I need some motivation

My house is a bomb and I need to tidy up...but it's grey and cloudy and I'm not in the mood. Ever happen to you guys? I'm just blahhh. I know I'll feel better when its done, its just starting. Blahh. What gets you going? What helps you get the blahh into submission? Blahh blahh blahh...blahh.

Okay, this is how much God loves me!

You know those moments that happen in your life that are so incredibly sweet that they're like a hand picked moment between you and God? Well I just had a weekend of Divine Appointments with God. I just love Him so much because He cares so much about the details of our lives. On Friday, my daughter and I left our Homeschool Event a little later than I planned (hard to tear away from those things...) and I still had to stop and pick up snacks. The plaza I went to is crazy hard to pull into traffic going left, so I was stuck there for a while waiting, feeling later and later. I prayed out loud,"God just please make a break in the traffic so I can get out of here." And I'm not kidding you, the very next car stops and lets me go. God is so good. We get to the conference which was at the University of Waterloo and we stayed in the dorms. What a neato experience that was for my daughter and I. We loved it! Not the comfyest sleep but didn't matter, it was the funnest ever. The next day (Saturday) was the best part of the conference only the biggest bummer for me was no coffee. I love coffee. Not more than God, but man, I really love coffee. So there I am, brewing a coffee headache (it amazes me that I only drink one a day unless its a celebration or a really small cup, but I still get a headache if I don't have one...hmmm) and I'm sitting in the bleachers (but Jenny saves the day and blesses us with some chairs, thanks Jen!) kind of grumbling about not having coffee and again, I just sort of pray a simple little prayer, "Lord I would just love a coffee." Nothing. That's okay cause God is still good. I see people coming and going all day with their coffee's and its bugging me but God is bigger than coffee so I don't really care alot. We have lunch and I'm getting ready to settle in for the after noon, my headache is still there and I'm not perky happy but content to hear the afternoon message when this complete stranger comes up to me with a tray full of coffee, Tim's no less, and says, "I just bought too many coffee's would anyone like one?" And she looks right at me. There are 1200 people in this place and she comes up to ME. She's not even sitting near me so she doesn't know my coffee circumstance. I jumped out of my skin saying yes yes yes, because even though she paid for it, God just bought me coffee!!! It was the best coffee I ever had. I actually wept. Because it wasn't at all about the coffee, it's simply that God loves me that much that He would bring me a coffee. But it doesn't end there. The day just kept getting better. The afternoon door prizes were being announced and my daughter silently prayed, "God, don't let me win the CD, but if I win the Bible I will give it to my best friend Sandra." And don't you know, the very first name called in the Bible draw was my daughters. And then about 5 names later, my name was called for a Bible. They thought we were sisters...I loved that. Honestly, I was just saying thank you Jesus over and over. Because now, He rewards my daughters faithfulness, and then amplifies it by giving us 2 Bibles. What an incredible day. God is so faithful and cares about the simple little details. More than ever, I'm in love with my God. I know I'm His favorite. And so are you, and you and you and you. Isn't that so great? To honestly say your the favorite and not be at all puffed up in anyway bragging, because its true. God is just that good!

