Joy in an Envelope: The Marian ATC Swap 2010

This afternoon, we received our artist trading cards (ATCs) from the Marian ATC swap Kimberlee hosted.

To say that we were excited to receive them is an understatement. First of all, little kids hardly ever receive mail ... but when they do, it's always Something Good.

The creativity and sweetness evident in the cards just made us all smile and say, "Awww" about a hundred times. (No, I am not exaggerating.) The gorgeous cards remind us of the richness of the Catholic Church in that our expressions of love are so uniquely us.

I'm posting pictures of the adorable little treasures that we received, so if you recognize one that you did, well, thank you so much from the Paper Dali family.  (I did recognize Jessica's name in the envelope addressed to me and was delighted. ♥ One of her children's cards also showed up in the envelope of one of my children.)

In my eight-year-old son's envelope: (Visit here to see what he sent out.)

In my 9-year-old daughter's envelope: (Visit here to see what she sent out.)

In my envelope: (Visit here to see what I sent out.)

These dear little treasures need to be placed where they won't get lost or dog-eared like all our books. I'd like to do something creative to store them, but for now, I've found a few templates for making an ATC storage case:

Mirkwood Designs
Trading Card Holder from TLC (Just switch a picture of Mary for the baseball on the cover. *grin*)
Trading Card Holder (in a traditional plastic baseball-card sheet format)

If you made any of the above ATCs, please know that they were most happily received and have found a good home. We appreciate dearly the time and imagination taken to make each one ...

Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila / Oracion de Santa Teresa de Jesus

“Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing
affright thee.
All things
are passing.
God never changes.
Patient endurance
attains
 to all things.
Who God possesses
in nothing is wanting.
 God alone suffices."
(St. Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582)


"Nada te turbe;
nada te espante.
Todo se pasa;
Dios no se muda.
La paciencia
todo lo alcanza.
Quien a Dios tiene,
nada le falta.
Solo Dios basta."
(Santa Teresa de Jesús, 1515-1582)

St. Teresa looked nothing like the above drawing. (In fact, neither do I. ) The praying gal and the prayer, however, can be downloaded as a bookmark in English or, if you prefer St. Teresa's language, in Spanish. It's my little gift to you.

en castellaño:
Este mes me ha sorprendido con una tormenta de dificultades e incertitudes. La oración me ha salvado de ansiedades asi que la estoy compartiendo con ustedes.

Santa Teresa de Jesús no era nada como el dibujo. (Pues, yo tampoco soy asi). Sin embargo, puse el dibujo y oración en un marcador. Es un regalito para vos.

Saint Martin of Tours / San Martin de Tours

This paper doll now appears in the Saints Coloring Book, Vol. 2. You can find out the details at the Paper Dali Etsy shop.

Saint John of God / San Juan de Dios

This paper doll now appears in the Saints Coloring Book, Vol. 2. You can find out the details at the Paper Dali Etsy shop.

You can also download an additional sheet to help you remember the people under his care ...

The order that St. John of God founded has a fabulous downloadable PDF of his life. It's an accessible, interesting read.

Si quieren aprendar mas sobre la vida de San Juan de Dios, esta pagina de EWTN tiene informacion sobre el.

The Joy of Helping

The Abundant Harvest and Dolly Donations drive officially ended as the orphans in Haiti received the bountiful boxes of dolls made especially for them. You can see the pictures from this sweet event.

I don't cry easily, but these pictures made me do so. Especially seeing one of my dolls in the pictures. The sweet little faces of children both delighted and overwhelmed by emotion just made me cry.

Such a small thing that I did, that any of us did ... We made dolls. But the doll was packed with love ... and the love reached children and hugged them. We love you. We're praying for you. We care, sweeties.

Thanks, Sarah, and Abundant Harvest for organizing this and seeing it through ...