Cardinal Dolan speaks about Pope Francis

Have you seen this video clip of Cardinal Dolan talking about the conclave and Pope Francis?  I've been a fan of Cardinal Dolan for a few years now.  Ever since I read one of his books and was just amazed at how down to earth he is and how well he conveys the faith.

The more I hear about our new Pope the more I love him.  Listen to what Cardinal Dolan has to say about him:

Habemus Papam!!!

White smoke on day two!  I can't believe it.  I was so hoping it would be soon but I didn't expect it to be this afternoon.  Yay!

Can't wait to see who our new Pope is in a short while.

Are you watching for smoke?

I've been glued to the TV around the expected times when we should see smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel.  Then Bryan suggested I use one of the live feeds found online since I was getting annoyed by the insipid comments on the MSM channels.  This feed below is great if any of you are looking for a good one online.

The Year of Faith Pope Benedict XVI

I'm still feeling a little shocked over yesterday's news that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to resign.  I never would have guessed that I'd be seeing that story when I sat down to eat my breakfast.  My thoughts went from this story is a hoax (I got the news from a Huffington Post article.) to absolute shock that the story was, in fact, true.

I've still yet to make my way through the book Light of the World, which I had actually pre-ordered ages ago,  but I do recall there was a question posed to the Holy Father about whether he'd ever resign from the Papacy.  And if I recall correctly, the way he worded his answer made it look like he wouldn't rule out such a possibility, so perhaps maybe we shouldn't be as shocked and stunned as many of us are.  But still, there's no discounting the surprise that many of us got yesterday morning.

I've done my best to stay away from media broadcasts on this subject.  Bryan told me some of what he was hearing on the news and I've read plenty of blog posts that have reported similar things where reporters who are unversed in what Catholicism really is decide to be arm chair theologians and spout out their thoughts on what the Catholic Church needs.

Yesterday one of my initial worries about the Pope retiring was whether this might create a schism within the Church.   I'm sure the Holy Father has thought through that and has prayed on it, so I will just have to have faith that this won't happen.  The pessimist in me worries about such things.  I did reflect later in the day that it seems even more fitting that this is the Year of Faith.  I came across this video clip of Cardinal Arinze's reaction to the Holy Father's resignation.  And I think it's worth taking a few minutes to watch.



So while I am sad that our Pope has decided to step down,  I'm confident that he has the best interests of the Catholic Church at the heart of this decision.

Attempted Sheep Stealing

I was making dinner tonight when the phone rang.  Ordinarily we don't answer the phone if we don't recognize the number on the caller ID.  Now that I'm directing the parish VBS I really can't be so selective when it comes to answering the phone, and so when the phone rings I answer it.

Tonight I got a phone call from a representative from Gospel Light, the company that produced the VBS our parish is using.  We're using the Catholic version published by Liguori, but for the most part the program is very protestant.  Let me be the first to say that I'm not a fan of using Catholicized protestant material to teach Catholic children.  Maybe this is the result of me being raised protestant against my will.  Ecumenical is not something I'll ever be accused of being.  Sorry, you're either with us or you're not.

So back to the phone call.  I suspect there's a metatag in the webpage template we're using for the parish VBS website.  They called because they saw I was on their site recently (try, ages ago) and they wanted to know if I found everything alright.  I told her that I had. (It's called I ordered from the Catholic publisher nearly two months ago.)  Then she wanted to talk Sunday School curriculum.  I told her that I wasn't the DRE and that this is for a Catholic parish.  She goes on to tell me that they have a new program that they think we'll be interested in seeing.  I asked her if it was Catholic and she responds that she's 24 and she's still learning about Jesus.  Good for you!  Aren't we all?  I take it her deflection was a way of avoiding having to say no.  I let her know that we're using a Catholic program for Catholic children.  That also must have fallen on deaf ears.  She proceeded to let me know that they're going to send some information to me (I'm assuming at the parish address-this ought to be good.) and she'll call me later to discuss it.  Something tells me she's not going to be too happy when I tell her we're not interested in their watered down version of Jesus.  I'll take the fullness of the Catholic faith, thanks.