Images

Well here's a good conversation. My strangerfriend at Aduladi&Co. offers a great commentary to make you go hmmmmm on her blog post from yesterday. Is it okay to look at images of Christ in the new covenant even though the old testament covenant still applies. But by the blood of the lamb we have a new promise so how far do you press it? As a Catholic woman I find myself really thinking on this because we are loaded with images in the Catholic church. And I honestly love them. I'm visual so that part of me is fed well with so much to look at. So my take on this is that as long as I'm not making an image INTO God, then having a picture of Jesus should be okay. If we get all legalistic about it then we should probably not wear crosses either. And I really don't want to give up my cross jewellery. I love it, but its not a god to me and none of it has power. And too, watching The Passion Of The Christ, really puts into perspective what he suffered. Until that movie I never really 'got' it. So as a tool to deepen my faith, seeing that movie helped. So then, gazing on the face of Christ, weather in my minds eye or through the eye of someone else, if in a desire to grow in faith, has to be okay. Am I justifying too much? I pray for the mind of Christ because scripture tells me to do so. Is that cheating? I don't think so. I love how St. Thomas Aquinas says it: Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.[St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 81, 3 ad 3.]. Regarding idols we find this...2113. Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, 'You cannot serve God and mammon.'[Mt 6:24 .] Many martyrs died for not adoring 'the Beast'[Cf. Rev 13-14.] refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.[Cf. Gal 5:20 ; Eph 5:5 . This site www.newadvent.org has a neat description of the issue too. But sadly as I poked around the web, there is alot of anti-catholic stuff out there. It's a hard subject to tackle and my friend Angel said it best, its not a salvation issue. Its more about living in Victory. Trying as best we know how to live a life for Christ, that he would be blessed by and that would show who he is by how we live.

Curriculum Fair

I love curriculum fairs...I get giddy when I walk into the vendor hall. I found some really great new ideas for next year and a few old stand byes. Next year will be a new venture into the homeschool world as my daughter stays home for grade 9. Highschool, a whole new world! Exciting and feels like starting first year again. For grade 5 son, I found a great new art program and for him that's huge. I also found a 4 season nature journal curriculum to completement the science we'll be co-oping with 2 other boys from our group. It looks like fun too. One huge disappointment was penmanship. I've used quite a few programs over the years and was saddened to find nothing new in the world of penmanship for boys. My son being the artist that he is, can reproduce anything and make it look nice, but, he can't read it. He's having trouble making it make sence in his mind, so I'm going to make up my own program for him. One letter at a time.
And for highschool we begin a Hobbit study and Romeo and Juliet study. It'll be a full year. I'm going to handle it by staying on terms instead of semesters. I don't like semesters anyway, not having math every semester is a disaster. So exciting times of planning ahead.

The Plague and Healing...

I've had the plague. I'm healed. It was hard fought for. Infact, he died over it. Praise God. I'm still recovering, but I wanted to say I'm still here and alive. What an ordeal.

Say What?????

I'm absolutely floored by this...I don't normally side with Bill O'Reilly but this time, he's quite eloquent. As for Bill Maher? Why isn't he being asked to leave his job the way "the guy" did when he spoke rudely about the girls basketball team last year? I guess Oprah wasn't all over this one. Too bad.

Guilty...

I have to say...we've bought into this whole idea of tee shirt theology a few times. Our kids have many and even the one pictured in my last blog. And although one must be careful, its great to see the kids wearing them boldly. In fact at the dollar store one day, my daughter was wearing the one in the picture and the cashier leaned over the counter to say "He died for my space too!" And with a wink and a smile, she finished the transaction. My daughter left there feeling connected to her Christian world outside of church and home. It was a lovely experience. I'm sure there will come a day when there will be a tough reaction to her faith and she'll have to use her apologetics skills but until then, I'm okay with the shirts. What I'm not okay with is complacency. Its about relationship, religion is the way we choose to express the relationship. Anyone want to weigh in on that?

T-shirt Theology?

