Catholic Carnival 145

Check out this week's Catholic Carnival at Adam's Ale.

And it begins

Last night there were a couple of firsts in our house. Alexis had her first "real" food. Of course as soon as I sat down and lifted that first spoonful, it all came rushing back to me. The sticky, runny rice cereal, the jars of gross smelling baby food, the mess...And what else should follow this lovely first than Alexis' first bath in the big girl tub? It was also the girls' first bath together. They had a blast splashing each other, although Tom was not as excited about the splashing. I got a really cute video, but needless to say, I won't be posting it on the web. I did send it to the grandparents and godparents though, and it will probably show up again in about twenty years when the suitors come around. Did I say twenty? I meant forty. And then just a few minutes ago, my darling husband lowered the crib mattress because my baby can now pull herself up on the side. It's all going so fast. (Yes, I'm getting a little sentimental here.) What's a mom to do?

Luckily...

...you don't have to stand next to a building to pray for the people inside of it.

Update: I just read this over at The Lady in the Pew and thought I would add the link to this post.

Still time...

I just read this at Catholic Mom and I had to post it since technically there's still 45 minutes left of this Veteran's Day Weekend (although, shouldn't every day be Veteran's Day?). Please pray for our veterans, those who have served, are serving, and those that have given the ultimate sacrifice.

Amen

So I know there are a lot of links below. These have been accumulating since I went to Colorado and are stories/posts that struck a chord with me (even if I can't remember what all of them are right now without rereading them). I really should write a little blurb letting you know about each one and possibly categorize them, but I probably shouldn't take the time for that right now. I'll just do a better job next week. Maybe this will give you some insight into what my brain waves look like, CRAZY and all over the place! Enjoy!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Holiday
What Would Richard Simmons Do?
A Few Cobwebs
Breastfeeding Against Cancer
Mom's Pyramid
Abortion Suffering and Chinese Widow
Archbishop Chaput Talks About Certain
Women You are Beautiful and Precious
Everything That Is Good Comes From God
Huckabee on Whether Mormons are Christian
Keeping the Big Picture In Mind
Supermom is Dead or at Least Napping
Politics of Poppycock
I Caught You
In Honor of Saints
Definition of Happiness
Send Christmas Greeting to Wounded Soldier
Morning Sickness
Real Life Love

Reality Check Monday

I admit it. I watch those celebrity "news" shows like Access Hollywood more than I should (although I am getting better about turning the tv off). And more than once, when they mention some "hot" club, I've wondered what it would be like to get into one of those places. Well, wonder no more. My friend posted this on her blog the other day and I think it says it all. Any other similar stories out there?

On Veteran's Day...

Thank you Grampop, Dad, Tom, Brian, Jess, Welo, Chet, Elaine, Travis, James, Tracy, Kristen, Josh, Bessie, Joann, Col. H., Joe, Nathan, Erika, Aaron, Summer, Khris, Jeff, Chris, MJ, Chris, Cris, Kristina, Tim, Jack, Uncle Jack, Uncle Steve, Spaz, Micaela, Matt, Tait, Nate, Ty, Joe, Brian, Bart, Leo, John, Zen, Great Grandpa, Ryan, Dave, Brooke, Robyn, Matt, Jen, Kevin, Ryan, Jamie, Kevin, John, Jon, Jay, Jeff, Casey, Jim, Ryan, Nokie, Nicki, Jesse, Kelly, Cliff, Dara, Erin, T, Gio, Alex, Jaclyn, Patrick, Janet, Bethany, Mike, Sam, Greg, Chrissy, Laura, Tom, Jason, Beth, Bethany, Kate, Derek, Nathan, Aaron, Tom, Tony, Mike, Pete, Richie, Ben, John, Shayne, John, Vanessa, Derek, John, Col. E., Lindsay, Paula, Malia, Tess, Jon, Col. T., Edie, Beth, Jen, Troy, Brian, Nick, Sarah, Brian, Dana, Derek, Mary E., Samantha, Chris, Paul, Scott, Travis, Kelli, Lisa, Tracy... and the countless others who have and are sacrificing to serve our country and protect our way of life.

Toy commercials

All of you good moms out there, this doesn't apply to you.

For the rest of us, however, is it just me, or am I up to my eye balls in new toy commercials? I know that Christmas is coming faster than I could ever be ready for, but oh my goodness!!! I guess I didn't notice last year as I spent the majority of my time hanging over my toilet.

Thoughts?

Rom 14:7-12 (emphasis mine)

Brothers and sisters:

None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.

For if we live, we live for the Lord,

and if we die, we die for the Lord;

so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

For this is why Christ died and came to life,

that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why then do you judge your brother or sister?

Or you, why do you look down on your brother or sister?

For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;

for it is written:

As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me,

and every tongue shall give praise to God.

So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.

Today’s reading reminds me of an issue that has been coming up a lot in my life lately, separating the sinner from the sin. How do I effectively teach this concept to my daughters? How do we welcome people into our homes, but not their behavior, in order to not condone it or send mixed messages to our children? What of the friends who come to stay who live together out of wedlock? What of the family member who chooses to live a gay lifestyle? What of the loved one who greatly wrongs another family member? Where is the line between using our judgment to protect our family and not judging our fellow sinner?

Thoughts?

Going the Wrong Way

I know, I know…You are all thinking the new girl didn’t last long right? I apologize for my absence.

In case you missed it, 2 weeks ago there was a little game on tv. You know, Game 1 of the World Series. So as Coloradans (yes I looked that term up) were flocking to Boston, my family and I were traveling to Denver for my brother’s wedding. We proudly sported our Red Sox gear, but to our surprise and some disappointment, no one called us out on it when we arrived in Denver. Yes, we did get stared at a lot, but no one said anything to us except the guy at the rental car place who asked us cheerily who we were rooting for. We just smiled. Now I knew we wouldn’t get the same reaction as a Yankee fan would in Boston, but we were kind of hoping for something. Even as we payed every toll to the Rockies gear wearing toll collectors, we thought surely someone would say something. But no. So after expressing our disappointment at the lack of razzing to our friends and family throughout all the wedding festivities, the only thing we all could come up with was that Rockies fans were just so shocked and excited to be in the World Series, they just didn’t care. And then of course the Sox brought out their brooms and the Series was over.

I do have to say that this past Friday as I was entering a restaurant with my parents and daughters for dinner, a man held the door for me and then said, “I wouldn’t do this if you weren’t holding that baby.” I had my Red Sox hat on J So finally, someone had the guts to say something and he couldn’t believe that he was the first.

One more thing about the Red Sox, I’m sorry if you are sick of hearing about them. I have to give some credit to my daughters for their past couple of wins. You see, we moved to Boston in the summer of ’04, I was lucky enough to go to Game 5 of the ALCS against the Yankees, which is when I realized I was pregnant (another story to be told later), and then we went on to win that year after 86 years of the curse. Then my second daughter was born in the spring of 07 and now here we are, with another championship in the same year. So you see, although they may not have had everything to do with the wins, in my mind, they were the little extra something that made it all possible. GO SOX!!!

This picture was obviously taken earlier in the season, but gives a good idea of what I'm talking about.