A nagging doubt

Have you ever read something and then found yourself trying to remember the details of a situation from years ago?  A few weeks ago I was reading Fr. Z's blog (A task that I think probably qualifies as a part time job for anyone who has the time to read everything he writes.) where he was asked by a reader about whether or not a particular baptism was licit or not.  Because Madeline was baptized by a deacon during Mass it got me wondering if Madeline's baptism was in fact licit.  I couldn't remember the specifics of her baptism aside from the fact that I held my sleeping child the entire time with the exception of when Fr. Francis hoisted her up high and walked up and down the center aisle while everyone applauded, and after Mass he had placed her on the altar where she became the first baby to fart on the altar in all his years of placing the newly baptized babies on the altar [and it was LOUD].

She was baptized during Mass nine years ago.  I recalled that the deacon did the baptism, but I recalled that Fr. Francis was certainly active in the process.  So I did what any self respecting worry wort would do.  I started to worry about the validity of her baptism (Yes, I'm that crazy.).  For over a week I meant to dig up her baptism video and see if I could put my mind at ease, but then I kept getting distracted. Today I finally got around to watching the video and can now rest easy.  Her baptism wasn't anything like the illicit one described on Fr. Z's blog.  What a relief.  I was beginning to worry that I'd look like a nut if I had to go to the parish office and explain that I thought my child was not licitly baptized.

So how am I to answer?

A survey from our religious education department arrived in the mail today.  I already had to fill out the catechist version of this a few weeks ago and now I have to fill out the parent version.  There's a question on this survey that irritates me every time I see it pop up, and I honestly am now sure how I'm supposed to answer it without having to give an explanation. (I was relieved that it wasn't on the catechist survey.)

This is the question to which I am to answer yes or no: "I am a baptized Catholic."  How exactly am I, a convert, to answer this question when there are no other questions regarding whether or not I am a Catholic?  I was baptized in a Lutheran church and when I converted to the Catholic Church ten years ago, my Lutheran baptism was recognized by the Catholic Church as being valid.

Maybe I'm just hypersensitive to the comments I've received in the past that I'm not "a real Catholic" and this question just rubs me the wrong way, but I can't help but feel like I'm getting that same message from the parish when I see questions like this frequently pop up on stuff for the RE program.  Yes, I'm Catholic (and a practicing one to boot) and no, I wasn't always.

Just because it's May.....

If I'm not real then what am I?

I was talking to one of my best friends last night and catching up on the past five or six weeks.  While I was talking to my friend we were discussing her daughter's upcoming First Holy Communion.  I'm not sure how it happened, but a comment slipped out of my friends mouth that left me speechless.  She told me that I'm not a "real" Catholic.  Wow.  I was stunned and offended at the same time.  That led me to ponder the question of how I should respond to her.  What exactly does one say to the person who was their sponsor when such a comment is made?  Am I artificial?  Am I imitation?  Perhaps I'm just imaginary.  Yes, I'm the imaginary Catholic. I took the charitable road and decided to pretend I didn't hear her comment.  I don't see why I should have to explain to her that I am, in fact, Catholic.  She did, after all, attend every R.C.I.A. meeting with me, and went to Mass with me nearly every week for the better part of a year.  Maybe she missed the whole point in that exercise.  

This wasn't the first time I've had cradle Catholics make comments like that to me.  Another friend said something similar to me last year, and I think for the most part, Bryan's family members regard me as the heretic Protestant he married.  He has aunts who talk to me like Catholicism is totally foreign to me.  They, however, understand that I joined the Church but they think I have subpar knowledge of the faith. Clearly they confused me with their nephew and his siblings. It's annoying to say the least.  

Of my friends and family I'm one of only a few who are actually practicing Catholics [that is, I follow the precepts of the Church], and yet, I'm apparently not a real Catholic.  I wonder sometimes if maybe they just don't know what a real Catholic looks like.  I on the other hand, know what a Protestant looks like and I recognize the Protestant in many of those "real" Catholics.

