Monthly Archives: June 2009

Beginning tomorrow, on the Feast Day of St. Thomas More, OneNationUnderGod is launching a prayer campaign for “Catholic” politicians, who claim to be Catholic, but whose voting records are very much in opposition to that claim. So, OneNationUnderGod is asking for prayer pledges.  What that means is that you sign up to pray for a politician, on a week-to-week basis, for their conversion.

From their website, explaining the campaign:

In a spirit of hope and Christian charity, OneNationUnderGod is launching a prayer campaign specifically focused on the conversion of Catholic politicians to further foster a Culture of Life in our country.

This effort will commence on June 22, 2009–the feast day of St. Thomas More, whom Pope John Paul II proclaimed the patron saint of statesmen and politicians. A 16th-century English chancellor who refused to accept King Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England, St. Thomas More held a passion for the truth that enlightened his conscience and led him to know that, just as man must be one with God, so politics must be with morality.

Many Catholic politicians support policies that reject a fundamental right to life.  Although these policy makers have been indelibly configured to Christ and the Church through Baptism, by denying these basic human rights, they stand outside full communion with the Church.

In the 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae, John Paul II reiterates what the Catholic Church has always taught: that lawmakers have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that contradicts humanity’s fundamental right to life.

Months ago, we discovered that 50 percent of Catholic politicians currently serving in the 111th Congress have accepted large donations from pro-abortion lobby groups while reinforcing their support for abortion rights legislation.  These elected officials are deeply confused about Catholic teaching on the morality of abortion.

Catholic legislators who support abortion rights fail to recognize that legitimate social policy must be guided by absolute truth.  Many of these legislators cite “primacy of conscience” to justify their support for abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia.  However, a properly formed conscience recognizes the essential truth of Catholic teaching—that human life is sacred and inviolable from the moment of conception until natural death.

Over the past few weeks, we have contacted bishops of these pro-abortion Catholic members of Congress, to shed light on the politicians’ pro-abortion voting records and the money they have received from abortion lobbyists. We have respectfully asked that they continue to minister to these lawmakers.  Their spiritual direction gives invaluable insight to our Catholic legislators, reaffirming “that life is entrusted to man’s responsibility.”

Please, it only takes a few moments a day to pray for our politicians!  Even if you’re not Catholic, you can commit to pray for our leaders!  You can click here to make a prayer pledge.

A week ago today we found out that a young man we all knew had drowned.  His family goes to our church, and his younger sister and brother are friends with Alex and Faith.  They are fellow homeschoolers, and 4-Hers.  I think the last time I saw him was a year or so ago when he was helping lead the Stations of the Cross at our church with the Youth Group.  He and Kendall used to hang out together some.  He was planning to go to Chapel Hill in the Fall.  And, as much as I cannot begin to understand the endless desperation and grief of his family, I do know what it is to lose someone that you love.

The funeral Mass was held Thursday evening, and it was packed.  I realized, for the first time, how comforting traditions are, and how much I need them.  The Mass is always the Mass.  Whether it’s the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, a Wedding, a Funeral, or a Solemnity, the tenets of the Mass are always the same, all over the world.  We know what to expect, and only the readings, responsorial psalms and songs change, to fit the occasion.  The homily will be appropriate, and we will receive Holy Communion to give us all strength and courage.  I think, especially at a time of death, when things are so surreal and unexpected, the soothing traditions of the Church are more meaningful than ever.  I have come to view Mass as God’s security blanket that we can wrap around ourselves.

Afterward we went out to dinner with several friends and our priest.  It was a good time of healing and relaxation.  And it was in reflecting on the funeral and dinner after that it occurred to me, again, that death is not at all about the deceased.  It is all about those of us left behind.  We hug each other and reassure each other that everything is going to be okay, that the rest of us are still here, and that life will go on.  It is one of the rare times that even stoic men will hug one another and publicly display their support and affection.

So, while I hate funerals and receiving lines, I have come to understand why we do those things.  When I was younger it all seemed so pointless to me, and so incredibly macabre.  But the older I get, the more I start to see past my own selfishness and understand the needs of others.

