Guess What I Did Nine Years Ago?

It is truly hard to believe that my baby girl, my little bitty mouse muffin, is now nine years old!!



It's been nine years since I first laid eyes on my Big Girl, and I was in love with her already. Nine years of heart-stealing moments. Nine years of fun and excitement. Nine years of your silliness and fun sense of humor. Nine years of hugs and kisses. Nine years of blessings!



Thank God for you, Big Girl. You have made our lives so much better just by being.

We love you!

Love always,

Mommy and Daddy

There and Back

Ah, yes! Home, sweet home!

We really did have a lovely time in Myrtle Beach for my dad's 60th birthday, where we also celebrated my aunt's birthday (yesterday) and Big Girl's birthday (today). We went to Dixie Stampede, where my girls got to show off how well they can chase chickens and my father got to show off his horse-shoe tossing skills - with toilet seats. We got to see Dad's older brother, who now lives in Wilmington, NC, and my sister and her family - hard-working husband included! - were able to join us for the entire week. Her husband watched one morning as their three-year-old dynamo ran in figure eights through our unit (through our bedroom and bath, back into the kitchen, into the second bedroom, through the bathroom connected to it, through the third bedroom, back to the kitchen/living room area, back into bedroom #1...etc.) and asked, "When does she slow down?" Little Sis answered him, "She doesn't slow down until she is asleep. Why do you think I'm insane when you get home??"

"Sign her up for soccer next season and let's burn off some of that energy!" was his response. (Middle Niece really does need some physical outlet!)

I managed to resist the urge to show off my girls to my doubting uncle, but they did fine on their own. ("A pleasure to be with," cooed my aunt as they were leaving.) Big Girl was excited to know that my godfather, the uncle in question, is older than her Pa Pa. If Pa Pa is as old as dirt, we said, then the uncle is...

"Jurasic Dirt!" cried Big Girl. (When I asked where she got that one, she said her usual line. "From my own head.")

My mom's sister and her husband, both devout Catholics now, loved our girls' devotion, too. The girls got to show off some of their schoolwork to grandparents and aunts and uncles (though not the doubting uncle), and were just plain wonderful.

Oh, and Mass! Good golly, if you are ever in North Myrtle Beach, be sure to go to Mass at Our Lady Star of the Sea! I was in tears throughout the Mass, and barely controlled myself enough to answer "Amen" at Communion! They used LATIN and GREEK! They used Gregorian Chant! The choir was in a loft above us and they chanted something truly beautiful as we received Communion, so that I didn't feel that my prayers were a competition to the music. The priest spoke on respect for human life (since it was Respect Life Sunday), and he mentioned birth control, abortion, stem cell research and euthenasia!!! Holy Cow! Can I adopt this priest? Can we make exceptions for cloning here???

After Mass, I turned to Soccer Dad and said through tears, "That was all I wanted. Some Latin prayers, holy music, a tiny bit of chant. I don't need the Tridentine Mass or everything in Latin. I don't need everything to be Gregorian Chant and ancient. Just some of it. Just the old prayers."

I nearly stole the music aid paper thing to show to our music minister.

It is absolutely unbelievable how differently you can feel at a Mass when you have just a little bit of the ancient and holy around you. It makes you really understand that you are walking to Calvary and receiving the Lord of lords - Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

Anyway...

So vacation is over, and we have no plans to go anywhere for months and months. I can just be my little Hobbit self and sit home and bake and get ready for Christmas. I think the next time we go anywhere will be for the March for Life, which we will probably attend as a family this year.

Thank You, Lord, for bringing us safely there and back.

Jay Anderson is On Notice! (Updated)

For this.



I teased Big Girl last night that I cannot go to her soccer game tonight because the Yankees are playing. She was not amused.




Go Yanks!

UPDATE: On this same topic, Jay lets us know that LeBron James shows his great taste in baseball teams.

How Wrong Can They Be?

I saw this at Julie's blog, and decided to try it out.

