An assignment for my readers....

This weekend we did my family's annual tradition of going to the orchard to pick out a pumpkin (and more importantly take great Fall pictures).  This was the same orchard my husband and I once went to for our engagement photos.

My son had a great time and it's really great to see how much he changes from year to year and the different activities he "grows" into.  This year he had a great time playing hide and seek in the hay bales.  Not as much of a fan this year as he was last year with the slides and very interested in "shifting" on the combine and tractors they had out for the kids to play with.  We had a great time and it was a reminder of how time flies.

Had a great time celebrating Halloween, but do you know what the even more important holidays are this week?


All Saints Day and All Souls Day!  All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation (so if you are Catholic, try to remember to make it to Mass).  If you're not Catholic, this is still a great time to remember all those who have passed before us.  All Saints Day is a celebration for those canonized by the Catholic Church and also those who are Saints, but not publicly recognized (Anyone who makes it to heaven is a Saint).  The Church's teaching is that you don't necessarily know if someone makes it to Heaven right away (even St. Teresa of Calcutta had to go through a process to get officially recognized), so it's not a bad idea to pray for all of your loved ones, even if you think they were pretty Holy.  Church teaching is if you pray for the souls of people who have made it to heaven, your prayers are not wasted, they will be utilized for another soul in need of prayers.

On the other hand, this is a great time to ask all those saints in heaven to pray for us.  In this time of national anxiety, I think that might be a pretty great idea.  Our Lady of The America's, Pray for us!