I hate that this sweet young man is gone.  I grieve for his family, who is still reeling from shock and disbelief and unspeakable loss. I grieve for those who stood on the shoreline but didn’t understand that he was ‘not waving but drowning’ until it was too late.  God rest his soul!

This little movie, that came out in 1948, is almost 10 minutes long, but worth every second. For those of us who grew up on Bugs Bunny, you’ll enjoy the format! Back in the 1940’s, folks were a lot more focused and clear-headed than we are today, it would seem.  Let me know what you think.

Bandit and Mustard

It has now been officially ten days since we last saw Colonel Mustard or Bandit. Faith is giving it until the end of this month until she gives up. I am, for the most part, trying not to think too much about them. We have never had such bad luck with cats before.

Mustard was the King of Cats. You could hear him purr from across the room, and he was poetry in motion to watch. He probably weighed in at close to twenty pounds, and was absolutely graceful. We have had him (and his brother, Piewacket) for ten years. Our home will never be quite the same without him. Neither will Kendall, for he belonged to Mustard.

Sharing the Couch

Bandit was the amazing foldable kitty. You could just scoop him up in your arms and he would conform to whatever shape you were carrying him in. And he would go anywhere you took him, happily. He was delightful to watch, as he chased butterflies in our grass, or stalked bumblebees in our woods. He loved to play, because he was, after all, still just a kitten, at eighteen months old. I have known and loved many cats. He was by far the ‘coolest’ cat we’ve ever had. Faith will never want another cat.

Props to Matt Archbold over at Creative Minority Report for his incredible parody of Lord of the Rings!

Click this link to read it:Lord of the Czars

Absolutely brilliant!

Okay, after a great deal of prayer, discussion, and downright agony, we have decided that even though Gaylon is working in Merkel, Texas, only 20 minutes from Abilene, that it is just not the right place for our family to live.  Abilene is so, ah, West Texas.  And we are so. . . granola!  Let me explain:  West Texas (for those of you who have never been there) looks just like the backdrop of a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western.  And the people there pretty much have the same attitude as the cowboys you see in the Pace Picante Sauce commercials:  “New York City?  Get the rope!”  Just substitute the things we love for “New York City”.  For example:  “Homebirth?  Get the rope!”  or “Vegetarian?  Get the rope!”  You get the idea.

There are no health food stores in Abilene, to speak of.  And by “health food store”, I mean something along the lines of Whole Foods Market.  Not some hole-in-the-wall place that sells ridiculously overpriced vitamins.  They have a homeschool group, apparently, but they have not responded to my email, which I sent almost two months ago. There are no midwives nearby, unless you count the one I found in Brownwood, which is well over an hour away.  Organic gardnening?  I doubt it seriously.  Actually, I seriously doubt you could even get any kind of garden to grow there.  I sure as heck couldn’t in Southeastern New Mexico when we lived there! They don’t even have Verizon there!  No, really!

So, let’s talk about where we DO want to live.   We have decided that Austin is as close to Asheville as we can get.  The major differences are that Asheville has these amazing Blue Ridge Mountains and is practically sitting on the Appalachian Trail; but Austin has the beautiful Hill Country of Texas, complete with fields and fields of Bluebonnets, and Austin has Tex-Mex.  Mmmmm. . . . tasty!  Austin is full of “culture”, as one of my best friends, Donna, puts it.  And she would know.  She lives there.  When I asked her if they had health food stores there, she laughed and informed me that Whole Foods Market was actually started in Austin!

There are several large homeschooling support groups there, and I have contacted two of them so I could get on their mailing lists and get a feel for the homeschooling community before we get there.  I have been blown away by how friendly the folks are there.  But, I shouldn’t be.  Texans are the friendliest people on the planet.  Austin Area Homeschoolers has 1375 members on its email list.  That’s a LOT of homeschoolers!  And that’s not even counting the really big fundamentalist, Christians only, group.  Or the other group that I contacted, the Holy Family Homeschoolers, which is the Catholic homeschooling support group.  So, I am very excited and hopeful.  The kids and I are very anxious to get there and get settled, and quit living in limbo.  Mom, who of course is going with us, is also very excited and hopeful.

