7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 74)

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Voters Be Wary Livi (5 mos. old) took a bite of her mom's voter registration card one afternoon this week. I've been wondering if I take a bite out of mine, would people stop calling, e-mailing, snail mailing, and just leave me alone about this election? Yes, I'm voting. I can assure you the only One able to change my mind at this point is far above any pay grade.  

 

Pray, listen to the Lord, then vote accordingly!   

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The Real Catholic Vote This is a great, recent blogpost by a priest from our diocese stating Catholic teaching on politics and parties.  Think you know the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church? Know whether to vote Democrat or Republican?  Read this and find out!   

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Growing in Sisterly Love

 One of the perks of my work as a nanny this week has been watching Vivi start interacting and playing more with her 5 mos. old twin sisters.  I laughed and melted when she went over one day and gave them both gentle pats on their heads.  The three of them may butt heads (literally and figuratively) at times and vie for attention, but you can tell they really love and care about each other.

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Home for Halloween It’s been another busy week, sometimes rather hectic, so it was really nice to have Wednesday off from both jobs.  I slept until noon.  I can’t remember the last time I did that.  I spent most of the afternoon and evening folding laundry, putting it away, doing dishes, balancing the checkbooks, paying bills, making dinner…but I got to do all of it in my jammies.  Though Kevin and I usually walk around the area some to see people’s costumes and decorations, I didn’t step out of the apartment once.  What felt really strange was knowing that my baby sister turned 21!  She was born when my other sister and I were out doing some real trick-or-treating.  See Take 5 for definition and explanation.     

 

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Flashback: Hardcore Trick-or-Treating When my sisters and I were growing up, we didn't use pitiful orange buckets, we used pillowcases.  You can fit a whole lot more candy in those. They're also harder to carry when they get to a certain weight, but who cares?  We just wanted to go out and get the free candy.  When using pillowcases (and going to where there are apartments or lots of houses close together) there is enough that parents can easily pick what they want after "checking the stash for tampering," that was until  my sisters and I counted every single piece to see if one of us had more than the others.  If you’re going to go to the trouble of dressing up the kids and canvasing a neighborhood or two, why not go all-out and get a serious stash of candy?  Note: This message was not brought to you by the American Dental Association. 

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Ordination Celebration Saturday, November 3, 2012, Kevin and I will be attending the diaconate ordination taking place at 10:30am at Sacred Heart Cathedral.  Please join us in praying for the following men (as well as their wives and families) who will be ordained as permanent deacons: Paul Buckman, Armando deLeon, Tom diStefano, Esaud Feliciano, Al Hallatt, Steve Haut, Tom Healey, Kevin Hogan, Paul Kudrav, Frank Leaming, Frank Nelson, Chip Pagnini, VJ Petillo, Ron Reger, John Tucker, James Van Wyk, Charles Williams, Jerry Wyngaard, and Robert (Bob) Young as well as the group of men in our diocese ordained as permanent deacons on Saturday, October 13, 2012 (whose photo's on the left).  It has been very exciting especially to see several members of our Cursillo family go through the formation process.  What a remarkable group they are and will be as they continue to serve their families and the Church!                                                                

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My Godfather: I have a special prayer request for a wonderful, faith-filled man and his family.  My Godfather, who was my dad’s best friend from college (and throughout the rest of my dad’s life), Rick, could use some extra intercessions as he recovers from yet another surgery.  My Godfather, aka Stitch, has had a very rough bout and just this week had to undergo another serious procedure.  Doctors say he did well. He and his family have been through quite a bit.  We need to keep the prayers for Rick, his wife Mary Kate, and their adult children Daniel and Cate flowing.  Thank you!

Head over to Conversion Diary, to read Jen Fulwiler's wonderful tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 71)

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Election 2012 and Christians I don’t often post things that are political as I’m quite sick of hearing all sorts of slander against all candidates.  I don’t want anyone else calling me and asking me who I’m going to vote for.  I would like to offer my suggestions as to how you come to your decision of which candidates to support for public office: research the issues, find out where the candidates stand on them, take the whole matter to the Lord in prayer, listen to Him, then go vote for whom your well-informed conscience and the Creator and Savior of us all guides you.

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Want a Few More Voter Guidelines? Check out this great article of “Ten Things Christians Need to Remember This Election."

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How Do You Tuck in a Superhero? You tuck in a superhero with cleverness and creativity, loads of love, heaping helpings of humor, and gobs of grace.  After babysitting, teaching, tutoring, and nannying boys, I knew I would totally appreciate and find great hilarity in the antics recorded by a mother of five wild and crazy boys (and since the book was published one sweet little girl).  I laughed hysterically at Rachel Balducci’s pithy writing, straight-up observations, and comical quotes.  If you have taken care of boys or spent any length of time around them, you will likely identify with this book and find it highly amusing as much as insanely accurate in describing the temperament of many young boys. 

