All I can muster

The month of September has been extraordinarily busy. I don't know why I thought it would be a slower-paced month and that we would ease into fall.

For those of you keeping tabs, my husband talked to his mother again last night about our weekend plans (yes, we are going up to the cabin and I won't be back until MONDAY) and I asked him to see if she had had a chance to look again for the relics. Oh, she thinks Aunt has them. I had my husband call Aunt (because if I had gotten on the phone and made the calls, my temper might've gotten away from me), who said my MIL had them. Hubby said that his mom said that Aunt had them. Oh, she'll look again. She'll ask her son if he knows where they may be.

I'm angry. I'm angry that I'm getting the run around and that these folks either don't give a rat's tail about the relics or are deliberately being evasive about them. These people don't even know what they are, other than me telling them they are relics. It's one of three things: they honestly don't know where they are, they know where they are and are not about to let us have them, or they sold them. My new slogan is: WWSD? Which is, "What would the saints do?"

My genealogy interests are starting to heat up too. Recently, my cousin, the nun, was visiting and we got together to go over some genealogy. Now I have a bunch of stuff I need to send her and a handful of great photos she shared that I need to get copied. A distant, distant cousin on my mother's Swiss branch, who lives in Australia, is trying to solve some questions I had about the family initially being from Canton Graubunden or Canton Uri. This is way back in the 1500s. He just sent me a long e-mail with a bunch of questions, so will have to dig out my stuff and answer him. Then, I owe a cousin of my husband's a bunch of genealogy information and another cousin of hubby's a letter in response to his questions. Usually, I'm the one initiating contact with these people, trying to pick their brains for information. Now that I've been so busy and stepped back from actively researching things, everyone else is coming out of the wood work and asking questions. It just keeps pulling me back in!

Plus, I have to work on my bible study questions and get to the bottom of the points that Karen has brought up.

So, once again, here's some frivolity for Friday.
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From Tara, at Loved Sinner...Which composer are you?

You scored as J.S. Bach, You are dedicated and intelligent. People who know you don't understand how you get it all done, and you never give up on life. J.S. Bach 65% Haydn 65% Brahms 55% Hector Berlioz 50% Schubert 50% Schumann 45% Beethoven 45% Handel 45% Liszt 40% Mozart 40% Tchaikovsky 35% Chopin 35% Wagner 35% Which classical composer are you? created with QuizFarm.com

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And, from Paramedic Girl at Salve Regina...How much is your blog worth? (I'm surprised it's worth more than a cup of coffee!)

My blog is worth $7,339.02.
How much is your blog worth?

TC Catholic Chorale's book on Monsignor Schuler

View Behind the Painting

Memories of Monsignor Richard J. Schuler

This 80-page book containing fond memories of Monsignor Richard J. Schuler was written by present and former members of the Chorale and members of the Orchestra. It contains many photos of Monsignor Schuler from the archives of the Church of St. Agnes. It is published by the Chorale to honor Monsignor Schuler, Founding Director of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale and pastor of the Church of St. Agnes in St. Paul, MN.

The volume is available in print or bound in either of two formats:

Color covers with black and white interior for $15 a copy

Covers and interior in color for $55 a copy

The document can also be viewed and printed at the website of the Church of St. Agnes

http://www.stagnes.net/

To link to the order form

To view the entire booklet

Gospel of St. Matthew Bible Study - Lesson 2

Again, here is a summary of what we learned in bible study today, covering Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Matthew.

I didn't get nearly as much out of the study this week as it seemed we went over things that most people know. However, Father Echert did mention again, the first thing he said, was that Matthew's gospel is the earliest gospel written and said that Church Tradition supports this and internal evidence within Matthew points to this also. Period. That's all he said, so the debate from the last lesson is still unresolved as to whether Mark or Matthew is the earliest. If anyone has any insight, please leave your comments, no matter how long or involved, in the combox. I would love to hear what you have to say.

But, having Father mention this, which is a point Karen of Gem of the Ocean, and I had discussed from the last lesson and then also mention the Charismatic Renewal, made me wonder if Father Echert had been reading my blog. I would wager a box of diapers that this isn't true, but Father, if you're out there, please clear up the matter of Mark and Matthew for us!

As an aside, a comment Father made on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Charismatic Renewal is, "[The Gifts of the Holy Spirit] are an independent activity of the Holy Spirit, not dependent of sanctifying grace." He was referring to Balaam's curse of the Israelites in Numbers 23, where Balak wants Balaam to curse the Israelites but he can only ever utter a blessing, showing that God can bestow gifts on a corrupt man and work through him. Interesting.

The magi, the word being the origin of the term "magic," were not magicians, but scientists, along the lines of astronomers/astrologers. That's why they understood about the star. I had never heard they were magicians, but some people in my discussion group said they have known people who thought that. Hmmm.

The gifts of the magi, as you probably know, signify Christ's kingship (gold), priesthood and divinity (francincense) and humanity (myrrh). They were the first Gentiles to recognize Christ.

Father Echert did go into the history of Herod (the Great) a bit, which was interesting. If you haven't read into the history of Herod, click on the link to get a mere overview of how evil he was. Killed his own sons and a wife just to ensure his own political power. Was responsible for the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.

Seems Herod was one paranoid dude, and rightly so, since he was partly Jewish (although descended from Esau and an Edomite) and knew of the prophecy that came from the very attempted curse that became a blessing of Balaam - "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh: a star shall come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed, Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossess, while Irael does valiantly. By Jacob shall dominion be exercised, and the survivors of cities be destroyed." (Numbers 24:17-19). Herod knew the writing was on the wall and tried to avoid it by slaughtering the Holy Innocents.

Caesar Augustus knew Herod was a bad dude and commented, "In such a situation, it would be better to be Herod's swine than Herod's subject." Meaning that Herod wouldn't think twice to do away with anyone who got in his way and it would be safer to be a pig in Herod's kingdom, because at least Herod would leave you alone.

Herod left a will about how he wanted his sons to rule over his kingdom upon his death, but Caesar Augustus wasn't too keen on the whole deal and had Herod's son, Archelaus, removed after six years and during the ensuing upheaval and removal of the rest of Herod's house, more Romans were appointed to rule the area, including Pontius Pilate.

Lastly, a comment about Joseph and Moses. Moses wandered in the desert for 40 years because the Israelites were unfaithful, but Joseph was able to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt and back in far less time because they were faithful. I took this as an analogy as to not being able to clearly see things because of original sin.

For boys of all ages

Since many folks were listing their summer reads, I thought I would plug a book we bought my son. If you are nostalgic and think being a he-man-woman-hater is cool, this is the book for you. It covers everything from tying knots to historical events. Like a boy scout book on steroids.

A link to the author's website:
The Dangerous Book for Boys

A review by Amazon:
Equal parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), The Dangerous Book is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book's ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own).



There is also a book for girls now, too. I haven't looked at this one, however.



Here's what Amazon has to say about it:
THE DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS is the manual for everything that girls need to know –– and that doesn't mean sewing buttonholes! Whether it's female heroes in history, secret note–passing skills, science projects, friendship bracelets, double dutch, cats cradle, the perfect cartwheel or the eternal mystery of what boys are thinking, this book has it all. But it's not just a guide to giggling at sleepovers –– although that's included, of course! Whether readers consider themselves tomboys, girly–girls, or a little bit of both, this book is every girl's invitation to adventure.

Thawing out some thoughts

After my post yesterday on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR), I thought I should check into it a bit on the internet, something I hadn't previously done. I had asked priests about the CCR, but have never hopped online to see what's out there.

