FREE St. Teresa of Calcutta Word Search Activity & Giveaway

You can enter the giveaway for this Cute St. Teresa of Calcutta Backpack Clip & Holy Card set at the bottom of the post! There are 2 prizes: 1st is the Backpack Clip & Holy card set and 2nd is a digital PDF of our St. Teresa of Calcutta Coloring page, Holy Cards, & Poster Set. The winners will be selected on Sunday, September 4th.

There are some great resources out there to help you learn more about Mother Teresa and celebrate her upcoming canonization. Here are some helpful links:
A Slice of Smith Life - Simple Ways to Celebrate
Shower of Roses - Mother Teresa Picture Books & Giveaway!
Copper Top Kitchen - St. Teresa of Calcutta Party
Life Love & Sacred Art - FREE St. Teresa of Calcutta Quote Coloring Page
Catholic Mommy Blogs- 8 Reflections on Mother Teresa's Life


I thought it would be fun to post a few different word search activity sheets. I've included varying degrees of difficulty along with a simple letter search for your wee little learners so they can join in the fun too!

If you are looking for more activities and something fun to celebrate Mother Teresa's canonization with, we have a cute printable! Available is a coloring page, holy card, and poster set up in the shop!

                             

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Can We be Like Flowers in God's Garden? {And a FREE printable St. Ignatius quote poster}

                     
“Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.”  Luke 12:27

So many times I am reminded of this verse. My momma used to always quote a similar verse growing up about and birds and lilies...basically how God cares for us.

Well, I am not a flower and boy, sometimes I tend to toil and spin around all my worries. If we only had the strength for complete abandonment to God's will, how splendidly would He robe in His Grace and we would totally be at peace. Reading through the lives of saints you notice a common theme for those that toiled in the work of the Lord (not their own worries) with trust in His will...stuff just seemed to come together. I could compile a huge list but lets just take a peak at two awesome examples.

Mother Teresa did so many things just by trusting that Jesus would come through if He wanted something done. She didn't stress about how things were going to turn out, but simply trusted that if it was God's will it would work and if not, then it simply wasn't. It would be great if I could apply this more to my life. So many times we stress about things that stressing over isn't going to do a bit of good and we waste precious time that we could be otherwise smiling and loving our families. If you really want peace, take a few minutes to smile a times you wouldn't normally. I have noticed especially with children that a smile goes a million miles...and they usually smile right back. Sometimes that simple smile is all that's needed to change the direction of a downward spinning day.

Now look at how St. Ignatius and how he prayed.

" Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me." ~St. Ignatius Loyola

Though he lead a life (you really need to read about his life, it's entirely too lengthy to sum up here in short words) full of trials and hardship getting to his goals, a sort of unearthly peacefulness and perseverance characterized this saint!

                       
Can we challenge ourselves to smile more and completely give over our life to Jesus daily? I am going to try and start our day with the prayer of St. Ignatius and smile a little more this school year. Here is a poster you can print out and put up to remind you to give it all to Jesus at the start of each new day.

Current Creations: St. Teresa of Calcutta

So here is a little look at some new creations up in the shop for St. Teresa of Calcutta.
I wanted to create a nice sturdy backpack clip or zipper pull and thought it would make a nice set paired with a large matching holy card.

If you are going to do any celebration for the canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta, here is a cute printable set that includes coloring pages, holy cards, and a large full page cute saint poster of St. Teresa of Calcutta.

And if you are a grown or have some teens looking for a creative way to celebrate, I have an awesome set of St. Teresa quote coloring pages that you can use for a mom's group or youth event.

If you missed it earlier in the week, I have a FREE St. Teresa quote coloring page in the latest Coffee & Crayons post

Coffee and Crayons: FREE St. Teresa of Calcutta Quote Coloring Page

I had an inspiration for a monthly post called Coffee & Crayons about coloring and prayer, because I know mammas out there love to color too! I'll post a FREE inspirational coloring page you can use to color in and reflect upon while you sip your morning coffee or tea. I bet some of the older kids would enjoy this reflection too.

How many of the saints have taught us the importance of silence in our lives as a way of connecting to our Lord? St. Teresa of Calcutta has quite a few quotes floating out there on the subject. Even scripture is littered with little tidbits about the importance of silence from the old Testament through the new. 
  
          “For thus said the Lord GOD,

            the Holy One of Israel:

            By waiting and by calm you shall be saved,

            in quiet and in trust shall be your strength.

            But this you did not will." Isaiah 30:15 NAB 

          “Be still, and know that I am God.

            I will be exalted among the nations,

            I will be exalted on the earth!” Psalm 46:11 NAB

We are often quick to judge, complain, or just keep gabbing. What if silence could give us a new perspective in life situations. If we really think about a situation and apply a thoughtful Christ centered quite contemplation on the matter, I bet out perspective and outlook will change.

Jesus is waiting for us in the silence and that is where we can find His gentle whispers to our soul. How can we hear anything he has to say if we don't let Him get in a word edgewise. We have all been party I am sure to a conversation where the gabber is relentless and we may have something wonderful to say or interject but never get the opportunity. It's quite a frustrating experience. I am sure we can see how Jesus feels when He can't get a word in to us though the constant noise of our modern life: T.V., phones, music, conversation, and the list goes on. 

I am going to give a wee little challenge: How long can you sit quietly before our Lord in Adoration or even in quiet praise after Mass? Try it this week or month and see if you can hear Jesus whisper to you in the silence.

There is a whole set of St. Teresa of Calcutta quote coloring pages available in the shop

Some other awesome blogs sharing great ideas on coloring and prayer time for grownups:

Prayer Wine Chocolate: 7 Reasons Why it's ok for Mommy to Color
Women of Grace: Are Adult Coloring Books OK? (Insightful, especially for those like me that get freaked out by things I see in the store...it's nice to have a strong Catholic perspective on some modern trends!)

A Marian Giveaway and Introduction to Our New Saint Quote Coloring pages

I was thinking that for our Blessed Mother a lovely Marian Giveaway is in order! I have put together a cute little package including a beautiful book: The Imitation of Mary, Marian add-a-bead bracelet, and a set of pretty coloring pages: Quotes From the Saints about the Blessed Virgin Mary (digital download). One winner will receive all of the goodies and then I will select 5 additional recipients for a set of the digital download Marian Saint Quote coloring pages. The Giveaway will end on September 8th. You can enter the Giveaway at the bottom of the page through the raffle copter widget!
                           

I have a lovely new series of inspirational adult coloring pages out now in pretty floral and patterned designs with quotes from the saints. The first listed set is for the soon to be St. Teresa of Calcutta. I also have a children's coloring page set out for St. Teresa of Calcutta too! You can find them in the shop.

   

Here is a quick look at the children's coloring set. It includes holy cards, a coloring page, and full page poster of the Saint!

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The Perks of Home Education

 This. I just love! One of the fantastic perks of  Home Education. When the weather is lovely we take our lessons outside and soak up that beautiful sunshine our Good God made for us. We can also bring to life what we are learning about. I just love the Builders of the Old World, it's one of our read aloud

books. In the chapter we were reading, we discovered the first paintings and had the perfect chance to make some prehistoric art ourselves with some charred leftovers from our fire pit!

This copy is from my childhood. I am not sure where to get it now. My dear mother saved so many of the books she loved from our homeschool days and passed them along to me! I am so grateful because of the fond memories I have from the times she taught us. I hope my children have wonderful memories too someday.    

There is just something so cute about tiny little toes...