Oct. 3, 2008
So I haven't written for a really long time now, and we have really just had a lot going on. Difficult job, the long-term craziness of moving. Finally getting settled after a year here. Actually, Oct.1 was the anniversary of our baptismal flood here at the house, which welcomed me to SW VA and left me without a kitchen floor for two months. Ironically, that is the feast of St. Therese, the Little Flower.
So here is a question, if there are any actual readers out there: Is it possible to be a good Catholic and vote for Obama? I mean, yes, I'm pro-life, of course. And I'm on a pro-life committee and I do work for it. But, honestly, I disagree with McCain on so many issues including the economy, health care and defense that I find it truly hard to vote for him , either. And I'm not sure Palin is the sharpest tool in the shed. I read some commentary, I think it was on catholicity.com, that said the writer knew of many good Catholics who are not voting at all or are throwing their vote away on a third party candidate because of discomfort with BOTH major candidates. It almost seems as if anyone who is pro-life is blinded by that fact to all other negatives of a pro-life candidate. And that doesn't seem smart either. Ah, well, better to be wise than to be smart. I should pray for wisdom.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Baking Bread and Blogging
June 19, 2008
So it is 9:30 p.m. and I am baking bread and blogging. It has been a very long time since I blogged, and I was about to give it up. But I am sufficiently outraged, and I must write.
First, I read about a photography studio in Albuquerque being sued by a lesbian couple because the studio wouldn't do their wedding photos. They just politely declined, but were sued for hate speech or something crazy like that. The link is on catholicity.com. It seems crazy to me, because business is a private enterprise, not a public service. But it is actually part of a trend toward criminalizing acting on your beliefs. Making it a hate crime. Crazy, again.
Then, I read about my lovely Diocese of Richmond, VA being in hot water because apparently some folks in the Catholic refugee office helped an immigrant girl procure an abortion. This was after they helped to get her some contraceptives. Read about this at lifesitenews.com. These employees have been fired, and I think perhaps they should try to find employment at Planned Parenthood. If I wasn't already fed up with this diocese, I certainly am now. It is very liberal and many traditional Catholics have sought out the Maronite Catholic church here in town as a safe haven because of the liberal nature of the Latin rite churches.
Add to this that our Bishop recently gave the homily at my home parish here and failed to mention Christ once. He talked about the younger generation being cafeteria Catholics, though. A real message of hope.
On a lighter note, I celebrated my 13th anniversary this week. Really no big deal as it was in the middle of the week, but the cards were nice. It also happened to coincide with the date in California on which gay couples are legally allowed to wed - June 17. So I will share my anniversary with lots of those folks going forward.
I hope I don't sound hateful. I do not hate anyone. But I do hate that my beliefs are no longer being allowed in the public square. That really riles me. If I choose to follow the magisterium of the Catholic church in matters of faith and morals, that should be just as fine with the world as gay people getting married. But it is not. In the world today, it seems always wrong to say "No" to any behavior. It is only OK to give assent, over and over, until society unravels completely and all we are left with is a pile of string in the floor.
So, what does all this have to do with baking bread? Not much really, except I never expected that I would bake bread or homeschool or crochet blankets or sacrifice any of my wishes to a greater good.
I'm baking bread because tomorrow is the last day of Boy Scout Day Camp and I want to have something to serve with the vegetable soup I already made for dinner as tomorrow is Friday, and I don't eat meat on Friday per Church teaching. I thank God that the Scouts are a Christian organization and my son has truly benefited from his association with them thus far.
Tomorrow will be a day of obstacle courses, climbing walls, and water balloon fights. It will be fun, and I will be there with my camera and my children. And then we will come home and eat something healthy and homemade.
So it is 9:30 p.m. and I am baking bread and blogging. It has been a very long time since I blogged, and I was about to give it up. But I am sufficiently outraged, and I must write.
First, I read about a photography studio in Albuquerque being sued by a lesbian couple because the studio wouldn't do their wedding photos. They just politely declined, but were sued for hate speech or something crazy like that. The link is on catholicity.com. It seems crazy to me, because business is a private enterprise, not a public service. But it is actually part of a trend toward criminalizing acting on your beliefs. Making it a hate crime. Crazy, again.
Then, I read about my lovely Diocese of Richmond, VA being in hot water because apparently some folks in the Catholic refugee office helped an immigrant girl procure an abortion. This was after they helped to get her some contraceptives. Read about this at lifesitenews.com. These employees have been fired, and I think perhaps they should try to find employment at Planned Parenthood. If I wasn't already fed up with this diocese, I certainly am now. It is very liberal and many traditional Catholics have sought out the Maronite Catholic church here in town as a safe haven because of the liberal nature of the Latin rite churches.
