Good News! Don't give up!

For all of you parents out there who are struggling to bring your child up in a religious home, take great heart in this recent study. It tells us what most of us already knew, but is very encouraging when you are tempted to skip Mass, faith development, or even home study in the areas of faith, morals and service. READ IT and recommit to bringing your child up in a religious home, not just on Sundays, but everyday!!

FYI, the above picture is a youth ministry event that I planned at church. I instructed the youth to race to the finish line, only after they had been wrapped up in Saran Wrap (no faces were covered and arms were allowed to be wrap free). Yes, that meant they had to "hop" their way to the finish line! It was hilarious!

HT: Edmond C

Baby Love

There are many moments of beauty and grace around my house. I sometimes have a hard time seeing them though. Like today, when all the four kids came in from school, I expected them to put away backpacks, set daily homework papers on the kitchen counter for me to review, place the lunchboxes on the kitchen bar, and put their shoes in the front closet. It's really very simple, and for the most part, they have mastered the routine. But lately, since King Henry has been getting plumper, slobbery, and ready to crawl, the older kids forget their routine and head straight to the family room to ooogle their baby brother. Today, I tripped over three backpacks that were strewn all over the kitchen floor. They were not in the place they were supposed to be...I was NOT happy to say the least. So I marched over to the family room to give them a good talkin' to, but as my eyes looked over to my children, I saw all four of my older kids surrounding their baby brother laughing, smiling, and entertaining him. Henry, of course, welcomed every lavish moment of entertainment and encouraged more by laughing loudly.

After a few moments of watching, I heard #4 child say, "I just can't believe we have a baby!"

I second that motion and want to add how blessed I am to be the mother of such beautiful creations of God. How could any woman wish for anything more in her life than to be the one and only mother of a child.

A possible new exercise routine?

So now my boys are dying for some of these...

A glimmer of good news.

Monday was a disturbing day in NC with power outages, uprooted trees, and disorganized travel due to a massive wind/rain storm that brought over 40 mph winds acoss the state. The shootings at VT didn't make things any better. I had to turn off any radio, T.V. or Internet whenever the kids came around to save them from finding out about the massacre of the college students. Our prayers are with the families experiencing this tragedy directly and with the VT student community. But today, I am thankful. I'm thankful that a small victory was had for our society, for the future and for life. Thanks to our Supreme Court for seeing the brutality of partial birth abortion and banning it from ever being done again. For those of you who have never seen the procedure, you can see how one is carried out and how cruel it can be for the baby.
Here are drawings of the procedure

When I see these drawings, all I can think to say is, "Father forgive them. For they know not what they do."

This ruling is a step towards goodness and life, both of which are given to us by our Creator.

The Big 8-0

Happy 80th Birthday Pope Benedict! Thank you for your generous leadership and steadfast love of Christ.

Prayer tips

While preparing for a talk on Prayer for the jr. high youth of our parish, I came across this little gem of a prayer tool. I found it in a book titled, " Lists to Live By" compiled by Alice Gray, Stevve Stephens, and John Van Diest. It's a great way to teach young people how to pray. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

THE FIVE FINGER PRAYER

1.
YOUR THUMB IS NEAREST TO YOU.
TO BEGIN YOUR PRAYERS BY PRAYING FOR THOSE CLOSEST TO YOU. THEY ARE THE EASIEST TO REMEMBER. TO PRAY FOR OUR LOVED ONES IS, AS C.S. LEWIS SAID, A "SWEET DUTY."

2.
THE NEXT FINGER IS THE POINTING FINGER
PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HEAL, TEACH, AND INSTRUCT. THIS INCLUDES DOCTORS, TEACHERS, AND MINISTERS/PRIESTS. THEY NEED WISDOM IN POINTING OTHERS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

3.
THE NEXT FINGER IS THE TALLEST FINGER
IT REMINDS US OF OUR LEADERS. PRAY FOR THE PRESIDENT AND LEADERS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. PRAY FOR THE POPE AND BISHOPS. THESE PEOPLE SHAPE OUR NATION AND CHURCH. THEY NEED GOD'S GUIDANCE

4.
THE FOURTH FINGER IS THE RING FINGER
THIS IS OUR WEAKEST FINGER. IT REMINDS US TO PRAY FOR THE WEAK, THOSE IN TROUBLE OR IN PAIN. YOU CANNOT PRAY ENOUGH FOR THEM.

