What I have learned from my clothesline

In August, just as I had gotten completely caught up with my laundry (really!), my dryer stopped working. It wouldn't turn on at all.

Scott is a can-do kind of guy. Why pay someone else to fix something when you can do it yourself? With the help of the amazing internet, Scott has fixed and installed loads of things around our place and in our cars, saving us untold hundreds of dollars in repair costs.

So, Scott took it apart. He cleaned all of the lint out of the inside of the dryer, the whole exhaust line, and any other place you can think of. We had cleaned out the line before, and I always empty the lint trap, but over 10 years lint gets EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! He thought we needed a new thermo-thing-whatever-it-is (a safety part that makes sure your dryer doesn't get too hot and set your house on fire). It's designed to fail as soon as the inside of the dryer by the motor gets too hot. It is not fixable, so it has to be replaced. Presumably, when replacing the thermo-thing, one would also notice all that lint and clean it out. Or, for normal people, your repairman would do that.

Scott ordered the part, replaced it, put the dryer back together and painted over the rusty spot of the top of the dryer where I had kept the laundry detergent. Wonderful! It worked!

For one load. Now the drum won't turn. He took it apart. Maybe the belt wasn't on properly. He re-laid the belt. He reassembled the dryer.

Nothing. We need a new motor.

The man just this week finished his master's degree. He was doing all of this while trying to get his papers written and go to work and all of the usual Dad stuff he does. As a result, our family of 5 has been without a dryer for a month. No one is wearing less clothes. In fact, there is more laundry now than there was in the summer because I am washing school uniforms as well.

I am not going to lie to you and say that I have been patient about all of this. I have tried (sometimes hard, sometimes not) to avoid nagging him about getting this thing done. I have tried to be cheerful in doing my wash even as certain people complain that they have no (name article of clothing here). I have tried.

This drying is trying. The weather's not as hot as it had been at the beginning of all of this, so the clothes aren't drying in a hour. And now with the kids in school and me working, I really don't have a lot of time to hang wash out.

I did manage to get some things on the line yesterday afternoon. Then we had a thunderstorm while I was at work. No one who was at home brought in the wash.

What this trying experience has taught me is that you can't always make things go the way you want them. Sometimes, your son will turn the hose on the dirt near your just-dried jeans and accidentally splash mud on them. You have do things when you have the chance. You have to plan how you will do it. You have to be patient.

What this trying experience has taught me is that you have to see how not only you are frustrated by the things out of your control. You have to see that your attitude as woman of the house will impact everyone else under your roof. You have to love them all through whatever life hands your way. You have to see that if the broken dryer and the splattered mud are the worst of it, you're very fortunate indeed.

If you can see these things, you will grow to appreciate the feel of the sun on your hair and your newly-acquired mosquito-swatting skills. You will realize that this may just be the Lord's way of getting you to slow down a bit and listen. Listen to Him speaking to you in the three minutes of quiet you'll get as you hang out your laundry.

Warming up!

Get your lists, ready, ladies and gentlemen, the Novena to St. Monica starts on Thursday. As many of you know, through the intercession of St. Monica, the Lord brought my mother back to the faith after many years in the wilderness. Take the next couple of days to pray about who the Lord wants you to pray for, write their names down and get ready to start your novena on August 19.

You can definitely do this novena anytime you want, but it's especially appropriate in the 9 days leading up to her feast.

See you back here Thursday!!

an elephant in my blog

I have an elephant in my blog. Something in real life that I can't blog about. Something that impacts a member of my extended family that this person has asked me not to share, but that has started consuming my life.

I have considered starting an anonymous blog to write about it, but there are so many sites out there about this type of elephant that I'm not sure what else I can contribute.

I don't think that this elephant is bad for this person. I think it's a good thing. This person simply doesn't see it that way. Yet. But since this elephant came to stay, I have noticed that we get along better, that we understand each other a little more. I am grateful for the elephant.

Sometimes, when you get to know a person or a thing well, you see things you didn't see before. You can call these things flaws, or imperfections, or you can choose to appreciate the nuances in the Lord's creation.

Psalm 139: 1-17

O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.

Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all.

Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is beyond me, far too lofty for me to reach.

Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?

If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.

If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea,

Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light" -

Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one.

You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.

I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works!

My very self you knew; my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth,

Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.

How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them!

It's not easy to hear someone say: "I feel hurt because of X thing you did." It's hard to hear that and to see your fault plainly. It's humiliating to know that you hurt someone. It's humiliating to know that you're not perfect.

In that humilation, we can do one of two things. We can become defensive. "Well, you started it!" "I did that but you did this to me!" "Why are you yelling at me?!" Defensiveness is selfish. Defensiveness doesn't heal. Defensiveness makes it worse.

Or, we can recognize the humiliation for the good it can do: in this moment, with God's help, we have the power to change, the power to heal the relationship, the person whom we have hurt, and ourselves. We can say, "I'm sorry I did that. I am sorry I hurt you. I will do better next time." No excuses. We must acknowledge our weaknesses and resolve to do better in the future.

So very difficult to acknowledge one's humanity, yet so necessary.

Husband appreciation weekend

Hot on the heels of the last two posts, I am declaring June 5, 6, and 7 Husband Appreciation Weekend. This weekend, we will, through acts of love, through verbal thanks, and *ahem* whatever else you may think of, show our husbands that we love them; that we are grateful that they decided to marry us and put up with all of our crap until death do us part.

This weekend we will not nag. This weekend, we will be grateful that he folded the wash (even if it was not folded "the right way"). We will pray for him, that the Lord keeps him strong. At least one night this weekend, we will make him what he wants for dinner. We will let him rest in the hammock and keep the kids from jumping on him for at least 15 minutes. We will put aside the honey-do list (or at least thank him for getting to it). We will show him that we think he's the best guy in the world. We will cheerefully say yes when he initiates love. We will show our husbands that we are grateful for him being a man, MY MAN. We will show our husbands that we are grateful for him being here, for showing up.

Who's with me?

I have been away for a while and not as good as I ought to have been about posting the final Divine Mercy Novena post, and for that I am sorry. But this has been my distraction:
He made his First Holy Communion yesterday.

don't show this to your hips

...what they don't know can't hurt them.

Here for your eating pleasure is the recipe I use to make Irish Potatoes (buttercream candies). They are called Irish Potatoes because they look like little tiny taters when you're all done. They are ridiculously easy to make and they taste like it took you hours. Here's what you need:

2 sticks of room temperature, really soft, salted butter
7 oz coconut flakes
1 lb. box of confectioners' sugar
bloop of vanilla extract (maybe 1 T. if I bothered to measure)
ground cinnamon to cover, probably about 1/4 cup (see measuring this above)

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine everything but the cinnamon. put cinnamon in a smaller bowl and park it on the side.
Take little bits of the mix in your hand and form them into balls that have the diameter of a quarter. Roll in the cinnamon to coat. Eat and enjoy. Try to save some for other people. Makes about 40 Irish Potatoes. Maybe. Not that I bothered to count.
I used a spoon today to mix it, but my butter was really soft. It took me less than 5 minutes to combine it all, probably closer to 2 or 3. I don't use a mixer ever for this one and I'm not sure how a hand mixer would do. Maybe a stand-up deal would knock it out even faster, but I wouldn't know since I don't have one! ;) Start to finish this took me half an hour. They keep in the fridge for 7-10 days, bu they don't ever last that long in our house.

Got to pack for NOLA. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Pope Benedict's letter to the Bishops

As some of you know, the pope lifted the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X (they were illicitly ordained by Abp. Marcel Lefebvre) and then there was this huge kerfluffle because one of those bishops, Bishop Williamson, is a holocaust denier.

So anyways, Pope Benedict XVI has written a letter to all of the bishops of the Catholic Church about all of this stuff and it is just wonderful. You can read it over at Fr. Z's website, translated into English. Here are some of my favorite parts:

The actual problem of our point in history is that God is disappearing out of humankind’s horizon and with the extinguishing of the from God-coming-light the lack/inability to of direction breaks into humanity, the destructive effects of which we are seeing ever more of.