Add to this that our Bishop recently gave the homily at my home parish here and failed to mention Christ once. He talked about the younger generation being cafeteria Catholics, though. A real message of hope.
On a lighter note, I celebrated my 13th anniversary this week. Really no big deal as it was in the middle of the week, but the cards were nice. It also happened to coincide with the date in California on which gay couples are legally allowed to wed - June 17. So I will share my anniversary with lots of those folks going forward.
I hope I don't sound hateful. I do not hate anyone. But I do hate that my beliefs are no longer being allowed in the public square. That really riles me. If I choose to follow the magisterium of the Catholic church in matters of faith and morals, that should be just as fine with the world as gay people getting married. But it is not. In the world today, it seems always wrong to say "No" to any behavior. It is only OK to give assent, over and over, until society unravels completely and all we are left with is a pile of string in the floor.
So, what does all this have to do with baking bread? Not much really, except I never expected that I would bake bread or homeschool or crochet blankets or sacrifice any of my wishes to a greater good.
I'm baking bread because tomorrow is the last day of Boy Scout Day Camp and I want to have something to serve with the vegetable soup I already made for dinner as tomorrow is Friday, and I don't eat meat on Friday per Church teaching. I thank God that the Scouts are a Christian organization and my son has truly benefited from his association with them thus far.
Tomorrow will be a day of obstacle courses, climbing walls, and water balloon fights. It will be fun, and I will be there with my camera and my children. And then we will come home and eat something healthy and homemade.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Nature Study
May 21, 2008
School's out!!! And we are enjoying the fine weather. Yesterday, I happened to see what I think was a baby groundhog while walking our dog around the 1.25 acres of our property. The little hog played statue to avoid notice of Kayla, the dog, who is really not that smart. Unfortunately, baby hog was gone by the time the kids got outside. But we viewed the abandoned wren's nest (complete with five eggs) in the bag of deer corn feed and sucked on honeysuckles in the backyard. Olivia chased butterflies. And it was a beautiful day.
Now if Joey can just get over his strep throat!
School's out!!! And we are enjoying the fine weather. Yesterday, I happened to see what I think was a baby groundhog while walking our dog around the 1.25 acres of our property. The little hog played statue to avoid notice of Kayla, the dog, who is really not that smart. Unfortunately, baby hog was gone by the time the kids got outside. But we viewed the abandoned wren's nest (complete with five eggs) in the bag of deer corn feed and sucked on honeysuckles in the backyard. Olivia chased butterflies. And it was a beautiful day.
Now if Joey can just get over his strep throat!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Homeschooling roundup and Adoration
May 1, 2008
Counting down the days. Yes, in just two short weeks, we will be done with school. I can't believe it, but it is true. We will have completed our schoolbooks by then and the kids also have taken their achievement tests, which is required by law annually in VA if you do not homeschool through religious exemption.
Sometimes, when I don't feel I'm doing enough, it really helps to think of all that they have done this year. Not only have they completed their English grammar and Prima Latina, we will finish Story of the World, Book 1, and the Abeka Science books for their grade level. Joey finished first grade math around Christmas and math is a continuing occupation for Olivia and me - continuing through the summer, as well. But I am happy to say she is making progress and scoring at grade level.
But what really makes me happy is to think of all the books we have read aloud this year - or will complete by the end of school.
D'Aulaire's Greek Myths
Marigold Hunt's The Life of Our Lord for Children
Geraldine McGaughren's The Jesse Tree
C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair
James Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories Retold
A couple of the Odyssey books from Mary Pope Osborne
Misty of Chincoteauge (just for fun)
And many, many stories from the library.
Joey and I are also buddy reading the Childhood of Famous Americans life of John F. Kennedy, his favorite president.
And both kids have read tons of library books on their own this year including many American Girl books. That is what Olivia has been reading since moving to VA. Joey is particularly fond of anything to do with history, the military or presidents. He just likes to read.
Today, I took the kids to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at our local cathedral - St. Andrew's. It is a parish of about 1,500 families and they have four hours of Adoration on the first Thursday of the month. I have always heard of it being done on the First Friday. But anyway, we went for about half an hour and it was beautiful, of course. I came away as refreshed as if I had been on a retreat. There is really something special about that devotion.
But afterward, my son said something I did not expect to hear from him: "I like Adoration."
Ya-hoo!
When I asked why, he said it was because he got to read. But he was reading his First Communion Catechism. I figured he would need something to look at besides the church, so I let him have that. And both kids talked to me on the way home about what they prayed for, which
means they actually were praying. Yay, again. I'm thinking and hoping they actually may have understood what we were doing.