Squealing with delight

I have hit a point in my life where I realize I'm more than easily amused with little things.  When I got home from picking Ellie up at preschool I was thrilled to see that the mail truck was on my street.  With the quantity of books and things that I review for many places, I never know what treat might be in my mail box.  Some days there's nothing good (unless you count junk mail and bills as good mail), other days I'll find a new book and other times there will be a coupon for a store I frequent or a package containing an order I recently placed for something.  Today was a coupon for The Children's Place and a big box from The Catholic Company.

I think The Catholic Company likes their customers to feel like Christmas has landed on their doorstep.  Unless I've ordered just a book or some coloring books, my orders from them always arrive in nice big boxes.  If you have kids you know how prized a box can be.  Ellie was just as excited as I was because the box was something she wanted to commandeer for the purpose of coloring it.  If I'm going to tell you about my nice big box I might as well tell you what was inside right?  Well, there was some paper packing material which inspired me to bag up all the recycle paper that was taking over my garage.  Gotta love a company that prods you out of the sin of sloth and procrastination with their method of packaging, right?  Then there was some highly coveted bubble wrap.  That stuff was worth fighting over when I was a kid, but now that it's far more abundant in my household, the kids just get excited when I toss it on the floor and tell them they can have at it.  This of course, was after I had jumped up and down on it a few times to see if I could pop the bubbles. (I'm delightfully entertaining to watch if you ever have the opportunity to observe me in my natural habitat.)  The cheap bubble wrap will pop under your feet when you pounce on it, but the good stuff takes a little more force than my poundage can dish out.  Ellie happily scurried away with the bubble wrap after I gave it a few good jumps and didn't manage to yield any popping sounds.  It was the good stuff, ugh!  Then I moved on to the real reason the box was delivered to my house, the contents.

Nicely nestled inside the box was a First Communion Missal for my best friend's daughter.  I laughed to myself that I knew it would be vintage as soon as the new translation of the missal is implemented.  I'll just pretend I didn't know it was coming when I brought the gift.  That works, right?  Then I paged through the Baltimore Catechisms (1, 2 and First Communion) that I brought for the kids.  I'm fed up with the fluffy text books our parish uses for the religious education program and have decided that I need to just teach the girls at home.  I'm mostly excited about these books because I see it as the perfect way to make sure my kids know their faith and don't wind up being disinterested and uninformed Catholics like their dad.  The bargain hunter in me couldn't resist buying an Advent wreath that was on sale.  We didn't have one, unless we count the toilet paper one I made for my CCD class, so I decided to order one so I'd have it for this year.  Bryan will just LOVE it. (Don't touch that last sentence, it's dripping with sarcasm.)  And, because I haven't had enough of Lent, I also picked up a nicely reduced copy of Lent and Easter in the Domestic Church.  I came across a blog post during Lent where a family had used this book to do a Stations of the Cross craft that I really liked.  I decided that I needed to get a copy of this book.  I paged through it and found lots of great ideas.  I'll be sure to try out some of the activities and crafts listed in this book for next Lent.  Poor Bryan is probably going to curl up in a ball somewhere and try to hide next Lent.

Anyway, the bottom line is I'm tickled pink with my recent purchases.  The combination of getting books that exceeded my expectations along with my out of season bargains is enough to keep a smile slapped on my face all day long.  I shared my enthusiasm with Bryan via IM and there was no response. He's probably hoping if he ignores me and my exuberance over more Catholic stuff being imported into our home that maybe I'll forget about it.

St. Joseph Rocks!

We are not a family that takes a break from our Lenten fasts on Sundays.  Let me just put that out there.  I've been seeing things all over on line about how we don't have to fast from meat today because it's a solemnity.  Fair enough, what about candy?  Well, I got my answer when I opened up the email for today's edition of Holy Heroes' Lenten Adventure.  Apparently, when there's a solemnity in Lent, that feast day overrides the rules of fasting. Sweet!  Bryan was wondering about this because he wasn't willing to eat meat today since that's what he gave up for Lent, if I wasn't able to eat candy.  He didn't want to be the one to fail on his Lenten sacrifice.

Once I read the email from Holy Heroes, I decided that we needed to celebrate this wonderful solemnity.  Bryan got to eat meat and I have had a few varieties of candy.  We'll be letting Madeline know she can play the Wii tonight.  This wonderful solemnity will make the next 15 days easier to bear.

