Lately, I have been reading some very sad things. Our local paper is doing a series called “Our City, Our Children” and highlighting local problems, mostly relating to educational issues, and also giving people resources for how they can get involved with the children who are being impacted by these issues. The first one that really caught my attention was the one about children not showing up for school. At least, not on the first day. I have to say,... Read more
I am a fan of Mark Shea. He generally writes for National Catholic Reporter, and I basically always like what he writes. But his most recent article at Inside Catholic, celebrating the birth and life of his granddaughter Lucy, is by far the best thing of his that I have read. ****************************************************** “Exactly a year ago today, our oldest son, Luke, and his wife, Tasha, presented to the world the inimitable Lucy Beatrice Shea. (In fairness, Luke couldn’t have done... Read more
Today Quick Takes are hosted by Betty Beguiles, where you can see so many more QT’s! *** 1 *** Yesterday was the official half-way point of my pregnancy! I am 19.5 weeks, which is half-way for me, since I’ll deliver at 39 weeks. I’m excited. I’m awed. I’m having a hard time believing that someone who started out as two cells on April 13th, is now the size of a banana and kicking me regularly. What’s even more awe-inspiring is... Read more
head over to Conversion Diary for more quick takes! ** 1 ** I’m delighted that Rebecca asked me to do a guest post in her “can of worms” series on Catholicism and Politics. I was a little hesitant to write it at first because I *hate* politics, but, it was good for me to do the research and thinking to get it written down. The comments over there have been good and, for the most part, very productive. I’m so... Read more
Ha! It sounds like the title of my post is referring to some sort of assembly line, which actually might be a fit way of describing what’s going on inside my body right now. It’s been a while since a preggo update, so here we go (these are in no particular order): I am 18 weeks 2 days as of right now. According to the doctor’s scale yesterday I’ve gained about 1.5 – 2 pounds since I got pregnant. Maybe... Read more
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me. – St. Ignatius Loyola Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus... Read more
Why do you write? I’d wager that most of us out here in the blog-o-sphere do what we do because we love it. Most of us don’t get paid for writing about what we think, what we do, our homes, children, and lives. We write because it fullfills an urge in us, to share ourselves with the world. Or if not the world, then at least a small corner of it. There’s something else to it too though. I have... Read more
As many of you reading this might know by now, this week (July 25 – 31) is Natural Family Planning awareness week. I don’t want to devote the entirety of this post to what NFP is, or even to the many objective reasons why it’s good for women, good for marriages, and good for the planet. (You can read more about that here, here, and here.) What I’m going to do in this post is tell you why we use... Read more
** 1 ** I think we’re going to see Ramona and Beezus tonight. Sometimes it just seems like a movie night. I like going to the movies, and I figure, once the baby comes, we won’t be going out all that much for a while, especially not to take an infant to a movie theater. Might as well enjoy it now! Is anyone else planning to go see it in the theater, or see it when it comes out on... Read more
When I was working at the Archdiocese of Chicago, I met some really wonderful, holy people. One of them is Alicia. She and I had many great conversations about authentic femininity, pro-life issues, and discernment of vocation. When we met she was discerning religious life, and I was recently engaged to Atticus. Alicia really challenged me to continue growing in my faith, and we had some great fun times together too! My friend wants with all of her heart to... Read more
Fumbling Toward Grace
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