Eye opening, reaffirming and a bit shocking to say the least. I was going to write more on this topic, but found some articles that say it better than I ever could. The articles are mostly from a conservative point of view, so keep that in mind for objectivity's sake, but just because they are more traditional in their view point doesn't diminish much of what they say.

I never found the Charismatics to be as extreme as the articles point out, but maybe I was too far on the periphery to be in the know and see any agenda. I didn't ever find the message of the CCR to be one of replacement or attempting to supercede the doctrines or beliefs of Catholicism, but then again, participation did nothing to further my faith. Even more importantly, participation did NOT teach me my faith but, IMHO, presented me something parallel, and even as I said in my prior post, tangential to the Faith I had been raised with. Many things in the articles rang true.

First article, here's a quote that supported my thoughts of early yesterday morning. However, it is from the Remnant, and does personally bash and criticize some well-known folks which I find a bit uncharitable. Cum grano salis.

When the disciples asked Our Lord how to pray, He taught them the Our Father. Simple. Not an emotional, energy-packed experience. Not a “gift” which some receive, while others do not, but a simple prayer which any man, woman or child can say.

The lives of the Saints clearly reinforce this truth. Their methods of prayer did not resemble sporadic outbreaks in unknown, unintelligible utterances. They became Saints on the traditional prayers of the Church: the Creed, the Our Father, the Glory Be, the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity; the Act of Contrition, prayers based on the Psalms and, of course, the lifting of their minds and hearts in true religious sentiment in gratitude to God.

Further...all I can say about the below is that the CCR was never presented to me in this extreme. However, just because it wasn't spelled out or written on a hand-out doesn't mean this wasn't what was happening. This is exactly what I was talking about when I pondered the questions about group dynamics. What the he** is going on here?

What does this mean? It means the overcoming of all psycho-social inhibitions and barriers which protect the individual from unacceptable social and immoral behavior. Charismatics maintain that spirit empowerment results in the elimination of rigidity and inhibitions that can stifle spiritual energies. Consequently, the line of defense against our deep inner impulses to act out is weakened. The liberation of physic resources from within the unconscious into the consciousness of the individual is not well-known and can have traumatic effects on the person’s psyche, on his personality and on interpersonal group dynamics which are operable in Charismatic prayer meetings.

Built-in psycho-social inhibitions are healthy and necessary, and by preventing an individual from acting out, it helps him not to sin. The normal person discerns the line beyond which actions become morally unacceptable, either internally or externally. To the degree that psychological restraints are weakened, to that degree are the passions excited. Before enslaving men, Satan first frees them from their psychological complexes and then liberates them from all psychological restraints to bring them under his yoke. Liberation and empowerment open the door for Satan to enter. It is known that at Charismatic prayer meetings there have been occurrences of diabolic manifestations which have alarmed both leaders and participants.

Liberation and empowerment, of which the Charismatic man boasts, are contrary to the virtue of humility, because they foster a sense of self-reliance and pride. On the contrary, liberation and empowerment do not strengthen faith; rather we see it as a sort of psychic drug that eventually will cause the degradation of the faith and the mental well-being of individuals.

Furthermore, the so-called Baptism of the Spirit and the empowerment that accompanies it place the individual at a spiritual and psychological risk, because he then becomes vulnerable to both internal and external suggestions. His sense of judgment is impaired, and consequently he is rendered unable to distinguish wheat from chaff, light from heat, and the authentic from the counterfeit.

Second article is from the SSPX, so forewarned here, folks. I found this to be a well written article, despite its pedigree.

Thus, to the Charismatic, one does not truly "know" God until one has experienced Him consciously, i.e., until one has had a sensory experience (usually emotional, sometimes overtly physical as in the case of the glossolalia —or speaking in tongues) of "His Spirit" at work in one. Indeed, spiritual experience over-rules public revelation and the 2000-year teaching of the magisterium in matters such as, to name only one example, ecumenism (see below).

To the Charismatics, the very presence today of phenomena supposedly identical to the true charismata present in the early Church proves their divine origin. The experience is what matters, not the intellect’s legitimate questions, such as "Why the 2000-year lapse? Is this experience really the same as the phenomena described in Scripture? Is ‘the Spirit’ leading us toward a more fully Catholic life or toward apostasy?" The failure of Charismatics to "try the spirits" [I Jn. 4:1] is possibly their most dangerous blunder since the Devil can produce prodigies which mimic truly supernatural phenomena from God.

And now for something completely different

I have talked about my past employer, Boeing, a few times on this blog, but I haven't mentioned Intel. I worked in process engineering in the (tungsten) chemical vapor deposition area out in Aloha, OR. Not my cup of tea in many respects. Making chips and the technology (which is fairly cutting edge) are not things that greatly interest me and the corporate culture was not something I cared for. Plus, the whole clean room stuff and wearing bunny suits did not thrill me, not to mention working with non-life affirming chemicals/gases wasn't my idea of fun.

Since I had a sick kid last night, don't have much to say today, but heard Intel was building a new facility in the Evil Empire, so thought I'd include a brief bit on that.

From the EE Times:
Intel Corp. on Saturday (Sept. 8) broke ground on its first 300-mm wafer fabrication facility in Asia. The new plant, named Fab 68, is located in the northern China city of Dalian, in the Liaoning Province.
Intel's China fab was originally announced in March. The $2.5 billion project is set to be operational in 2010. It will produce chipsets, based on a 90-nm process. Fab 68 will cover 163,000-square-meters of factory space and host a 15,000-square-meter clean room.

Intel investment in Fab 68 sets its total investment in China to close to $4 billion. Intel has established two assembly and test plants in Shanghai and Chengdu, along with R&D centers and labs in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere in China.

"Fab 68 will have world-class infrastructure and be an integral part of our global manufacturing network while bringing us closer to our customers and partners in China," said Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel, in a statement. "Intel's investment in Fab 68 comes at a time when Dalian's information technology industry is aiming to compete globally and become one of the top three IT clusters in China," said Dalian Mayor Xia Deren, in the same statement. "Fab 68 is not just bringing advanced chipset manufacturing to Dalian," he said. "Intel's presence will attract investment from virtually every segment of the IC industry, which in turn will have tremendous effect on the region's economy and industries."
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Picture of a silicon ingot that is grown and then cut into wafers

A brief overview of how silicon is turned into the material that chips are made from.

If you have any interest, here is a Wiki link on Chemical Vapor Deposition
and another, more in depth link.

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Wearing a bunny suit, from the Intel website (what I had to do every day just to get out in the fab):

"Cleanrooms are 10,000 times cleaner than a hospital operating room. It takes an incredible amount of technology to achieve and maintain such cleanliness. Huge air filtration systems completely change the air in cleanrooms about 10 times per minute, reducing the chance that there are airborne particles that might harm the chips.

Keeping the environment clean, however, is only half of the story. What about the people who work in the cleanrooms? The thousands of people who work in Intel cleanrooms all wear special uniforms called "bunny suits" to protect the chips from human particles such as skin flakes or hairs. A bunny suit is made from a unique non-linting, anti-static fabric and is worn over street clothes.

At the Intel Museum, you can see what our BunnyPeopleT look like. Bunny suits come in a range of colors, as long as you like white.