But right now they are outside playing homestead in which they pretend to be pioneers who have set up camp on a muddy island in our creek and make stew out of wild onions and creek water and pretend to shoot deer and moose and things like that.
Fun, fun. It's great to be a kid. And it's great to be a mom, too.
Counting down the days. Yes, in just two short weeks, we will be done with school. I can't believe it, but it is true. We will have completed our schoolbooks by then and the kids also have taken their achievement tests, which is required by law annually in VA if you do not homeschool through religious exemption.
Sometimes, when I don't feel I'm doing enough, it really helps to think of all that they have done this year. Not only have they completed their English grammar and Prima Latina, we will finish Story of the World, Book 1, and the Abeka Science books for their grade level. Joey finished first grade math around Christmas and math is a continuing occupation for Olivia and me - continuing through the summer, as well. But I am happy to say she is making progress and scoring at grade level.
But what really makes me happy is to think of all the books we have read aloud this year - or will complete by the end of school.
D'Aulaire's Greek Myths
Marigold Hunt's The Life of Our Lord for Children
Geraldine McGaughren's The Jesse Tree
C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair
James Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories Retold
A couple of the Odyssey books from Mary Pope Osborne
Misty of Chincoteauge (just for fun)
And many, many stories from the library.
Joey and I are also buddy reading the Childhood of Famous Americans life of John F. Kennedy, his favorite president.
And both kids have read tons of library books on their own this year including many American Girl books. That is what Olivia has been reading since moving to VA. Joey is particularly fond of anything to do with history, the military or presidents. He just likes to read.
Today, I took the kids to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at our local cathedral - St. Andrew's. It is a parish of about 1,500 families and they have four hours of Adoration on the first Thursday of the month. I have always heard of it being done on the First Friday. But anyway, we went for about half an hour and it was beautiful, of course. I came away as refreshed as if I had been on a retreat. There is really something special about that devotion.
But afterward, my son said something I did not expect to hear from him: "I like Adoration."
Ya-hoo!
When I asked why, he said it was because he got to read. But he was reading his First Communion Catechism. I figured he would need something to look at besides the church, so I let him have that. And both kids talked to me on the way home about what they prayed for, which
means they actually were praying. Yay, again. I'm thinking and hoping they actually may have understood what we were doing.
But right now they are outside playing homestead in which they pretend to be pioneers who have set up camp on a muddy island in our creek and make stew out of wild onions and creek water and pretend to shoot deer and moose and things like that.
Fun, fun. It's great to be a kid. And it's great to be a mom, too.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Dogwoods and Lilies
April 21, 2008
It rained all night last night and much of the morning. But now the sun is shining brightly here and the birds are singing. Of course, they sing when it is raining, too.
The rain will be great for the Easter lilies I planted yesterday. Not being a gardener at all, I didn't realize that lilies - being bulb plants - come back to life every year, no matter how dead they happen to look in their little Easter pots. So, I brought home three dead-looking Easter lilies and planted them in the garden that contains the daffodils and tulips. They will be a nice addition next year.
I think I would like to plant day-lily bulbs this year where my pansy patch is. I have always been a big fan of the day lily, especially the orange variety. It is a grand, tall flower but it has a sort of everday-ness about it that is homey. And of course, they would come back every year, unlike the pansies.
My favorite spot in the yard right now is the bedroom-end of the house where the most hot-pink azalea I have ever seen is blooming beneath my daughter's bedroom window, in sharp contrast to kids' climbing tree which is befrilled with white dogwood blossoms at the moment.
I have no fewer than 10 blooming dogwoods in my yard and along the creek right now. Truly amazing. I'll have to find something new to write about soon. I'm sure both of my readers are getting tired of reading about spring in Virginia.
It rained all night last night and much of the morning. But now the sun is shining brightly here and the birds are singing. Of course, they sing when it is raining, too.
The rain will be great for the Easter lilies I planted yesterday. Not being a gardener at all, I didn't realize that lilies - being bulb plants - come back to life every year, no matter how dead they happen to look in their little Easter pots. So, I brought home three dead-looking Easter lilies and planted them in the garden that contains the daffodils and tulips. They will be a nice addition next year.
I think I would like to plant day-lily bulbs this year where my pansy patch is. I have always been a big fan of the day lily, especially the orange variety. It is a grand, tall flower but it has a sort of everday-ness about it that is homey. And of course, they would come back every year, unlike the pansies.
My favorite spot in the yard right now is the bedroom-end of the house where the most hot-pink azalea I have ever seen is blooming beneath my daughter's bedroom window, in sharp contrast to kids' climbing tree which is befrilled with white dogwood blossoms at the moment.