Sometimes one has the impression that our society needs at least one group to which it needs to show no tolerance, which one is allowed to attack with hatred, unquestioned. And whoever dares to touch them—in this case the Pope— has also himself lost the right to tolerance and was allowed to be thought of with hatred, without shyness or restraint.

Dear brothers, in the days in which I bethought myself to write this letter, it so happened that I had to explain and comment on a section from Gal 5,13-15 in the seminary in Rome. I was surprised who directly the sections spoke of the present of that hour : “Do not take freedom as an excuse for the flesh, but serve one another in love. The whole law is summarized in the one world: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And when you bite and rip each other apart, then take care that you do not kill each other.” I was always inclined to see this sentence as one of those rhetorical hyperbole that occasionally appear in St Paul. In some ways it may well be. But unfortunately that “biting and ripping” is also present in the Church today as an expression of a badly understood notion of freedom.

Is it any wonder that we are not better than the Galatians? That we are at least threatened by the same temptations? That we need to learn the right uses of freedom anew? And that we always have to newly learn that highest priority: Love?

Go read the whole thing. It's just wonderful.

How was your weekend?

Mine was a little hectic. Voici la deuxieme partie:

Friday: Amy is feeling slightly better, but just trying to rest because of the big Confirmation retreat at the parish the next day. But Amy and helpful secretary have to go to the Warehouse Store to buy chips and drinks for the retreat and Amy still has to administer eyedrops during lunchtimes at school. This is the last day and the boys are highly cooperative.

Scott takes Primo to the Cub Scout skate that evening at a county park in town. After they are there for an hour and a half (with me dozing on the couch while the young ones watch TMBG, my friend M. (a nurse whose son-Primo's BFF-and husband are at the rink) calls my cell. "Amy, don't be alarmed," she says (don't you love it when the conversation starts that way?), "but Scott has fallen at the ice rink and it appears to be serious. I think you should get over there." Next the house phone starts ringing. It's the rink. "Your husband fell on the ice and he's shaking...." puts Primo on the phone, he's crying, scared. I try to my best to reassure him as I try to keep myself together: "Daddy's going to be OK. You stay there with Den Leader and I'll be there in 5 minutes." M. will meet me at the rink. I get shoes on the little ones, get out the door to put them in the car and think to take them to the neighbors across the street. A., the husband, offers to drive with me but I want to go alone. God drives my car to the park and the ambulance is still there which I take as a good sign since it took me 15 minutes to get there.

Scott is in the ambulance, slurring, arguing with the EMTs to let him get up.

"Hey you," I say through tears.
"Hi," says Scott, looking at me like I'm the first thing he's focused on in a while.
"How are you?"
(still slurring) "I'm fine. I'm telling them to let me up. They won't. I keep telling them I'm fine."
"We're just trying to help you," says one EMT.
"You fell and hit your head real hard," I say.
(slurring, astonished) "Really?"
"Yeah, you really whacked your head. I need you to do what they tell you to do."
(Slurring) "But I feel fine. I want to get up."
(choking up since I am now noticing that Scott's hands are tied with zip ties) "For once in your life, will you just do what I tell you and listen to these guys?"
(slurring, resigned) "Okay."
"I'm going to find Billy. I'll be right back."

I am now feeling MUCH better. I know he's going to be fine.

A policeman pulls me aside and asks me to help him fill out a police report. I ask someone to get Billy from the rink for me. First thing the cop says is, "Your husband is really strong." Apparently, when he came out of his 3 minute siezure, he was very disoriented and tried to stand up. Since they didn't know the extent of his injuries, they wanted him to stay still. It took 6 people to hold him down and what the ambulance got there they had to handcuff him to the stretcher since they didn't have any other restraints for him.

In hindsight, I find this to be very amusing. It's like he's the Hulk. He cannot be contained!

I finally get to see Primo, he's shaken up, but seems to be OK. They let him see Scott on the ambulance. The EMTs have freed his hands and sat him up on the stretcher. He was able to wave to our friends standing outside of the ambulance. He's smiling and looks totally normal.