Suiting up is a rather involved process, not to mention that every time you enter and leave a cleanroom you have to repeat the steps below:

(They forgot to mention you have to go through an air shower and walk across fly-paper before the following steps)

1. Store personal items.
2, Discard any gum, candy, etc.
3. Remove any makeup with cleanroom soap and water.
4. Take a drink of water to wash away throat particles.
5. Cover any facial hair with a surgical mask or beard/mustache lint-free cover.
6. Put on a lint-free head cover.
7. Clean shoes with shoe cleaners (think they are referring to the fly-paper here)
8. Put shoe cover on over shoes.
9. Clean any small, pre-approved items to be taken inside.
10. Pick up booties.
11. Sit on "dirty" side of bench.
12. Put on one bootie (over plastic shoe cover).
13. Swing bootied foot to "clean" side of bench.
14. Put on other bootie on "dirty" side.
15. Swing bootied foot to "clean" side.
16. Enter main gowning room.
17. Set aside badge, pager, and any other items to be taken inside.
18. Put on nylon gowning gloves.
19. Obtain bunny suit and belt from hanger.
20. Put on bunny suit without letting it touch the floor.
21. Put on belt.
22. Tuck bunny suit pant legs into booties.
23. Fasten snaps at top of booties.
24. Attach filter unit to belt.
25. Attach battery pack to belt.
26. Plug filter unit into battery pack.
27. Obtain helmet, safety glasses, and ID badge from rack.
28. Put on helmet.
29. Tuck helmet skirt into bunny suit.
30. Zip up bunny suit at shoulders.
31. Attach helmet hose to filter unit.
32. Tighten knob at back of helmet.
33. Put on ID badge.
34. Put on pager.
35. Put on safety glasses.
36. Obtain disposable scope shield.
37. Remove protective covering from both sides of scope shield.
38. Undo front helmet snaps.
39. Attach face shield to helmet.
40. Re-snap front helmet snaps.
41. Examine attire in mirror.
42. Put on latex gloves.
43. Enter the cleanroom.

If you've never done it before, putting on a bunny suit can take 30 to 40 minutes. The Intel pros can do it in five."

From Moses to Vatican II

Aside from the kids being about as obnoxious as they could in church, Sunday was a good day. Over the summer, we spent nearly every weekend at our cabin and attended Mass at the small, quirky nearby Catholic churches. The few times that we were in the city, we attended the very close and convenient Nativity of Our Lord instead of St. Agnes, which has been the parish I have belonged to since 1986 (not including the 10 years I lived in Seattle ;} ). It was so nice to be back.

Although St. Agnes has gone through many changes in the past few years, it is still the parish I feel most comfortable in. When I was pregnant with my son, I attended a "Natural Labor and Delivery" class where they tell you to envision a place that brings you joy, peace, comfort, etc., that you can focus on during the rough patches of labor. I always envisioned myself kneeling in a pew praying near the front of the church during Benediction and Exposition. It caught me off-guard when the instructor of the class asked us what our "relaxation" place was and I said it was on an inner-tube in the middle of a lake in the warm sun. Also a comfy place, but there was something so intrusive about her question that I wasn't going to ruin it by telling people. St. Agnes is home.

Father Ubel's homily touched on Moses. With the kids downstairs in the social hall with dad, I was able to listen to what Father had to say. It's too bad that so many of the Old Testament saints are left out of our liturgical calendar and out of the Church's recent memory. What I mean is, Moses was an incredible intercessor for his people. He was flawed, he was weak, but when the chips were down, Moses was a leader, protector and champion of his people. Moses also chastised his flock. When God was going to allow His wrath to blaze down on the people and destroy them, Moses stood up to God, told Him to wait a minute, reminded God of His promises and saved his people.

Moses is certainly someone I want in my corner...along with the litany of saints I ask for intercession. If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will probably see, like many other Catholics, I'm a strong proponent of intercessory prayer. I am shameless in asking just about everyone in the Communion of Saints for their prayers and intercession. Like Moses, but far more gently, I remind those saints that members of my family had a special fidelity to, just how faithful and persevering those family members were. I try to build on their religious capital, I grab their coat tails and become a squeaky wheel. Now that I'm a mother, I'm almost as bad as the mother of James and John in asking for help for my family.

Back in my youth, I was a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. A snippet from Wikipedia describes the movement as:

The Second Vatican Council stated in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium:"It is not only through the sacraments and the ministrations of the Church that the Holy Spirit makes holy the people, leads them and enriches them with his virtues.... He also distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts he makes them fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church."

I spent several years pretty deeply involved in the Charismatic Movement. It was at a Catholic church, but many of the people I knew weren't Catholic. The weekly meetings were lively and dynamic, and we always spent a great deal of time, as a collective, praying for the intentions of the members. We sat in a great big circle of concentric rings, people spoke in tongues, and folks witnessed about their faith. The evening was always capped off by everyone standing and placing their hands on the shoulders of the people in front of them and/or beside them and praying. Praying out loud. Speaking in tongues. Praying.

However, looking back as I have often done, I can't see that my involvement brought me any growth in my faith. In fact, it was the beginning of my Catholic-in-name-only (CINO) period. My experience may be much different than others. I was young, in junior high and high school, with friends and boys becoming an increasingly important part of my life. The youth group I belonged to that was part of this organization was a poor example of living your faith. Several girls in the group became pregnant, kids dropped out of school, others left the church. Just not your wholesome group of kids when you looked beneath the surface.

For a long time, I have had questions about the group dynamics of an organization like this. Are the gifts of the Holy Spirit really happening or are they some manifestation of a very heightened group experience? Why do so many Charismatics get the Gift of Tongues, for example, when many saints and other contemplatives don't mention these things at all? Is it just "different strokes for different folks," or is the Charismatic Renewal movement a tangent instead of part of the path.

In fairness to the Charismatics, it has been a long time since I have been a part of anything like this and I only ever attended the meetings of one group. I do know that I experienced many profound things through my participation in this group, but instead of it being something that comforts me and steels my faith, it has left me wondering what really happened. I have asked several very orthodox priests and a contemplative priest about my experiences and am still left wondering. Was it all group dynamics?

And, in returning back to Moses and intercessory prayer, I prefer my silent and solitary prayer to having a group "lay hands on me." For me, there is a closer connection I feel to the saints and Poor Souls when I am in prayer, than I ever felt at the Charismatic Renewal meetings, despite the physicality and hugely evangelical and overtly friendly tone of the group.

In my mind, it is not likely that the quiet solitude of kneeling in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament at St. Agnes, asking for intercession for all my intentions, will ever be replaced by anything else.

When your alma doesn't matter

It was a bad day for football. At least in my world. Not that I'm a big fan...I'm not even a fair weather fan.

Hockey has always been my favorite. And, I like basketball. Football is way back in the dust on my radar.

Here are the scores of the games I did keep tabs on over the weekend.

Alma mater Numero Uno:
University of St. Thomas (Tommies) vs. Gustavus Adolphus (Gusties) Lost 30-14
They are now 0-3 for the season

Alma mater Numero Dos:
University of Washington (Huskies) vs. #10 Ohio State (Buckeyes) Lost 33-14
They are now 2-1 for the season

Alma mater of hubby, brother and father:
University of Minnesota (Gophers) vs. Florida Atlantic Lost 42-39

We were at the UST game on Saturday and the weather was great. Kids only lasted to the half, so we took them home for naps. Had coupons to get in free, and free pop and popcorn, but still spent almost $15 just on some food (kids were starving). Too bad UST couldn't manage to complete a play. I don't know much about football, but even I could tell they stunk.

