An Advent Litany - "Litany of the Word"

Our oldest girls have sang in our children's choir at church for over 5 years now.  They practice weekly and sing once a month.  It's such a blessing to see them grow more confident in this gift and give their all for Jesus as they sing. They are like little angels singing in a choir.  It's such a joyful noise to hear all the children raising their voices to Our Lord in song.

We were first introduced to this song a couple years ago, and the same day I heard it, I came home and had to google the lyrics.  It's became a favorite ever since.  An Advent Litany, "Litany of the Word", sang by 7 of our 8 young ones....

And, what does "maranatha" mean, you may ask?

**Definition - "An Aramaic expression occurring in St. Paul (I Corinthians 16:22) in the verse "If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse on him. Maran atha." The Christian Fathers understood the term to mean "Our Lord has come." But more probably it means what St. John has at the close of the New Testament, "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20)."

from Catholic Culture

**"The Apostle Paul uses the Aramaic word maranatha only in 1 Corinthians 16.22.[1] This use indicates that Greek-speaking Christians borrowed this transliterated word from the early Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians of Judea and Galilee and made it a part of their own liturgy. Its meaning is complex.[2] If parsed marana tha, it is a request and means “our Lord, come;” but if parsed maran atha, it is a confession and means “our Lord has come.”"

from Patheos

7 ways to inspire creativity in kids

Creativity is not a word that I honestly can use to describe myself, although I like to gleam from others' creativity.  I know where to find really great ideas and have the drive and will to put them into practice.  I love doing "creative" things!  But the actual ideas??  No.  Nada.  Very rarely found in me.

But I have 8 kids who are very gifted in creativity.  I wish I could answer all the "how's" and "whys" on how this has happened.  Mostly by the grace of God and Him working and living and breathing in their beautiful, innocent, open souls.  

I do, however, have 7 tips on some things we have done over the years that may have added to building up these creative young ones in our house....

#1

Play/Free Time

I am putting this as número uno, because kids need the time and opportunity to let those creative juices to flow.  I truly believe that without this time, a kid cannot blossom into the creative person God has called them to be.  My kids love to play especially love to dress up, play "house", pretend play, playing outside, riding bikes, splashing and getting wet (and sometimes dirty!), and so much more.

#2

Singing

Again, I have to first share that I am NOT a singer and have no singing ability.  However, I do love to sing.  Anyone else the same way?  We sing many of our prayers - part of our morning offering, we love to sing the Hail Mary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and countless hymns and Christian songs.  

Each kid has a name song that we made up for them when they were just babies.  It spells out  the letters of their name and is sung to a catchy tune.  It helps them know how to spell their name even before they know what letters are.  We use nicknames here on the blog, otherwise, I would share one of the kid's songs.

Who doesn't like a party in kitchen singing and dancing around to your favorite songs?  They happen quite regularly around here.  I'm known to grab a kid as they walk by me in the kitchen and dance with them, while singing "Once Upon A Dream".  My girls also sing in our church choir.  Many mornings, I wake the kids up with a "Good Morning" song.  And, pretty much anytime, there is someone either humming, singing a tune, or some sort of music is playing in the background.

#3

Building

This one doesn't need much explanation.  And, like most kids, ours love to build with Lego's - on a daily basis!!

Although this one also goes along with #6, here is an example of how the bigger boys build their lego's and what they do with them afterward....

#4

Playing an instrument 

Neither Neil or myself played an instrument growing up, but when we had kids, something in us longed to allow our kids this opportunity.  So, around Kindgarten/First Grade, our kids started in piano lessons.  Our big kids take weekly piano lessons and participate in a Gold Cup Festival every year along with yearly recitals, not to mention the daily practice and just playing for fun and love of the instrument.  Mario, after receiving his first Gold Cup in piano, wanted to try a new instrument. So he is going on about 2 years of playing the guitar now.  The babies and preschoolers get free reign of the piano as well, as long as they "use their fingers" (no toys, mainly!), plus we have a big basket full of instruments in our kitchen that get played with regularly as well.  

#5

Video making/acting 

This area of creativity is a relatively new area for our family, not really thinking our kids were interested or had any natural talent (I feel terrible putting this off for such a long time, knowing now how good they are actually are).  Mario and Fone took part in an acting camp last spring at a local junior theater and absolutely loved it.  Then, in the summer, Fone took one of the lead roles in the VBS plays at our church.  In wanting to continue with this gift and build on it, I signed up Mario and Fone in a video making class last summer.  WOW!!!!  My boys are just shining and truly loving this new hobby.  We let them start a YouTube channel called Funny Boys Productions to share and keep all their videos and just last night, they won an award (and cash prize!!) for a short film contest that the local libraries were hosting.  We couldn't be more proud of them!!!  And, for this semester, not only Mario and Fone, but also Melody are all taking acting classes at our local junior theater.

