worked up.
"How about this.  They're using the word magic like medicine in the story. How about I say medicine instead."   

Silence.  I continued the story.  

I got to the end of the story and turned the page to find the main character grown up and giving out magical cures to a line of people that included a bunch of nuns and priests.  Sadie was irate.  We quickly put the book away.

So fairies are okay.  Cinderella's fairy godmother doesn't bother her a bit. But a bunch of nuns waiting in line for a spell...  Sadie was not amused...  

I've had quite a few people ask what religious education materials we're using so I am planning a post on that this week for anyone who's asked!

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: #12

This week Sadie has been especially passionate about her favorite subject.  I've found her whispering the story of various saints to herself (especially Saint Bernadette and Saint Therese), and she's been wearing her little Carmelite habit, although last night she was able to be convinced to wear pajamas rather than insisting on sleeping in it (I draw the line at taking the cape and veil into bed with her too...).  

"Patrick, do you want to be a Bishop?" has become regular mealtime conversation, since she sits right next to him and even on our days off from school it's likely at least an hour is going to be devoted to reading from the lives of the saints which she'll haul over to me the second my backside hits a couch cushion (Nursing Patrick?  Here.  Read this.  Aloud.).

We've also been talking a lot about the Eucharist.  Whenever we talked about it she would get strangely quiet so I was never even entirely sure if she was listening, much less understood what I was saying.  This week she pointed at the Eucharist in one of her books and said "That's Jesus, right?

And at Mass last Sunday during the consecration,  the bells rang out and I heard a small whisper beside me say:  "I love you God.  I always want to please you."

Then later in the day:

Me:  "Could you put on a dance performance for me and Mae and Patrick?"
Sadie: (bows low)
Me:  "Was that a curtsy?"
Sadie:  "Actually no Mommy, it wasn't.  I was bowing low before God the Father, the Almighty."
Me:  "Oh."

A few minutes later she bows again.
Sadie:  "Did you see me bow?  I was bowing before the most Blessed Trinity.  I was saying:  I will serve you God."

So... She's been in fine form this week... now to get her ready for swim lessons.

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk (#11)

In her own words, shortly before her fifth birthday:

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: The Tenth

The other day I overheard the following conversation:

Sadie:  "Patrick.  I have a deal for you."
Patrick:

Sadie:  "Do you want to be a Pope, Bishop or Priest, Patrick?"

Patrick:

Sadie:  "Well?"

Patrick:

Sadie:

Me:  "So what did he say?"

Sadie:  "He wants to be Pope."

Perhaps her big sister ambitions for him explain her persistent focus in catechizing him.  For example:

And:

This is a change from her ardent wish last week that he become a Carmelite friar after watching a few minutes of a movie about Saint John of the Cross.  She was pretty much ecstatic that she and Patrick could both be Carmelites (poor Mae... Sadie's announced that Mae should be a missionary...  apparently she doesn't have dreams of dragging Mae along with her to a convent since Sadie's adamant that she wants to be cloistered...).

And on that note (I'll drag you along on my random train of thought since you're here), we had missionaries come to the door this past week.  And I was bored.  And it was finals week.  Which meant that I pretty much hadn't spoken to an adult in person in a couple of weeks, except in passing as Paul sleepily stumbled out of the house to go to the library each morning (I was asleep long before he came in after midnight each night).  So I broke my personal "don't open the door to anyone who isn't a mail delivery person" rule and went out to talk with the missionaries, so that our giant very Catholic altar didn't scare them away.  

Even after googling the flier they gave me I can't figure out what they were (they were Christian).  But I spent a bit of time talking with them, while Mae tried to sprint past me out into the street and Sadie decided to come out and tell them about her "brother Christian who's in heaven."  They definitely didn't try a hard sell and mostly just asked questions about our family, so I'm wondering if we'll see them again (okay, so I've been brushing up on my apologetics watching Church Militants apologetics courses again while I've been working in the laundry room)... but after they left Sadie and I had a conversation that went something like this:

Me:  "Those were missionaries."

Sadie:  "They were nuns?!?!?!?!?!"

Me:  "No they weren't nuns.  They weren't Catholic."

Sadie:  "But you said they were missionaries."

Me:  "Not all missionaries are Catholic."

I wish I could convey the deeply skeptical look she gave me when I said those words, because I'm not sure I can do justice the look of disbelief that flashed across her face as she decided to go back to playing rather than argue with the crazy woman who thought that not all missionaries are Catholic.  