Candy, I shall miss thee!

Is it really Shrove Tuesday already? Am I really going to kiss my beloved candy goodbye for all of Lent? The harsh reality is that I am. I really am. I have a feeling this decision will hang heavily over me throughout Lent. It will require self control when the kids ask for candy as a snack. It will require me to not be mean to my husband if he prances around in front of me eating a Reese cup. It will require me to not be stingy in tossing Jolly Ranchers out to my 7th grade CCD class [for correct answers] because I can't have them. I am going to live as though Nerds, Jolly Ranchers, Sweet Tarts and the occasional chocolate (I'm not a fan of chocolate--it hurts my teeth and burns my esophagus.) do not delight me in the least. I will simply put them in the same category as chips and other foods which I don't eat and couldn't tell you where there are found in the store. But, I'm sure I'll have days where I miss my candy. Those will be the days where I'll need to dig deep and offer it up. I haven't done that enough in the past, so I'm sure this will be good for me.

Giving up candy isn't all that I'm doing for Lent. I'll be doing the 40 bags in 40 days challenge, too. I spent much of this weekend scouting out things that I can rummage through during Lent. Three years ago I began packing up our belongings in our old house in anticipation of our move. Some of those boxes, which were packed 4 months before we moved, are still sitting in our garage. I've picked through them and removed the items we needed, but there are lots of things that I haven't thought about in three years. Those items will likely find themselves at Goodwill in the near future. Over at Faith and Family, I said I'd rid my home of 40 Target sized bags of stuff. I think it's quite possible that I will be able to exceed that. When we doubled our living space, it was my hope that we'd have more space than we knew what to do with and that some rooms would echo. That is not our reality. I am going to do my best to eliminate as much stuff from our house as I can without causing a revolt.

Spiritually speaking, I'll be doing some Lenten reading. Fr. Longenecker's The Gargoyle Code will be daily reading for me starting today. I read the book back in November and I loved it. I'll spend a few minutes each day reading this book. I highly recommend this book. I'll also be delving into The Magnificat Lenten Companion. I'm hoping to get to adoration once a week during Lent. And since I'll be reading The Gargoyle Code, you can bet I'll go to confession at least once or twice this Lent.

I'll be doing the Lenten Adventure with the girls. I tried to convince Madeline that she should say the rosary with me every day this Lent, but she found the prospect of saying the entire thing every day to be a little overwhelming. So I told her we will focus on one decade of the sorrowful mysteries each day. That works for her, and it's something I know Ellie will be able to handle, as well.

I'm hoping that all the family activities I'll be doing with the girls will pull Bryan in, too. He happily complied with the hand tracing for our Lenten Sacrifice Garland. I see that as a step in the right direction. Perhaps he'll add a few flowers to our Merciful Cross, too.

Crafty Lent Preparations

I posted yesterday that I was gearing up for Lent. On Saturday, I hung our Merciful Cross on the door to our basement steps. If all goes well, the cross will be covered in colorful flowers labeled with good deeds by Easter. A flower is earned each time a spiritual or corporal work of mercy is performed. I think this will be a great way for the girls (mainly Madeline) to learn the spiritual and corporal acts of mercy. (I suspect it's possible that Bryan might even learn them, too. Do I get bonus points for catechizing my cradle Catholic husband?) Madeline is already chomping at the bit to get started. She's been reading the lists on the door and trying to figure out what she could do to earn flowers. By the time Lent is over, I think she will not only know the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, but she'll also have a pretty good idea of how they translate into everyday life. Part of me is wondering if I made the cross big enough. If I didn't, I'll know to make a bigger one for next year.

This is our Merciful Cross with the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy on either side.

These are the flowers which I hope will fill our Merciful Cross. They were cut out with a massive hole punch which I found at the craft store.