Long story short, he goes to the local trauma center where they do a CAT scan that night. He has no brain injuries, no fractures; only a mild concussion, a bump, and a scrape on his head and we are home within 4 hours of the fall. Scott mourns the loss of the coat and brand new sweatshirt he wore that night and they had to cut him out of. Primo got his first sleepover at a friends' house and he is fine with everything that happened. He was scared then, but he's not worried about daddy anymore. He felt better when he got to sleep at M.'s house. My in-laws got the young ones from my neighbors and they got a sleepover out of the deal, too.

Saturday: We pick up Primo and head over to the in-laws where everyone but me will stay since we have our big Confirmation retreat at the church that day. I go to work, but mt heart is not there. I call a few times during the day and Scott rests and is fine. By Saturday night (24 hours later) he feels great.

Sunday: He is still a little tired and very sore from fighting, but Scott feels normal otherwise.

Monday: He goes to work.

I just want to take this time to say thank you to the Den Leaders who were so great to Primo and the other boys. They went with me to the ER and stayed until Scott was discharged. They were great to our family and I am so grateful.

My friends and neighbors were also wonderful to us during this time. I will be forever grateful that the first person I heard from that night was M.

I leave you with this: You never know what a day is going to bring. My husband was one weird fall from being dead, a vegetable, or a quadrapelegic. Make sure the people you love know you love them. Never part with an unkind word or a hard heart. Always kiss him goodbye.

And make sure your kids wear a helmet when they go ice skating. Primo was. And if he had been the one who fell, he probably would have been fine, too. If he hadn't been, well, it wouldn't be a happy ending.

You can sign the petition here.

Cool pic

Scott took it, I doctored it up using some Photoshop tips from The Pioneer Woman, I posted it to her Flickr group and......

She liked it so much that she put it on her Photography page!!!

I'm glad she liked it and I'm glad that one of Scott's pics is getting such a wide audience! That's our Bub, last summer age 4.

This is one of Primo that I posted also:
I love the way this one turned out. Also last summer, Primo age 7.

This is my Primo.

He turns 8 today. He's a wonderful boy. He's caring, funny and smart. He can make his own breakfast. He can pour his own milk. He's at a funny age now. He still wants to snuggle at bedtime and crawl into my lap, but he's getting too large to fit in my lap. He is a delight. Look at that handsome face. Look at that gap-toothed smile. How can you not love him?

Do you know why he is smiling so big in this picture?

Because the day before his birthday, he had the fastest Pinewood Derby car in his den. He's a very proud Wolf Cub Scout. And his dad and I are so proud of him, too. We love him to pieces. He was our honeymoon surprise. And we wouldn't have him any other way. I love you, baby-who's-not-really-a-baby-anymore. May God bless you with a wonderful life!

I know Christmas is over, but I just can't help printing this letter that Primo left for Santa on the Christmas tree. It is reproduced exactly as written:

Santa Claws,

You can have any of our candy canes tonight. You can come for extra visits anny time.

from.
Primo

p.s. Did you ever hit yore head on the north pole?
p.s.s. Did you give me a wii?
p.s.s.s. can you bring me everything on my list?
p.s.s.s.s. I need a wii!
p.s.s.s.s.s. you should go on weaht wachers.
p.s.s.s.s.s.s. I've been verry good this year.
p.s.s.s.s.s.s.s. merry crhistmas.

Look what I did!

I was reading one of Donna Boucher's guest posts on Pioneer Woman Photography one day and Miz Boo was talking about how in Photoshop you can take your photo and make it look like a painting. Well, we got Photoshop the other day and, well, see for yourself:

Here is my photo of the Empire State building at sunset:


(First, let me just say that prior to Sept. 11, 2001, all you would have seen from here is the twin towers. The ESB would have been hidden. )

I don't like this photo for a few reasons, one of which is that it is too blurry. That will teach me not to bring a tripod. But, if I turn it into an oil painting, it doesn't need to be tack sharp, does it?



You can tell the difference a little more if you click on it. Here comes a better example.

My photo of a lifeguard chair at sunset:



Same day, same blur. No tripod. I tried the oil painting effect on this one and I didn't like it so much. Scott suggested trying it as a watercolor and after some fiddling, I came up with this:



You sort of lose the sunset feel a bit, but I really like this one.

