We welcome Mrs. Sylvia Mesa and Mrs. Cristina Espino as Co-Chairs of our Home and School Association!  We thank these two ladies for undertaking this task and dedicating themselves so selflessly to our school, our children.

LENTEN PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

 God, heavenly Father, look upon me and hear my prayer during this holy Season of Lent. 

By the good works You inspire, help me to discipline my body and to be renewed in spirit. 

Without You I can do nothing. By Your Spirit help me to know what is right and to be eager in doing Your will. Teach me to find new life through penance. Keep me from sin, and help me live by Your commandment of love. God of love, bring me back to You. Send Your Spirit to make me strong in faith and active in good works. May my acts of penance bring me Your forgiveness, open my heart to Your love, and prepare me for the coming feast of the Resurrection of Jesus. 

Lord, during this Lenten Season, nourish me with Your Word of life and make me one with You in love and prayer.

Fill my heart with Your love and keep me faithful to the Gospel of Christ. Give me the grace to rise above my human weakness.

Give me new life by Your Sacraments, especially the Mass. 

Father, our source of life, I reach out with joy to grasp Your hand; let me walk more readily in Your ways. Guide me in Your gentle mercy, for left to myself I cannot do Your Will. 

Father of love, source of all blessings, help me to pass from my old life of sin to the new life of grace. Prepare me for the glory of Your Kingdom.  

I ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever.

Amen.

 Home and School Association

Special thanks to Mrs. Silvia Mesa and all the Room Parents for preparing our wonderful Mexican Night!

It was an evening of fun for the entire family to share, eat, and play.  We thank all the families who supported this event and look forward to our Movie Night coming soon!

Go RAMS!

“Ten plus One” Quick Ways to Pray

Do you struggle to find time to pray during your hectic daily life? These 11 suggestions for quick ways to pray will help you catch a few moments to talk to God in the most unlikely of places, from the shower to the elevator. Get started on your new daily prayers routines now.

Give an Alarm Clock Alleluia When your alarm goes off in the morning, open your eyes and repeat this line from the Psalms: "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad."

Commit to living in gratitude for the day, and you'll soon notice how much happier your days can become.

Practice Shower Power  Water is a powerful spiritual symbol. As you soap and rinse in the shower, pray to be cleansed of any feelings of anger, bitterness, resentment, or regret.

Practice Driveway Meditation This one is especially for those who commute to work. Turn your time behind the wheel into time for prayer. Before starting the car engine, place your hands lightly on the steering wheel and breathe deeply several times. Ask the Holy Spirit to steer you through your day. Back out of your driveway slowly, and remain aware of the slowness.

Climb Stairs If you work on an upper floor in a multi-story building, skip the elevator and climb the stairs. Make your climb work for your body and your soul.  Climb thoughtfully, breathing slowly. Use the time alone to experience a connection with God. Pause at each landing. Catch your breath, and focus for a moment on the blessings in your life. Say thanks before continuing your climb. Elevator Blessings No stairs? Next time you share an elevator with someone, say a silent prayer. Ask God to meet the other person's unique needs. Add a smile of your own.  

Single-Tasking We all feel too busy. It has become a workplace axiom that multi-tasking is a good thing, but a growing body of research shows that it actually erodes productivity. Instead of dividing our concentration among many tasks, do one thing at a time-prayerfully. Offer your work as a prayerful gift to God. Ask for the grace to do it meaningfully, and without anxiety.

Fast for One Minute In times of stress, we are often tempted to reach for foods that aren't healthy for us. Before you reach for the fried foods, sugar or chips- try this. Wait one minute. Offer the minute to God and ask for the grace you need to control your appetite. Chances are you'll no longer be tempted until the minute is up. If you do give in-just remember, God forgives you. Forgive yourself. call the words of Isaiah (58:11): "The Lord will guide you continually… You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail."

Touch the Earth Native Americans have this saying: "Never let a day go by without touching the earth with your foot." If only a couple of times each week, take a five or ten minute break to walk in a meditative way. Give up your usual energized stride to pay attention to the movement of lifting your leg, bending your knee, and placing your foot. Observe your breathing and your body. Look around. Notice the squirrels, the trees, and the sounds of nature. Nature tunes us into God's presence.