So Much for T-Shirt Theology
By Amy Welborn

At the heart of the Pope’s speech last night was call to the bishops to take stock of the realities of American culture, be realistic about the Church’s weaknesses, and get to work.
A slew of recent studies and surveys confirm what everyone involved in Catholic ministry knows: Catholic identity is very fluid. Catholic views and perspectives on most issues aren’t generally marked by Gospel-centered counterculturalism. Catholic young people are just not absorbing whatever it is they’re being taught.
In my years of involvement in Catholic education, it was clear that concern was starting to mount about all of this. Those of us in parish or school ministry knew that our students weren’t being taken to Mass by their parents. We knew that the chances were high that the young parents bringing their children for baptism hadn’t set foot in church since their wedding, and before that their confirmation. We could see it spinning apart. In the hopeful days after the Second Vatican Council, the belief was that now that the evils of rote memorization and the fear of Hell had been dispensed with, intentionality would rule the day when it came to faith, and everyone would be so much more fully engaged.
But it didn’t seem to be working, and instead of intentionality, minimalism and a stripped-down version of cultural Catholicism in which even the “culture” part seemed to be missing defined the mass of those we worked with. I knew things were bad when one parish religious education director said to me of her hopes for the children of her parish: “If they can come away with the feeling that church is a good place, a happy place, they’ll remember that, and when they get older, they’ll come back.”
So, in the mid-80’s “Catholic identity” became the new buzz word at workshops and conferences. Talk about how great it is to be Catholic. Bring up our rich, interesting heritage. Talk about some saints. Wear T-shirts if necessary.
On the surface, it may seem as if this is what Benedict’s message is all about. But it’s really not, for it goes deeper.
Last night, Benedict was direct about the problems. He talked about “Catholic identity,” but it’s clear that what he means goes beyond “Cool 2 B Catholic” bumper stickers.
“As I just mentioned, one of the great challenges facing the Church in this country is that of cultivating a Catholic identity which is based not so much on externals as on a way of thinking and acting grounded in the Gospel and enriched by the Church’s living tradition.”
He was also direct about how the Church is to blame for this. Bad preaching and inadequate teaching. A failure, ultimately (and this is a constant Benedictine theme) to help people connect the defining questions of their lives with the answers found in Christ, and the Church as the place to find Christ and be nourished by him.
“The goal of all our pastoral and catechetical work, the object of our preaching, and the focus of our sacramental ministry should be to help people establish and nurture that living relationship with “Christ Jesus, our hope”
Now that’s Catholic identity.

Our Lady of Perpetual Laundry...

Yep, that's me. I've been touring some blogs today on the subject of Lovely Laundry. I can't see it. Really. I can't find anything lovely about laundry. I have two boys. I love them. They smell. My daughter does her own laundry. I love her, I never know when she smells. I always have Mount Laundrymenjaro to climb and I never ever have moments of peace and tranquility while doing it. Am I missing a ministry moment? I don't think so. I'll be fine. My family will be fine. And I can feel quite lovely without loving laundry. Mind you, with a laundry room that looks like this, I might find a way to love laundry a bit more. So to all my friends who find laundry lovely, God Bless you. I find organizing lovely. I find other ways to express lovely. Laundry, just ain't it.

My German Shepherd Turns 81

Happy Birthday Pope Benedict..."and many more..."

Clay Projects...

These are some clay projects my youngest made this year. We're studying Pioneer Life so he built a clay log cabin and we're also studying Botany so he made a clay flower. We're loving the clay as an option for enjoying tactile experiences. Fun fun fun...

A Search

I'm looking for a poem called Continue On. Anyone have a copy of it or know where I can find it? Its a poem for moms and its an encouragement from God.
Let me know...

Say no more...

from Sue @ Half the Kingdom

Toooooooooooo cute!

Watch for the big finish!!!

40 Years Ago

Do you know what today is? 40 years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. Now as a white, Catholic, almost 40 year old Canadian girl, what does that have to do with anything in my life? Everything. Martin Luther King Jr. has been a part of my life for my whole life. I've never not knowen who he is and how important he was and his legacy still is. In his honor, I highly recommend watching Amazing Grace The Movie...although it isn't at all about him, it certainly is about his Dream.

Say It Ain't So

California's home-schooled headed for public schools? Sacramento, California -
A three-judge panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeals made it illegal on February 28 for any parent to home school their child, unless they have a teaching or tutor credential. Upon hearing the ruling, school districts officials began demanding that police take immediate action. So yesterday, throughout the state, judges secretly began swearing out and signing arrest warrants for any parent who was suspected of home-schooling their children without a teaching credential.