White sheep, back sheep, no busker sheep

Hey, folks, my first attempt with a You Tube video! Personally, I don't really watch them from other blogs, not because I don't want to, but because of my cro-magnon, knuckle-dragging dial-up that keeps me in the stone age.

Please let me know if this doesn't work. Thanks!



You may have heard about the immigration problems they are having in Switzerland. The current political party is "ultra" conservative and some factions within Switzerland have been riling things up. The lastest ads where the white sheep kick the black sheep out of their country certainly isn't helping matters. The US isn't the only country with immigration problems.

But, long before this became front page news, the Mariachis were causing quite a stir.



Way back in 2006, I believe, the scandal of the "No Mariachis on the Tram" began. Unlike in the US, the red circle around something in Switzerland is the equivalent of a red circle with a slash through it, as in most other countries. The above tram signs were deemed to be in poor taste and were removed, after the Mexican Consultate, having received many angry calls about the signs, investigated and complained to the city of Zurich. The Zurich Public Transport (VBZ), replaced the stereotyping signs with a non-descript guitar player, which cost them around 20,000 Swiss Francs, with a Swiss Franc being kind of equivalent to the Canadian dollar.



But, the VBZ just couldn't let sleeping dogs lie and came up with the commercial in the You Tube video, which is basically reiterating their point of no Mariachis on the tram, but without the non-descript guitar player.

I can't even imagine this airing in the US.

I didn't know Mariachis were a problem. The only way I ever got around in most of Europe when I have been there is by subway, tram, train, etc. I have never had the pleasure of seeing a Mariachi band play outside of a Mexican restaurant in the US. Supposedly, the Italians are welcoming to the Mariachis. Maybe they should try their luck there instead...I think the food is better anyway.



(I found this video and story on a blog I visit awhile back. Don't really understand the point of the video (other than it offends folks), since the Mariachis play and then the commerical essentially says, "Only 300 meters to the next stop" and then "Sorry, (dear) street musicians." Which must be the Swiss way of saying the Mariachis are not welcome on the tram. Huh?)

Who are the people in your neighborhood

I spent a good amount of time last night trying to get a You Tube video on my blog. It seems I'm doing things correctly, but my slow dial-up, and possibly my accelerator, are causing some problems getting the video to appear on my blog. I think I place "embed" code on my clipboard and then click on the "add video" icon on my blog creator/editor, paste in the embedded code and things should go swimmingly. But, my computer just spins. If anyone has any insight on how to place video on my blog, please leave it in the combox.

So, since I couldn't get the video I wanted, here are some bumper stickers I saw last night (we went to the Mall of America for dinner because we hadn't been there in ages). Some of the bumper stickers are offensive and you wonder just what possesses people to go to the trouble of putting these things on their car.

Not just arrogent and in poor taste, but poor grammar.


They also had one that said "I'm pagan and I vote."


No comment


And, one I just found on the internet that I thought was cute...for all my science geeky friends.

About town this weekend

This weekend is the Nativity County Fair. Bishop-elect Christensen is being ordained TODAY and will celebrate his last (open-air) Mass with the parish on Sunday. We have always gone to the fair in the past, but this year they needed to move the fair to what used to be St. Gregory's, now Nova Classical Academy, because the church is undergoing a pretty extensive addition. Not close enough to walk this year and they aren't having any fair activities Friday night.

Last year my son managed to get himself lost. OK, we considered him lost, but he knew full well where he was. The little whipper snapper really wanted to go in the inflated bouncy castle-thing and once mom and dad weren't looking, that's where he went. This year, we probably won't attend, not because we fear a repeat of last year, but because we just might attend a UST (University of St. Thomas) football game.



I have some coupons for free admission, free popcorn and pop, so that is a strong motivator for this family!!! I haven't been to a Tommie football game in, well, at least 20 years. Oh my goodness! I can't believe I can even say 10 years, much less 20. My son and husband want to go, so we may bundle up the kiddies and take them.

Oh, and if Relevant Radio doesn't cease and desist with their incessant and IRRITATING promotion of Johnny football, I might stop supporting them altogether!! Support the home team, guys, you're a Twin City affiliate. I doubt any radio station in Collegeville is promoting Tommie football. Goodness!

From the Tommie Sports website:

--GAME 3: St. Thomas (0-2) makes its home-field debut Saturday and starts its MIAC season when it plays host to the Golden Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus College (1-0). Kickoff is 1 p.m. on Palmer Field in O'Shaughnessy Stadium... It's also Neighborhood Day and locals can take advantage of some food and admissions discounts with an ad in this week's Highland Villager... The Tommies' 1956 MIAC champion football team will be honored at halftime... St. Thomas has lost three games in a row dating back to last season, while Gustavus has won five in a row since October 2006.

--LISTEN: The game will be webcast by St. Thomas through its new partnership with Minnesota Sports Broadcasting Network (MSBN) and can be heard via your computer through the following link on Saturday: www.mnsportsnetwork.com

"Um, because they don't have maps."

(FYI - I have removed the links to the quizzes because there is a problem with them pointing to some very questionable sites. Not what I want to do. I apologize for any confusion and cursing.)
I finally sat down and did this quiz as seen on Entropy's site, but then I saw the geography quiz and had to do that one too. Sorry Miss Teen America, some of us do have maps and know how to use them.

Just some frivolity for Friday.
__________________________________
The State Locator Challenge Test
Your Score: Geography Master
You scored 100% Accuracy!
All bow before the geography genius. Will you be our master? Will you lead us, all powerful geography master?

You definitely know your stuff. Colorado and Wyoming didn't get you confused, and you can find the North East states in your sleep. You were probably always wrecking the curve in school. Even if you cheated by using a map(NO, I didn't cheat, honest), this is still a decent score.

This state naming skill of yours will definitely get your far in life. There are myriads of times where it is important to know the shape of the states. Ok, I lied, it doesn't really matter. But it does show that you know your stuff. And knowing stuff is good
----------------------------------

Now for the Sesame Street Character Quiz. Results are a wee bit disappointing.

Your Score: Bert

You scored 75% Organization, 50% abstract, and 62% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are very organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.

Here is why are you Bert.

You are both very organized. You almost always know where your belongings are and you prefer things neat. You may even enjoy cleaning and find it therapeutic. Bert is a big neat freak and gets quite annoyed when Ernie makes a big mess.

You both are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract thinkers. Bert is probably a bit more concrete in his bottlecap collecting addiction and his love of the weather. He does show his abstract side when he sings and performs his "Doin' The Pidgeon" song. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course.

You are both somewhat introverted. Bert is probably more introverted, because he spends most of his time either with Ernie or alone. Still he has no problem being around other people in his role as chairman of "The National Association of 'W' Lovers." Like Bert, you probably like to have some time to yourself, but you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.

Gospel of St. Matthew Bible Study - Lesson 1

We had our first live lecture with Father Echert today. Very nice. Since it was the first official "lecture," the leader introduced him. I had no idea all of the things this priest is involved in!! Wow, Father, I'm impressed on so many levels.

The study is on the Gospel of St. Matthew, from Catholic Scripture Studies, written by Scott Hahn and Mark Shea. Lectures by Father Echert.

Just wanted to share a few items I got out of the study today. You might already know some of this, but there are a few things I had never really thought about. Here are the highlights:

When you open up the Gospel of St. Matthew and begin reading, the first chapter is a genealogy of Jesus' line up to Abraham. It doesn't seem too interesting to read a bunch of names (even for someone like me who is very interested in genealogy) and you want to skip over it since it seems kind of irrelevant. But, there are reasons it is included.