Cook up a Memory Next time you cook, pay attention to the memories that are sparked by the dishes you make. Perhaps you have old recipes lying around that you have forgotten about. Bless all those who sweeten your recollections, thanking God for the spiritual nourishment these people have brought to your life.

Pray a Peanut Butter Minute This is a good one for moms of school kids. When making your child's lunch, whisper a prayer as though you are sending the prayer right into your child's meal. You might even tuck in a blessing on a post-it note

Excerpted from "Grace on the Go: 101 Quick Ways to Pray" by Barbara Bartocci with permission from Morehouse Publishing.

Our Welcome Back Dance was wonderful!

We thank all the Room Mothers and those who worked so hard to make this evening possible.  We especially thank Mrs. Mesa, Mrs. Espino and the Men's Club!

A big THANK YOU to Yadira Cardenas for making the sweet treats that we enjoyed after our Confirmation.

Thanks to all the Room Mothers who helped serve and make the day so wonderful for our Confirmandi.

We would like to thank you for attending our Home & School Night !

The turn-out was terrific and we had a fun time sharing together.  

Below are some pictures from this event.  

We thank you for your presence and cooperation!

Schedule of Home & School Meetings:

Meetings will be held every other month on the first Wednesday of the month at 8:15 AM in the Sor Maria Media Center.

A Message from our Co-Chairs...

Dear Parents:

My name is Silvia Mesa, Cristina Espino and I are the new co-chairs for the Home School association. This is my 4th year at Good Shepherd. I have a daughter, Cristina in 7th grade and a son, Carlos in 4th grade.  Cristina has two daughters at our school, Emily in 4th grade and Elizabeth in 1st grade.  We are very happy with the school and look forward to staying here until our children graduate from 8th grade.

We want to welcome you all to this new school year. We have all come here because we want our children to grow in a God loving environment and in a place that is full of wonderful teachers and people that will guide them with a strong Faith in God and morals. It is important to remember that families that pray together stay together.

As some of you already know, each classroom is going to have a Room Mother. They are going to be the link between the home school association and the parents. You will see the list of Room Mothers following this message. Please keep in mind that we are here to help you and to encourage you, the parents, to participate in the school. Our children feel better and appreciate more the school environment when they see their parents involved in the school activities. We welcome you and appreciate any contribution that you can make to the school.

We want to invite you to come to our first Home & School Night on September 11th in the Parish Hall. We are going to have a better opportunity to get to know each other.  We will talk about all the wonderful activities that we will be participating in and discuss our expectations for this school year.

The evidence is in:   when schools and families work together to support learning, everyone benefits.

• Students do better in school and in life.
• Parents become empowered.
• Teacher morale improves.
• Schools get better.
• Communities grow stronger.
• Our faith in God grows stronger as well

We welcome you with open arms. I am confident that we can make a difference in our children's lives if we participate and enjoy the chance to love and guide them as a unified community.

Thank you and God Bless You,

Silvia Mesa & Christina Espino

PK3:               Yadira Cardenas

PK4:               Melody Ochoa

Kinder:           Dolly Gomez and Karina Mendez

First:              Gladys Ramirez-Vital 

Second:          Alison Zayas-Bazan and Ceci Guerrero

Third:             Sandra Lacaci and Maribel Zogaib

Fourth:           Yadira Cardenas

Fifth:              Idania Lemus

Sixth:             Yana Armstrong and Sandy Rodriguez

Seventh:        Pattie Fernandez

Eighth:          Carmen Suarez and Betty Aparicio

While your Room Parents are here to serve as liaison between Home and School, you 

should address any serious concerns directly to the Administration.  

Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Our Home & School is working together with our Development Committee to help raise funds for various school improvements.

We are especially grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Jose and Yadira Cardenas for all their enthusiasm and work in this endeavor.

We are grateful to all of our Room Parents and school parents who will be working together with them to make Good Shepherd even better!

MOMS:  

Join us as we host a monthly prayer group of parents praying for each other, our children, our families, our school, and our community.  

We will meet the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month.  These prayer gatherings are open to all.  Please join us!