St. Josephine Bakhita Coloring Page

I must beg your forgiveness for one thing. This was actually one of the first pictures I made after St. Maximillian. You can see on the Scribd page that it was added 5 months ago. Sunshine was considering St. Josephine as a confirmation saint along with some obviously girlie choices like St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Jane. I always thought I would get a chance to go back and make a better rendition; but I never did. Sunshine was confirmed with the name of St. Josephine Bakhita which just goes to show you that sometimes the saint chooses you. My Sunshine has been a princess her whole life and a lover of all things princess-ish. The fact that she chose St. Josephine, a former slave, proved to me her spiritual maturity and ability to open her heart to God's whisperings.

So I am offering this coloring page even though I wish it were a little nicer but that is the perfectionist in me and I will go put the muzzle on her for now.

St. Josephine Bakhita Coloring Page

I think our Coffee, Tea and Thee celebrating St. Josephine Bakhita was one of the most memorable for the children; they have mentioned it more than any other. We talked about St. Josephine's story and the amazing story of Lopez Lomong back when the Olympics began. So,on Sunday, we will be doing the same and enjoying a new tradition.

Feast of St. Martin of Tours

Here are our plans for the day:

1. Package up these scarves I crocheted to send to the Knit Your Bit campaign at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. These were super easy and super fast to put together. I used up two skeins of unused oatmeal colored yarn and a good portion of some burgundy and blue variegated also found at the bottom of my yarn box. You can find the pattern here. This is the same museum we sent our Book Club fleece scarves to so don't count them out if you can't knit or crochet. The kids all received very nice certificates thanking them for their contributions.
2. Pick out new winter slippers and pray that it gets cold enough to require them.

3. Pick up some Holiday Tea. Nutcracker Sweet is calling me!

4. Make Martinmas Lanterns. I'm probably going to go Dawn's route and use jars and tissue paper since that is what I have on hand.

5. Make horseshoe cookies most likely from a ready made dough since our time is limited!

6. Light our lanterns, eat our cookies and drink our tea tonight with Daddy.

St. Martin, pray for us!

Feast of St. Andrew Kim and the Martyrs of Korea

From the archives:

We have been enjoying all of the wonderful books we picked up from our local library with Korean themes, but by far, three of them have so quickly made their way into our hearts that returning them to the library is going to be painful. The first one that I have been torturing Sunshine with (or so she would say) by withholding it until today is The Princess and the Beggar. It is a truly lovely tale about the littlest princess in the palace whose sensitive nature earns her the nickname The Weeping Princess. She treasures her quiet moments filled with books, study and poetry. When she insists that she would rather marry the beggar who lives in the valley than marry the nobleman he father has chosen, she is banished from the palace. She and her beggar husband help each other change through kindness and gentleness for the better.

The girls were very interested in learning more about the traditional costume of Korea so we checked out this site but got really excited when we found a Korean Hanbok Paper Doll (scroll down to the September 9th entry). Of course, we had to make our own little Weeping Princess. These were based on the drawings in the book.

The Professor made the flag in the picture above using a Korean flag coloring page. The other two books that were big hits were The Royal Bee (based on the experiences of the author's grandfather) and The Trip Back Home. Both worthy of a look or two if you ask my kids!

I did serve rice pudding with our tea this afternoon although it was nowhere near authentic Yak-Sik. The kids liked it but not as much as they enjoyed the Maple Syrup Korean Teriyaki Chicken. I served it on a bed of brown rice and steamed shredded cabbage. Would you believe I shaped the rice and cabbage into a yin-yang symbol to match the flag even though I don't have a picture to prove it? Yeah. I did. Nobody noticed.

St. Andrew Kim, St. Paul Chong and all the Martyrs of Korea...

Pray for us!
O God, You have created all nations and You are their salvation. In the land of Korea Your call to Catholic faith formed a people of adoption, whose growth You nurtured by the blood of Andrew, Paul and their companions. Through their martyrdom and their intercession grant us strength that we too may remain faithful to your commandments even until death. Amen.

From the archives

Originally posted last year:

We are celebrating with an impromptu and simple Coffee, Tea and Thee as we prepare to celebrate tomorrow's Holy Day with some new friends!