5.
AND LAST COMES OUR LITTLE FINGER, THE SMALLEST FINGER OF ALL.
THAT IS WHERE WE SHOULD PLACE OURSELVES IN RELATION TO GOD AND OTHERS. THE BIBLE SAYS, "HE WHO IS LEAST AMONG YOU ALL....HE IS THE GREATEST" (LUKE 9:48). AFTER YOU'VE PRAYED FOR THE OTHER FOUR GROUPS, YOUR OWN NEEDS WILL BE PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE.

Author Unknown

In my inbox...

One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex standing in the foyer of
the church staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names with small
American flags mounted on either side of it.

The seven year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the
pastor walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, "Good morning
Alex."

"Good morning Pastor," he replied, still focused on the plaque.

"Pastor, what is this?" he asked the pastor

The pastor said, "Well, son, it's a memorial to all the young men and
women who died in the service."

Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque.

Finally, little Alex's voice, barely audible and trembling with fear,
asked, "Which service, the 9:45 or the
11:15?

HT: Uncle Gus

Top 10 things I've figured out in my short 6 months on this earth

1. If I cry loud enough, someone always shows up. I never know who it will be!
2. If there is a toy I desperately want, rolling towards it always helps, except when the table leg gets in the way.
3. Family members oooooh and ahhhh when I prop myself up on all fours. What's the big deal?
4. Those stubs on the ends of my body are feet and they taste really good.
5. The dark is boring. I need company when I see it. Preferably the company of my parents warm bodies.
6. My parents bed is waaaay more comfortable than mine.
7. Baby powder feels really good. Can I drink it?
8. Brothers are so cool! They give me wooden weapons to practice my warrior moves.
9. I DO NOT LIKE anything sticky or gooey between my legs!
10. The ladies love me. I have them all wrapped around my fingers.

Redemtive Suffering and Respect for Life

Read this poignant article on the short life of a baby boy and the strength of his parents. It's a tear jerker.

HT: Amy Welborne

On a serious note: Duke Lacrosse

All right already. I've just watched the special report on the ending of the Duke Lacrosse case where three Duke Lacrosse players were accused of raping a dancer/prostitute during a Lacrosse party at a home in Durham. The newly appointed DA in the case, after reviewing all the information on the case, has pronounced these three young men innocent of all charges brought against them. INNOCENT of the CHARGES. Now. For some reason, this whole news-story makes me hot. Totally angry. Not with the injustice of Mike Nifong and his charade, not with the numerous stories offered by the dancer, not with Duke, or the media. What made me upset enough to write about this was watching these three boys on T.V. proclaiming how they were totally innocent the whole time and how justice prevailed. One of the boys insisted that they did nothing wrong and how for the rest of his life would fight for truth and right. Everyone in the room was clapping and speaking on what fine men they were! Bah!! GIVE ME A BREAK BOYS!! For shame, for shame, for shame!! In my view, they may have been innocent of the charges brought against them, but they were NOT innocent of immoral behavior. Why was no one criticizing the fact that these young men hired a PROSTITUTE to DANCE for them in a SCANTILLY CLAD outfit so that they could get their sexual jollies, drink, and spend dad's money? Why didn’t these boys stand up in front of the media and apologize to the world for taking their God given gifts and instead of using them for good, for leadership opportunities, for being young men that children could look up to, used them for evil? Why didn't the media question them on the moral reasons for behaving in such a manner? Really! Had they done that, then and only then would they have earned my respect. All I hold for them is pity. What a lost opportunity.

Well Georgie, you say, boys will be boys. And that's what boys do..hire strippers! I say if you believe that, then you are part of the problem. As long as our society has a double standard for what is acceptable behavior for college aged boys and refuses to hold them responsible for what is good, moral and right, then cases such as these will continue as well as the continual decay of morality.

