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The chicken and the pig were walking down the road one day when the chicken commented to the pig about the generosity of the farmer.
 “Let’s do something special for Farmer Brown,” said the chicken.
 “Like what?” asked the pig.
 “Let’s give him a ham-and-eggs breakfast.”
 “That’s fine for you, said the pig. For you, that’s just a donation. For me, that’s total commitment.”

Taken from Life-Giving Love
By Kimberly Hahn

A mother discovered her 5 year-old daughter drawing with her crayons on some paper. “ What are you drawing?” she asked.“A picture of God,” the little girl said. The mother replied: “ No one knows what God looks like.” “They will when I get through,” the girl said.

Via Catherine Hall
Taken from Holy Humor
by Cal & Rose Samra

An elderly priest once visited a 2nd grade classroom and asked, “Who can tell me what the Trinity is?”A young girl in the back of the class, when called on, quietly answered, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The priest, whose hearing was impaired, leaned toward her and replied, “ I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” “You’re not supposed to,” she quickly rejoined. “It’s a mystery.”

Taken from Life-Giving Love
by Kimberly Hahn

A pastor asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night. “Yes sir,” the boy replied.
And do you always say them in the morning, too? the pastor asked. “No sir,” the boy replied. “I ain’t scared in the daytime.”

Tal D. Bonham
Taken from Holy Humor
by Cal & Rose Samra

Collected from individuals over 90 years old
Taken from Lists to Live By Vol.3
Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Van Diest

Always be on time.
Be a model of honesty.
Care about their hurts.
Do acts of kindness.
Every day, give plenty of hugs and kisses.
Forget past offenses.
Give occasional “token gifts” of love.
Have a happy disposition-“a merry heart.”
Invest quality time.
Jump for joy…
Keep looking for the good and positive.
Listen to their cares and woes and excitement.
Make adjustments for physical pain.
Never criticize in front of their peers.
Only say words that edify, that they may want to live up to them.
Put on the heart of patience.
Quietly discipline in private.
Recognize that each child is creatively, uniquely different and specially gifted.
Spend time reading to them and listening to them read.
Take care of yourself.
Understand the age-appropriate behavior of each child.
Voice- teach them to share facts, thoughts, ideas, dreams, opinions, intuition.
Welcome their friends.
X-ray to the needs of the heart.
Yesterday doesn’t have to dictate today.
Zoom in on good behavior.

Glenda Hotton, M.A.
Taken from Lists to Live By for every Caring Family
Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Van Diest

• Meeting and greeting people properly.
• Being a gracious host and a welcome guest.
• Good speaking manners: … thank-you, please, excuse me, I’m sorry, and may I?
• Proper conduct for church and other public places.
• Writing, coloring, or drawing thank-you notes.
• Properly responding to invitations and following through on response.
• Good (not perfect) table manners.
• Proper telephone talk.
• Showing deference to elders and authority figures.
• Opening doors for others.

  June Moore
  Taken from Lists to Live By for every Caring Family
  Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Van Diest

• Puzzles
• a Costume Trunk
• a Craft Box
• Cardboard Boxes
• Lego
• Balls
• Dolls
• Puppets
• Bug Jar & Magnifying Glass
• Play Money & Toy Cash Register

Taken from Lists to Live By Vol.3
Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Van Diest

• Eat dinner together as a family for seven days in a row.
• Memorize the Twenty-third Psalm as a family.
• Plan a vacation together.
• Take a few hours one afternoon and go to the library as a family.
• Write each member of your family a letter sharing why you value them.
• Put together a picture puzzle
• Tell your kids how you and your spouse met.
• Spend an evening going through old pictures from family vacations.
• Become a monthly supporter of a Third World child.

  Tim Kimmel
  Taken from Lists to Live By Vol.2
  Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Diest

• Keep a journal of ridiculous things that happen to your family.
• Buy goofy joke books.
• Encourage your kids to cut out and share their favorite newspaper comics.
• White out the captions of cartoons, and have your kids write their own.
• When you’re under stress, look for the lighter side.
• Develop a playful reaction to a problem.
  Point out verbal humor like puns and oxymorons.
• Keep a “lighten up” prop, like fake glasses and a nose, to do when things get tense.

  Faith Tibbetts McDonald
  Taken from Lists to Live By for every Caring Family
  Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Van Diest

• CHARADES
  Each person selects a movie, nursery rhyme or song title, then has to get others to guess it by acting it out.
  No words allowed.

• PING PONG
  With two cheap paddles and one ball, you can play on your dining room table. You can even create your own rules, like allowing shots to bounce off the floor or walls.