We are reading from A Catholic Child's Illustrated Lives of The Saints which is The Professor's favorite book of saints. Full page stories and beautiful illustrations, this book is a must have! (You can read a little about St. Maximilian here too.) In addition to our nightly decade we are going to say the Chaplet of St. Maximilian. We don't actually own one, so we made our own. Using this description, I made a drawing of St. Max using the picture above which the girls colored along with a picture of The Assumption of Our Lady. We made 15 beads out of paper and strung them together with a crocheted chain.For a special, treat, a friend recommended kiffels. They sound delicious, but every recipe I found required overnight refrigeration (not conducive to impromptu). So, since I am insisting on simple here were are going to make an American version of a Polish candy called Ptasie Mleczko which are basically chocolate covered marshmallows.

Our version:
1 can chocolate frosting
1 bag of large marshmallows
chopped peanuts and/or almonds

Warm the frosting in the microwave (or on the stove top) to make it soft (30 second increments, stirring in between), but not runny like glaze. Dip the marshmallows to coat using toothpicks or skewers. Allow excess to drain off. Dip the bottom of the marshmallow in chopped nuts and set (nut side down) on waxed paper to finish cooling.I'll bet a fondue pot would be perfect for making them if anyone still has one (and if you do, is it harvest gold? My mom's was.) just watch out for little fingers and open flames! Why yes I am a worry wart. I would love to try these someday using homemade marshmallows, but for today, Jet Puffed will have to do!

If you are interested in trying Polish style coffee here is what I found on a website:

The Poles make coffee very strong, like the Greeks. A tall flat bottomed glass has a large spoonful of grounds placed in it. Then boiling water is poured over the coffee and a little or a lot of sugar is added. My grandfather occasionally said that he liked his coffee, "As black as the Devil's Heart and sweet as a stolen kiss." It is definitely not traditional in Poland to add either milk or cream.

We will stick with our kid-friendly cafe au lait since I can't seem to find a tea that all of my kids like. As always, suggestions welcome! Have a Happy Holy Day tomorrow!

My little Lucias

BTW... yes, that is my Advent wreath you see there in the middle of the table. No, it's not hanging anymore. It wasn't used as a swing or anything like that. It just so happens that a late fall growth spurt results in an almost ten year old boy who is taller than he realizes. Anyone know where I can get size 14 slim dress pants? Anyone need some barely used size 12 slim dress pants? Seriously. I think he wore them twice. We also found our Christ Candle holder and put it in the middle where it will wait to be lighted for the 12 days of Christmas.

Grateful recipient of the St. Lucy Day breakfast!

Creativi-tea!

Dawn's husband is a genius! (Scroll down in her post to see his tea drawer idea.) I will let her decide whether or not she informs him of that or decides to keep him humble. Here is a peek at my tea drawer and it has been such a beautiful thing! Not having to climb on a step stool to reach the tea shelf means that I have been enjoying more tea instead of coffee lately (which is probably a good thing because even decaf coffee has some caffeine in it which is not good for those of us prone to panic attacks). I've even noticed the kids asking for tea more frequently, hence the two boxes of peppermint tea which is a favorite with 3 out of the 4 children in this house. Aslan Tea comes in second. It is actually called Madagascar Vanilla Red but the lion on the cover reminded them of Narnia, so... whoops... looks like I am out if it right now. I guess I better get some more. Um, Mr. Sun and Candlelight, please don't tell my husband about the second part of that great idea unless it is also with a wink and a smile! Thanks!

Most Holy Name of Mary - Plans

The only celebration of Our Lady's birthday we were able to muster around here on Saturday was a less than rousing but totally heartfelt rendition of "Happy Birthday" before bed and a much needed glass of wine for the grown ups. Usually I would have made a cake and had a little birthday party for our perfect little Mother in Heaven, but we were supposed to have guests and well... you know the rest. (see below)

To be totally honest, we have never had a big party for Mary's birthday in the past since we decided long ago to celebrate the Most Holy Name of Mary as Sunshine's nameday. She is named for the Blessed Virgin so when she was a chubby wee pink thing we chose the 12th as her nameday and asked Our Lovely Lady to guide her and keep her close.

Sunshine has always been my most easy going child who is always up for trying something new. This year, we are going to try our hand at making Turkish Crescents (croissants). To find out why you can check out what catholicculture.org has to say about it here (along with the recipe) and here. Of course we will serve coffee (maybe even Viennese Coffee) with our croissants and, going with the "moon theme", possibly make some more Czechoslovakian Moon Cookies, if time permits, since they were such a big hit when we made them last December.