Last year we had a little issue with Madeline conveniently switching her Lenten sacrifice when it suited her. Want your favorite candy? Simply say that X is your new favorite and see if you can sneak what you really gave up. I needed to find some way to hold Madeline accountable. So I went searching for a craft. The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions for Children's Faith Formation had the perfect idea which I adapted slightly. It's a garland that has cut outs of our hands. In the palm of the hand we glued a red heart with our Lenten sacrifice written in the middle. Since purple is the liturgical color for Lent, I strung the hands up with a purple ribbon and tied it around the basement door above our Merciful Cross. When Bryan gets home tonight I'll be adding his hand to the garland. I like that we'll have a reminder of our sacrifice on the door. It's a nice way to ensure accountability.

This is a close up of the hands on our Lenten Sacrifice Garland.

Making the Lenten Sacrifice Garland was really simple. You trace the child's hand onto construction paper (I chose brown to match our Merciful Cross). Then, cut a red heart to fit in the palm. To attach to the ribbon, I simply cut two slits in each hand so I could thread the ribbon through. You could easily glue or staple the hands to the ribbon, but then you lose the ability to adjust their position once the garland is hung.

Getting ready for Lent

I can't remember ever having such a difficult time trying to decide what to give up for Lent. This year I feel totally stumped for ideas, and conflicted over the ones that I have. Generally speaking, I typically do something that rates as being rather weak. (Nice, huh?) Last year, I gave up a particular Girl Scout cookie (carmel delights, or Samoas depending on your region) and I forced myself to wear my retainer every night. The result was I wound losing all desire to eat the cookies that were 70 calories a piece and I my teeth were perfectly straight again. (That made my parents happy. They get upset when the see my teeth shifting since they spent a nice chunk of money on orthodontics.) To be honest, last years effort was sad. I should have been wearing the retainer all along, even though I usually don't. And the cookies were easily replaced with other cookies. Not much of a sacrifice.

Chances are I would have settled for something equally weak again for this Lent if it weren't for Bryan declaring that he will be giving up all meat for Lent. That is a huge shock to me. This is the guy who generally balks at having for forgo meat on Fridays during Lent. Last year we had one Friday where it was 12:00PM and I caught him eating cold cuts. So I promptly pointed out that it was officially Friday and he needed to toss the meat. Instead, he stuffed it all in his mouth and ate it which totally irritated me. I can't think of a single Lent since I started dating him where he hasn't forgotten about not eating meat on Friday.

With Bryan going meat free for Lent, it has forced me to look at what I'm sacrificing and see if it's really even a sacrifice. Sure I could give up a particular candy, but wouldn't it mean more if I went without all candy? Then, I thought maybe I could just make it to one daily Mass a week. While that wouldn't be bad, it would really only require me to lose one hour of sleep a week so I could make it to the 6:45AM Mass. Or, I could not lose the sleep and just take the girls to the 6PM Wednesday Mass. Either way, both of those options feel like they would be taking the easy way out. Then I thought, maybe I can just hide behind reading something for spiritual growth during Lent. Nah, that doesn't work since I do that almost daily, but I will be reading two books daily during Lent (The Gargoyle Code and The Magnificat Lenten Companion).

As much as I hate the idea of a candy free Lent, I feel compelled to go in that direction. Bryan thinks it's destined for failure. In some ways I think that he's right, but I'm hopeful that I can muster the will power necessary to persevere. I do have to wonder how compelled I'd feel to do this if I didn't feel like I needed to compete with Bryan on some level. If he was just giving up coffee or soda for Lent, I probably wouldn't have even considered giving up candy. I have a massive sweet tooth and this will certainly be a challenge of epic proportion. Is it wrong to try to match your spouse's Lenten sacrifice so you don't feel outdone? Hmm.....I wonder if that's the sin of pride.

I'm still trying to figure out just how much I'm going to have the girls do for Lent. I signed up for Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure. I also got Madeline a Lenten workbook that looks like it will be a lot of fun. Last night, I taped our Merciful Cross on the basement door. I got the idea from Pondered in My Heart. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy are listed on the door. When anyone in the house performs one of the works of mercy, they can write it down on one of the little flower cut outs that I made and paste it on the cross. By Easter, the cross will hopefully be covered in flowers. (I'll blog about this with pictures later this week).

