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It’s a jungle out there! This Monday a parent whose child was in my Nature Camp last week told me that her daughter’s friend, also in my camp, had informed his parents he’d gone on the school bus to a jungle with my class. Of course, the mother was a bit disconcerted to hear this, since nothing had ever been mentioned about an off-campus field trip anywhere, certainly not to a jungle.
I laughed and said he had quite an imagination. I assured her we didn’t go on a spur-of-the-moment, no-permission-slips-needed trip to the jungle...
Disclaimer: Your child will, at no time while under our supervision, be leaving the school campus, the state of Virginia, or the United States of America without your expressed written permission, required stuffed animals, and a current passport.
To read the full post, click here.
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Catholic artists combine creativity and faith to glorify God. These three Catholics have answered the pope’s call to continue the tradition of creating beautiful, sacred works of art that honor and promote the Faith...To read full article By Jim Graves – Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, 7/31/2011, click here.
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We didn’t have a lot of fun in the desert. My husband and I have a confession to make: we’ve had some very catchy Veggie Tales songs running through our heads this week thanks to the readings from Exodus about Moses leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt. If you have not yet had the pleasure and amusement of listening to this song, I highly recommend you click here then select “Going to the Promised Land” to see the video. Listen and repeat.
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Fully Relying on God (F.R.O.G.) is a phrase Kevin and I first heard of from a Cursillo friend of ours. Last night we went to Sweet Frog for some frozen yogurt. The shop in Carytown is brightly decorated, has air conditioning (which is mandatory for me in such oppressive heat), a cool self-serve set-up, and a moral message. Their frog stands for the same thing we are each called to do. These shops only play Christian music and they serve as a smooth reminder what this life is supposed to be all about.
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Separation anxiety/sadness. It breaks my heart how sad my grandmother becomes when she doesn’t get to see my mom every day. If my mom has to go out of town or is sick and needs to stay in bed for a few days, my grandma has sometimes worried that she’ll never see my mom again. It’s hard for her to remember most days what she’s been told, so she asks the same questions over and over, usually about how each person in the family is doing, how work is going, etc. Any time my mom can’t come see her, she asks if I’ve heard from my mom and wants to know what she said, where she is, and when she’ll be back. I always call my mom and, if I can get ahold of her, will let Grandma talk with her for a while.
A woman came in yesterday to ask my grandma eight questions about what activities and such are important to her. I knew her answers before she said them: reading the newspaper, books, and magazines, listening to classical music, taking part in religious services, getting time out in the fresh air when the weather’s nice, and being up on the news are all things she said are very important to her.
Yesterday she thanked me a number of times for coming to see her. I left feeling that it’s pitiful that I don’t visit her very often when she lives so close and it means so much to her.
My Snap-Happy Hubby goes to Washington. Last Saturday Kevin, our best friend/brother John, and I went up to the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. for a day-trip pilgrimage. It was the first time Kevin and I had ever been there. We made it in time for the second half of the daily Mass in the Crypt Church, then we spent the rest of the praying there and looking around before going to 5:15pm Mass in the main sanctuary of the Basilica. I had to laugh that Kevin was the one who had the camera out and was snapping pictures left and right. I didn’t feel the need to take lots of photos that day. After we’d toured the Crypt Church, Kevin asked what I wanted to do next; he didn’t realize that we still had the actual basilica itself, the main church, to go through. He’s pretty cute. I’m going to keep him ;) Kevin’s only been on one other “pilgrimage.” We made an hour or two stop at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is the oldest known replica of the famous French shrine, on our way home from my aunt Florence’s funeral last fall. We knew about the place because John had gone there and brought us back some Holy Water a while ago in a most unusual-for-that-purpose container.
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My Snap-Happy Hubby goes to Washington. Last Saturday Kevin, our best friend/brother John, and I went up to the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. for a day-trip pilgrimage. It was the first time Kevin and I had ever been there. We made it in time for the second half of the daily Mass in the Crypt Church, then we spent the rest of the praying there and looking around before going to 5:15pm Mass in the main sanctuary of the Basilica. I had to laugh that Kevin was the one who had the camera out and was snapping pictures left and right. I didn’t feel the need to take lots of photos that day. After we’d toured the Crypt Church, Kevin asked what I wanted to do next; he didn’t realize that we still had the actual basilica itself, the main church, to go through. He’s pretty cute. I’m going to keep him ;) Kevin’s only been on one other “pilgrimage.” We made an hour or two stop at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is the oldest known replica of the famous French shrine, on our way home from my aunt Florence’s funeral last fall. We knew about the place because John had gone there and brought us back some Holy Water a while ago in a most unusual-for-that-purpose container. -7-
Are You Willing to Ask the Lord for His Truth about That? Since this past January, I have been learning about an amazing ministry that has helped people all over the world find tremendous healing and release. Theophostic Prayer Ministry, developed by Christian preacher, counselor, husband, father, author, and speaker Ed Smith, deals with identifying the lie-based beliefs we have and being open to the Holy Spirit replacing those lies with Truth.
I’ve learned quite a bit about the ministry over the past seven months. Of course, I still have a good bit to go over and practice. Some of the most exciting benefits of this ministry for me so far is that it’s something that Kevin has become increasingly interested in. He’s been reading the introductory book Healing Life’s Hurts, watching the training DVDs with me, and coming up with some really funny examples of how not to do the ministry. I’m not sure where all of this will lead us, but it’s brought us closer to learn about this ministry and the basic principles of lie-based beliefs being the driving factors behind our negative emotions and pain. To read about this ministry, see a demonstration of it, etc., check out www.theophostic.com.
Check out Jennifer Fulwiler’s 7 Quick Takes Friday series and her high-traffic for good reason blog Conversion Diary.