The activity for the day will be decorating the names of Mary. Last year we used international variations of Mary's name like Miryam, Maria, Maura, or Mai. I printed them out using a fun, mostly "hollow" font like (Alphasnail or Colorfont) and large enough to fill the page. Then I let the children use stickers, markers, glitter glue, or whatever they wanted to decorate Mary's names. I am sure there are better fonts out there so I might have to hunt for some new ones. Since my girls have been enjoying their paints a lot lately, I might trace out the names on some watercolor paper and let them go to town.

Anyway, that's what our day will look like on Wednesday unless there are more surprises in store for us. Husband is still working on the new job front (his company is closing) and prayers would be very appreciated. Ideally, I would love to have his commute shortened but will be satisfied with some place he enjoys going to everyday. Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

Blessed Mother Teresa...

pray for us!

We love the Missionaries of Charity! In fact, I would love to have taken our celebration to them today, but our pastor made me promise years ago that I would never go down into that neighborhood without Husband... and that's where these amazing women not only work but live!

The girls brought out their "Sister Dolls" to help decorate our learning room and I displayed the books we have about Mother Teresa, both the children's stories and the biographies, as I have seen Dawn do many times and it always looks so cheerful. We read some of Mother's own words and discussed what life was like in the part of the world that she chose to answer God's call in.Our Coffee, Tea and Thee time was lovely. We made the naan together; the girls really enjoyed rolling it out. The Professor was in charge of the hummus (which was a total flop taste-wise... surprise, surprise)! They really didn't like it. I worked on the cake while they had some reading time and I feel the need to tell you... I chickened out on the glaze.

I made the cake according to the directions but realized by the time I got to the glaze part that the recipe had already been deficient in one area...what good is a walnut cake if you don't actually add walnuts to the batter? So after the glaze had boiled for 15 minutes and it still looked very runny, I was looking at this gorgeous walnut cake (yes, I added them... I'm such a rebel) and just couldn't bring myself to pour this very thin, brown syrup on top of it without knowing exactly what was going to happen. Perhaps it would have magically bubbled and hardened into a candy like coating in those final ten minutes in the hot oven, but since this was the centerpiece of our celebration, I decided not to risk it.

I took about 1/8 C. of the syrup and added some powdered sugar to it so the flavor wasn't missed. The syrup made it stickier than normal but the spices and lemon were a lovely compliment to the cake. If I were going to make it again, I would skip the simmering part and just use the lemon and spices to make a regular powdered sugar glaze (or maybe half lemon/half water). Or I might actually try to recipe the way it is written, pray for Mother Teresa's intercession and see what happens.

To make up for the hummus disaster, Providence saw to it that Jicama Chicken was on the menu for tonight. Seriously. I put myself on a two week rotation of menus thanks to a suggestion from Elizabeth that I read somewhere but can't remember now and this curry-spiced dish came up to bat tonight. I doubt its gonna be a home run but should at least be good for a single helping, maybe more.

I am looking forward to some quiet time later when I can spend some time listening to Nissa's podcast interview with Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle about her memories of Mother Teresa. Check it out if you get a chance and then... tell me what she said since that "quiet time" I was hoping for might be a few years off.

* * * * * * UPDATE: I just realized that the recipe I linked to is not the same one I printed out and that the linked to recipe does actually tell you when to add the walnuts. The instructions for the glaze are the same for both.

Feast Day Plans

When our pastor was at a parish in
the hoodsouth, downtown Dallas, we were privileged every Sunday to be in the company of some Missionaries of Charity who ran a shelter in the area and knew what an awesome priest we had. When Mother Teresa's sisters choose your priest for a confessor, you know he rocks! My girls would bolt across the parking lot to hug these beautiful women of God and nothing made me smile more. Since we are going to celebrate the feast day of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta tomorrow, I wanted to lay out our plans now before I forget it all.

To begin the day, we will finish up the Banana Chai Bread I have in the fridge (because I couldn't wait to make it... I have a little thing for chai!) and color in some of the pages from this Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta coloring book. It compliments this CD which we do not own (yet). Glory Stories can supposedly be heard on the EWTN online radio Saturdays at 11:30AM EST. To hear some samples, check out the Catholic World Mission website, although if you are interested in ordering any of their products, I would recommend patronizing one of the many Catholic bookstores that sell them. I have had difficulty resolving order problems with CWM directly. I am sure they are very busy doing more important work so let a bookstore handle your order!