#6

Arts/crafts 

Again, I have very little talent with arts/crafts, so when our children show talent and a love for the arts, it just blows me away because I know it comes from Someone Else.  ++thank you, God!++ Arts/crafts around here mostly consist of chalk drawings, pencil and paper drawings, watercolors, painting, and the occasional-super-duper-rare pinterest material project.  Mostly, any room you enter at our house has some art project or drawing made with love by one of our young ones hanging on our walls, cupboards, fridge, or door.  My sweet kids are my interior decorators and provide all the decorations we need for simple, yet beautiful living.  ;)

 

#7

Homeschooling/Reading

I truly believe that homeschooling has helped preserve the God-given gifts of creativity given to my children because they are not afraid to be themselves.  They are surrounded all day long by people that love them for who they are, and they can blossom in that environment without being teased or judged.  I know homeschooling is not for everyone and does not work for every family, but it has done so much good to our family and I am forever grateful.  ++thank you, God!!++  A huge part of our homeschooling is reading - the kids read on their own, to each other and before bed, I take time to read longer books to the older kids.  We treasure our reading time!!  

*********************************************************************************

Since today is a Friday and I shared @7 things", I can't help but link up to 7 Quick Takes.  Visit the icon below to see more great Quick Takes links....

*********************************************************************************

++Thank you, God, for the gift of creativity that you have blessed our young ones with!!++

Wordless Wednesday

A good morning song for you... (and Yoda!)

For years, I have sung this song to my kids in the morning.  First off, I am not a singer, although I love to sing to my kids and to Jesus. [My husband is the singer in the family, remember?  His name is Neil Young.  ;)]  So, once my kids have grown up a little and learned that, unfortunately, this song kind of makes them cringe hearing mommy hit those higher off-tune notes. But, God gave me this voice, so I'm still going to keep singing.  I love how the traditions you create and the kids are so used to day in and day out, become part of their own life, part of their normalcy.  So, what song do they greet their baby brother with in the morning?  The ever-so-famous-song-sung-to-them-for-years song!   :)

++May God bless you this day, each and every day!  Good morning, good morning, good morning to you!!++

Pat-a-cake and Rose's first singing debut

Our sweet Rose sings ALL day long, probably because most of sing for fun throughout the day as well.  I say "for fun" because we lift up our voices to share our joy and silliness with each other.  Only a couple of us have been blessed with natural talent with singing - meaning Melody and Ariel (who love to sing in our children's choir at church and have very pretty voices).  The rest of us just sing for fun and to remind our wonderful God this is the gift He gave us and we'll use it whether those around us like it or not.

So back to da baby, she sings "ABC's", "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (or as she says "Baa Baa Sheep Sheep"), "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Wheels on the Bus" and many more and any combination of these songs as well.  That is the cutest when she is so into her singing, she forgot what song she was singing and just adds a new one to it.

Just the other day she was taught Pat-A-Cake and loves doing this new song and clapping game with her brothers and sisters and momma and daddy.  Here she is having some fun with Max....

And, because she is a super shy girl when around anyone but her siblings and parents and very rarely shares her singing love and talent with others, I caught her on tape singing her most favorite of songs to share with all of you, but mostly to never forget this adorable baby girl whom we love so much....

++Thank you, God, for the gift of music, and the love of it you have blessed our family with!!++

A favorite song....

My girls love the song "Gold" by Britt Nicole, and it is always one of the first requests to be played in the van when we are out and about.  Now I say girls, but my boys (yes, even Fone and Mario) actually sing and enjoy the song as well (probably because of the "boys all over the world" part!).  Last night, the 3 oldest had some cousins over for a sleepover and of course, the girls are singing constantly.  Singing and dancing, dancing and singing!  Neil is cringing with all the voices and elevations and imperfections, and I am praising God for these 4 sweet girls who love Him and love to sing to Him and share their voice with others. 

The girls worked very hard on these dances and begged me to record them, so here you go.... 
(feel free to come back and re-visit any time - you won't be able to search and find them on YouTube, because our videos are "unlisted")


First, we have Ariel and her cousin singing and dancing....

Second, we have Melody and her cousin singing and dancing....

And, finally, all four girls singing their favorite song...

(don't you love the addition that a couple of them added....  "you're one in a million" - "YEARS!"  too funny!)

Thank you God for girls who love to sing!  

Thank you God for cousins who love each other and love You!!!!