What's Next?

I read this article on Drudge: Spanish Parliment to Extend Rights to Apes

Supposedly since the great apes are man's closest relatives - they deserve rights - they can no longer be used in experiments, perform in circuses, or star in movies or commericals in Spain.

They can still live in zoos, but the standards of living are being greatly raised.

I wonder what those standards of living are - recliners and cable? social security and stipends from the government? Will great apes be included in the public schools?

Maybe the Spanish government will start issuing the apes birth control, talking about planned parenthood with them, or euthanasia for the elderly? And how exactly do you give an ape freedom while they live in a zoo?

I find it perplexing and maddening that unborn children who cannot speak, but are still humans have no rights, while

"chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured."

Bible Studies

This summer I have the priviledge of doing a bible study with a friend of mine and the wonderful women at her Church.

I have always been intrigued by non-Catholic bible studies and having done another one with this same friend a few years back, I jumped at her offer.

We are doing Stepping Up by Beth Moore.

I love Beth Moore bible studies. They have indepth daily work where you really delve into Scripture. This one focuses on the psalms of ascents (120-135).

With the last study (it was on the Person of Jesus), I had a few major differences on some of the points - but I think we're pretty safe on the Psalms.

My biggest question is why don't Catholic women have quality bible studies like these? I would give anything to have one - the ones out there are few and far between and just not this quality.

Here is one area where we could really learn from our Christian brethren!

Car Wash Trial

We had a little adventure today - I took my van for a car wash and got a little more than I bargained for.

Gregory loved the swishing, spraying of water and all of the cool things that happen in car washes. He kept pointing and saying "Dooo!" - That's what we usually get out of him.

Afterwards our wash included a vacuum and several other things I hadn't realized were included.

I left my purse on the front seat with the keys as the kids and I stood by the van to watch the guy cleaning it. I figured it would only take a few minutes and we'd be on our way so why pull my purse out.

Well, the guy accidentally locked the car and shut all of the doors.

And we were stuck! And for a while I wasn't sure what they were going to do. (Several different guys from the car wash came and tried all 4 doors - just in case we had missed one.)

Finally, they asked us to sit in their waiting room while they called the owner and then a locksmith.

Usually this kind of thing would have really flustered me. All of our plans for the morning were completely thrown off. We hadn't had breakfast yet and tons of thoughts could have been racing through my head, working me up to be upset.

But I've really been praying for patience lately and the grace was there just for me to sink into. The kids and I sat in the waiting room, and played with odd pieces of toys in their toy basket and charming the folks who were legitimately waiting for their cars to be detailed. It was actually quite painless.

I felt like it was a trial run for when my patience will be tested in bigger ways - like when I have important things to do, not just errands, or a less flexible schedule with a bigger mishap. And I am so thankful that in the world of grace and growing in virtue we have little trials and big ones so we can develop little by little until we can take the big trials. And even if we fail there will be many more opportunities to try again.

Clare Quotes

Heard today:

I'm taking good care of my cabbage patch doll because I have to take care of my baby and make sure he doesn't fall into the toilet

A while back about marriage:

Maybe I'll get married even if I can't marry Gregory.

It would be fun to be part of another family, and Paul's family seems like fun!

So maybe I'll marry Paul.

Boxed Babies

I heard shrieks and laughter coming from Clare's room, and this is what I found. With all of their toys the kids (and Gregory especially) love boxes. Gregory actually loves finding small things and getting into them. His box was folded flat and he pulled it out and climbed in and through.

Day 2 of Year 6

Sunday was John and I's 6th Anniversary.

And if I'm doing the math correctly, then John and I have finally passed the point where we've now been married longer than we were dating first. So we've been together for over 11 years.

It has been such a gift to be married to John for 6 years. To be with each other, discover the joys and chaos of kids, brave the perils of jobs, decisions and traveling, and even get to grouse at each other.

I can't imagine enjoying any one's company for so long and looking forward to each day to spend time with and talk about everything with.

6 years just isn't enough to spend with such a wonderful man - hopefully we'll have at least 50 more.

What I like about Dallas

Here's what I like about Dallas so far:

1)The sky - is so beautiful!