So, thanks Miz Boo, for teaching me something new and thanks to PW for her blog and having you guest post! Now I am off to use more time I don't have to spare to play with Pictures. Like owning Lightroom wasn't bad enough!

You say it's your birthday...

well, it's my birthday too, yeah!

Today I turn 33. And I'm doing a lot of thinking about things. Where I'm supposed to be, stuff like that. But I just want to share this with you: I told my kids on Sunday that my birthday was going to be on Thursday. Bub was brushing his teeth, Scott was standing next to him in the bathroom. Bub says (He's fit to burst), "We have to get Mom a present, but I don't know what to get her!!!!!!" He asked me, "Mom, what do you want for your birthday?" I told him, "I want 15 Bubba kisses and 15 Primo kisses and 15 Curly Sue kisses." He started planting them on me right there as I was tucking him in on Sunday night. He stopped himself at 7, giggling, because it wasn't my birthday yet and he was already giving me my gift.

The three of them have been very excited about my birthday, even more than I have been. Bub was severely disappointed when he found out I wasn't having a birthday party. "But who's going to come over?" he asked. I think his thinking was, who else is going to give Mom presents?

But I think I already have the best gifts: Primo, Bub, and Curly Sue (oh yeah, and Scott, too ;) ).

I can't wait to collect those kisses!

She understands

The Novena to St. Monica starts today. Her feast day is August 27, the day after her son, St. Augustine. Monica's life was hard. Her husband had a violent temper, her mother-in-law lived with her and constantly belittled her and her children wouldn't listen. Her son Augustine, became a heretic (he was a too smart for his own good), but he eventually came around.

St. Monica is a patron saint of wives and mothers, but she is also the one to ask for help when your family and friends have lapsed from the church. My original post about good St. Monica is here (also accessible from the sidebar). In the last two years, several people, mostly women with worries about their husbands and children, have stopped by this page and have left a comment asking for prayers. Please take a minute to go a read those comments. Please keep them in mind while you ask for the intercession of the woman whose tears were finally dried when he husband and son came to the Church. Maybe you are reading this today and you are so blessed not to have any particular person in mind to ask the intercession of St. Monica. Please remember the women who have posted here before and pray for their intentions.

Novena To Saint Monica

Exemplary Mother of the Great Augustine,
You perseveringly pursued your wayward son
Not with wild threats
But with prayerful cries to heaven.

Intercede for all mothers in our day
So that they may learn
To draw their children to God.

Teach them how to remain
Close to their children,
Even the prodigal sons and daughters
Who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St Monica, troubled wife and mother,
Many sorrows pierced your heart
During your lifetime.
Yet you never despaired or lost faith.
With confidence, persistence and profound faith,
You prayed daily for the conversion
Of your beloved husband, Patricius
And your beloved son, Augustine.

Grant me that same fortitude,
Patience and trust in the Lord.
Intercede for me, dear St. Monica,
That God may favorably hear my plea
For (mention your petition here)
And grant me the grace
To accept his will in all things,
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.

That's a damn fine cherry pie!

I have stumbled upon a recipe for cherry pie which is the best cherry pie I have ever eaten. Scott loves this pie. It may be his favorite food. Cherries are in season now, so I thought I'd share.

What I think is fun about this pie is that is sort of smells like Dr. Pepper a little bit. Or maybe Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak soda.

Wow, Frank's soda. This makes me think about summer at my grandmother's house. We used to go to Grandmom's almost every Sunday in the summer. They had a pool. We'd swim. The grownups would drink gin slurpees and talk. Sometimes my grandfather would bust out his accordion or banjo and we'd all sing. Fun Times. My grandfather, dad, and brother are all named Frank. My grandparents always had Frank's sodas (and Coke. My grandmother lived on Pall Malls and Coke for a long time), but I think it's because it's just darned good soda, not because of the name. It's a Philly thing. I'm going down there this weekend and I'm gonna have to get me some of that soda.