The story told in this coloring book (and I am sure more vividly and beautifully in radio drama form) focuses on Mother Teresa's desire to take care of the least of God's sheep so that he might look at us and say "You did it to Me!" The lesson her mother teaches her is remembered by little Agnes as "the gospel on five fingers". You-did-it-to-Me. I have a craft idea for this but it isn't fleshed out yet.

I also plan on having the children help me make a traditional Indian flatbread called tandoori naan. I guarantee you mine won't look this pretty! I've tried it before. A tandoor is a clay oven where food is cooked over a very hot charcoal fire. We're gonna stick with the GE in my kitchen. Naan is similar to pita bread. It can be made with yeast or without yeast and or sometimes with yogurt instead of milk which is supposed to give it a softer, fluffier texture.

I thought I would get really wild and crazy and make some hummus (If my kids ask, tell them it's bean dip, wait... it kind of is, isn't it?) since no one here is going to argue that it is Middle Eastern cuisine, not Indian. Although I did find a recipe for Italian Hummus, (and Artichoke Hummus, and Tofu Hummus and Hummus Casserole) so apparently it has been adopted by many cultures (what... no Hummus Jell-O?).
But should their little noses wrinkle up at the thought of eating mashed chickpeas and garlic (try not to laugh), I am sure that the Chai Tea Lattes and Albanian Walnut Cake (in honor of her family's heritage) I plan on serving for our Coffee, Tea and Thee time will more than make up for it. The kids have been asking if we are going to continue our new tradition this year so I better get thinking and planning.

Bye now!

Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe

We are celebrating with an impromptu and simple Coffee, Tea and Thee as we prepare to celebrate tomorrow's Holy Day with some new friends!

We are reading from A Catholic Child's Illustrated Lives of The Saints which is The Professor's favorite book of saints. Full page stories and beautiful illustrations, this book is a must have! (You can read a little about St. Maximilian here too.) In addition to our nightly decade we are going to say the Chaplet of St. Maximilian. We don't actually own one, so we made our own. Using this description, I made a drawing of St. Max using the picture above which the girls colored along with a picture of The Assumption of Our Lady. We made 15 beads out of paper and strung them together with a crocheted chain.For a special, treat, a friend recommended kiffels. They sound delicious, but every recipe I found required overnight refrigeration (not conducive to impromptu). So, since I am insisting on simple here were are going to make an American version of a Polish candy called Ptasie Mleczko which are basically chocolate covered marshmallows.

Our version:
1 can chocolate frosting
1 bag of large marshmallows
chopped peanuts and/or almonds

Warm the frosting in the microwave (or on the stove top) to make it soft (30 second increments, stirring in between), but not runny like glaze. Dip the marshmallows to coat using toothpicks or skewers. Allow excess to drain off. Dip the bottom of the marshmallow in chopped nuts and set (nut side down) on waxed paper to finish cooling.I'll bet a fondue pot would be perfect for making them if anyone still has one (and if you do, is it harvest gold? My mom's was.) just watch out for little fingers and open flames! Why yes I am a worry wart. I would love to try these someday using homemade marshmallows, but for today, Jet Puffed will have to do!

If you are interested in trying Polish style coffee here is what I found on a website:

The Poles make coffee very strong, like the Greeks. A tall flat bottomed glass has a large spoonful of grounds placed in it. Then boiling water is poured over the coffee and a little or a lot of sugar is added. My grandfather occasionally said that he liked his coffee, "As black as the Devil's Heart and sweet as a stolen kiss." It is definitely not traditional in Poland to add either milk or cream.

We will stick with our kid-friendly cafe au lait since I can't seem to find a tea that all of my kids like. As always, suggestions welcome! Have a Happy Holy Day tomorrow!

May Crowning

Today we brought flowers of the fairest to the fairest of all.