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: Playing Mary Statues (#9)

A while ago I mentioned that the girls had come up with a new game: "Mary Statues."

While they were playing it I took a few videos and this morning I finally got around to editing them, so that you don't have to listen to the part where Sadie and I discuss the squirrel rampaging through the garden and eating all of my plants.  Here's the finished version:

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: Tuesday Edition

Whether it's a man opening the door for her to walk into a restaurant or our neighbor getting out of his car to go into his house, Sadie's more than happy to tell anyone who says "hi" to her that she wants to be a nun.  Today she had a semi-captive audience in her dentist.

The Dentist (to me):  "Do you have any questions before we start?"
Me:  "I don't think so."
Dentist (to Sadie):  "And do you have any questions?"
Sadie:  "Yes.  I want to be a nun!"
Dentist:  "What's that?"
Sadie:  "I want to be a nun!"
Dentist:  "Oh that's so nice.  Why do you want to be a nun?"
Sadie:  "So that I can serve God!"
Dentist:  "That's wonderful!  What kinds of things do you do to serve God?  Do you help people?"
Sadie:  "Yes!"
Dentist:  "And do you share?"
Sadie:  "Yes!"
Dentist:  "Do you know any nuns?"
Sadie:  "Yes, I do.  I know Mary Therese and Bernadette."
Hygienist:  "What is she trying to say?"
Me:  "She's saying Mary Therese and Bernadette."
Dentist:  "Are they you're friends?"
Sadie:  "Yes they are my friends..." (insert long pause)  "They are in heaven now..."
Dentist:  "Oh.  They're very special then, aren't they..."

I was in the corner, managing not to laugh at the cuteness of their conversation.

I am very thankful that we have a dentist that's so awesome with kids so that after her filling Sadie told me that it was "fun" and looks forward to the next appointment.

And that is this Tuesday's Special Edition of Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk!

If you have a quick second and want to offer up a prayer for Paul's last final... it's this evening... and I cannot wait for it to be over (then he'll only have one paper left before he has a month off!  I am counting the days!)!

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: The 8th

In the past few weeks the front of our house has been piled high with packages that I've been steadily bringing in and unpacking.  You see, about two weeks ago I began ordering the homeschool books we plan on using for the upcoming year, and I found most of them used on Amazon.  The books rolled in from around the country and for Sadie it's been like Christmas nearly every day as she waits to see which book is inside each package.

I've been in the love with the idea of a Classical Educational since I first began researching homeschooling.  I've been reading and re-reading The Well-Trained Mind for at least four years.  Last year we bought the reading list for pre-school and kindergarten and worked through it.  This year I purchased most of the first grade books, knowing that next year, at the end of law school, might not be the best time to be going on a book shopping spree, even when many of the books are listed for 1 cent.  I figured we could re-read the kindergarten books again, and begin reading the first grade books slowly, doing some of the fun projects (mummifying a chicken!) and seeing how things go.  

This first year will be very relaxed, since she's basically read most of the kindergarten books, but I don't want to go straight into the first grade stuff, and we're taking reading and writing slowly, and ambling through the many story books that are part of the first grade curriculum for fun.  

Except that Sadie isn't really happy with the idea of "slowly" and gets her school books out each morning and sets herself up and asks for a pencil and works and works and works until I point out that her little hand is looking very tired and that maybe we should do something else and she grudgingly agrees.  

There is a point to all this, however (since this is my Saturday Morning "Nun" post).  You see, the first year books cover ancient times and many of the books that have arrived are story books of Greek myths.  And the book that Sadie loves the most is Pandora by Robert Burleigh.

The book is beautifully written and begins with Pandora obsessing over a jar that she is forbidden to open.

The first time we read it Sadie began to shake her head.  "She's just like Eve, isn't she?"  She said with a sigh.  We were halfway through and I really didn't see the similarities yet (and I only vaguely knew the story... there was a box or something... Pandora opened it... bad things came out...).  Then we read farther.

Pandora was the first woman, the next page said.  Her passion to "know all things" causes her to sneak in and unseal the jar and peek under the lid, unleashing evil into the world.  

Sadie spent the rest of the day talking about how that story book reminded her of Eve in the Garden of Eden, and even had me get out the new Bible that we got for this year so that she could compare Pandora's curiosity and disobedience (for it had been decreed that she not touch the jar) with the story of Adam and Eve and the "Apple" and the Snake.

In other news I caught her kneeling next to Patrick whispering to him about growing up to become a priest. No pressure there, little guy... no pressure at all...