The only other genealogy is in the Gospel of St. Luke. Matthew takes his genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham, whereas Luke goes all the way back to Adam. Reason for this is that Matthew is writing to Jews or Jewish Christians and Luke is focusing more on the Gentiles. The Jewish people would've been interested in Jesus' connection to Abraham and David, while the Gentiles would rather go all the way back to Adam, father of all the human race. Matthew stays true to his roots and writes his gospel in Hebrew or Aramaic, cites the OT a great deal since it is his background and also because he is trying to show the Jews that Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT.

The genealogy shows that Jesus had Gentile blood lines.

Four women are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. These women, as Father Echert said, are preparing the way for the reader to accept Mary, who is of very humble beginnings. Part of the reason the Jews failed to accept Jesus is they were expecting a great King, like David or Solomon, and didn't expect a humble son of a lowly carpenter to be the Messiah. Mentioning the women, outcasts and sinners, tries to temper the resistance Matthew anticipates about the Jews accepting Mary as the Mother of God. All of the women became part of the royal line of Jesus. And, typically, the noted lineage was through the man's line since women were pretty much chattel back then and had no rights of inheritance, etc. To mention a woman in a lineage is a huge departure from the norm.

Joseph wanted to quietly divorce Mary, as Father said, not because of Joseph's belief that she had done anything wrong or been unfaithful, but because he realized the enormity of what was being asked of him and how he was unworthy to stand in the presence of God (Jesus). It wasn't until the angel appeared to him in a dream, that Joseph learned that God had called him to be the step-father of Jesus and wanted him to care for Mary and Jesus. (Providing an example of how we are to come before Jesus in the sacraments!).

And, finally, the point I wish Father had more time to discuss since it wasn't until recently that I realized this is why some Protestants believe Jesus had brothers, etc., is that in Matthew 1:25 it uses the word "until," creating some misunderstanding. Joseph "knew her not until she had borne a son." As we learned, the word "until" doesn't imply a change in condition. It doesn't mean that once Mary gave birth to Jesus, she and Joseph had normal marital relations. "Until" doesn't imply anything afterwards and can mean "eternity" or "forever." As in 1 Corinthians 15:25, "Christ must reign until God has put all enemies under his feet." We all know "until" in this case doesn't change anything because Jesus reigns now and forever. "Until" doesn't speak to a particular time or event. Father gave an even better example in class, but I can't remember it. Darn!

That's a summary of our first lecture. Funny how 25 verses of boring genealogy could contain so much behind the scenes.

Stay tuned for next week...

Still time to get your lottery tickets

Have bible study this morning, so not much time to post. Thought this was an interesting take on Creation vs. Evolution. It's from an old book we inherited from my husband's great-grandmother. She was a very devout Catholic who raised her family in the woods of Northern Minnesota without any running water or electricity; no heat, no lights. Her son, my husband's grandfather, fell away from the Catholic Church and the rest of the family is what I would describe as Agnostic Lutheran or LINO. Almost like a Cafeteria Catholic, they cling to the faith they were raised in (in name only), even though they disagree with it.

The family described Great-Grandma as a "Holy Roller." Although I never met her, I think she was a saint. So much like St. Monica; abusive husband, wayward son, etc. Since we are the only Catholics in that branch of the family, we inherited the Catholic items. Not that there are too many, since the family was very poor, but there are some relics I have been trying to get my hands on for over five years now. When my husband's great-uncle was put in a nursing home, and he didn't marry or have children, this branch of the family looked after him and his material goods. When my husband's aunt asked us to come over and help her go through his things, I explained to her then what the relics were. Told her they were very important to a Catholic, but wouldn't mean much to anyone else. Aunt said she would set them aside for us and we would get them when Great Uncle died.

After Great Uncle passed, the relics suddenly were missing. Aunt couldn't remember anything about them. No recollection. I asked her about every six months if she had come across them in Great Uncle's things, but she always acted like she had no clue what I was talking about. Oddly, when I asked her more recently, she said that she had given them to my MIL (even though I had been asking for them repeatedly). A few weekends ago, I asked my MIL about the relics and she didn't know what I was talking about. Finally, after I described them numerous times and was at the point of drawing her a picture, she finally exclaimed, "OH, the disks!" I really don't care what she called them at this stage, I just wanted to get my hands on them. Ah, they were in a box of things from Great Uncle. Except a search didn't uncover them. MIL then searched in the basement. Still no relics. I told hubby that since we have a key to their place, my next move is to go over there and find them myself!!! Actually, I think I'm going to say a few prayers to which ever saints the relics are of and ask them to intercede. I am also going to ask my Guardian Angel to help me find them.

Hubby's family thinks I'm weird with my persistence in finding these relics. Let them think I'm weird. They don't even know what they are (disks?), but since I called them "relics" they act like they are some great archaeological find and get weird about me having them or something. I don't want to leave you with the idea that I don't get along with these folks. Actually, I have been quite close to hubby's aunt and get along well with my MIL. However, like it so often happens when someone dies and there are items to inherit, people get grabby and territorial. The relics mean nothing to them and they don't understand them, but if someone else wants them, then they must be valuable, so they resist in giving them to me. Hubby's family...they will turn me into St. Monica.

Sorry, I've digressed way off topic. Here's the clip from the book.

"Let us give chance its due and recognise that it plays a much greater part than we formerly though in the mechanism of natural happenings. The sun, for example, has been there a very long time; but we now believe that chance is involved in the mechanism of his shining, and that he might by chance radiate all away in a flash before tomorrow morning. Chance, in its proper appreciation, is a most important element in the functioning of nature.

Nevertheless, it is a purely negative condition. What happens by chance, happens without order; but mere lack of order does not explain a positive happening, any more than the lack of anything else. One may eat cake because there is no bread, but it is not the lack of bread that provides the cake. Hence, the advocates of chance as the explanation of the universe are compelled to grant a positive force of some kind. They mean, because they cannot mean anything else, that something has produced the universe, by chance instead of with intention. Accordingly, we may accept their forced admission that there is some positive force at work, and then use the present argument to show that that force must be intelligent and not working blindly.

We see all about us, and science shows us, things that are both unities in themselves and also component parts of greater unities. From tiny electrons to the entire universe, all is a hierarchy of beings, each attaining its own proper end and each serving a function as part of the harmonious whole. We ourselves, microcosms, are conscious to ourselves of being unities, to the satisfactory functioning of which our eyes and all our organs contribute, each organ being itself a unity, to the satisfactory functioning of which still smaller unities contribute. All is a wondrous harmony of wholes that are parts of greater wholes, each adapted to its own ends and to the ends of the greater wholes and of the greatest whole. Now, there is an efficient cause of the existence of the universe, as reluctantly conceded by the adversary.

But it is impossible that all the things that are should constitute a harmonious unity, each attaining its end and each contributing to the ends of the whole, if that efficient cause acted at random; because then each being might, with equal probability, have been other than it is, in a strictly infinite number of ways, and it is not merely highly improbable but absolutely impossible that they should constitute a unity. Such a universe would not be a universe but a mere multitude of unlike things, without law or order. Therefore, not at random but by design did the First Cause work; therefore He is an intelligent Being and we call Him God."

The God of Reason, by J. K. Heydon, pp. 128-130.

A UW Double shot

What happened to summer?

I've been so busy this summer I was looking forward to the time after Labor Day, since it has always been when things kind of quieted down, kids went back to school, life returned to normal.

