![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/300\/2012\/11\/3444_10151181567938303_431663204_n.jpg\" "\\"3444_10151181567938303_431663204_n\\"")
<\/a>True confessions time: rain depresses me.<\/p>\n
Actually, \u201cdepresses\u201d is not really the right word \u2014 but \u201cdampens my spirits\u201d seems too silly to say. Regardless, unlike others in my family who love the lack of Fresno heat and her sun that withers our raisins, when it starts raining I feel like curling up in bed and going into hibernation mode. And today is not a good day for that! I\u2019ve got so much to share, that I\u2019m going to resort to doing the \u201claundry list\u201d style of post in the hopes that I can pass along much of the good information that is covering my desk today. So grab your favorite warm beverage and join me:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Tomorrow is \u201cWorld AIDS Day\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 As we continue to pray for those who face this disease and those who serve them, I invite you to read this post<\/a> about the amazing work being done by Catholic Relief Services worldwide to end AIDS. Be sure to click through and watch this video<\/a>, which is both informative and inspirational.<\/li>\n
- Contest reminder<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019m currently running two: win a great Wii game of \u201cRise of the Guardians\u201d<\/a> and \u201cThe Heart of Christmas\u201d<\/a>, a lovely family movie. Stay tuned here over the next few weeks. I\u2019ll be having contests almost every day until Christmas.<\/li>\n
- Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives<\/strong> \u2013 Sitting on my desk waiting to be read it Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s latest,\u00a0Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives<\/em><\/a>. Remember how I said I wanted to curl up in bed? When I go, I\u2019m taking it with me so hopefully I\u2019ll have some semblance of a review next week. I\u2019m prepared to love it, but must admit up front that sometimes his work is over my head.<\/li>\n
- Retired Religious Collection<\/strong> \u2013 Be sure to go to Mass this week prepared to support those who have given their life in service to our Church. Straight from the USCCB Blog<\/a>:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The\u00a0National Religious Retirement Collection<\/strong>\u00a0will be taken up in parishes the weekend of Dec. 8-9. If you want to know why it is important, consider the following: The U.S. Social Security system projects that it needs four wage earners for every retired beneficiary in order to keep the system solvent.\u00a0\u00a0By 2022 religious institutes will have one wage earner for every four retired \u2013 the exact inverse. If you want a worthy collection, this one is it. Check out\u00a0www.retiredreligious.org<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
- \n
- #FundingFriday<\/strong> \u2013 Speaking of supporting great causes, spend $5 (or more) today to support the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Matt Swaim\u2019s got the complete rundown here, but you\u2019re most welcome to just go straight over to their Indiegogo page and make your donation<\/a>. I\u2019m trying to remember to tie my #FundingFriday participation to a few acts of sacrifice and prayer during the week. Even after only a few weeks, Matt\u2019s project has been a blessing in my life. I invite you to help change the world a little today!<\/li>\n
- College Apps<\/strong> \u2013 If you can spare a prayer today, please pray for parents of teenagers all over the country tonight whose \u201cprecious little darlings\u201d were up all night putting the finishing touches on college apps that are due today. I\u2019d complain about my son\u2019s procrastination on completing his apps for the University of California, but alas I fear he gets that bad habit from his Mom. We\u2019ll have another round of deadlines toward the end of December, so maybe last night\u2019s 3:30 am bedtime taught us a thing or two about waiting until the last minute\u2026<\/li>\n
- My Year of Faith App<\/strong> \u2013 Today, we\u2019re on Day 51 of the Year of Faith. Along with reading the day\u2019s Catechism portions each morning with Flocknote<\/a>, I\u2019ve been enjoying the daily inspiration provided by the Diocese of Ft. Wayne South Bend\u2019s My Year of Faith App<\/a>. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to have a post featured on the App about Celebrating Advent as a Catholic Family<\/a>. If you\u2019re a smartphone owner, definitely check out the app for a year\u2019s worth of goodness!<\/li>\n
- Advent Music<\/strong> \u2013 We celebrated this week with the great news that\u00a0ADVENT AT EPHESUS from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, has debuted at No. 1 on Billboard magazine\u2019s Traditional Classical Music Chart. The initial release from De Montfort Music also earned the No. 3 spot in Billboard\u2019s new-artist \u201cHeat Seekers\u201d chart, which encompasses all music genres.\u00a0EWTN has announced multiple broadcasts of a 30-minute special on the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, and the making of ADVENT AT EPHESUS.\u00a0The special debuts at 11 a.m. ET on Dec. 2, the first Sunday of Advent. Other broadcasts are set for 4 a.m. and 10 p.m. ET on Dec. 5, 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 12, and 9 a.m. ET on Dec. 15. Order or download the CD here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There\u2019s more, but I\u2019ll save it for another day. If I\u2019ve missed anything of importance, please chime in below in our combox!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
True confessions time: rain depresses me. Actually, \u201cdepresses\u201d is not really the right word \u2014 but \u201cdampens my spirits\u201d seems too silly to say. Regardless, unlike others in my family who love the lack of Fresno heat and her sun that withers our raisins, when it starts raining I feel like curling up in bed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[58,76,110,31,112,49,80,111],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-good-measures","tag-fundingfriday","tag-advent","tag-catholic-relief-services","tag-college","tag-music","tag-stewardship","tag-usccb","tag-world-aids-day"],"yoast_head":"\n
Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"True confessions time: rain depresses me. Actually, "depresses" is not really the right word -- but "dampens my spirits" seems too silly to say.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"True confessions time: rain depresses me. Actually, "depresses" is not really the right word -- but "dampens my spirits" seems too silly to say.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lisa Hendey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-30T21:56:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-12T23:51:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/300\/2012\/11\/3444_10151181567938303_431663204_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lisa M. Hendey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa M. Hendey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/\",\"name\":\"Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-30T21:56:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-12T23:51:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#\/schema\/person\/2686d91a14b8ef236e1ed062f9758b70\"},\"description\":\"True confessions time: rain depresses me. Actually, \\\"depresses\\\" is not really the right word -- but \\\"dampens my spirits\\\" seems too silly to say.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/\",\"name\":\"Lisa Hendey\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#\/schema\/person\/2686d91a14b8ef236e1ed062f9758b70\",\"name\":\"Lisa M. Hendey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0732a10e73365e440d4394f24b2e84c?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0732a10e73365e440d4394f24b2e84c?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lisa M. Hendey\"},\"description\":\"Lisa Hendey is the founder and webmaster of CatholicMom.com and the author of The Grace of Yes,\u00a0A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms\u00a0and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa writes for several online and print publications, enjoys speaking around the country and is a frequent television and radio guest and host. Visit her at\u00a0LisaHendey.com and connect with her at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/author\/lisahendey\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday","description":"True confessions time: rain depresses me. Actually, \"depresses\" is not really the right word -- but \"dampens my spirits\" seems too silly to say.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday","og_description":"True confessions time: rain depresses me. Actually, \"depresses\" is not really the right word -- but \"dampens my spirits\" seems too silly to say.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/","og_site_name":"Lisa Hendey","article_published_time":"2012-11-30T21:56:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-12T23:51:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"612","height":"612","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/300\/2012\/11\/3444_10151181567938303_431663204_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lisa M. Hendey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lisa M. Hendey","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/","name":"Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-30T21:56:35+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-12T23:51:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#\/schema\/person\/2686d91a14b8ef236e1ed062f9758b70"},"description":"True confessions time: rain depresses me. Actually, \"depresses\" is not really the right word -- but \"dampens my spirits\" seems too silly to say.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/2012\/11\/random-thoughts-on-a-rainy-friday\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Random Thoughts on a Rainy Friday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/","name":"Lisa Hendey","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#\/schema\/person\/2686d91a14b8ef236e1ed062f9758b70","name":"Lisa M. Hendey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0732a10e73365e440d4394f24b2e84c?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0732a10e73365e440d4394f24b2e84c?s=96&r=g","caption":"Lisa M. Hendey"},"description":"Lisa Hendey is the founder and webmaster of CatholicMom.com and the author of The Grace of Yes,\u00a0A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms\u00a0and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa writes for several online and print publications, enjoys speaking around the country and is a frequent television and radio guest and host. Visit her at\u00a0LisaHendey.com and connect with her at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/author\/lisahendey\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lisahendey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} - College Apps<\/strong> \u2013 If you can spare a prayer today, please pray for parents of teenagers all over the country tonight whose \u201cprecious little darlings\u201d were up all night putting the finishing touches on college apps that are due today. I\u2019d complain about my son\u2019s procrastination on completing his apps for the University of California, but alas I fear he gets that bad habit from his Mom. We\u2019ll have another round of deadlines toward the end of December, so maybe last night\u2019s 3:30 am bedtime taught us a thing or two about waiting until the last minute\u2026<\/li>\n
- Contest reminder<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019m currently running two: win a great Wii game of \u201cRise of the Guardians\u201d<\/a> and \u201cThe Heart of Christmas\u201d<\/a>, a lovely family movie. Stay tuned here over the next few weeks. I\u2019ll be having contests almost every day until Christmas.<\/li>\n