Pilgrimage to Rome

My family and I have the great opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to see Pope Francis in Rome this coming May. As many of you know we live very precariously, we know that God will provide as He always does, but if any of you want to help us pay for our plane tickets you could buy something from my Etsy shop or simply donate whatever you like through my PayPal account.

We will be forever grateful and you will be in our prayers.

Thank you so much in advance!!

 

or

MY ETSY SHOP

Love,

Brazil.

I think I've said it before... thanks to Pope John Paul II and his World Youth Day pilgrimages I've traveled the world. I've been to France, Israel, USA {many years before I could even imagine I would get married and move to the US!!}, Canada... I have participated to many pilgrimages. My last one was in 2000, in Rome... until this summer... after 13 years.. Pope Francis met the youth of all over the world in Brazil. It has been an amazing experience.
I was not too excited to go, I have to say.. first of all because I didn't feel like leaving my children for 2 weeks far far away from me, and also because I didn't really care about visiting a place where they speak Portuguese {a language to me completely unknown}.
Today I can say I'm very happy I had the opportunity to go. Me and my husband were in charge of a group of youth... listening to their experience was the thing that I liked the most, the way they struggle in their life and how God is helping them. We were all there together to see the Pope and have a meeting with Christ. It has been a blessing.
I also liked the country very much! It reminded me a little bit of Italy {except for the jungle!!}, the people were incredible, and the Portuguese... well, I started learning it!!! I'm still studying now... it's so similar to Spanish and Italian, I think I'll be able to speak it.. it's gonna be a piece of cake! ;)

I didn't take many pictures but I picked a few I could find online to show you the beautiful places I visited. My eyes has seen all this {and more}...

 

Rio de Janeiro

 

the ocean near Paraty

 

 

Paraty

 

this is me and my husband in Paraty...

a picture I took in Rio --->

 

 

..this is to give you an idea of how many people were at the meeting with the Pope in Copacabana!!! :)

 

 

The next pilgrimage with the Pope will be in 3 years in Poland... will I be there? Hopefully with my kids, but only God knows... :)

 

xoxo,

 



 

Easter Candle

Easter is veeeery near!!! I have to say that, as much as I love eggs decorating and all kinds of cute crafts, I don't think I will have the time to do any of that {it doesn't mean I won't enjoy looking at pictures and DIYs in my favorite blogs!}. I've been very busy decorating the Easter Candle for one of the parishes here in town. It was a big job!!! I'm happy with the results... especially because I've never really studied Art or taken any class of drawing and painting. My 2 sisters are both great artists, I had them as examples all my life.

I used acrylic paint, and of course copied the image from a beautiful already existing icon. The hardest part for me to paint is the face of Christ... it took me a while... I just hope that the priest who asked me to do it is happy... because he will have to look at it all year until next Easter!!!  

I want to share with you some pictures... :)

me at work..... so concentrated!

the whole picture

Christ, detail..

Have a wonderful day!!!

xoxo,

Back to Normal?

 

How have you spent your vacations? I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

I came back two days ago from a beautiful week spent in Washington State with my family. We go visit my Mother-in-law every year for Christmas, I think it's our new tradition and we love it! I'm glad my kids have an opportunity to spend some time with their grandma.

Now I wish I could say we are back to our "normal" life.. but we are not!! We are supposed to move in a new apartment.. hopefully that will happen soon! I closed my Etsy Shop for a few days, almost everything is the house is packed, we are living as if we were camping! :) It's fun but I long for the moment in which I will be finally in the new house and everything will be magically in order and organized! Will that ever happen?? We'll see.. ;) I know there's a lot of work ahead of me!

 

One of the most important things for me to do is to organize {somehow in this great mess} the Feast of the Three Kings that is celebrated tomorrow. This might shock you but my children don't wait for Santa Claus every year but for Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar, the 3 Magi who came from far away to bring presents to Jesus and adore Him. It's the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrated in the Catholic Church, that closes the time of Christmas.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoration_of_the_Magi

 

Tomorrow my children will receive their presents!! We will hopefully go to a celebration in one of the parishes that has organized the visitation of the Kings (they really come and greet the children!). It's a beautiful way to pass Faith to our kids and really the most beautiful time of the year. We are waiting for them with excitement!

 

Happy Feast of the Epiphany to all those who celebrate it!!!

 

Hugs to all!!

 

 

Longing for Fall

Is it really FALL? It sure doesn’t feel like it here in California. This morning it was a little cloudy and the air was fresh.. almost chilly.. but just after a few hours.. back to the normal 90 degrees!!

Well, I baked all day anyways… {my husband not too happy about it, ‘cause the oven makes our little house SOOO hot!}… a yummi baked pasta for lunch and cupcake brownies for merenda {aka snack} accompanied by my Cappuccino. I took a picture to show the beautiful coasters I recently won in a Giveaway. Look at them!! They were made by Heather Rains, a sweet girl from California who writes about her life in her wonderful BLOG. Aren’t they sweet? I love the retro flower design…

A few days ago I won another giveaway… it’s so much fun and I feel so blessed to receive little gifts from all over the place!! Every time it happens I think it’s a present from Heaven to bright up my day.

I’m also happy to tell you that I’m giving away another COZY from my shop. You will be able to pick the one you like the most! If you’re interested.. go check out the awesomeness  of  this GIVEAWAY.. on Kristine’s Blog!! You’ll love all the prizes…

Well, it’s getting late and my chores are calling me… I want to finish this post with a beautiful quote from St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, one of my favorite Saints. {Today we celebrate His feast}. And also a beautiful picture of what Fall should normally look like…. =)

"Oh, how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it. Oh, if only all could understand how precious time is, undoubtedly everyone would do his best to spend it in a praiseworthy manner! (PADRE PIO)

I wish you all a beautiful week!

xoxo,

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