They say this about me [all comments by me are bold and in these brackets]:

Based on your drawing and the 10 answers you gave this is a summary of your personality:

Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. [Eek! I am so not the natural leader!!![] You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You are shy and reserved. [This much is true, but it conflicts with something they say later.] If you've drawn a cross on each of windows, you always want to live alone. [Um, not really. I've always wanted a big family, but I like little panes of glass on the windows.] You are very tidy person. [Uh...I think they'd disagree if they saw my REAL house.] There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends. [I'm not sure what to make of this; I've never been someone who is really popular with lots of friends.] Your life is always full of changes. [No...it's usually pretty much consistent.] You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. [Nope! Introvert here.] You love excitement and create it wherever you go. [Actually, I am much more like a Hobbit. I like being home and safe and boring.] You see the world as it is, not as you believe it should be. You added a flower into your drawing. The flower signifies that you long for love. [Not much longing...I've got love!] It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself.

Play here.

Homeschooling, Pudding, and Apologetics

Next week, my father will turn 60, and in honor of that happy occasion (as well as the plethora of other October birthdays we have in our family), many of us are gathering in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for a vacation.

Among those who will join us at some point during the week-long break will be my father's brother, a retired teacher. Like many teachers from public school, he is not particularly fond of homeschoolers. Actually, I think a more fair way to put it is this: like many public school teachers who have had little to no contact with them, he is not particularly fond of homeschoolers.

A while back, my father made a comment about a homeschooled child who did something - won a spelling bee or geography bee or whatever. My uncle replied with comments about how socially backwards homeschoolers are. I won't get too detailed, especially since it was rather rude.

My father, doing his best to remain calm, answered, "Really? What do you think of Chris and Nathan's girls?"

"Oh, they are great! How are they, anyway?" blah blah blah.

"Great. Christine homeschools them, you know. So are you saying that my grand-daughters are..." You can insert the rude comments here. :)

Talk about FAST backtracking!

Now, my wonderful and adoring husband, Nathan the Soccer Dad, has an aunt and uncle who worked (his uncle still does so) in the public school system. While he's never said so to me, I know he's not particularly fond of homeschoolers. Something about less money for the school system. (He isn't real keen on parochial schools, either, in case you wondered.) Personally, I almost wish he'd bring that point up with me, because I'd ask him what he needs the money for if my kids aren't in the school. But he never does. However, I know that he also kind of looks at our family as different. That's okay, really. We are different, though our girls are so surrounded by friends who homeschool that they don't know it. But Soccer Dad and I both went to public school, and we know how different we are.

For me, this poses an interesting problem. Because I know that some of my family isn't totally on board with homeschooling (I think another of my relatives, an aunt, might also be skeptical), I have this great temptation to prove something to them. I want to show off. I want them to understand that my children are learning plenty, that they are smart, happy, healthy, and incredibly well-socialized.

But I must resist the temptation to have them show off their knowledge too much. Sure, I think it is a good thing for them to show relatives some of what they have been doing - we'll be bringing along some of their finished work to show off to Grandma and Pa Pa next week. But there is a difference between having them recite their Latin prayers because my parents are exicted about them learning so much and having them recite their Latin prayers to have a so-there moment with my credulous relatives. It's good for them to - on their own - explain what they are doing in school and show their work to someone. It's bad for me to encourage them to do so in front of - and specifically for - my family who is not sure this homeschooling thing can work.

I think that part of my problem lies in being defensive about it at times. But if I just let them be - if I just let them naturally be themselves and have that schooling just kind of come out on its own in these situations - it will make a far greater impact than if I have them recite all the Latin vocabulary they know or sit and read their books out loud so everyone can see how smart they are. If I can allow them to be themselves, no one will doubt that they are just as - if not more - well-rounded as any of their public schooled cousins are. The proof will be in the pudding.

My mother-in-law told me that I shouldn't worry about how anyone reacts or if they think negatively about our homeschooling. She told me that they'll just see how the girls are doing, they'll witness the fruits of my labor, and eventually, they might even change their minds. At the very least, they'll at least see that I haven't ruined my children or deprived them by not sending them to public schools.

My mother-in-law is a wise woman.

Really, this translates well into how we share the Faith with others. We certainly should evangelize, but at the same time, shoving the Church down someone's throat will only serve to push him away. As Saint Francis is supposed to have said, "Preach the Gospel always and if necessary, use words." We must not just profess our faith with our tongues, but also live it out. Faith without works is dead. One of the reasons my husband renewed his faith - came back to Christianity - was because of the actions of the people around him. At the time, we were friends with lots of Evangelical Christians, and by the way they lived their lives, he had a wonderful witness. While it took many years for him to come into full communion with the Catholic Church, I never forget that it was the living of the Gospel by Christians that started him back on that journey.

