{a review} prayer pillowcases, aka, the dream whisperers

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

May God protect me through the night,

And wake me with the morning light.

I relished those lispy-whispered prayers when my girls began saying them, first because precious, duh, but second, because it meant that they were finally, finally going to sleep. And I could finally, finally go to sleep.

But God laughs at our plans, right? And chuckle He did when He graced me with a child who doesn't like sleep and another who struggles with vivid dreams spawned by an overactive imagination.

We follow a routine of blessing the girls' room, blessing their sweet little foreheads with holy water or oil, and praying for the protection of their angels and St. Michael as they go to sleep. We've found that this comforts scared little imaginations in the middle of the night.

And then I went to Edel and was gifted with a Prayer Pillowcase in the fantastic swag bag they gave us. My girls were enamored with it. They wanted to take it out immediately and play with it, but I'd already mentally gifted it to a goddaughter of ours. As the girls kept begging for it, I realize what a gift these pillowcases could be and how much every precious Catholic child would love them.

I contacted Prayer Pillowcases and a sweet lady named Leane didn't think me crazy and agreed to do a review with me.  Leane was not only professional in our correspondence, she was personal. She was a friend (holla Mystical Body of Christ!).

She told me to have our girls pick out a saint pillowcase each and she would send them our way. I figured Molly would go the standard route of St. Therese and Ellie would follow suit and pick St. Joan (their beloved favorite saints, respectively). Nope! They surprised me and asked about the saints they didn't know and fell in love with some new stories. I sent their choices to Leane and she graciously and promptly sent me their pillowcases.

I was going to play a guessing game to see if y'all could guess the saints, but then I realized my photographic skills included taking pictures of the names of the saints on the pillowcases. Easiest game ever.

Pretty happy!

Or really happy - look at that face!

Or really, really, really happy.

Molly fell in love with the prayer that was on St. Kateri's pillow. My sweet little girl struggles with being timid and afraid to try new things. I can tell when she's scared because she tells me, "Mommy, I know God is with me so I'm not scared. Nope, I'm not scared. God is with me!" I can't tell which touched her heart more - St. Kateri's story or the prayer on her pillowcase which focuses on courage. Either way, she has a new favorite friend in Heaven, thanks to her beloved pillowcase!

Elisabeth picked St. Cecilia because she said she was beautiful. I'm not about to question a four-year old. She's grown in her love of St. Cecilia and her story and I've finally learned how to spell the name Cecilia, so it's a win-win-win.

What I particularly love about these pillowcases is that the prayers on them are written with children in mind. The prayer focuses on the virtues that the saint lived in her life, all while helping the child overcome common struggles of being, well, human and figuring out this big, sometimes scary world. And the words are simple for a young reader to read, understand, and hold close to her heart.

After I forced the kids to take too many pictures without the pillowcases being out of their packages, the girls were finally allowed to put them on their pillows.

New game. Who can tell if my children loved them?

I tried so very had to get a picture of both girls with their pillowcases prominently displayed. Little hands and big pillows don't mix. BUT in good news for everyone out there, it means that if you have a big pillow, these pillowcases have got you covered (ba dum ching...pun definitely intended). But for real - our pillows are bigger than the standard size and these pillowcases leave plenty of room for a bigger size if your head desires anything more than flat.

If only this meant she was sleeping. Instead, she was scooting across the floor. Isn't that what you do when you get a new pillowcase?

Prayer Pillowcases doesn't brag about this on their site, but their goodness is multi-faceted. Not only do they provide their owners with a beautiful place to rest their heads, but they provide religion lessons for homeschooling mothers who have no idea what they're doing. 

Poster Catholic homeschooled children. Also, be still my heart.

Religion lesson for the day - listening to Glory Stories CD of St. Kateri and St. Cecilia (which coincidentally are on the same CD, which we didn't know before this!) and drawing pictures of their new Heavenly friends.

My husband asked if I was going to blog about any negative aspects of the pillowcases. I told him I didn't have anything negative to say about them.

I might have something. It's tangential, but I have to be honest.

These pillowcases do not enhance any artistic skills of one's children.

Ahem.

St. Kateri

St. Cethelia, aka St. Cecilia.

But they do inspire a modernized version of Butler's Lives of the Saints, coming to a store near you nowhere in the near future.

Playing Mario with Daddy and new friends. This was not staged, promise. They love these pillowcases this much.

These pillowcases have quickly become beloved treasures of our girls. 

We try to surround our children with toys that point their hearts and imaginations toward Beauty, and Truth, and Heaven, because after all, this earth is just a stopping point before we go to our Heavenly Home and we want our children on the right path. We're surrounded by so much junk in this life - TV shows, songs, toys, and clothing that threatens to drag our children's souls down to their base level rather than elevate their souls and hearts to God. 

These pillowcases are on the forefront of fighting that battle.

Elisabeth (the overactive imaginer) has told me that she's woken up at night scared, but she just prayed to St. Cecilia and she felt better and went back to sleep. Molly's told me that, when she wakes up, she says her prayer to St. Kateri, and when she's done reading at night, after I tuck her in for the night, she sits up again and says her St. Kateri prayer again. 

Joining us on our road trip two weeks ago were Jaggie - beloved kitty friend, and St. Cecilia pillow, taking up much room in our tiny car, but much-required by it's adorable owner.

My motherly heart sings at the joy that my girls are learning, through the simple gesture of having a saint's picture on their pillows, the comfort of turning to Our Lord and His saints in moments of need.

And y'all - my motherly heart also sings at the quality. Seriously. I've washed them and they look just as good as they did when we unwrapped them. These are the real deal. They are adorable and well-made. They're all made in the good ole USA, too, using a Direct-to-Garment process. The ink is non-toxic and completely safe for those precious little heads sleeping on it. 

As the holidays approach, definitely keep these in mind for the children in your life. Our Lord commanded to let the little children to come to Him. The folks at Prayer Pillowcases have truly taken this to heart and made a product that helps lead little souls to the comfort of Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, and His saints. 

I'm going to pretend that my godchildren's parents don't see this because they are wonderful gifts.

Oh! 

And BONUS quality about these pillowcases: If you're anything like my uncrafty self and dread Halloween and All Saint's Day costumes, take heart that Molly's dressed up as St. Kateri at least half a dozen times and insists on dressing as her for Halloween (x2 for All Saint's Day, thank goodness). So pick a saint whose look is easily made into a costume and gift your child a pillowcase today, before October hits. :)

Go shop-happy and visit the kind folks at Prayer Pillowcases! They have free shipping, fantastic customer service, tons of options, a personalization option, and are really, really well-made. 

They have this Catholic mama stamp of approval. Which is pretty much a laity-version of the Imprimatur. 

One more thing, because I can't get enough of these pillowcases and I want y'all to know how much I love them:

For those family members and friends who kiddos are at their local Catholic school, there is a fundraising option! Move that World's Not-So-Finest aside and use these instead. They are fantastic AND CATHOLIC!

Laity-impramatur over. Go shop.