Well, it hasn't. I've been so busy lately I hardly have time to sit down, less time to get something worthwhile on my blog and hardly any time to visit my favorite blogs.

But, I had to post about the U of Washington, or UDub as it's called in Seattle.

First, a medical blip. Engineers at the UDub have come up with a hand-held ultrasound device that can be used to repair punctured lungs. Sounds very cool and also very scary. Scary in the sense that I had numerous people warn me about ultrasounds when I was pregnant, which I had more than my fair share of because of all the complications, but this is a different application and different set of circumstances. If I had a punctured lung, I think my concerns would be for someone to fix it and worry about any problems later.

Star Trek medical device uses ultrasound to seal punctured lungs
In this case, the high-intensity ultrasound beams focus on a particular spot inside the body on the patient's lungs. Focusing the ultrasound beams, in a process similar to focusing sunlight with a magnifying glass, creates a tiny but extremely hot spot about the size and shape of a grain of rice. The rays heat the tissue and blood cells until they form a seal. Meanwhile the tissue between the device and the spot being treated does not get hot, as it would with a laser beam.

Read the entire article.


Secondly, the UDub Huskies are undefeated...so far, in football. When I attended the UDub, they were perennial contenders, along with Florida, for the National Championship. Then a bunch of scandals hit and the program spent some years floundering. Hopefully, they have finally got things together, cleaned up the program and are on their way to the Rose Bowl again.

I used to work with a guy who went to Florida and one from Arizona, so we had bets on the seasons. Fortunately, UDub beat Arizona or I would've had to wear some horrible Arizona jersey to work. Florida and UDub were co-champs, so that made things easy in that regard.


Go dawgs!!


Tentative 2007 Washington Football Schedule

Date Opponent / Event Location Time / Result

08/31/07 at Syracuse Syracuse, N.Y. W, 42-12
09/08/07 vs. Boise State Seattle, Wash. W, 24-10
09/15/07 vs. Ohio State Seattle, Wash. 12:30 p.m. PT
09/22/07 at UCLA * Los Angeles, Calif. 7:15 p.m. PT
09/29/07 vs. USC * Seattle, Wash. 5:00 p.m. PT
10/13/07 at Arizona State * Tempe, Ariz. TBA
10/20/07 vs. Oregon * Seattle, Wash. TBA
10/27/07 vs. Arizona * Seattle, Wash. 12:00 p.m. PT
11/03/07 at Stanford * Stanford, Calif. TBA
11/10/07 at Oregon State * Corvallis, Ore. 7:15 p.m. PT
11/17/07 vs. California * Seattle, Wash. TBA
11/24/07 vs. Washington State * Seattle, Wash. TBA (This game is called the Apple Cup, against our rivals of Wazzu).
12/01/07 at Hawai'i Honolulu, Hawai'i TBA

I didn't sign up for this

The internet is full of personality tests. All of the tests I have taken always say that I'm an extrovert. Probably true in part, but tests don't always give insight as to the situations when this doesn't apply.

Before I had kids, my group of friends were people with whom I shared similar interests or got along with well. Aside from the necessity of getting along civilly with the people I worked with, most friendships started naturally and organically. I wasn’t required to spend time with people I didn’t like or have anything in common with.

Now, with the kids, I am forced into being friendly with people I wouldn’t otherwise care to be around. Take the kids to the park and you have to come up with something to talk about with the parents of the other kids sharing the swings with your kids. Let the kids play in the neighborhood and you’re required to be a part of the parents group who sits outside and “visits” while their children play.

This forced and, in my opinion, artificial environment makes me bristle. That’s the part of my personality that the tests don’t get right most of the time. I’m social, but I resist this type of interaction. I don’t like it and I don’t do well at small talk. Just because we share the common vocation of being a parent, doesn’t mean I want to stand around and discuss things. It has nothing to do with the other parents, I know it’s me. And, the older I get the more I am like this. I am my mother.

Growing up in the suburbs, my mom was one of the few mothers to work. My mom was a nurse. The rest of the ladies were “homemakers” and every few weeks had all the ladies of the neighborhood over to their homes for their “homemakers” meetings. When I was little, I thought they actually discussed domestic things like recipes and getting stains out of clothes. But, my mom, who was friendly with these ladies, never joined the group. She was decidedly an outsider. When I asked my mother why she didn’t attend the meetings, go to the Tupperware parties or sit out on the steps with these ladies, she explained that all these women did was gossip and she didn’t care to be a part of it. I chalked it up to my mom just being anti-social, but now that I’m in the situation, I have become my mother.

Our neighborhood has the requisite busy body and the lady who wants to be Mrs. Jones and have everyone keep up with her. It also has the wonderful neighbors I would like to get to know better, but with the rest of the dynamics going on, it seems that won’t happen. We live on one end of the block and the rest of the kids in the neighborhood live on the other end. Proximity makes these children built-in playmates. My kids usually are the odd ones out because they have to go all the way down to the other end of the block to play with the rest of the kids. In order to do this, it requires that I go down the block with them and then spend the time jawing with the parents. This is so not me. The only things we have in common are the kids and the neighborhood, so things quickly reduce down to gossip. Not that I’m disinterested in the goings-on in the neighborhood, but something about basing a friendship, or even a casual relationship, on gossip and silly things, to quote my father, just makes my ass tired and I would rather not waste my breath.

To add further to the sturm und drang, my family doesn’t attend the same church as some of the families who are also Catholic, so I am sure they wonder what our story is in that regard. We also don’t spend many weekends in the city (we are at the cabin) so the kids don’t interact as much with the neighbor kids. Similarly, we don’t interact as much with the rest of the parents, so we too are the odd ones out.

Many of the things I get involved in are like cancer support groups. You’re not there because you want to be, but because circumstances have brought you there. Chatting it up with the other parents at swim lessons, or at the pool, or at the mall, or where ever, just isn’t me. I could sit on the bench at the park and watch my kids play without talking to another soul, but this can and does impact how other parents feel and how willing they are to let Johnny play with my son because his mom is not as social as she should be…or as social as they think she should be.

No one told me that when I became a mom I would instantly have to befriend every other mom (or dad) I stumble across everywhere I go. You can’t just sit quietly at the doctor’s office and read a magazine while the kids play with the toys. No, you have to talk to all the other moms and share stories of how your kids are doing and listen to how little Timmy didn’t sleep well last night, or how Kaitlyn, with a “y” and one “n,” is so advanced she is already doing quantum mechanics.

I know. My personality test should’ve said I am a curmudgeon.

Two camps or a continuum

A story from the LA Times discusses a study that seems to indicate that liberals and conservatives tend to think, or at least process information, differently.

Sorry, I don't buy it. Granted, this is just a story on the study, but it doesn't seem to take into account age, gender or other things you would want to control for, or talk about how the folks were chosen (random?) for the study and how many were in the study. Why pick "W," when it is strongly associated with our current president? It doesn't explain how someone can be a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, or explain how people tend to get more conservative as they get older. Yes, I guess I need to go look at the study itself.

I'm also not certain how they define "ambiguity" or "conflict." If ambiguity means lack of clarity or if it means being content to maintain two very different opinions without seeing a need to resolve them or...

I would consider myself a conservative (which is not the same thing as saying I'm a Republican) and don't have a problem with things that many would consider ambiguous, like the mysteries of the Faith, MANY things in science that I dealt with on a daily basis (many things in chemistry are like a black box...things go in and something different emerges and you can't always explain why). I live with conflict every day and was conditioned to roll with it ever since I was a child (must be that military influence).