I still have to write up lesson plans for each of my CCD classes for the coming week. I had other lessons planned for the days that got snowed out, but I want to cover Lent this week. I need to find crafts and activities that are relevant.

I'm in for a busy week ahead. I can feel it!

Think I'm being tested?

I think my attendance at Mass each week has hit a point where it's a test. A test of my patience, a test of my ability to endure, a test to see if maybe, just maybe this will be the week that I lose it (either laughing out loud at something that's not funny, or scolding my child loudly). Ellie appears to be my quizmaster in this realm of my life.

I'm pretty sure I've hit a point where I'm not allowed to have any peace while I'm at church. I find this funny in a not so funny way. I go there for peace, but clearly, I'm not intended to have it at present.

I've been home for about 45 minutes now after enduring my weekly test of patience called Mass. Ellie humors me and is good for the first 15-20 minutes that we're there. Once Mass begins she starts to work her magic. Running her fingers along the missal covers to make an annoying sound during the opening prayer? Check! Wiggling all over and shoving her books in my face during the first and second readings? You've got it! Ahh, the Gospel. Now it's time to break out the big guns! Jumping around and swinging her rosary around is the perfect way to distract mom! If you can involve you sister by irritating her, too, that adds a little more fun. The homily is where we really get to have some fun. If Father is talking then it makes perfect sense that Ellie should be find something to complain about. After that, it's time to sit on Mom's lap, kiss her loudly and then start making goofy faces and putting your hands all over Mom's face in a way that will totally irritate her. And keep in mind that Mom is desperately trying to pay attention to the homily amid all the distractions, and it doesn't help when the priest says a phrase that she remembered reading on The Crescat and has to suppress laughter, too [during a homily about abortion--absolutely not a funny topic]. By the time the Liturgy of the Eucharist rolls around we're in good shape to see just how frazzled Mom has become. The consecration is where Ellie wheels out the best she can dish out. At one point, frustrated Mom, desperate to get Ellie to just kneel and be quiet, pushed her forward a little too hard and she hit her head (loudly) on the pew. Ugh, surely everyone who witnessed and heard that probably think I'm the monster mom. There were lots of other annoyances, too. My child decided to loudly fart a few times and laugh about it. I wanted to disappear.

I'm now thoroughly exhausted. I did not get the peace I sought. Instead, I spent time trying to hone patience and praying that God would grant me more patience. If it could arrive before 4:30 Mass next week, I'd be really happy. I am starting to wonder if maybe I should be asking God to grant me a child who can calmly attend Mass, of course, given the sense of humor God seems to have when it comes to me, that would probably not come in the form of a clam and obedient Ellie, but rather, another child. God only knows if I'd have enough patience for three.

Dismal Catechesis

Madeline had CCD tonight. My neighbor teaches the class and it seems like week after the week the class becomes more of a train wreck. We've had very protestant coloring pages sent home, and there have been many weeks where the text book wasn't covered at all. Other times the class has read one paragraph from the book and then played hangman for the rest of the class. The questions and activities in the book are never completed and my child leaves the class not having learned anything.

Tonight was pretty much the same scenario of dismal catechesis. While I was making sure that I was teaching a 7th grade class in line with official Church teaching, my child was reciting the Our Father (a prayer 1st graders are required to have memorized) instead of learning the prayers the diocese says she is to learn this year. Then they rushed through the text on the sacraments so they could play hangman. A student in the class had a question about the Eucharist. He was concerned that since it was the body of Christ that it might eventually run out. Not to worry, the catechist (and I use that term VERY loosely in this instance) informed the class that it's really just a bread wafer that's blessed by the priest. I'm seething right now. I told Bryan that I think the deacon, who is our DRE, should be informed of this, but he thinks I shouldn't make waves since the teacher is our neighbor. I am so angry that my child was given such horrifically false information tonight.

Madeline's Baptism

Oftentimes, dates fly past me and I realize after the fact that the date had some significance attached to it. This happens quite often with the dates of my girls' baptisms. Mainly, Madeline's. Ellie's is a little harder to forget because it falls two days after our wedding anniversary and it's usually very close to Thanksgiving [November is a month that holds a lot of important dates for our family].