On the menu was Star of the Sea Tuna sandwiches, fresh blueberries, pasta salad, carrot sticks and celery for those who don't like pasta salad and Berry Blue Punch which ended looking more teal than blue. I couldn't find any blue Kool-Aid so I used Jell-O. It looked great until I added the white cranberry juice which had a tinge of yellow. The ice cream (Blue Bell of course!) did foam up like clouds which the kids thought looked very cool and I enjoy any opportunity to use my grandma's punch bowl.
Since I knew I was tampering with the recipe, I had a back-up ready. A scoop of vanilla ice in the cups with Frostie Blue Cream Soda poured over it. Definitely a true blue color and yummy to boot!
Dessert anyone? I did not make the cake (wanted to check out a new bakery we discovered before ordering a cake for Sunshine's First Communion...let me 'splain...later), but I did make the forget-me-not cookies. This cake is called a Strawberry Boston Creme Pie, but we called it a Queen of Martyrs cake.
Here is a close up of the May Day basket that was inspired by the very talented Alice and company. Inside we will deposit the flowers below on which we wrote one of Our Lady's titles and the special intentions we have paired with them. Oh, the blue flower candle holders just jumped into my basket when I was in the floral department. Somehow they knew that I had a little forget-me-not theme going. They were so clever those little candle holders... and on sale!
We all sang "Sing of Mary" along with Sunshine's cd called Standing on the Rock (she highly recommends it by the way) and we finished with the Litany of Loreto. Already, the kids have asked some questions (What's a patriarch?) and we have enjoyed discussing with them the what and why behind our plans to honor the rest of the days in this lovely month of Mary.

Happy St. George's Day!

We have been fans of St. George ever since The Professor could hold a sword. We have found many ways to celebrate his feast day in the past. Our favorite celebration by far was hosting a father/son St. George's Party about 6 years ago (wasn't it just yesterday?). We invited some friends and their dads, grilled outside, and made St. George's shields out of paper plates and red streamers. We even had our own dragon to slay.

Look how tiny The Professor was back then!

I would love to host a St. George's Party again, maybe next year when BigBoy isn't as likely to be afraid of the dragon. This year, I just whipped up this little dragon cake (seriously I was going for fun, not fancy). It took me less than an hour to decorate once I had it assembled which was maybe another 30 minutes. Isn't he cute? It is really hard to make frosting look ferocious!
We will be hacking him to pieces later today when we have Coffee, Tea and Thee time (maybe with some English Tea?) while we read our Catholic Mosaic book St. George and the Dragon.

Have a lovely day!

A lovely evening to you!

Thank you to Karen E. for the wonderful suggestion and to Margaret for the prayer from Fulton Sheen (in Karen's combox). We are beginning our spiritual adoption tonight.

Everyone enjoyed our special treat... angel food cake (of course) with strawberries and whipped cream. We made a Mary candle and read a sweet little book. I hope you had a lovely day too!

Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with Thee...

St. Joseph's Day

Rest on the Flight into Egypt. Luc Olivier Merson 1879.

O blessed Joseph, faithful guardian of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, protector

of thy chaste spouse, the virgin Mother of God, I choose thee this day to
be my special patron and advocate and I firmly resolve to honor thee all
the days of my life. Therefore I humbly beseech thee to receive me as thy
client, to instruct me in every doubt, to comfort me in every affliction,
to obtain for me and for all the knowledge and love of the Heart of Jesus,
and finally to defend and protect me at the hour of my death. Amen

I love this picture, especially for its portrayal of St. Joseph as guardian and protector. There he is, out by the dying embers of the fire, keeping the Divine Child and his mother safe. You can just imagine him collapsing in exhaustion after he has taken care of his precious passengers but ready to leap up and start all over again on their journey to safety. The picture is so stark and empty. No plants for the donkey to eat, no stars in the sky, no light at all except from the Holy Child who is radiant even when no one opens an eye to see.

Our Coffee, Tea and Thee time today revolves around this wonderful book. Thank you, thank you, thank you Cay for putting this book on the Catholic Mosaic list otherwise we would have missed it. We are flying solo right now, without the study guides since my order has not yet arrived, but we really enjoyed the story. In fact, I read it to the children during lunch and as soon as the story was over, Shortcake bounced up in her chair and pleaded, "Read it again!"

We will read it again, but later, once Husband comes home and after I have made everyone some herbal tea with Texas wildflower honey to sweeten it. This is about all I can muster... no treats, since it is Lent, no snacks either. I am a little sore from having worked in the yard but generally just feeling run down and sinusy. We have all been a little under the weather, not sick, just bleh. Hmmmm, gee... I wonder why?

I wish everyone a blessed and happy Saint Joseph's Day!

Coffee, Tea and Thee

Happy St. David's Day! We had a lot of fun learning about Wales today. We looked at all of the castle websites at The Professor's insistence (not because Husband told him that Grandpa was 16th in line to inherit one of them) but because ...well, he is a nine year old boy.