As a mother of four boys, I come at this news story at a totally different angle. If that were MY son in college and I found out that he was gathering with a group of his "friends" at a party where drinking, stripping and heavy partying was going on? God help his SOUL!! There would be no excuses. I would yank him out of that school, throw him in the local community college and he would work every day to pay back every dime of college money he owed me. College is a privilege, not a right. If one of my children abuses the privilege, it gets taken away. Period. Any child of mine who has time for that kind of behavior at a college campus does not need to attend college. After all, it's not my job to get my child in to Harvard; it's my job to get them to heaven.

Besides all that, imparting to my kids that the APPEARANCE of impropriety can be just as bad or WORSE than the actual act (this case is a classic example of that) itself is imperative in child rearing. I was just telling Rebecca the other day that " hanging out" with potheads will automatically create suspicion from adults that you are a POT SMOKER as well! (Not that she is hanging around smokers, but an old friend of hers is.) It's not rocket science, just human nature! Similarly, if you are hanging around people who hire strippers, you just may be accused of rape! When you play with fire, you are likely to get burned.

These Duke Lacrosse players were playing with fire. Innocent? Only God knows.

To the Target saleslady: I love you!

Saleslady: She does not look like she has a 14 year old daughter, does she?

Other clerk: SHE has a 14 year old daughter?

Me: (speaking softly to myself) I love you ladies!!

He is risen!!

Happy Easter to all and may you enjoy the upcoming 40 days of the season.
Alleluia!

You cannot resist the rolls!

I cannot believe that you are six months old, Henry! Slow down boy! I like you small and slobbery!

What we are reading this month.

My Catholic Women's Book club is reading Fr. Joe by Tony Hendra as its book of the month. Here is a short editorial review from Publishers Weekly:


"When he was 14, Hendra had an affair with a married woman. One afternoon, her husband, a devout Roman Catholic, discovered the two in each other's arms. The husband, acting more out of concern for Hendra's soul than out of anger, arranged for the teenager to spend several weeks under the tutelage of Father Joe at a Benedictine abbey in England. Expecting cruel treatment similar to that handed out by the monks in his Catholic elementary school, Hendra was surprised to meet instead a rotund, knobby-kneed confessor whose thoughtful, open manner changed Hendra's life forever. As Hendra reveals in this graceful, humorous tale, Father Joe acted not only as a confessor, but also as a friend and as the guiding spirit of Hendra's life (the author is now married with three children). Under the influence of Father Joe, Hendra passionately decided to follow the monastic life. At every turn, he met Father Joe's gentle insistence that he wasn't yet ready to enter the monastery. At Cambridge, Hendra discovered a new passion-comedy-and pursued it as ardently as he'd pursued religion. Hendra writes well (he spent several years as the head writer at National Lampoon), chronicling the failure of his first marriage, his descent into substance abuse, his self-hatred and his incessant search for meaning in compelling prose and with clear-eyed honesty. Throughout Hendra's life, Father Joe stands by his side, like a gentle shepherd leading a lost sheep back to a place where it can graze safely."

Mom to Mom

Often times I complain that there are not enough practical books on being a Catholic wife and mother. Oh, sure there's plenty of "heavy-duty" theological documents out there on the importance of being a devout Catholic married woman, how children are a blessing from God, and how the union of man and wife is sacramental. But VERY little on HOW to be this devout woman, especially when the children are running five different directions and they DON"T seem like the blessings you'd thought they would be (you would just like to read ONE really great book for one hour straight for once), or how to nurture your marriage when you and your husband pass like ships in the night due to a million different commitments, the job, or the baseball practice. Oh, but finally I hear there is a book just published that just might do the trick for you and I. It's titled Mom to Mom and is written by Danielle Bean, Danielle is one of those devout Catholic women, who happens to have seven kids, homeschools and looks at life in a very REAL and WONDERFUL way. She's one of those women who has her priorities straight and addresses the many challenges of everyday Catholic family life. I've just ordered the book as an Easter gift to myself. Now all I'll have to do is carve out some time to read it. Order yourself a copy and buy another for a friend and see the many pearls of wisdom she offers.