     How Do You Tuck in a Superhero? is a wonderful collection of true short stories, funny bullet-point lists, and some absolutely priceless quotes directly out of the mouths of her own testosterone-driven brood…Read more.

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Elementary Flashback: This week while substituting at school in one of the lower elementary (grades 1-3) classrooms, I saw the absolute opposite of what I experienced when in third grade when we had to do our math time tests. 
     Before the group began, the teacher reminded them that several of them had tests that were different lengths and not to worry if others finished before they did.  The kids were given as long as they needed to finish the problems and they recorded the time it took them.  The papers were scored and recorded in the grade book without ceremony.  

     This sent me in memory drift to the desk near the back of the classroom where I was sitting when my teacher returned my latest times table test which I’d aced and loudly announced to everyone in the room in all seriousness, “I guess this means I’ll have to take away your crown as Queen of Doing Everything Wrong.”  Yeah, ouch!  It's kind of funny how I’m now speed checking all of these math problems as a substitute teacher.  Take that mean math teachers! 

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Everyone Loves a Baby Though it’s been a good, busy, exhausting week, I’ve made a point of catching up on some of the blog posts by some stay-at-home parents who make me laugh.  This one about Matthew Archbold taking his Godson to a young girls’sporting event caught my attention and gets my vote. 

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Back on the Shelf Vivi has a keyboard that she loves to play.  She can play the keys, have it play different beats, speed up or slow down the tempo, and even sing nursery rhymes.  It’s quite a neat set-up, except for one little button: No, not one marked Off.  The problem at least for those of us over the age of four is the “Loop” button.  I can handle listening to a string of different children’s songs, nursery rhymes and such and even sing along several times a day (obviously, or I would never make it taking care of young children), but my patience and tolerance for hearing the same thing over and over again runs thin when I hear the same 20 second clip of music, not that great of a recording either, of children singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” literally 30+ times in a row.  I feel like squashing the spider and pitching the keyboard.  When I reach that point, I calmly ask Vivi to push a different button.  If she refuses, the keyboard is re-shelved way out of reach.

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Nanny with a Passion for Photography As anyone who knows me can attest, I love children and have a passion for photography, so the two come together nicely when I nanny.  Capturing the cuties on camera is fun for me, something the parents appreciate when I hand them CDs filled with adorable photos of their kids from their daytime adventures, and it’s a lot of fun for Kevin, too.  Honestly, he can get a bit jealous that I get so much time with little ones.  He’s genuinely interested in hearing the stories about our day and seeing the pics I’ve taken of little ones having fun.  Who wouldn’t, really?  The kids I’ve nannied for have a penchant for doing and saying hilarious things, and they were then and are now all so flippin’ cute!

Head over to Conversion Diary, to read Jen Fulwiler's wonderful tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday.

Won't you be my neighbor?

 Beyond the Mr. Rogers Mentality   
     A few of the recent daily reflections by the late Henri Nouwen, one of my all-time favorite writers, about what it means to be someone’s neighbor have gotten me thinking.  In the e-mail reflection I received July 20, 2012, from the Henri Nouwen Society is a wonderful definition of what it means to be someone’s neighbor.  Usually we think of the people who live around us as our neighbors, and if considering the question from a Christian standpoint, we often think of every person as our neighbor, especially those suffering most in mind, body, and/or spirit, but I like this meaning even more. 

Real Life Examples

     The slogan for a popular insurance company actually says a lot: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”  My husband Kevin is definitely a good neighbor.  He always says hi to the people in our building, usually knows their names, and asks how they’re doing.  If someone’s in a bind, and Kevin can offer assistance, he does.  Being aware of and sensitive to the needs of the people around him is one of the things Kevin can do really well.  Not only does he pick up on what’s needed because he actually listens to people, but he also is quick to offer help to meet the need. 

Bridging the Gap Between People
     Are we really in solidarity with the people whom we keep at arm’s length?  I’d have to say no, we’re not.  (Henri Nouwen suggests the same answer in the meditation here as well as in this reflection.) If I assume from the bumper stickers on your car, the Likes on your Facebook wall, the posts on your blog...that we have completely opposite views on politics, religion, economics, morality, ethics...will I make the effort to get to know you and connect?  I guess that depends.  If I find out someone has been hurt, is sick, suffering, and/or in need, then my first response tends to be one of concern and compassion.   
     Unlike the other people who walk by the man they see on the side of the road without stopping to help, the Good Samaritan (and most of the people I know, if not all of them) would at least stop to see if they could do something. 
     Generally getting involved in someone else’s crisis is messy, inconvenient, and in some cases even traumatizing, but it’s what God calls us to do when we see a person suffering and it is within our capability to alleviate that pain even a little.


