You never know what the morning will bring. I just got into a weird little skirmish with a fellow who believes that there is only one kind of generosity, and that is having as many babies as possible. (He can correct me if I’m misrepresenting his point of view.) It began when someone wrote a nice review of The Sinner’s Guide to NFP, and this fellow — not having read the book, of course — said: Yeah, I... Read more
PIC house with cracked foundation Ideas are like houses, and other people are like . . . well, like people who live in those houses. If I lived next to a house with a huge, gaping crack in the foundation, and I discovered that a lovely young family was innocently planning to move into that house, what should I do? Should I keep quiet, in the name of peace and unity? Read the rest at the Register. Read more
“The man who has not suffered, what can he possibly know, anyway?” says Rabbi Abraham Heschel. He may be onto something. When we look for insight and understanding, we go to someone who has been wronged, and who has come out stronger and wiser: survivors of wars, genocide, concentration camps; people who have overcome massive disabilities; people who have been abused and outcast, and who have responded with love, gentleness, generosity, and wisdom. But what about the man who caused his own suffering? The... Read more
1. Get a milk crate, find a strong clothes hanger, force the arms of the hanger through holes in the sides of the crate, and force the hook through a hole in the top. 2. Put a screw in the wall. If your husband is watching, use a stud finder first. Hang the hook on the screw. 3. Ta-dah! You now have somewhere in which to keep your best toy ever so your baby sister doesn’t get it. You... Read more
Just a quick post! Lots to do. I just wanted to say: 1. Mary’s Shelter is amazing, and the soiree was fantastic. 2. The Catholic and pro-life communities of Fredericksburg, Va are amazing and fantastic. 3. I have a new bumper sticker. Of course, my motives are not entirely pure. I’m working, little by little, on covering up . . . whatever this is: On the plus side, I have never ever been... Read more
[This post originally ran at Faith and Family Live in 2010, when I was pregnant with #8. I’m on my way to Virginia for the Summer Soiree at Mary’s Shelter! If you have a prayer to spare, maybe send up one that my ears don’t get too plugged up on the plane? It’s hard to talk into a microphone when your ears are plugged up! Usually I take Sudafed, but this is a no go for this stage of the pregnancy. And... Read more
10. You’re not going to get an ideal education in a brick and mortar school. You’re also not going to get an ideal education by home schooling, or by unschooling, or by semi schooling, or co-schooling, or private schooling, or charter schooling, or attending-all-the-conferences-and-working-yourself-into-a-damp-spot-on-the-carpet schooling. Some schools are better than others, but since we are dealing with finite time and human nature, there will always be gaps. Expect this, fill in what you can, and remember that your kids are people,... Read more
Not the little guy who just kicked me for the first time, that I could feel, just yesterday (yay!). I mean the other one, the one I lost. I wrote about how hard it was not to have a body to bury. You want to be able to take care of your children with your own hands, but I couldn’t do that, and it hurt. Now, as the months have gone by and the pain of loss has... Read more
What kind of person responds to someone’s joy with an agenda? I don’t even care if you’re right or wrong: that’s dehumanizing (and last I heard, most people on both ends of the political spectrum are generally opposed to dehumanization). You’ve heard of the Culture of Death, which teaches people to sneer in disgust at the good, the true, and the beautiful. What we have here is its sad sack cousin, the Culture of Blechh, which teaches people to turn every occasion, whether happy or... Read more
A reader had this dream about me last night: You had some sort of Catholic women’s gathering at your house, and women from all over were coming. When we got there, there was a sign on the porch that said, “This ain’t no Edel gathering.” We went in and on some tables was the food. You said, “I’m pregnant and I like peanut butter and I like sausage. So you can make yourself a peanut butter sandwich, or a sausage... Read more
I Have to Sit Down
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