I realized a few minutes ago as I was dusting the photos on my mantle that today is the anniversary of Madeline's baptism. Unlike her sister, Madeline did not have the standard production line baptism. She was baptized at her great grandfather's church in Philadelphia. And since Pop was at Mass every Saturday night, Fr. Francis made an exception and agreed to baptize Madeline during the Saturday night vigil Mass. Madeline was the only baby being baptized at that Mass and it was the most beautiful baptism I have ever attended. To this day, family members (Catholic and non-Catholic) still talk about Madeline's baptism. Actually, even friends of the family from Philly who I only ever meet at funerals still go on about her baptism. After she was baptized, Fr. Francis hoisted my not quite two month old soundly sleeping daughter over his head and walked her up and down the center aisle of the church for all to see while the grandmothers stood there in shock worried that the priest might drop their only grandchild on the tiled floor. Her baptism looked like something you'd expect for royalty. I've never seen anything like it before and I doubt I'll ever see anything like it again.

A few years after her baptism, Fr. Francis was moved to another parish. I, for one, was sad to see him go. I liked how he'd point Madeline out anytime we'd go to Mass there [even if it was during a crowded Easter Sunday Mass] when he was giving his homily and go off on a tangent and tell everybody about her baptism and how much her great grandfather adored her. If I recall correctly, he even talked about her during Pop's funeral Mass.

It's hard to believe that eight years have passed since Madeline's baptism. The day is still very fresh in my memory. It's a day that is simply rich with memories. And as solemn and beautiful as the day was, it also had a little humor. Fr. Francis had a practice of carrying the newly baptized babies up to the sanctuary and walking around with them up there. Before giving the baby back to the parents, he would lay the baby on the altar for a moment. Sound asleep Madeline shocked him when she was the first ever to let one rip on the altar. Let's just say that Fr. Francis was rather surprised and went on about how he couldn't believe what had just happened for several minutes. It's one of those stories that comes up from time to time at family gatherings.

Loose lips sink ships

That's a phrase that I heard uttered around me often as a child.  I was notorious for going up to the person that I wasn't supposed to tell something and saying "I'm not going to tell you [fill in the blank with secret, here]."  And, of course, I always did this in front of the person who told me not to tell.  I was the queen of the blabber mouths.  In fact, I seriously doubt that I have ever actually kept a secret in my life, unless it was my own or Bryan's, in which case it's in the vault. Today I learned that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree*, and that Madeline is the new reigning blabber mouth.

Let me give you the backstory first so you can understand how Princess Blabber Mouth earned her new title. Back in February at Madeline's first reconciliation we had a little incident where my husband had what I felt was a 2 year old tantrum when I decided to go to confession. It consisted of Bryan trying to pull me out of line and telling me over and over that I didn't have to do this. I suspect he did this because he didn't want to go or feel obligated to go, too.  It's an incident that is still very vivid in my mind, and quite frankly, I don't think he's ever embarrassed me so much as he did that day (we knew the people who were behind us and our neighbors witnessed it from a nearby pew).  Apparently, Bryan was just incredibly shocked that I would willingly elect to go to confession.**   In all honesty, there are lots of things I'd rather do, but I'm not going to spend a lifetime avoiding it. His initial response was pretty bad, and he followed it up by walking around for the entire weekend shaking his head and saying "I can't believe you went to confession." and "Why?".  Talk about an awkward weekend. Nothing like being made to feel guilty for going to confession.  

So today I took Madeline over to the church for confession (I left Bryan and Ellie at home).  She had done a few things this week that I felt were confession worthy, so off we went.  I had been planning on going soon, so I figured I'd seize the moment. Why not?  I just wasn't planning to tell Bryan that I was going.  Why set myself up for more razzing?  I made it pretty clear to Madeline on the way over to the church and on the way home that me going to confession was not her Daddy's business simply because I didn't want a repeat of this past February.  Apparently, she didn't think she needed to listen to me (What else is new?).  Bryan wanted to know what her penance was, so she told him and then says "What was  your penance Mommy?".  Ugh! She realized immediately that she did what I asked her not to do and her question to me did not go unnoticed by Bryan.  So far I've managed to not get tormented by Bryan.  