Spring has sprung

I'm too busy to post today, so you'll have to take a look at my cutie boys on the grounds of our church.

I don't either.

The boys and I were in the car on our way to church, when I had yet another sudden urge to ask my boys a question about Lent:

Me: Boys,what is the color we associate with the season of Lent?

Nick: Red

Me: (shocked that Nick did not know the answer) Nick. It's purple. Purple is the color of suffering, and during Lent we focus on Jesus and His suffering on the cross. Right?

After a long pause a small voice in the peanut gallery in the back of the car responded.

Gus: I don't like to suffer.

Barbie Joan

Every year I organize an event I call "Saint Night" for the youth program. The various faith development classes create displays and informative games honoring three select saints a year. This year's saints are Don Bosco, Joan of Arc and Giorgio Frassati. The goal of the saint night is to educate the young people and adults of our parish on how "human" these saints were and how, though flawed, they stayed true to the gospels and lived a life of heroic virtue and faith. It hopefully helps participants relate to these great men and women so that they can see a common element in the lives of the saint with their own. These displays are presented to parents and youth at a large gathering in the gym and is made all the more enticing with everyone bringing a dish to share for a potluck celebration.

The culminating event of the evening is a presentation created by my Junior High Youth Council. In the past, we've performed a play on the life of one of our saints on the school stage. But with the rise of technology and the relative ease of creating movies with video recorders, we have raised the bar by creating an actual film of the saint’s life. The youth council members serve as the actors, the church provides the environment for filming, our caring and sharing center provides the costumes, I served as the organizer and producer and my husband serves as the writer, camera man and editor of the film. (He does a great job although it takes a lot of time.) The saint we decided to tell the story of was Joan of Arc. We researched her life, obtained the actual transcripts of her trial, and filmed her story in an eclectic fashion focusing most of the film on her trial. Now, the youth council was adamant that a burning scene should occur. They felt that since they could not burn a real person, an effigy of one would be really good...almost better than the real thing. HA!

Me: "What do you all want to burn in effigy?"

Youth Council Members (sinisterly): A Barbie!

Me: A Barbie? That looks like Joan of Arc?

Youth Council: Yeah!

So. A Barbie.

Well, we finished filming all the scenes except for the final scene depicting the burning of Joan. We decided to film the scene from our home since we had most of the supplies there. Now, keep in mind that I have young sons. Curious young sons that were very interested in this Barbie burning since they have zero love for such a "useless" toy, but a great love for fire. As we set up the backyard with a stake and enough leaves for smoke, anticipation grew throughout the house. Jack, Gus and Nick were chattering to themselves about the Barbie burning. A couple of youth council kids came over to witness the event. I was sifting through my cabinets for vegetable oil (to douse her in) and matches, and Chris was preparing the camera for the one chance to get it right. In no time we were all gathered at the stake for the burning. The set was quiet. As Chris lit the first match, Gus had a question:

Dad, do all families burn Barbies?

At that point the set burst out in laughter and our noble cameraman stopped the tape. Take Two!!

(I hope to post thel film on the blog through U-Tube, but I need to get permission of parents first.)

Here are some pictures of the filming.

Almost, but not quite right.

After watching a touching movie about a couple having trouble conceiving a child, I overhear Nick and Gus discussing the whole problem:

Gus: Why can't they have babies?

Nick: (impatient) Because! He does not have enough fertilizer!

GOd

Jack and Gus were pleased to discover that I bought our first batch of sidewalk chalk today. It's surely a sign that Spring is on the way and that there will be many days in the sun drawing and playing. The boys asked to go outside and play with the chalk on our driveway. I, of course, took advantage of their offer to leave me in peace, and was happy to see them off. After awhile of silence, I decided that I'd better check on what they were doing. As I walked outside, I found a some beautiful chalk art on my driveway... Keep in mind that our driveway is on a steep grade so the whole neighborhood gets to see their art..a neighborhood filled with many, many, non-church going families. Well, if they suspected we were fanatics before, they'll surely know we are now. Isn't that great? Childhood evangelization at its most innocent.!