At the same time, we must always be ready to defend the Faith. We must educate ourselves on the Church and Her teachings. We must not stop with the end of Sunday school and say, "Our catechisis is finished now." It is never finished! Just as I must always be ready to give reason for our homeschooling or to explain why our girls are not locked away at home without any friends, I must also be ready to give explanations for the Church.

We know that we are called to obedience, and this is completely true. We must obey the Church because Christ founded Her to guide us, just as the Holy Spirit guides the Church. Sometimes, we don't understand a teaching and obey out of raw obedience. This is fine, but suppose someone asks you why you don't use birth control. Can you explain it at all? Have you made any attempts to learn why the Church teaches what She does on this? Suppose someone asks you about salvation and if you are "saved." Do you have any answer at all, or will you stare at him like a deer in headlights? Can you explain anything about how Catholics are born again? (Hint for the uninformed: Through the waters of Baptism.)

No one can know everything about the Church - She's 2000 years old! - but we can all know something about Her. We need to make sure that we continue to learn all we can about the Faith. Even if our parish has little in adult catechisis, nothing prevents us from taking up that challenge on our own! Even if you have little to no money, if you are reading this, you are on the internet, and you can get information for free. Catholic Answers, the Bible Christian Society, the Church in History site ... these are just a few of the many orthodox resources out there for Catholics to learn about the Faith. You can go to Aquinas and More and start small: order a Baltimore Catechism for yourself. It's cheap - under $5 - and it's written for children, so even if you have trouble getting through theological works, you can read this. And those Baltimore Catechisms you get today are not just lists of questions and answers; they have terrific explanations. Try Seton's religious education series for some good, solid teachings, too. I have learned so much just by using this series to teach religious education to my children!

"But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you."

If Today is the Feast of Saint Francis

...should I try to bless the fish with holy water?

(This pondering was brought up by Elena's post about blessing her pets today.)

Something to Procrastinate With

I am so supposed to be packing today. But look what I decided to do instead.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Ralphie Townandcountry
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Mint Chocolate Chip Chocolate Chip [That's a mouthful!]
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME:(first letter of first name, first three letters of last name) C-Joh
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Bunny [also an ice cream brand]
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Susan Fort Bragg
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Johch
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Red Margarita
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Andrew Roberto
[I don't know what happened to number nine.]
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Diane Michael
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Pender Pittsburgh
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring Daisy
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)Cantelope Scrunchie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Coffee Maple
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Reading Rain Tour [or] The Reading Rainbow Tour [if PBS doesn't sue]

Seen most recently at Tormenta Forester's place.

Ties in Nicely

I got an e-mail today from my oldest friend's parents. (Sarah isn't old, but we've known each other since the seventh grade.)

She married late - only two years ago next month - and she and her husband immediately started trying to have a baby. Soccer Dad and I put them on our intentions list, specifically praying for them during Mass when we remembered those who are sick because that seemed the best time to ask for this intention. She and I are only five days apart in age - and we both turned 37 this year.

So, the e-mail.

My friend and her husband welcomed their daughter into the world this morning! Sarah is recovering from her C-section and the baby is fine.

And so that brings me to another Sarah I know - though only via the internet - who is also getting ready to welcome a new baby into her family. Online Sarah is hosting her final pre-second-baby Catholic Carnival, and she has themed it around a Celebration of Life.

While you check out the Catholic Carnival that Online Sarah put together, please keep both Sarahs in your prayers. (And the fathers and babies, too. Especially the fathers, since no one seems to pay much attention to them in all the newborn excitement.)

This post made me think of this email my mother just forwarded to me the other day. (I removed personal information for privacy.) My family has some very long-living people in it. My great-grandmother was 97 when she died, my grandmother who is still living (my Nana) will be 88 on October 18. I think my other great-grandmother was in her 90's when she died, too, but I was a very small girl when she did. (And was freaked out a bit to see Christine's prayer card in Dad's side table drawer! She and I shared a name, but since I don't remember her at all and was kind of young, I didn't know what the card was from.)