Good to know liberals are not constrained and can think outside the box without having a problem with such an ambiguous study.

Here's the article:

Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.

In a simple experiment reported today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, scientists at New York University and UCLA show that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.

Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.

The results show "there are two cognitive styles -- a liberal style and a conservative style," said UCLA neurologist Dr. Marco Iacoboni, who was not connected to the latest research.

Participants were college students whose politics ranged from "very liberal" to "very conservative." They were instructed to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W.

M appeared four times more frequently than W, conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.

Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W, researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing M.

Researchers got the same results when they repeated the experiment in reverse, asking another set of participants to tap when a W appeared.

Frank J. Sulloway, a researcher at UC Berkeley's Institute of Personality and Social Research who was not connected to the study, said the results "provided an elegant demonstration that individual differences on a conservative-liberal dimension are strongly related to brain activity."

Analyzing the data, Sulloway said liberals were 4.9 times as likely as conservatives to show activity in the brain circuits that deal with conflicts, and 2.2 times as likely to score in the top half of the distribution for accuracy.

Sulloway said the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who opposed Bush in the 2004 presidential race, as a "flip-flopper" for changing his mind about the conflict.

Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.

"There is ample data from the history of science showing that social and political liberals indeed do tend to support major revolutions in science," said Sulloway, who has written about the history of science and has studied behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals.

Lead author David Amodio, an assistant professor of psychology at New York University, cautioned that the study looked at a narrow range of human behavior and that it would be a mistake to conclude that one political orientation was better. The tendency of conservatives to block distracting information could be a good thing depending on the situation, he said.

Political orientation, he noted, occurs along a spectrum, and positions on specific issues, such as taxes, are influenced by many factors, including education and wealth. Some liberals oppose higher taxes and some conservatives favor abortion rights.

Still, he acknowledged that a meeting of the minds between conservatives and liberals looked difficult given the study results.

"Does this mean liberals and conservatives are never going to agree?" Amodio asked. "Maybe it suggests one reason why they tend not to get along."

The two Josephs

For my bible study, we were asked the similarities or parallels between Joseph (Old Testament) and St. Joseph (New Testament), spouse of Our Lady. I had never really thought about it before. I had heard of the connections between Joseph and Jesus, but here are my similarities between the two Josephs.

1. They both had father's named Jacob. This is easy to know about Joseph from OT history, but it wasn't until I read the Gospel of Matthew, that had comments by Scott Hahn, where this was pointed out. In Luke's Gospel, however, St. Joseph's father is named Heli. We are supposed to come up with some reasons for the difference...still working on that.

2. They were royalty. The Joseph of the OT was a patriarch, following the great line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was the last and perhaps the greatest of the Old Testament patriarchs. St. Joseph also was royalty since he was a descendant of King David. Some Scripture scholars speculate that if Rome had not occupied Palestine at the time, and if the Davidic line was still intact, St. Joseph would have been eligible for the throne. (This is something I found online).

3. They both endured suffering and daily trials without complaint. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his own brothers, was put in charge of Pharoah's house, in part, because of his attitude and trustworthiness. St. Joseph kept Our Lady as his wife, even though he thought he should divorce her quietly. He also did what was asked of him in taking Mary to Bethlehem and giving his life over to what God wanted of him as the step-father of Jesus. Quite a big job.

4. They both interpreted dreams. Joseph interpreted dreams for Pharoah (seven fat cows and seven skinny cows) and St. Joseph knew his own dreams were messages from God about what he should do (not to divorce Mary, flee to Egypt, and then return).

5. Both rulers of the King's house. Joseph was put in charge of Pharoah's kingdom and St. Joseph was in charge of the upbringing of Jesus.

6. Both were righteous men, pure and chaste.

7. They both experienced poverty. Joseph had his inheritance stolen from him, he was sold into slavery and imprisoned. St. Joseph knew poverty as well. We are told in the gospels that he was a carpenter, a member of the working class. When he uprooted his family and went to Bethlehem and then to Egypt, he probably took his tools with him so he could continue earning a living, but that is about all he had in terms of material goods. We also know that the Holy Family was poor because at the Presentation they gave two turtle doves, the offering of the poor. (Found this online too).

8. Both left their homes and went to Egypt. Joseph was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt. St. Joseph fled to Egypt with his family to escape Herod's wrath.

Back in the confessional again

It was the eve of the first Friday in September, so I went to confession. I always like to go Thursday night before First Fridays since I seem to remember to go at this time, whereas I usually forget on the weekends. I think it has something to do with running around with the kids. Although I go to confession about once a month, I don't really like going. I love how I feel as the priest gives absolution and my Guardian Angel is tickled pink that his kicking me in the seat of the pants paid off, but the process of examining my conscience and confessing is awkward, probably because no one likes to look at the dirt they have hanging on their souls and admitting they are weak and a sinner. Learning humility is never easy. However, I did start reading, The Imitation of Christ, and it is wonderful. Here's a quote:

As long as we live in this world we cannot be fully without temptation, for, as Job says, the life of man upon earth is warfare. Therefore, every man should be well on guard against his temptations, and watch in prayer so that his spiritual enemy, who never sleeps but always goes about seeking whom he may devour, may find no time or place to deceive him.

There is no man so perfect or so holy in this world that he does not sometimes have temptations, and we cannot be fully without them. Though they be for a time very grievous and painful, yet if they are resisted they are very profitable, for by them a man is made more humble and is purified and instructed in various manners which he would never have known save through the experience of such temptations. All the blessed saints who are now crowned in heaven grew and profited by temptations and tribulations; those that could not well bear temptations, but were finally overcome, are held perpetual prisoners in hell.

The Never Ending Story
Again, I confessed the same sins as I did the last time I went, and the same as the time before that. I know this is typical, but it can be frustrating and discouraging. The last time I went to confession, the person ahead of me was in the confessional for a long time. I thought that they must’ve really had a laundry list of sins. When a pious nun emerged from the confessional, I was humbled. How could this saintly nun have more to confess than I did? Didn’t I do a thorough Examination of Conscience? What was I missing?

Tonight I had pretty much the same litany of sins to confess. I’ve gone to this priest before for confession, but not too frequently. He isn’t the priest I had been going to, but lately they keep switching priests at my parish so finding a regular confessor has been a challenge, not that I ever really get more from the priest than my penance and absolution. The problem I have at the confessionals in my parish is that they don’t have solid doors so the priests want you to talk softly so that others standing or kneeling outside don’t over hear your confession. I have hearing loss, mixed in with a bad case of persistent tinnitus, so I can’t hear a darn thing while in the confessional. Tonight I was straining my head so close to the screen to hear Father that I (loudly) bonked right into it, probably stunning Father and making me cringe.

Many people seek to flee temptation and fall the more deeply into it, for by merely fleeing we cannot win the victory, but by humility and patience we may be made stronger than all our enemies. He who merely flees the outward occasions and does not cut away the inordinate desires hidden inwardly in his heart shall gain little; temptation will easily come to him again and grieve him more than it did at first. Little by little, with patience and fortitude, and with the help of God, you will sooner overcome temptations than with your own strength and persistence. In your temptation it is good often to ask counsel. It is good not to be severe on any person who is tempted; rather, be glad to comfort him as you would be glad to be comforted.

The beginning of all evil temptations is inconstancy of mind and too little trust in God. As a ship without a rudder is driven hither and thither by every storm, so an unstable man who soon leaves his good purpose in God is variously tempted. Fire proves gold, and temptation proves the righteous man.