So, please pray for us.  Pray that our house will sell really, really soon, so that we can get on down there and get settled in before the school year gets going.  I know the economy is not so good right now, but with our God, all things are possible!

I mentioned that I had been staying busy to keep from smoking.  Yep.  I quit.  Three weeks ago, today, thank you very much!  I just didn’t want anybody to think I hadn’t mentioned it because I had started smoking again.

Okay, let’s get something straight.  Murder does not equal Terrorism.  And it’s asinine to say otherwise.  When the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked on September 11, 2001, I felt terror.  In fact, everyone I knew was terrified.  We did not know what the immediate future held, and we were very afraid, for our world, our country, our very lives.  That’s terrorism, folks.

When someone is murdered, I do not feel terror.  I am always sad that someone has lost their life, that a family has lost their loved one.  But terror never crosses my mind.  Ergo, when late-term abortionist George Tiller was shot and killed last Sunday, the only thing I felt was sadness that the life of someone I didn’t know had passed.

Yes, apparently some psycho killed him because he was a ‘late-term abortionist’.  Which brings up another important point:  that makes the killer, by default, NOT “pro-life”.  This is very elementary, boys and girls!  If someone kills another living person, they are against life, not for it!  But I digress. . .  killing someone specifically for any reason does not terrorism make!

Let’s use some famous examples.  When John Lennon was killed, nobody conjured up the word ‘terrorism’.  ‘Crazy’, ’stalker’, ‘obsessed’ come to mind, but never ‘terror’.  Nobody, with the possible exception of Yoko Ono, felt afraid.

Another famous example:  Jack the Ripper.  No, seriously!  He killed prostitutes.  Decent women who were safe in their homes after dark did not feel fear, much less terror.  In fact, I’m pretty sure the term “terrorism” had not yet been coined at that point in history, and perhaps we should ban its use now.

Terrorism, on the other hand, is what Obama inflicted upon the innocent people of New York City on April 27, when Air Force One was allowed to do low flyovers of Manhattan, followed by two fighter jets.  Could the people on the ground discern that it was merely AF1 up there, and that they were only there for a “photo op“??  Um, NO!  All they saw were low-flying airplanes, and since they are all pretty much still suffering from PTSD, they all freaked out and thought they were being attacked again.  On a mass scale.  That, my friends, is terrorism.  In Obama’s defense, he stated he had no idea that anyone had taken his airplane, and he was shocked, shocked! I tell you, to find that it had been not only taken, but used so irresponsibly.  So, now, in addition to their regular duties, his secretaries have to field calls from Hollywood filmmakers asking if he would star in their new film “Dude! Where’s My Plane?”  (okay, okay, it’s lame, but you have to admit it fits!)

So, please don’t tell me that the man who killed Tiller is a terrorist or a “pro-lifer”.  And don’t even try to say that all “pro-lifers” are terrorists!! Can we please just use some common sense, and do away with all of the alarmist media propaganda?

Note:  I firmly believe that both murder and terrorism are mortal sins, and contemptable acts.  I simply felt that the distinction needed to be made.

So, on April 11th (Good Friday, to be more specific) David Jones, a pastor in San Diego, California, was told that he had to “Cease and Desist” holding a private Bible Study in his own home, because it was “illegal use of land” and he would have to get a “major use permit”.  Did I mention that this happened in THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA????

According to San Diego’s News Channel 6:

On Good Friday, April 11, the family was surprised to find county officials at their door.

“She asked me if we sang songs, said Amen, praised the Lord or not. I don’t even think I answered because I was so taken aback” said Mary Jones.

Jones said the “insinuation” was questions over whether the services were “of religious nature.” She said there were no questions or comments about there being a parking problem.

The family was given a warning to “cease and desist” their “religious gathering” until they are granted a “major use permit”.

However, the “good news” is that the county has withdrawn it’s “warning” and offered an apology to Pastor Jones and his wife.