Our favorite site turned out to be one that wasn't found on any of the sites I linked to earlier but rather one that The Professor found in his book What Were Castles For? by Phil Roxbee Cox. This book offers internet links that allow you to further explore castles. Our favorite was this one at National Geographic. One of the "ghosts" you meet in the castle is in the chapel and he says the Ave Maria.

The picture above shows the lovely daffodil windmills that the girls made and the Welsh flag that The Professor willingly colored, in fact, he volunteered to color it. Have I mentioned how he feels about coloring? HATES it! I know, I know... a fierce red dragon might have had something to do with his change of heart.

Everyone pitched in to help glue some part of poor St. David to his body. I say poor because at one point each part of him was in a different room of the house.

Our bara brith turned out OK. It was very tasty but I had to bake it for a long time to get it to set up completely so some of the edges were
burntvery well done. We served it with amaretto coffee for no reason whatsoever other than it. was. yummy! (I made the Welsh Rarebit for lunch instead of tea.)

We spent the rest of the time reading selections of Wales: Enchantment of the World Series and looking at the banner that usually hangs in the boys' room but was brought to the table for added decoration. It was a gift from their uncle who visited the UK.

It was a good day despite the fact that Husband came home early with a nasty cold he thought he was getting over. Maybe my lower fat version of the Potato and Leek Soup will knock it out. What is the old adage...feed a cold, starve a fever? The girls liked the soup but the boys merely tolerated it. Ah well, you can't please everyone!

Honest Abe

To be perfectly honest, I had not planned to do much for Lincoln's birthday or President's Day but when I saw all of Dawn's wonderful ideas I was inspired. Thank you, Dawn! I thought the kids would have a blast eating making the pretzel log cabin.
I cut up a giant size goldfish box that was almost empty (thank you, BigBoy!) and sandwiched the flaps I cut in the bottom in between pieces of cardboard just to make it extra secure. I wrapped the whole thing in tin foil (so that we could keep our materials clean enough to eat later). We talked about log cabins and even made plans to explore the Texas Log Cabin Village once the mercury warms up but before it reaches scorching. Maybe the adventurous Nutmeg and her family will join us.
Here is the finished product. The kids added a little wood pile next to the front door. See the fingers in the bottom left corner? Those little fingers worked hard to get covered in peanut butter! While taking this picture, he kept saying, "Can I eat it now, Mommymom? Can I eat it now?" Snack time can't come soon enough for him (or for Mommymom's nerves). Since all of the school work is done, the children are enjoying The Smithsonian and the Presidency episode from This Is America, Charlie Brown. The Professor has been pouring over Civil War since I brought it home this weekend. I think we will enjoy eating our log cabin while reading The Story of The Gettysburg Address by Kenneth G. Richards along with a steaming mug of kid coffee. Tell me Honest Abe didn't drink coffee as a kid and he grew up just fine!

This just might have to suffice for Coffee, Tea and Thee time since it is shaping up to be a busy week.

Coffee, Tea and Thee

If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today…

St. Josephine Bakhita

For Coffee, Tea and Thee we are celebrating St. Josephine Bakhita's feast day. What an amazing saint! She was stolen away from her home in the Sudan by slave traders and ended up in Italy. She was baptized at age 21 and became a Canossian sister. She endured terrible abuses at the hands of her captors and yet, she not only forgave them, but thanked them for helping her find the path to Christianity and the religious life. I took this opportunity to talk to the children about The Lost Boys of the Sudan. They were amazed that stories like St. Josephine's happen even today.This website had some interesting information about having an authentic Sudanese meal with recipes and instructions on how to serve your guests. We put a tablecloth on our coffee table and placed pillows all around. The flowers on the table are hibiscus flowers that the girls made. One species of the Hibiscus called the Roselle is used to make Karkade, a special tea in Egypt and Sudan. The Professor made the flag of Sudan to add to our table decorations.We opted for cinnamon tea to accompany our Creme Caramela (a traditional Sudanese dessert). Alright, it's really flan and I used an instant Jell-o mix to make it. Call me chicken, but any recipe that calls for baking something in a pan of water scares me. The cinnamon tea was delicious, but not a favorite. They were more interested in trying to catch the stick than drinking the tea. Shortcake has decided she is not a big flan fan, but loves caramel! Oh well, it was worth it just to get them to try something new!Sunshine had saved her Magnifikid that had a feature on St. Josephine and we read the story while we enjoyed our third installment of Coffee, Tea and Thee.