Sunday Pics and Little Flowers- Courage

Wow- this is my THIRD long post in one night!  :)

I realize that the days of sitting all the children on the steps for Sunday pictures are going to be temporarily gone as Charlie is now an official "toddler"- as in I toddle around and don't stand still....  :)




Gotta catch baby boy on the move! (this is obviously after lunch- hence the dirty face and shirt!) :)

 

 Talking to Tuck Tuck about "making better choices." :)
 

Today we had our Little Flowers group. Two girls were sick and three girls were out of town, but we still had a good crowd and a lot of fun. We began by learning about the life of Blessed Margaret Pole and her virtue of courage.  She was a holy Princess- niece of King Richard III and King Edward the IV, and King Henry VIII actually had called her "the holiest woman in England".  She was beheaded at the age of 70 when she and her son (a Cardinal) refused to submit to King Henry VIII's new church, of which he had made himself the head.
   

I didn't have a picture of Blessed Margaret Pole, so while we learned about her life they colored our flower of the month- the Yucca.



After learning about St. Margaret's courage, we talked about St. Stephen's martyrdom, and how he had the courage to, like Christ, forgive his enemies.



Then the girls worked on making crowns, like Margaret would have had.  We talked about how Christian courage means loving Jesus more than crowns, riches, power, or adoration.



Then we took the girls to a statue of Jesus and let them lay their crowns at his feet, demonstrating that they loved Jesus more than anything this world could offer- just like Blessed Margaret Pole.  It was PRECIOUS to watch them do this so sweetly.



Then we all prayed the Our Father and then headed back to the room to work on our "courage" album pages.  While they worked on their pages, we listened to our CD and learned our memory verse, "I command you:  be firm and steadfast!  Do not fear nor be dismayed for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9  We also talked about Joshua and the battle of Jericho and how he had courage because GOD was with him.  Then we talked about David and Goliath and how little David didn't fear the giant because GOD was with him.



After the album pages, we had pumpkin cupcakes and headed to the playground to play.  A wonderful afternoon!