I have no fewer than 10 blooming dogwoods in my yard and along the creek right now. Truly amazing. I'll have to find something new to write about soon. I'm sure both of my readers are getting tired of reading about spring in Virginia.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Pansy Patch
April 20, 2008
I have been writing a lot about my yard lately, and it truly is a beautiful surprise to watch all of the perennials come to life after the dreary winter. My only contribution to this hopeful picture has been a pansy patch behind the mailbox - annuals, not perennials.
It is a modest patch, bounded by scalloped bricks - a yellow and purple patchwork there at the corner of the drive -- determined to look bright, not shabby.
But that small patch required literally hours of work one fine Sunday. And it made me stop and think of that passage in the Bible in which Jesus compares souls to the different types of soil one can sow seed in. Rocky soil, fertile (but weedy) soil, good soil, etc.
If souls are anything like soil, God truly has His work cut out for him.
The place where I chose to plant my pansies was hard, very hard. Partly thanks to the cement in which the mailbox was sunk into the ground. But I had to have the pansies there. Some bright something was needed at that corner -- no matter how hard the ground was.
So, first I watered the area, and watered it. Of course, that meant dragging the hose all the way to the front corner of the property.
And I thought of all the trouble God goes to in order to water our souls, to make them softer and more receptive to His word. For me, that could have been all of the good experiences I had of Church and Christians in my early life. Bible school, Sunday school, kindly pastors.
After watering the area for my pansy patch, I had to go at it with a shovel and hoe because there was no way I could plant flowers where the grass was already growing. Our lives, too, can be overgrown with grass and weeds - distractions, obsessions. What-have-you. For me, the hardships of life have been like that shovel and hoe turning my weed-covered life over to reveal fresh soil and a different take on life and its meaning.
Could there really be something more important than temporal success? Early adulthood was definitely shovel and hoe time for me.
Even after I had turned the soil, it didn't look very inviting. It was rather rocky. So I spent some time clearing the patch and pitching the rocks into the ditch. Rooting out the major flaws in the garden. But even then, I worried for the flowers I would plant there. Would there be enough good soil for them to take root?
Luckily, I had bought a bag of good, rich garden soil at Lowe's. This I poured evenly into my little rectangle of a garden. Now I felt certain that the pansies would survive.
Before I could take the Christian life seriously, my soul needed a great deal of enriching. But I was truly blessed by becoming a Catholic in Memphis where there is a small but absolutely vibrant Catholic community. I learned my faith by watching and talking to lifelong and devoted Catholics and by reading books by many learned Catholics and converts to the Faith.
When the seeds of faith were finally planted, they took root. My conversion is the one decision in my life that I have not second-guessed - not even once. I am everlastingly grateful for being led to the Church. And humbled by it.
I know that each of us has a purpose, perhaps as humble as the purpose of my flower patch. To brighten a corner of the world. To be a beacon for even one person. That is enough.
I have been writing a lot about my yard lately, and it truly is a beautiful surprise to watch all of the perennials come to life after the dreary winter. My only contribution to this hopeful picture has been a pansy patch behind the mailbox - annuals, not perennials.
It is a modest patch, bounded by scalloped bricks - a yellow and purple patchwork there at the corner of the drive -- determined to look bright, not shabby.
But that small patch required literally hours of work one fine Sunday. And it made me stop and think of that passage in the Bible in which Jesus compares souls to the different types of soil one can sow seed in. Rocky soil, fertile (but weedy) soil, good soil, etc.
If souls are anything like soil, God truly has His work cut out for him.
The place where I chose to plant my pansies was hard, very hard. Partly thanks to the cement in which the mailbox was sunk into the ground. But I had to have the pansies there. Some bright something was needed at that corner -- no matter how hard the ground was.
So, first I watered the area, and watered it. Of course, that meant dragging the hose all the way to the front corner of the property.
And I thought of all the trouble God goes to in order to water our souls, to make them softer and more receptive to His word. For me, that could have been all of the good experiences I had of Church and Christians in my early life. Bible school, Sunday school, kindly pastors.
After watering the area for my pansy patch, I had to go at it with a shovel and hoe because there was no way I could plant flowers where the grass was already growing. Our lives, too, can be overgrown with grass and weeds - distractions, obsessions. What-have-you. For me, the hardships of life have been like that shovel and hoe turning my weed-covered life over to reveal fresh soil and a different take on life and its meaning.
Could there really be something more important than temporal success? Early adulthood was definitely shovel and hoe time for me.