• BLOW HOCKEY
  Make goals on each end of your kitchen table by placing two pieces of tape a foot apart. Divide into two teams, drop a ping pong ball onto the table, bend over, and start blowing. You score by blowing the ball through your opponent’s goal.

• PILLOW FIGHTS
  If you don’t occasionally have a gentle pillow fight with your kids, you’re missing out on one of the most fun times of all. I suggest one rule: No hitting on the head. Anyone who violates that rule must sit the rest of the fight.

• PAPER PLANES
  Help your kids fold paper airplanes and see whose goes the farthest. Then place a target on the rug and see how close everyone can come to landing on it.

• FICKLE FEATHER
  Have everyone kneel in a circle and pull a bedsheet taut, holding it in place with your chins. Place a feather on the sheet and try to blow it away from your side. Score a point for each time it drops on your side-fewest points wins.

• TABLE HOCKEY
  Position one person on each side of your dining room table, then drop a tennis ball in the middle. Players bat the ball to try to send it past an opponent. If it goes off your side, you’re assessed a point. The ball must roll off the edge-no throwing. Low score wins.

• BALLOON BLAST
  Divide a room into halves with string, make two teams, and bat a balloon around. The purpose is to keep the balloon from falling on your side.

• BALLOON SOCCER
  Take off your shoes and use a balloon as a soccer ball, marking out two “goals” in your living room. No hands allowed -but have plenty of extra balloons ready!

• FOLLOW THE LEADER
  One person leads the family in funny actions (hop on one foot, rub your belly, etc.) Everyone else must follow him exactly.

Jerry and Patti MacGregor
Taken from Lists to Live By Vol.2
Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Van Diest

• When Mom was going to the hospital to have her baby, Dominic said: "Mom, don't forget to pack the band-aids. You're gonna need a band-aid." (Dominic, 5)
• Jenny: "How do you know so much about horses and things?"
  Réanne: "I guess it was the Holy Spirit that put it in my brain." (Jenny, 6 & Réanne, 7)
• Mom: "What do you think makes Jesus sad?"
  Dominic: "That somebody doesn't love Him" (Dominic, 5)
• "If we didn’t have purgatory, heaven wouldn’t be as nice a place because we would still have sin inside of us, and we would be thinking of the sin that’s left in our heart." (Reanne, 6)
• "We want to tell as many people as we can about Jesus, so they can go to heaven; then there will be more people there and we can have a bigger party." (Reanne, 6)
• "We have to choose friends that are good for our heart and not bad." (Jenny, 6)
• "God had a plan for us the minute we got in our mom’s tummy." (Reanne, 6)
• "Can you bring something you really really like to heaven?" (Dominic, 4)
• "Purgatory is a place you go when you forget to confess all your sins." (Reanne, 6)
• "Dad, if I were to shut the door on Jerome’s fingers in Heaven, would it hurt?" (Dominic, 4)
• "How do we walk up to heaven?" (Dominic, 4)
• "When I get to heaven, I want to tell Jesus, 'Jesus, you’re nice & you’re special…and Jesus, where would I find St. Dominic Savio and St. John Bosco?' ” (Dominic, 4)
• Mom asked Reanne : "If you could ask Jesus any question, what would you ask him?"
  She said: "Jesus, could I get to heaven without dying?"
• Mom said Zac (age 3), “You’re such a big boy!”
  Zac replied to mom, “Yep, and you’re a huge mama!”
• Mom asked Dominic: "Dominic, what makes Jesus really happy?”
  He replied: “When I’m His best friend.”

• "Tell me about the neatest birthday present you ever received."
• "What makes you laugh?"
• "Where would you like to go for a vacation if you could go anyplace in the world?"
• "If you had to move and could take only three things with you, what would you take?"
• "What is something you can do pretty well?"
• "What kind of job do you want to have in twenty years?"
• "What is your favorite room in your house? Why?"
• "What is your favorite food?"
• "What is something that 'bugs' you?"
  

  Jerry and Patti MacGregor
  Taken from Lists to Live By for every Caring Family
  Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Van Diest

Over the past few years, we asked our daughter (now age 6) the following questions and these were some of her responses:

Q: If I asked God to tell me all about you, what would He say?
A: I love you, come to heaven to meet me and I will meet you and kiss you.

Q: When you’re afraid, what do you do?
A: I ask Jesus in my heart, to protect me.

Q: Why did God give us a Bible?
A: To remember Him, so we can love Him.

Q: Which color is the saddest color? What makes you think that?
A: White… because our tears are white.

Q: What color is the happiest color and why?
A: Red…because Jesus’ heart is red.

Q: What is marriage?
A: It’s when you marry and come into the life of Jesus together.

Q: Where does the sun go at night?
A: It goes into Heaven to sleep.