Back to the pie. I'm going to confess that I use store bought pie crusts. I have never tried making my own. I am a wuss and I am too busy. So there.

Damn fine cherry pie

2 pie crusts, one in the pie plate, one for the top
4 cups of fresh cherries, pitted and halved
2 Tablespoons of flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, cut into several pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine everything except the butter in a non-reactive bowl (glass or ceramic). Mix it up well. Pour into pie crust that's in the pie plate. Dot the pie with the pieces of butter. Cover with the other crust. Cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil (prevents burning). Bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil. Bake for another 15 minutes. let cool for 30 minutes before eating.

Can we talk about the cherries? Do yourself a favor and get a cherry pitter. I don't know if you know this, so lean in close and I'll whisper you a secret: cherry juice will give you purple fingers. It's true. If you use a pitter, you don't get the juice on your fingers and under your fingernails. And if that juice gets under your fingernails, your nails will look like you haven't washed your hands all week.

Now, let me say a few words about how I get fancy with this pie. I let the kids cut out shapes from the dough I will use for the top pie crust and then cover the cherries with the cutouts. You have to leave spaces in the crust so it will vent anyway, so why not? We have used stars and it looks really cute. You can also do that lattice work pattern if you want, weaving the strips of dough, or just cover it with the whole top crust and pinch the edges closed and cut a few slits in the top so your pie doesn't explode. I have also brushed the top of the pie with egg white and sprinkled it with sugar. When I made this pie the first time and I brought it to the table, Bubba exclaimed, "It's shiny!" So if you want a shiny pie, try the egg white and sugar thing. Or don't. It's your pie.

And 'cause I know you're dying to know about the gin slurpees, here's how you make them. They're great when it's stinkin' hot. Just make sure no one is going to be driving for a while. Trust me. These bad boys go right to your brain.

Gin slurpees

You need: a blender that is good at chopping up ice

Also:
Ice cubes
1 small can pink lemonade concentrate (frozen)
Gin (or vodka is good too)

Fill your blender pitcher about 3/4 way full of ice cubes.
Add thawed Pink lemonade concentrate (partially thawed is fine too, I guess, or even frozen. who cares? It's all getting mixed up anyway). Save the can. Start your blender. Now, fill that can with your gin or vodka. Add the spirits thru the hole in the top of your blender. Blend it till smooth. Serves 4. Garnish with mint and a lemon slice if you want to be fancy. We never bothered with that. The fruit gets in the way of getting your drunk on. ;)

Method in my madness

I read this post at Scrutinies (I hope you're doing well, Dorian!) and it made me think of what I like to clean with.

I use a lot of Method Products. They smell good and they are non-toxic, which is not to say you should drink them, even if they smell yummy.

The bathroom cleaners are eucalyptus mint scented which is nice because it makes the bathroom cleaning that much more tolerable. And I like that I can hand the spray bottle to my sons when they, um, miss in the bathroom and make them tend to the mess they made without worrying about them passing out from the fumes.

I don't know if other mommies have this issue, but I have found that ever since I had my first hooligan (and compounded by every subsequent birth), I cannot tolerate certain scents that I used to enjoy. (I have had to give away every one of my Yankee Candles and stop wearing perfumes. I have even had to make my mom stop wearing the colognes she likes since what she likes gives me a migraine headache. I kid you not.

This issue is not something I have made up. I have gone to the grocery store and become so incapacitated by the checker's cologne that I had to call my husband to tell him to meet me back at the house to bring in the frozen stuff so I could run right inside and get a shower, take 2 Advil, and ask him to throw my clothes in the wash since the guy's cologne was sticking to my clothes and person. I was rewarded that day with a doozy of a migraine.

The point of the last two paragraphs is that Method makes a whole line of products that are totally fragrance free! But even with my over-sensitive nose, I have enjoyed and used in good health the Ylang-ylang Shower spray, The eucalyptus mint bathroom cleaners, Assorted French lavender products, Lemon ginger floor cleaner, and these home scent products: candle and stick thing. I get all of these things at Target (except the stick thing which I got at Staples, of all places) and if you can't get them where you shop, you can order them online. I do highly recommend these products. They clean great and you don't have to worry about you or your little ones breathing it in.