Many times we know not what we can bear, but temptation shows plainly what we are, and what virtue is in us. It is necessary at the beginning of every temptation to be well aware, for the enemy is soon overcome if he is not allowed to enter the heart, but is resisted and shut out as soon as he attempts to enter.

Story of my Life
Oddly, Father said I did a good examination, which might’ve just been his way to end the awkward pause when I lost my train of thought, but I wish the priests would give me a little feedback. I know they are too busy to chit-chat and we have signs up (or used to) that you should confess only sins and omit all unnecessary chatter, but often times I do think mentioning mitigating factors does matter since it speaks to intent/consent. I like the following quote because it helps to remind me to pick myself up again, even though I commit the same sins over and over and over. Seems like it all comes back to humility.

Therefore, we shall not despair when we are tempted, but shall the more fervently pray to God, that of His infinite goodness and fatherly pity He may vouchsafe to help us in every need; and that, according to the saying of St. Paul, He may so go before us with His grace in every temptation that we may be able to bear it. Let us, then, humble ourselves under the strong hand of Almighty God, for He will save and exalt all who are here meek and lowly in spirit.

In temptations and tribulations a man is proved, and how much he has gained is shown, and his merit is thereby the greater in the sight of God, and his virtues the more openly manifest. It is no great marvel if a man is fervent and devout when he feels no grief. But if he can suffer patiently in the time of temptation or other adversity and, despite it, stir himself also to fervor of spirit, it is a token that he will advance greatly thereafter in virtue and grace. Some people are kept from any great temptations, and yet are daily overcome in little and small occasions; that happens because the great goodness and patience of God would keep them in humility, so that they will not trust or presume of themselves, since they see themselves daily overcome so easily and in such little things.

Seen. Heard. Said.

My son was being cute tonight. We were on our way home and passed a Dairy Queen. He exclaimed, "Dairy Queen is there for a REASON!!!!"

And, I replied, "Yes, it is, to teach you self control."

I don't think he knows what self control means, but he got the gist of it.

Mean mom.

Excellent website alert!! Be not afraid

While I was on my mini-vacation, a lady contacted me and asked if she could link to my post about my daughter Catherine who was cured of spina bifida. She has a website that deals with poor prenatal diagnoses and a variety of topics along those lines. The website is called Be Not Afraid. I cannot recommend it enough!

When I got back last night, I went to her site and found it to be a GREAT resource for Catholics, especially parents and expectant parents. Also, a great site for those who work with women contemplating abortion after learning of a poor prenatal diagnosis. Here is just a short paragraph from the website:

Who are we?
First launched online beginning in October of 2002, Benotafraid.net is a network of concerned parents, professionals, and laypersons who have experienced and/or worked closely with issues surrounding poor prenatal diagnoses. In presenting our stories and information relevant to various diagnoses, we intend to offer hope to parents who are asked to make life and death decisions about their unborn baby. This outreach is guided by the directives of the Catholic Church as they concern issues surrounding beginning and end of life. We prefer to offer resources and referrals to organizations that adhere to the healthcare directives of the Catholic Church when they are available. When these are not available, we strive for resources that provide medically accurate information with an overall life-affirming approach. Additionally, while many of our stories and essays reflect a Catholic Christian perspective, other essays and stories we feature are of interest to any parent grappling with a difficult prenatal diagnosis. Therefore, Catholic families and non-Catholic families alike can benefit from this outreach.

Go and check out the website!!! It is wonderful and quite uplifting.

Home again, home again, jig-a-jig-jig

Nothing really to blog about, just a brief summation of our vacation.

Thought I had better post a pic of the kids (and hubby!) since Cathy was talking about posting a picture of her cats and Terry was rambling on about no one believing he has real relatives or something.

Although it's ancient history, we survived the MN State Fair last Wednesday. Spent nearly 8 hours there with the kids. No wonder they were ready to drop by the time we were done. My son loves cars, trucks, big farm equipment, etc. So, we spent a good deal of time at Machinery Hill. He sat in just about everything they had. Happy as a clam just to sit in a big ol' tractor. (Great) Grandpa would be proud.

Bad news is that my aunt wasn't at the fair this year (her booth was). She had a bad reaction to her cholesterol medication and was in the hospital for four days. Guess she is doing better.

Had a great time at the fair. Weather was perfect, crowds weren't too bad. Just wish I could've gone a few more times.

Went to Madeline Island on Friday. Made me "homesick" for Seattle. Took the ferry to the island, so that was really like being in Seattle, although the ferry was much smaller. Kids had a great time. They were worn out again and slept all the way back home to the cabin. We are thinking of making it a family tradition to go to Madeline Island on the Friday before Labor Day. Very quiet, although all the rooms in town were booked for the weekend. Think the crowds descended on the town as soon as we left.

Monday we went to Duluth to the Depot train museum and then rode on a train. My dad, who was a railroad engineer for 40+ years, used to take us up to Duluth when we were little to the museum and used to go every year until his death. This was the first time we took the kids to the museum and the first time without my dad. I sure missed my dad when I tried to answer my son's questions about what everything was on the train, although I do think another family that was in one of the trains when we were, were eavesdropping on my narrative and probably were a bit surprised about all I did know (still pales in comparison to a real railroad engineer's knowledge). My son loved the place and wants to go back. My parents-in-law were also along and had no idea the Depot was there or that there was a museum. The train ride was so-so and not too thrilling for the kids.

Spent time with the relatives (hubby's).

Was doing dishes at the cabin and got a bad cut on my hand when a glass broke. Very deep and long. Ahhh, that felt good.

Had to come home because the big day is tomorrow...the beginning of BIBLE STUDY. My son is in the big kids class this year and my daughter is starting the younger kids class. Should be interesting to see how they do. My son is so social that the teacher may just go crazy with his non-stop talking. My daughter hasn't really been away from me much, so will have to see how she does. I thought my son would have some anxiety when he started the program last year, but it was more like, "See ya, mom. No hurry to come and get me."

Oh, and I think we are finally buying a boat. We have had our cabin for six years and haven't had a boat. No, I'm not complaining since we are blessed to even have the cabin. The story is that my husband and I are pretty conservative about Everything. Even money. My parents were raised in the Depression, so I had that sense of frugality instilled in me. My husband and I had been married nearly 15 years and hadn't had any kids. We had recently bought a house, based only on my husband's income (because we are just conservative!) when my dad passed away. With the money I received from selling his home and the extra income we had from my job, we thought we would buy a cabin.

Like I maintain, God has a sense of humor. My father used to ponder about it and wonder if God ever had a great big belly laugh. Well, maybe He didn't previously, but now that my dad is up there (I hope!), I'm sure they are having a great big ol' laugh at the fun they are having with my life. Just when my husband and I finally concluded we weren't having kids, and went against our fiscally conservative tendencies and bought a cabin, God gives us a baby...and another one. So, fortunately we were conservative in our spending because we are now paying for the house and cabin with just hubby's income. It's paycheck to paycheck, but we really want to have the cabin for the kids. Finally decided it was time to get a boat (the neighbors were wondering about us since we didn't have a dock or a boat). Looked and looked and finally think we are going to buy hubby's aunt's boat. They just bought a new pontoon and aren't going to use their old boat, so we're thinking about it. Like molasses in January, we don't move too quickly.

Better run and change the laundry. Got a lot to do before tomorrow.

Hope you all had a great weekend!