Let me get this straight:  it was okay for the county to try to stop a private Bible Study in a private Home?  I am willing to bet any amount of money that they would never confront a Muslim group like that!  The fact that an “official” had the audacity to even tell those people that they could not practice FREEDOM OF RELIGION in this country is downright chilling.  It shouldn’t matter what religion they adhere to, either.  That is, without question, one of the basic principles this country was founded upon. We had better sit up and take notice.  It will be our own doors that “officials” are knocking on next.

Bumblebee Cupcakes

So I finally got around to uploading the pictures of Faith’s 12th Birthday party to my Flickr account, and no sooner had I finished than I got an invitation to join a Flickr Group called “Cupcakes Take The Cake”, due to the cute little Bumblebee Cupcakes I made for her party.

So, I checked out their group, and these ladies even have a blog (Also called “Cupcakes Take The Cake“, but located on Blogger, not Flickr!) all about cupcakes.  They are obviously far more focused than I will ever be!   Anyway, check ‘em out. . .they have some really awesome ideas.

And, if you think the cupcakes are cute, you really need to check out my Flickr account and check out the Beehive Cake, too.  That was really adorable!  All made from scratch, with lots of love!

Well, just when I thought the sadness was going to engulf our house, I had a visit from an old friend and her adorable baby to cheer me up!  Now, I am not one of those people who thinks that all babies are cute, but this little girl is an absolute doll!!  She has the cutest smile and the biggest blue eyes, and is so delightful to be around.

And I am so proud of my friend, Celena, and all the choices she has made as a mother. She had a homebirth (and is going to bring the video for me to watch this weekend! Yay!) and she is still breastfeeding.  She has also chosen not to vaccinate her little girl.  I loved watching her with her daughter, too.  She is such an awesome mom! She and her baby renewed my hope in the world, and cheered me up tremendously.  Yeah, happiness really does come in small packages!!

I can’t seem to find happy news anywhere. The economy is still in trouble.

An airplane carrying 228 people disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean a few nights ago, apparently due to flying into a “towering wall of thunderstorms”!!

Obama is over in the Middle East.  That in itself is a bit frightening, but then he goes on to say that America is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world, right on the heels of his comment that we are not a Christian nation, and bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia? (Make no mistake:  if the rest of the world thought ill of us because of Bush, Obama’s spineless groveling is surely not garnering any respect, either!)

That “late-term abortionist” Dr. Tiller was shot and killed on Sunday, so one nutjob has made everyone else in the pro-life movement look bad.  The fact of the matter is, we support and honor all life, even the life of scum-sucking maggots like Tiller.  We are not relativists, like the pro-choice camp.

Faith and Bandit

And probably the worse news of all, at least to me, is that two of our cats have gone missing.  Kendall’s amazing cat, Colonel Mustard and Faith’s cat, the coolest cat that ever lived, Bandit.  Nobody has seen Bandit since Monday, and Mustard has been gone since sometime Tuesday.  This is really, really weird for both of them.  We have, of course, heard lots of stories about cats who disappear for days, weeks, or even months at a time, and then miraculously come home.  I am praying that that will be the case here.  But my heart is so heavy, and I am so sad for my little girl, who is absolutely devastated.

A few months ago, Faith wrote the most delightful children’s story, complete with illustrations that she drew and colored herself, based on Bandit.  It’s called  Trouble in Space.  Bandit inspired her in so many ways, and he has kept the rest of us totally entertained by his adorable antics.  He just HAS to come home!

She has never had good luck with pets.  When she was about three years old, her cat, Daisy, was shot and killed by our druggie neighbors, probably for “sport”.  Then, when she was seven, her little black dog, Angus, was killed by a hit-and-run driver right in front of our house, while Faith and Alex stood at the side of the road, screaming.  Then, in October 2007, her cat, Hermione, disappeared.  So, when she got Bandit from the pet store as a tiny kitten, she swore she’d never let him out of the house.  Eventually, though, it became apparent that he desperately wanted to go outside, and so she gave in, because she loved him so much.  And now he’s gone.

She cried herself to sleep last night.  I woke up every two hours, hoping and praying that he’d be waiting on the front porch this morning.  But no.  And now, Mustard is gone, too.  He is much older, and we had recently been concerned about his health, but we are not in any way ready to say goodbye to him. It’s going to be really dark around here for a few days, at least.