Dear Method people, think you can hook me up with some coupons? Thanks!

Life is a Highway, Part 1

In my line of work, I get to talk to lots of different people who are at different places in their faith journeys.  I get to talk to everyone from the "pray the Divine Office, attend daily Mass in the vernacular and Sundays in Latin" types, to the "I go to Mass on all the holidays: Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Easter, Mother's Day" types.  

But in general (except among the Latin Mass, Divine Office folks), I get to talk to a lot of people who sign their kids up for CCD so they can "get/make sacraments."  And I encounter an general misunderstanding (miseducation?  misremembering?) of what the sacraments are actually about.  So I've decided we're going to have Back to CCD night and we're going to talk about sacraments: what they are and why Jesus gave them to us.  This talk has been brewing in the back of my head for a few years now and it all just sort of came to me through the grace of God a few weeks ago.  What follows is generally how I'm going to approach this and this is where you come in. 

I need criticism of this approach from any of you who read this.  If you're lapsed from Catholicism, I want to hear from you.  If you're practicing, I want to hear from you.  If you're a priest or religious, I want to hear from you.  If you're looking to "get sacraments," I want to hear from you.  I am interested in challenging ideas people have of the Seven Sacraments.  I know from 5 years of experience, I am going to tick some people off with this talk, but in my line of work, I am always ticking people off.  As long as I'm not ticking Jesus off, I can live with it.  We're both going to be OK.  

And let's remember, this is a parent meeting, not Mass.  Let's start.  

Thanks for coming to Back to CCD Night.  I'm glad so many of you were able to come.  

Tonight we're going to discuss the seven sacraments, what they are and why Jesus gave them to us.  Let's start off with thinking about the following scenario: Let's say that you and your family are going to go on an RV trip around North America.  Gas is 99 cents a gallon (remember those days?)  and the plan is for you to go all over the USA and maybe hit Canada and Mexico while you're driving around.  In your small groups, come up with a list of the sorts of things you would load into the RV so that you had what you needed for the trip.  I'll give you just a few minutes then I'll ask your small groups to choose a person to report back what your group came up with.  

[Now at this point, I would expect answers like: food, change of clothes, soap, first aid kit, sunscreen, money, radio, dvd player, passport, maps (since you'll be going outside of the USA), tool kit, etc.  I'm going to have a backpack or suitcase with props in it on the table next to me that will correspond with some of the answers I'd expect.]

Those are really great answers.  I think you're well-equipped for your journey.  

Let's talk about this journey around North America in a slightly different sense.  Many of you have heard of the concept of faith being a journey.  You're probably not in the same place in your relationship with God that you were when you were four.  And you might not be in the same place 10 years from now that you are today.  Your relationship with God changes as you change.  As you come to rely on Him more, or less, things change.  Most of us don't have the same simple faith that we had as small children.  That's why Jesus reminds us that we need to have the simple faith that children have.  

In my work with families, I have met many people who register their kids for Religious Ed classes so that the kids can "get Sacraments."  I am SO glad that those families are in our program.  There are lots of baptized kids running around today that are not going to RE classes.  If you are sitting here and if your kids are in our classrooms tonight, this matters to you.  And I am glad you're here.  And I know God is glad you're here too.  

When we think about sacraments in terms of something you "get," it sounds a lot to me like they are stamps in our spiritual passports.  And I guess they can be in a sense.  The day of your Baptism or the baptism of your children is a HUGE deal.  Confirmation is a HUGE deal.  First Holy Communion is a HUGE deal.  But I think we're missing something if we think about the sacraments in only the terms of "things to do before I die."  

We need to think about the sacraments not just as stamps in our passports, but in terms of the essential items we pack in the RV so our journey through life into the afterlife goes as smoothly as possible.  

So, you're packing clothes, right?  [pull out a white T-shirt that says "Catholic" on it] Your nice, clean clothes can symbolize Baptism. In Baptism, you are marked for Christ, you are given a share of God's life in the form of the sacramental grace that wipes away Original Sin (the stain on the souls of all human beings-except Mary and Jesus- that is a result of Adam and Eve's first sin) and makes us members of the Church.  

And you're going to need to eat, right?  So you're packing food [pull out loaf of bread] and something to drink [pull out water, juice]? Maybe a little something to make the camping even more pleasant? [pull out a bottle of wine]  The Eucharist, or communion, is something that Jesus gave us to sustain us, to keep us going on Earth so we can get to him in Heaven.  Let's read from the Bible about what Jesus said about this bread that He has given us: [have a volunteer read aloud from John 6, The Bread of Life Discourse].  You're not going to eat only once during your month long trip, right?  You're not going to pack only enough food for one meal, are you?  You won't have enough energy to drive or to enjoy your family or your surroundings, right?  If you're like me, you get downright unpleasant to be around when you're hungry.  The Eucharist is what feeds us spiritually.  The sacramental grace we get from the Eucharist, Jesus' Body and Blood, no longer just bread and wine, is what makes being with the other people in your life even better because it brings you intimately close to God.  You eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood.  It doesn't get more intimate than that.  

But you won't eat with dirty hands.  Of course you wash up before you eat.   So you need your soap [pull out soap labeled Reconciliation].  

Later: Getting cleaned up, and when some healing needs to take place...

Too gimmicky?  On track so far? Reserving judgment until it's all here? Say it in the combox.  

Hello, it's me

I know.  I've been away awhile.  Allow me to update you.  In no particular order:

1. Bubba got himself a shiner on Monday night from tripping over a fan on the floor of his room and landing on the corner of his brother's open dresser drawer.  It's pretty.  I'll have to post a picture. 

2. Today, Bubba graduated from Pre-k.   He's officially a kindergartener now.  Primo finished 1st grade on Thursday.  Now the praying about the 2nd grade teacher begins.  

3. My confessor and sometime spiritual director was transferred to another parish and the farewell Mass and reception was last Sunday the 8th.  I chaired the committee for the party which caused some stress on my marriage.  Seems Scott likes it when I'm home.  He's fussy like that. 

4.  I had Jury Duty starting last Tuesday the 3rd.  I got picked for the case on Wednesday.  We returned the verdict on Friday afternoon.  It was a very pleasant experience.  I'm not even kidding.  I made a new friend.  (Hi, K.!)

5. My stepbrother, B. graduated from High School last Thursday the 5th.  His party was the day we handed down our verdict. 

6. After many visits to many doctors (including a horrible allergist right here in Linden.  Email me if you want to know whom to avoid. ) and dealing with symptoms that seemed like Congestive Heart Failure and an anaphalactic latex allergy, my mom went to an awesome internist and he figured out she has a...wait for it...B-12 deficiency that is exacerbating all of her MS symptoms.  Why her neurologist didn't figure this out is really sort of beyond me.  

7. I made it safely out the other side of Sacrament of Initiation Season (ie: the month of May) and I have learned the value of asking others for help.  

8. I anticipate a change in my work schedule that will make life better for all who reside in my home.  Full report when the contract is signed. 

9.  Our awesome next door neighbors, Hector and Diana, here on Diana's work visa, had to return to Colombia because her visa ran out and she couldn't find a new job.  After a lot of nonsense on behalf of the buyer's attorney that gave them 24 hours notice on the date of the closing (I am NOT kidding), they sold the house to a woman who so far has asked us to put out $3500 in cosmetic improvements to the exterior of our duplex (For those of you who don't know what a duplex is, we own one side of the building and she owns the other side.  We share a wall and if one is going to say, reside the house or reface the steps it probably ought to be done jointly so it doesn't look like Frankenstein house.).  This of course would not bother me if a. we had the money for it (we are going to do the siding since she "know[s] a guy"and b. I were confident she knew our last name (I don't know hers.) and c. She were not so gall darned freaking pushy about it.  So not only have good friends moved about 2000 miles away, they have been replaced by someone I don't like yet, but I hope that I will be able to like after she finally freaking decides to move in.  This probably deserves a post of its own.   

OK I think that's everything.  Back next week with some work related stuff I'd like you guys to help me with.  

What have you been up to?