Setting up a special task force virtually overnight, SWAT teams and truant officers armed with arrest warrants and automatic weapons began rounding up wayward parents, and against their will placing their child in protective custody and enrolling them in public schools throughout the state.

Originally thought to be a logistical nightmare, distinguishing home-schooled children from that of the public school system, officials quickly learned they could gather up a list of suspects from last year's contestants, finalists and winners of the National Spelling Bee Contest, unusually high SAT scores and any kid who passed a random drug screen and/or pregnancy test.

"Also, we followed home any polite, courteous or well adjusted child," said Dug Martinez, SWAT Commander. "Oh, and any kid we caught actually doing their homework at the library."

In the early morning predawn darkness, SWAT teams and truant officers began their statewide sweep, crashing down the front doors in quiet peaceful suburban neighborhoods, but mostly in rural areas.

"After the California Superior Court medical marijuana ruling, the three-judge panel of the 2ND District Court of Appeals had to do something to try to restore the proper checks and balances to the political system that has been inadvertently eroded by that ruling," said a political scientist. "So they did what anyone would do in their situation, they pointed the finger at a minority group to draw away public attention from themselves."

"Also, they must have thought the ruling against home-schooling would bring in badly needed federal education dollars to the public schools for the upcoming recession, securing the liberal vote for the elected incumbency from the teachers' union," said a legal analyst from the Cassandra Institute Foresight School of Law.

"Overall, we netted a pretty good raid," said Officer Martinez. "We arrested the parents. Put the kids in protective custody and enrolled them in public school. We confiscated a whole bunch of high quality, up to date learning materials, too."

Listed among the home-schooling educational material seized by police: copies of "Plato's Republic; The Prince; The Magna Carta; The Federalist Papers; The Declaration of Independence; The Constitution and The Bill of Rights."

"You know until today's raid, I never even bothered reading this stuff myself. Let alone read it to my kids," said Officer Martinez. "I just found out we've alienated these good people out of at least three of their inalienable rights. Now, that ain't right."

The home-schooling learning materials will be held in the evidence locker to be used at trial, unless a plea bargain is reached, then they will be properly disposed with, according to Officer Martinez.

The story above is a satire or parody. It is entirely fictitious.
Written by Robert W. Armijo
Story written: 11 March 2008

Is Gas REALLY that high?

OH MY NAME!!!!!! I was driving my son to school (yes one does leave the hermitage) and just about rear ended the guy in front of me when the price of gas caught my eye. I don't usually care too much about this stuff because you gotta get it, gotta pay it, they got us! But this is crazy!!! $1.123 For Real!

JPII We Love You!

“Even though man is capable of evil, and at times boundless evil, evil itself will never have the last word. In the very abyss of suffering, love can triumph.” Alleluia!!!

Homeschool Moms Unite..or at least hold each other up!

My sweet blogger buddy at Aduladi & Co. posted a great post today on homeschool moms and expectations and the like and it is really funny, but also at the core, what most homeschool moms feel at one point or another. Its interesting how peer pressure can creep into something a special as homeschooling. Trying to keep up, keep up 'appearances'...oh yeah, it creeps in. But, at the end of the day, if we're doing it because God told us to, then it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, or what grade our 9 year old is really in or if the highschooler should skip a grade or that our last years banana fly experiment is still fermenting in the front window. Really all that matters is we invite God into our school efforts every day and rest knowing that the tears (ours and the kids) will come because we are human, and not everyone, homeschooled or not is academically inclined...and homemade granola in biodegradable baggies (although noble) is okay not to make! Lets support each other simply by raising a glass of water, cuppa Joe or sip of tea and say...way to go sister friend! You are making a difference and you are loved by an unseen family of people just like you! So here's to you moms!

How to be Catholic

I love Father Stan Fortuna and his honest approach to teaching youth. And the fact that I learn from him every time I hear him speak.