Anyway, here is the "News of Great Joy" from Mom's family:

Believe it or not,

Gertrude *********

will be celebrating another birthday next week on

Thursday, October 4th, 2007!!!!

She will be

106 years old


She is in excellent health, loves living at ********************* Health Care Center, and enjoys all the activities.

She wins at Bingo a lot, still presents her travel slide shows twice a month, loves arts and crafts, enjoys sing -alongs, relaxes over jig-saw puzzles and is presently rehearsing for a Halloween play. (More details on that next week.)

To look at her, you'd never know she broke a hip 18 months ago. Her smile is seldom missing. She's quick with snappy come-backs when someone's kidding her. Although her memory for details is sometimes lacking, she's quick to grab a pen or pencil and jot down things she wants to remember. There isn't a day when I'm visiting her that someone doesn't say to me, "Your mother is awesome!" or "Your mother is something else!"

We try to keep her aware of all the news you send our way about you and your families. She has many scrapbooks and often puts photos you send, or copies of e-mails, in them. She still sends birthday cards to her 29 great-grandchildren (which incidently range in age from 18 years to 5 months).

If you would like to send her a birthday card, her address is:

*******************************, NJ *****-****

We hope you and your families are also doing well. ALL family members are included in her prayers.

Love, Ruth

Amazing! 106!!! I don't know if I've ever met my great-great aunt, but what I wouldn't give to be able to sit with her (and my girls) and pepper her with questions about her life. A real interview. Maybe I'll write to her and send her pictures of our family, so she can see some of her long-lost distant relatives. :)

By the way, the following all happened in the year 1901 (courtesy Wikipedia):

January 1

World celebrates what is regarded by some as the start of the new century.
The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia. Edmund Barton becomes first Prime Minister.
Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
French rugby team play their first Test against the New Zealand All Blacks.
January 5 - Typhoid fever breaks out in Seattle jail, the first of two typhoid outbreaks in USA during the year.
January 7 - Alferd Packer is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism
January 10 - The first great Texas gusher, oil discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas
January 22 - After reigning for almost 64 years, longer than any other British monarch, Queen Victoria died at the age of 81. Her eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales becomes King, reigning as King Edward VII until 1910. His son, Prince George, Duke of York becomes Duke of Cornwall.
January 28 - Baseball's American League declares itself a Major League

February 20 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
February 25 - J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.

March 2 - The U.S. Congress passes the Platt amendment, limiting the autonomy of Cuba as a condition for the withdrawal of American troops.
March 4 - US. President William McKinley begins second term.
March 6 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.
March 17 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
March 31 - United Kingdom Census 1901

April 25 - New York State becomes the first to require automobile license plates.


May 3 - Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, FL.
May 5 - Official end of the Caste War of Yucatán, although Mayan skirmishers will continue sporadic fighting for the next decade.
May 9 - Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.
May 17 - The Stock Market crashes for the first time. This is also the 6th worst crash.
May 25 - Club Atlético River Plate is founded in Argentina.
May 27 - In New Jersey, the Edison Storage Battery Company is founded.

June 2 - Katsura Taro becomes Prime Minister of Japan
June 12 - Cuba becomes US protectorate


July 4 - The 1,282 foot (390 meters) covered bridge crossing the St.John River at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada opens. It is the longest covered bridge in the world.
July 24 - O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement from the First National Bank in Austin, Texas.

August 5 - Peter O'Connor sets the first International Association of Athletics Federations recognised long jump world record of 24ft 11¾ins. The record will stand for 20 years.
August 21 - The Cadillac Motor Company formed in Detroit, Michigan, USA


September 2 - Vice President Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
September 5 - The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (later renamed Minor League Baseball), is formed in Chicago.
September 6 - American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley dies there eight days later.
September 7 - The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends with the signing of the Boxer Protocol.
September 14
With the death of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as President of the United States.
Huo Yuanjia, martial arts practitioner, defeated all four of his challengers, one from France, Britain, Russia, and Japan.
September 26 - The 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, is exhumed and reinterred in concrete several feet thick.