A Connection is Made
     I spoke with the friend on Friday who connected me a while ago with a young women who was expecting and in need of support.  Interestingly enough, while I was over at their house this week, our friend’s mother was helping another woman from Kenya make a popular dish from their region.  Both women had come to the baby shower we had for the young woman who was expecting and in need of support.  Actually, the two of them were making some of the same Kenyan food we’d had for that celebration.  They aren’t blood relatives, but they really treat each other as family.
     When I got ready to leave our friend’s father called to his wife in Swahili that his daughter was leaving.  (He translated for me after he said it; I don’t know Swahili.)  She and the other woman both came out from the kitchen and gave me a hug. 
Who you gonna call?
     Around the time I was leaving, a neighbor who lives across the street called my friend because he’d cut his hand and needed a ride to the ER.  My friend dropped everything and immediately headed out asking us only which hospital would be the best to take him to for care.    
Redifining Neighbor
     That’s what it means to be a neighbor: extending your hospitality, your dwelling place, your food, your possessions, and more importantly, your time, love, compassion, attention, and affection to anyone whom God puts in your path.  Being a neighbor means you make room for them in your life, in your heart, and in your prayers.   

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 56)

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Inconceivable!” On Tuesday this week when I went to noon Mass at the Pastoral Center, Fr. Wayne Ball gave a great homily beginning with a quote from his favorite movie, The Princess Bride: “I do not think that means what you think it means.” 

     Fr. Wayne Ball spoke about how the Scripture readings for that day weren’t interpreted or meant the way people thought they were at that time.  The Lord wasn’t saying that the earthly cities and kingdom mentioned would remain untouched, always protected, and out of the enemy’s reach forever; He was saying that the Kingdom of Heaven would never be destroyed.

     Fr. Ball was quite amused when I came up to him after Mass and exclaimed: “Inconceivable!”

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Religious Freedom Again, the quote: “I do not think that means what you think it means” from The Princess Bride fits perfectly.  For centuries, religious freedom has been one of the most important liberties protected by our constitution.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has provided a number of clear reasons why and explanations of how Obamacare policies and provisions infringe upon one of our most important liberties.  I invite any who are serious about protecting religious freedom for all to check out these articles and this information. 

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Health and Human Services are best governed by God and those who intend to protect the health and respect the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. 

Judie Brown, president of American Life League, issued the following statement:

    “This is indeed a sad day for the people of this once great nation where liberty has always been equated with freedom of religion, freedom from oppression, and freedom of speech. The government's draconian healthcare law denies so many rights that the true result is yet unknown, but surely liberty has been trounced in unbelievable fashion.

    Let us pray for our nation. We must remember in these dark days that, while we are proud to be Americans, our primary loyalty is to God, not man and surely not the government. Civil disobedience appears to be one of the few options we have, and we say bring it.”

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Local Spiritual Enrichment Opportunities Kevin and I have been praying extra for the teams in formation and the candidates who will attend the following upcoming weekends put on by members of our parish for members of our parish: Christ Renews His Parish retreat for Men July 21-22, 2012 and Christ Renews His Parish retreat for Women August 4-5, 2012.  For more information and to register, click here.

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Calling Catholic Men! Another opportunity for Christ-like transformation is fast approaching.  The next Cursillo Men’s Weekend in our area will be held, July 26-29, 2012, at Church of the Sacred Heart in Petersburg, Virginia.  The team members who have been in formation for several months are making their overnight retreat tonight (June 29, 2012), and would appreciate your added prayer cover.  For more information or to register for this very moving “short course in Christianity,” check out the national websitehere.  To register for the July Men’s weekend in Petersburg, Virignia, contact Pre-Cursillo coordinators: Mike and Jane Walsh at Precursillo09@yahoo.com

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Why I’m back to reading YA novels As I’ve mentioned previously, I have a YA manuscript I’ve been working on for a number of years, and I’ve gotten the nudge to get back to it recently.  Because in order to write well you need to read well-written books in that genre, I’ve found myself back in the teen section of the library.  This means I’m reading YA novels in addition to a number of nonfiction works that I will be writing book reviews on for my blog.  Delving back into the teen scene via YA novels has already given me some exceptional ideas for how to take my manuscript to the next level while at the same time reminding me how morally depraved many popular works of fiction are these days.

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Vocation Discernment Yes, I realize I’ve mentioned this often lately, but that’s because it’s been on my mind and heart frequently: please pray for Kevin and me and all who are discerning what major steps to take in their lives.  Lord, please help us to be open to Your Will, to set time aside to listen for Your still small voice guiding us to the Truth.  Keep us focused on You, above everyone and everything else, so that we may say, do, and become better vessels for Your love, healing, Truth, joy, hope, peace, compassion, and gentleness.  Amen.

 

Head over to Conversion Diary, to read Jen Fulwiler's wonderful tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday.