Saints in the Summertime--St. Joseph

It is only fitting that Joseph would choose St. Joseph as his saint to present to everyone. "Present" is a very relative word. :) He was very excited about it, asking when it was going to be his turn, eager to sit at the computer to search a few things with me, happy to gather books and Holy cards, and even help cut apart the matching cards that we printed, but when it came right down to it, he couldn't remember who it was he was talking about or who St. Joseph was. He did a great job passing out the coloring pages and showing pictures though.

 

 St. Joseph may be well known as the husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus, but we don't know of his life during Jesus' adult life. We do know that he was a carpenter from Nazareth and after being visited by an angel who told him of Mary's conception of the son of God, that he was a very good father to Jesus. He is the protector of the Holy Family and loved and taught Jesus as if he was his own son. St. Joseph is the patron of fathers, carpenters, and the Church among others. His feast day is March 19th.

 Joseph served cream puffs as a snack since they are a common treat associated with the feast of the Solemnity of St. Joseph, and we found a coloring page of Joseph holding the child Jesus in his arms. St. Joseph is often pictured with a lily and/or a carpenters square, and we briefly brainstormed some snacks that we could make to represent on of those things, but cream puffs won out (more my win than Joe's). We also played a matching game with cards that had images of St. Joseph on them. This activity was totally suitable since Joe really likes playing memory games, even though Jakob won!

Animosity between siblings was higher than normal this morning, even during the fun of activities. Funny that while we're learning about Holy men and women who somehow dedicated their lives to God, we are squabbling (that's my nice way of describing incredibly whiny, nasty, overly-critical-of-each-other children). Oh...St. Joseph, PRAY FOR US!