Even after I had turned the soil, it didn't look very inviting. It was rather rocky. So I spent some time clearing the patch and pitching the rocks into the ditch. Rooting out the major flaws in the garden. But even then, I worried for the flowers I would plant there. Would there be enough good soil for them to take root?
Luckily, I had bought a bag of good, rich garden soil at Lowe's. This I poured evenly into my little rectangle of a garden. Now I felt certain that the pansies would survive.
Before I could take the Christian life seriously, my soul needed a great deal of enriching. But I was truly blessed by becoming a Catholic in Memphis where there is a small but absolutely vibrant Catholic community. I learned my faith by watching and talking to lifelong and devoted Catholics and by reading books by many learned Catholics and converts to the Faith.
When the seeds of faith were finally planted, they took root. My conversion is the one decision in my life that I have not second-guessed - not even once. I am everlastingly grateful for being led to the Church. And humbled by it.
I know that each of us has a purpose, perhaps as humble as the purpose of my flower patch. To brighten a corner of the world. To be a beacon for even one person. That is enough.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Prayers, car trouble
April 11, 2008
So, I know all the reasons to be grateful: I wasn't driving on the highway when my car died. I was in my own neighborhood, although at least a mile from home. And some nice folks helped me.
Yes, I am grateful, but I have also been an irritiable so-and-so all day. My husband just worked on the car before he went out of town, but somehow the alternator was loose and the battery was drained and - of course - I left my cell phone at home and had to borrow from the neighbor who helped us - and who I don't know at all as they live around and down the hill and we just moved here last September.
But, I was going to visit a friend 20 miles away today. She had to cancel at the last minute. It could have happened on the way there. I am lucky it didn't. We were going across town on the highway tomorrow. It could have happened on 581, and that would've been a big problem.
Here's an even better piece of luck. The couple who helped us out have a nephew who is service manager at the garage in town and they sent us to them to fix the alternator. So, I am really lucky.
My other car has a lapsed registration because it didn't pass inspection and so I have to get something in it repaired before I have it registered. Meanwhile, I'm driving a lapsed registration vehicle to softball practices. I hope to have my old car back tomorrow - at a relatively low cost.
Another good point: Hubby got paid today although he is at a conference in Nevada. So, at least, I can afford to have the car fixed.
I certainly don't sound very spiritual in this post. I'm beginning to think of Virginia as the PLACE WHERE THINGS BREAK - OR DON'T WORK - giving the house flooding and other issues we have seen here.
My phone went out earlier this week and I had to buy a new splitter for the modem. I'm starting to feel like I can actually handle mechanical things - or at least hire people who can handle mechanical things. I definitely am an idiot when it comes to cars. I wasn't even sure where the hood release was.
But when my car died, I did say my prayers for help and I got help. So, if there is any spiritual bent to this post it is that prayers are answered. Life cannot be trouble-free, but prayers can be answered.
So, I know all the reasons to be grateful: I wasn't driving on the highway when my car died. I was in my own neighborhood, although at least a mile from home. And some nice folks helped me.
Yes, I am grateful, but I have also been an irritiable so-and-so all day. My husband just worked on the car before he went out of town, but somehow the alternator was loose and the battery was drained and - of course - I left my cell phone at home and had to borrow from the neighbor who helped us - and who I don't know at all as they live around and down the hill and we just moved here last September.
But, I was going to visit a friend 20 miles away today. She had to cancel at the last minute. It could have happened on the way there. I am lucky it didn't. We were going across town on the highway tomorrow. It could have happened on 581, and that would've been a big problem.
Here's an even better piece of luck. The couple who helped us out have a nephew who is service manager at the garage in town and they sent us to them to fix the alternator. So, I am really lucky.
My other car has a lapsed registration because it didn't pass inspection and so I have to get something in it repaired before I have it registered. Meanwhile, I'm driving a lapsed registration vehicle to softball practices. I hope to have my old car back tomorrow - at a relatively low cost.
Another good point: Hubby got paid today although he is at a conference in Nevada. So, at least, I can afford to have the car fixed.
I certainly don't sound very spiritual in this post. I'm beginning to think of Virginia as the PLACE WHERE THINGS BREAK - OR DON'T WORK - giving the house flooding and other issues we have seen here.
My phone went out earlier this week and I had to buy a new splitter for the modem. I'm starting to feel like I can actually handle mechanical things - or at least hire people who can handle mechanical things. I definitely am an idiot when it comes to cars. I wasn't even sure where the hood release was.
But when my car died, I did say my prayers for help and I got help. So, if there is any spiritual bent to this post it is that prayers are answered. Life cannot be trouble-free, but prayers can be answered.
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