I'm happy to say that for the first time since I converted back in 2000, I was able to leave confession and not feel all weird about it.***  I call that progress.

*Today is cliche day!

**That was his explanation.  You're welcome to buy it if you like.

***Don't ask how many times I've been over the span of 9 years.  Let's just say I wasn't on my  Catholic "A" game the first 8 years or so, and that the number is greater than 2.

Exhausted

I'm not sure what happened to the last two days.  It's all a blur of painting, pulling weeds, sweeping up dirt and handing my girls snacks and juice.

I've spent most of the past two days either on my knees or hunched over.  My back, knees and hands are really sore, and I'm sunburned. The good news is I have a lot to show for it.  I have three garden areas that are weed free.  I even went so far as to prune back a lot of the plants that we getting out of control.  Almost all of the trim in my kitchen and entryway is freshly painted.  I have a 6 foot section of woodwork that is blocked by the fridge that still needs painting.  I have one side of a door left to paint and then just the back of my front door and kitchen door will need to be painted.  The front and kitchen doors are my Friday project.  I need the locks off of those doors and I need to be able to have those doors left unlocked for at least 4 hours so the paint can dry.  Since Bryan works from home on Friday it's the perfect day for me to tackle the doors.

I'm beginning to suffer from Mommy guilt since I've been spending more time on my projects than I have with my kids.  Madeline is always busy playing with kids in our neighborhood so she's not bothered by my preoccupation.  Poor Ellie on the other hand spent most of today wandering aimlessly.  I took breaks to spend some time with her while Madeline was at school but I still feel like I neglected her.  I know she wanted to play Candyland with me earlier in the day but when I finished with the trim she moved on to wanting a snack and the game never got played.  Madeline played it with her when she got home from school but the game ended with Ellie screaming and crying.  I always make sure Ellie wins at least one round before we put the game away.  Madeline isn't always willing to throw the game for her little sister. Today she wasn't willing to lose.  

Ellie's day wasn't all bad.  She did manage to score a lolipop at the parish office today.  I had to get the rosary I brought for Madeline for her First Communion to get it Blessed.  If I didn't I'd be dealing with Dad induced guilt in about 2 1/2 weeks.  

My dad was pretty concerned a few weeks ago because the rosary beads I had Madeline's First Communion pictures taken with weren't Blessed.  I think it's kind of funny that my dad made such a big deal over this.  I could see if I had been raised Catholic and should have known better but, that's not the case.  

My dad is Catholic and my mother was raised Episcopalian.  My mom wasn't willing to allow her kids to be raised Catholic.  To hear my dad tell the story it all boils down to her not wanting her parents to disapprove.  So in some sort of compromise, my parents selected Lutheran  as the religion for my brothers and me.  Makes sense, right?  After I hit third grade I managed to convince my mother not to make me go to the awful Sunday School at the Lutheran church anymore (a new pastor who wasn't well liked helped the situation).  Prior to that I was pretty skilled at hanging out in the stairwell and hardly ever making it to my Sunday School class.  I knew in my gut from a very early age that the Lutheran church wasn't the place for me. On the occasions when my brothers would catch me dodging class and bring me to where I was supposed to be the teachers would make this big deal about the new kid in the class. Pretty funny when you think about how they didn't know they were missing a kid.  That would never fly in the RE program at our church.  

Once Bryan and I got engaged I knew that I had my golden moment to convert to Catholicism. My mom wasn't happy about it and I'm pretty sure to this day she still isn't.  She tells me frequently that Madeline would make a great Protestant.  No thanks, Mom.  Essentially my  parents think that I only converted so we could get married in the Catholic church.  I'm not sure how they forgot me asking them to let me go to CCD when I was a kid for several years (Imagine that, while many of my friends were wishing they didn't have to go to CCD, I was wishing I could go.).  I essentially used my engagement as a catalyst to convert so I wouldn't have to be hassled by my mother.  So nine years ago today I was confirmed at the Easter Vigil.  No one in my family was there, but Bryan and my best friend (my sponsor) were.