October 2 - Royal Navy's first submarine launched at Barrow.
October 4 - The American yacht Columbia defeats the Irish Shamrock in the America's Cup yachting race.
October 16 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt invites African American leader Booker T. Washington to the White House. The American South reacts angrily to the visit, and racial violence increases in the region.
October 23 - Yale University celebrates its bicentennial.
October 24 - Michigan schoolteacher Annie Taylor goes down Niagara Falls in a barrel and survives.
October 29
In Amherst, Massachusetts, nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.

November 1 - Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded in Richmond, VA
November 9 - Prince George, Duke of Cornwall becomes Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.
November 15
Miller Reese Hutchinson patents Acousticon, a heavy Hearing aid prototype
Alpha Sigma Alpha was founded at Longwood University
November 27 - U.S. Army War College is established.
November 28 - The new state constitution of Alabama disenfranchises black voters via literacy tests and the grandfather clause.

December 3 - US President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits".
December 10 - Marie Curie receives doctorate. The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
December 12 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal in Newfoundland, Canada; it is Morse code for the letter "S."
December 20 - The final spike is driven to complete the Mombasa-Victoria-Uganda Railway in what is now Kisumu, Kenya.

Undated
In the United Kingdom, Factory Act puts an end to child labour under 12.
Winston Churchill enters the British House of Commons
In Germany, Eugen Hollander makes the first known facelift to a Polish noblewoman
Scotland Yard creates a fingerprint archive
Cleveland Indians founded, under the name "Cleveland Blues".
Europium is isolated by Eugène-Anatole Demarçay.
First prototype Harley-Davidson created
Okapi discovered (previously known only to local natives)
Independent Maya of Eastern Yucatán surrender to Mexico
American Standard Version Bible first published.
Intercollegiate Prohibition Association established in Chicago.
Mordecai Ham, American evangelist enters ministry.
Pablo Picasso begins his Blue Period.
Shō Tai (Shang Tai), the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in modern Okinawa, Japan, dies.

Ongoing
Second Boer War

Not a single famous person born that year is still alive.

A Couple of Quick Links

I am going away - again - and I really need to pack in between school lessons and activities. But my Hobbit-ness is kicking in big time. So I am going to try hard NOT to post much.


However, there are a couple of things that I wanted to pass on in case you did not see them on your own.

• Maureen Wittman gives us homeschoolers an apologetics lesson in this post. (I liked the shy one, especially, since I was so painfully shy as a child that I would not say hello to people I knew from school when I was out with my mother. I'd HIDE behind her!)
• Regular Guy Paul linked to a post by The Mom at Shoved to Them (the awesome explanation of this blog title is in the subtitle to her blog). She tells of her own experience with RU-486, which came when her unborn daughter died in utero. I can't imagine that this was an easy post to write, but if it gets into the hands of one person who changes his or her mind about Mifeprex, it will have been worht it. Thanks, Mom, for sharing your experience with us all.
• This post (pointed out by newly-over-the-hill Jay Anderson) describes the real significance of 9-11. Interesting read, especially the foodstuffs that came of the victory over the Muslim Turks:

The Battle of Vienna was marked by culinary inventions:
1. The croissant was invented in Vienna to celebrate the defeat as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags.

2. The first bagel was made as a gift to King Jan Sobieski to commemorate the victory, being fashioned in the form of a stirrup, to commemorate the victorious charge by the Polish cavalry.

3. After the battle, the Austrians discovered many bags of coffee in the abandoned Turkish encampment. Using this captured stock, Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki opened the third coffeehouse in Europe and the first in Vienna, where, Kulczycki and Marco d'Aviano adding milk and honey to sweeten the bitter coffee, thereby invented the cappuccino, so named after Blessed Marco because of the Capuchin’s brown hood.

• Of course, when we are dealing with a culture that holds a grudge to this day over the Crusades (which we lost, people), it is too far-fetched to think that this is one reason for those attacks? And, if it is, could October 7 be another possible date for retribution?
• Jean at Catholic Fire has been keeping us updated on the Miller Beer boycott. (Please do not click this link with children around - the Folsom Street Fair, which is full of debauchery, is discussed here.) I know my dad has been a Miller drinker for ages, but he's boycotting, too.
• Wesley J. Smith has a few links, too, on the success of stem cell research - the adult sort of stem cells.

There are probably more, but that's it for now.

Everyone be good today!