2)The Churches - we have 5 Catholic Churches within 15 minutes of the house and I've made it to daily Mass most of this week

3)The spray parks and pool.

4)The folks - between our friends from UVA law and nice folks at the firm, we've been quite busy and the kids have made new friends.

Can you guess what the kids like best?

What I don't like about Dallas so far: Nothing that I'm aware of.

Ratzinger Thoughts

I'm reading God and the World - which is a conversation between Pope Benedict and Peter Seewald.

It is so amazing. The Pope (who was a Cardinal at this point) explains the tenets of our Faith in such an easy to read way and frequently blows my mind away with what he says. It's a thick book - but because it's a conversation it's broken down into lots of little parts. Truly worth a few minutes here and there every day.

Here are some of my favorite quotes so far:

"Freedom means that of my own free will I take upon myself the potential of my being" -pg 95

"We must think of love as suffering. Only if we are ready to endure it as suffering and thus ever again to accept each other and once again to take the other to ourselves, only then can a lifelong partnership develop." - pg 84

"As human beings we are there so that God can come to people by way of other people. He always comes to people through people. So we, too, always come to him through other people who are being led by him, in whom he himself meets us and opens us up to him" pg 70

Why?

Why will my kids eat cheddar goldfish but not cheezits?

Why will they eat chicken nuggets but not chicken tenders?

Why won't Clare drink chocolate milk that I mix up (with powder or syrup) but loves the chocolate milk you get at the store?

A Refuge...

Here is Gregory hiding under our table to escape from Clare - who for some reason decided to undress him. It didn't work though, if you look closely, you can see that Clare has followed Gregory under the table to finish the task.
I guess I got distracted by something else, because an hour or so later, I realized there was an empty pair of shorts and used diaper sitting under our table. (Gregory received a bath shortly after the photo taking)

Make Straight the Way

A voice of one that cries in the desert:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight!
Let every valley be filled in,
every mountain and hill be levelled,
winding ways be straightened
and rough roads made smooth,
and all humanity will see the salvation of God. Luke 3:4-6

I was reading this passage today, and I was wondering what the prophets meant - first Isaiah and then John. And why this would be tied to repentance for sins and producing of good works.

I imagined the Hebrew people climbing mountains and leveling them by throwing the stones into the valleys to have a flat land for the King to come....but that didn't really make too much sense.

And after some thought I realized (through the grace of the Holy Spirit) that it is a call for our hearts - to change our hearts so the King may come in.

Let every valley be filled in - May the areas in which I have too little - too little patience, too little charity, too little kindness, too little trust be filled in so I do not stumble over them.

every mountain and hill levelled - May the areas in which I have too much - too much pride, too much anger, too much laziness be levelled away so I can easily get past them.

winding ways be straightened, - may the ways I wander in my mind, rationalizing why I will or will not do something, letting my attention drift during prayer, or just putting God on the back burner where I will finally get to Him be straightened and shortened, so that I may go directly to Him.

and rough roads made smooth - may all the rough edges I have, the bad habits I've picked up and don't break, the grudges I keep, be smoothed out, so that there is nothing to trip over

Then will the paths of my heart be smooth, and a way for the Lord to walk upon. And I will see the salvation of God (in me and in the world as an instrument that God can use)

Chuck-E-Cheese

When was the last time you were in a Chuck-E-Cheese?

One of the associates at John's firm invited us (and the kids of course) to go to Chuck-E-Cheese, have lunch and then head back to their house.

The last time I was in a Chuck-E-Cheese before today was probably about 15 or more years ago. It's really changed. For one thing it was lighter than I remember and had a lot less video games.

They had tons of things for the kids to do, lots of ways for them to get tickets, play games, ride and climb on. We had sketches done of various people in the family, and a picture taken on one of the rides. Clare got to ride a virtual roller coaster repeatedly and John played skeeball and basketball repeatedly too.

It was pretty cool, and the kids loved it. Clare loved making friends with the associate's daughter, and heading back to their house more than anything else.

Afterwards, the kids both took a nap, and I think John and I both wanted to.

Long awaited video

I promised to upload this over a month ago, so here is it.

I missed the first verse or so of the song too.

Clare's best friend is the closest one to the camera. When the director lined up the little girls, she called Mila first, and Clare piped up "I want to be next!"

