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I realized over the past few days that August is FILLED with feast days of some really awesome Saints! I know I’ve been sharing about some of them, but I forgot to share about our favorite August feast day which is the feast of St. Dominic! As my husband’s patron, this is one we definitely celebrate! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Since St. Dominic was a Spaniard who later went to Italy, we had Spanish paella & sangria for dinner and cannolis for dessert. Since he is the one who received the rosary from Mary, we also said a rosary to honor him in this way! If you’re not Catholic, or you’re not super into the idea of Saints — just here me out for a minute. It isn’t that we worship these men and women we call Saints. They are regular people who loved the Lord in extraordinary ways and lived Holy lives. They are now in Heaven, and so we simply honor them and look to them as examples of how to live for God! We don’t pray TO them, we ask for their intercession, so that they will pray FOR us! Don’t you ask friends here to pray for you? Well, they’re basically our friends in Heaven who are tight with God, so we ask them too! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Anyways, hope you’re having a fabulous August and celebrating any and all feast days that are meaningful to you — as St. Dominic is for us! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Fun fact: our Godson Winston was born on St. Dominic’s feast day! No coincidences with God. 😉

t w o | m o n t h s ! Two month old photo, one day late. Can’t believe it’s been two months with this little ray of sunshine who keeps on growing. So much so that she doesn’t even fit into her two month onesie. 😳😂 Thank you Jesus for this gift!

Spent today in the sunshine + among wildflowers, soaking in this last bit of summer. Don’t get me wrong—I LOVE fall, but this year I’m trying to hold onto summer a bit longer. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Who’s with me — are you savoring every last bit of summer? Or are you counting down the days until changing leaves + sweater weather?!

“Let us live as the blessed Virgin did, loving God only, desiring God only, trying to please God only in all that we do.” † St. John Vianney Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary. If you’re reading this, go to mass!

My mom, Gianna, and I went to the Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in a neighboring town today. During mass, the priest gave a homily about St. Maximilian Kolbe’s life, since today is his feast day. It was SO interesting and this man lived such an incredible life! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Did you know: • He had a vision of the Virgin Mary appearing to him during his childhood and he asked her what was to become of him. She presented him with two crowns: one white, signifying purity, and the other red, which represented martyrdom. He told her he would accept them both. He became a priest and was later martyred at Auschwitz during World War II. • He built a monastery in Nagasaki, and it miraculously survived the dropping of the atomic bomb. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ • He took the place of a fellow prisoner in Auschwitz and was sent to an underground bunker to starve to death. He did not die like the other prisoners, and the guards ultimately executed him with a lethal injection. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you ask me that’s pretty amazing, and also pretty miraculous. See, we Catholics aren’t SO crazy to think the Saints are pretty cool! And no, we don’t worship them. I would like to have someone like St. Maximilian Kolbe praying FOR me, so I’m going to keep asking them to.

Mother. Convert. Educator. Foundress. These words are engraved below a statue of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton at her shrine. As I read them it occurred to me that described in this way, she sounded like a total powerhouse feminist. When I say feminist, I don’t mean by today’s standards. In our society, we’re encouraged to be “feminists” and strong women. However, all I see is a society robbing us of our femininity, feeding us lies, reducing us to our bodies, and pitting us against men. We’re told to look up to political figures, sports players, and celebrities who have feminism all wrong. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ St. John Paul II popularized the term “feminine genius” which means that we have gifts and abilities that are unique to us as women. To me, the feminine genius is a truer feminism than how our society defines it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ You might think the Catholic Church is the last place you’d find examples of incredibly strong women worthy of emulating, but I think if you look a closer you’ll see that the Church is full of women who were true “feminists” of their time, through remaining faithful to themselves and their faith. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ✏️ St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a widowed mother of a big family who founded the sisters of Charity in the US, and created the first Catholic girls school in America. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🏥 St. Gianna was a mother and doctor who gave her life for her child. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⚔️ St. Joan of Arc wore armor and went into battle, and was ultimately martyred for her faith. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 👶🏻 St. Zélie raised Saints and ran a successful lace business, so successful that her husband quit his job to work with her! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⛪️ St. Catherine of Siena called out the pope, and urged him to return to Rome where he was needed. He listened. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🎤 St. Teresa of Avila didn’t let religious life suppress her feisty personality, but rather allowed it to shape her so that she could use her powerful voice to speak truth. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🌹 Mother Mary risked everything to say yes to God’s will and bear His Son. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Who are YOUR favorite female Saints and how have they inspired you to embrace your feminine genius?

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