Feast of St. Anthony

Today is the feast of St. Anthony of Padua.

He is such an amazing saint - we always think of him whenever anything is lost, but when he was alive he was known for his amazing preaching and zeal for the Word of God.

According to legend in one town no one would listen to him preach, so he went and preached to the river, and the fish raised their heads above the water to listen to him.

John and I were blessed to visit Padua twice. The Basilica of St. Anthony is amazing, and so peace instilling. Seeing all of the memorials people have left, attributing thanks to the saint, is very moving. If you ever get to visit Venice, Italy, Padua is the next stop on the train, so be sure to head there to visit the shrine, and spend some time in prayer.

(PS. I chose this image of St. Anthony because the Infant looks like he is about to hit Anthony on the head, the way Gregory lovingly does to me - not very reverent, but it made me smile.)

Water and Pennies

Today I was looking for an activity to occupy 15 minutes or so before nap time. Luckily I had the Toddler's Busy Book, which gave me this idea - which kept my kids busy for at least an hour - alright, more like 30 minutes for Gregory.

All it took was a cup for each child, and a pile of pennies/change, and water.

Basically you just fill the cup until almost full and then you drop pennies in until someone makes the water spill over the edge. Originally it was a game when the person who spills the water loses.

My kids each wanted their own cups and filled them over and over with change. By placing the cups on towels, I avoided mess, and when the cups spilled over, I poured the water into a bowl, dumped out the change, and refilled the cups.

Watching the water form a rim was pretty exciting for me, but not so much for the little ones. And Gregory enjoyed putting his hand in his water too so after he did that once he didn't really have to worry about any more spillage.

Amazingly neither cup was knocked over.

As American As Doughnuts

Before my mom left for Belgium, she wanted to get some Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, since there is one 5 minutes from my house. They don't have doughnuts of any type where she lives, and she's missed them.

I didn't mind at all (it's a real temptation to go just about all of the time), and neither did the kids. Not only did they love the doughnuts, they enjoyed watching the conveyor belt move the food (I was somewhat grossed out by the vegetable shortening river), and the paper hats.

Gregory had a few difficulties with his hat, but he worked it out in the end.It was a sweet way (pun intended) to bid adieu to my mom. We've missed her so far and really enjoyed having her here with us.

Guilty or Forgiven?

Back while I was visiting my grandparents, my mom and I went to Confession. Since my mom is the only Catholic in her family this always raises comments and questions.

A relative mentioned that all of the Catholics she knew said I'm sorry more than anyone else. She speculated that it could come from Catholics feeling so guilty for their sins.

I have been thinking about that comment quite a bit - as in it's crossed my mind several times every day.

After much thought, I'm pretty sure it doesn't comes from guilt.

I think it comes from the fact that we're used to being forgiven.

We go to the Lord in Confession, and hear the words spoken out loud by the priest acting in the person of Christ - I absolve you from your sins, go in peace.

In life we make mistakes, and say I'm sorry, hoping that those around us will be so ready to forgive our trespasses, even the small ones, as quickly as the Lord. And to let those around us know, that are we are willing to forgive too.

Just as the words of the Our Father say:
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"

Wined and Dined

John and I just got back from a wonderful weekend without the little ones.

Firm X had a summer intern weekend in Austin, Texas. They put us up in a really nice hotel, and while he had meetings on Friday, I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon and room service.


The whole weekend had a really decadent feeling to it - lots of rich food, good drinks, friendly people, fun things to do, even a vineyard with wine tasting.


The planned events ended on Saturday night, and we had a chance to go to Mass in a beautiful Cathedral and visit with Mr. and Mrs. Darwin (friends of ours from college).


At the moment I am feeling fat, content and somewhat spoiled. I met quite a few wives of firm partners and associates and they all were extremely nice and had good things to say about the family friendliness of the Firm.

I have been wooed, and, I admit, won over. We'll see what the summer brings.

Woohoo!

We made it to Dallas today!

We (My mom, kids and I) woke up at 5am and got here by 6pm! Wow!

I still haven't seen John - he's at a dinner, but we're all tired and heading to bed.

Texas is quite different from VA- I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on that in the near future.

Thanks to the Lord, that we had a safe, quick and uneventful trip.