400 High School Students Coming Over Tonight

In addition to ALL the other things today mentioned in the last post, we are also hosting 400 high school students tonight!  Over the past few months, we refinished our pool, renovated our cabana and bathroom, cleared out the carport, re-carpeted the gym, and power washed our house, trying to get that all done by this date.  Ta-Da!  We did it!  Tonight, we have a clean, tidied up, refurbished, partially renovated house!

My clip on the 5 o'clock news

     I was finishing our homeschool day, while a very old man from a fridge repair company was replacing our coil and condenser in the kitchen.  The phone rang.  It was a reporter from NBC5.  "Are you the Dr. Kathryn Rombs who signed the petition regarding the pope?"
   "Yes I am," I replied.
   "Can I come over and interview you?"
    Nicole was in our house 15 minutes later with Chris, the videographer.  Here is the clip:
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Dallas-Bishop-492163571.html

    What a day!  As NBC was finishing up, our photographers came in and began their set up.  I had hired a photographer to shoot Jolly and me, as we are about to launch our website, "Mighty Is Her Call," whose aim is to raise awareness of the genius of open to life Catholic Motherhood and encourage mothers as they give the gift of themselves.  So, as one crew wrapped up, the other began! All sorts of head shots, family shots, and portraits were taken in various arrangements.
    Then, Ron laughed and said, "Guess who is on his way?  J.J. with a bunch of nuns!"  J.J. Sanford, our friend, our dean, and our very favorite UD administrator brought three Nashville Dominican Sisters to our house to pay us a quick visit.  Can you believe it?  It was absolutely lovely and truly, the strangest day I've had in a long time.  I stood in our entry way explaining almost apologetically that I had signed this petition, with the name of UD as my workplace, and it having gone viral around the world, without even mentioning it to him.  It had all just happened so fast, and I had no idea the the petition would get so much attention.
    The photographers packed up and left, and then the sisters and J.J. made their goodbyes.   As the poor old refrigerator repair man packed up his tool kit and ripped the receipt out of his booklet and handed it to Ron, he said, "I am in other people's houses every single day.  It is what I do.  I am an old man, and I have seen a lot.  But I have never seen anything like this."

Catholic Women are Making Headlines!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6117907/Catholic-women-sign-letter-urging-pope-break-silence-claims-ignored-sex-abuse-allegations.html

Please feel free to sign at womenwantanswers.com

Inspiring Quote

Here is a quote by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI that can be a beacon for us in the darkness:

'The Church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes...she will lose many of her social privileges...As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members...

It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek...The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain...But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.

And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.'--Pope Benedict XVI, Faith and the Future (Ignatius Press 2009)

Petition to Pope Francis

I have signed a petition, asking Pope Francis to speak up regarding the accusations against him by Archbishop Vigano.  If you are a Catholic woman, please consider signing as well.  There is such a groundswell of public outcry that this horrific problem needs swift and serious correction.  The Catholic Church needs women's leadership at this time.

https://catholicwomensforum.org/letter-to-pope-francis/ 

Here is another resource, for those interested:

https://avemariaradio.net/sexual-misconduct-resource-page/

Overjoyed to Homeschool

   After three years of teaching philosophy in the university, caring for a new child, and beginning a Catholic mothers' ministry, I am returning to homeschooling.  I am OVERJOYED.
    Why am I doing this?  Have I lost my mind?  My 17-year-old son is receiving an outstanding education in an all-male Catholic school.  But there is no comparable school (that is both faithfully Catholic and an honors school) for young women.  After several years of my daughters being in a private school that emphasizes faith formation but is neither an honors school nor has an honors track, I pitched it to my young ladies: "Let's homeschool.  I'll help you have an honors level education."  After a little consideration of pros and cons, they jumped at it.
    I have gotten all of the same textbooks that my son's schools uses, plus the teachers' editions.  I have designed a curriculum for each daughter, emphasizing their needs and aspirations.  Am I in over my head? Absolutely.  But is the grace of God sufficient?  Always.
    As for teaching in the university, I am sure I will have chances to do that in the future.  But these years with my children at home are precious and priceless, and I will never get them back.  I am determined not to miss these years.
    As for my baby, he is now 4-years-old, and integrating into our homeschool.  After just one week, he already loves his binder, his building tools, his alphabet puzzle, and his stickers.  He usually comes to the homeschool table dressed as a superhero (which is what he is, after all).  
    As for my ministry, it is continuing to grow and thrive.
   As for my being overjoyed--I thank God for this opportunity, for my beautiful children whom I cherish more than words can say, and count on the Lord in daily prayer and Bible reading to be our Vine, our Teacher, and the Bread of Life of our year together.

Commentary Worth Reading

The scandal and upheaval within the Catholic Church right now is nauseating to me.  How I pray that the Holy Spirit will burn away the rubbish and clean this house.

Here is a commentary worth reading:
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/08/17/catholics-need-new-church-culture-remedial-course-virtues

Here is a homily worth listening to--rather incredible, really:
https://ia801504.us.archive.org/6/items/20OrdinaryB8.19.18JW/20%20Ordinary%20B%20(8.19.18)%20(JW).mp3

I am praying with FAITH and HOPE that this tragedy can be eradicated and healed forever.

Best Aunt Ever

Here is Aunt Kimmy who has won Sebastian's heart.  She was his "date" at a Rangers game, and bought him hot dogs, a ball, glove and cap.  She is teaching him to pitch.  How blessed he is to have an aunt like her!

Homeschooling: Poured Out for Others

     I've had a shocking discovery that reverberates through every day of my decades of motherhood.  The meaning of my life is finding my way of being like Christ, of carrying his image, his life, his spirit in everything I do.  And that way is motherhood.  I am poured out, shared, broken and opened up as a daily offering for my children.
     Right now, I am relishing one of the apexes of making my life a gift for others.  I am setting up my homeschool.  After three years of being away from this lifestyle, we are returning.  Four young ladies and a little man will all be educated in this home by yours truly this year.  How holy it feels, to identify each book, to set up each study space, to pray for each one and what their needs are.  Some need to become articulate, being able to master material and present it well.  Others need to fill in some gaps in spelling, grammar and math.  Still others need to learn to love to read, traditional school having virtually killed their love of literature.  This is one way I can love my children, being a little reflection of Christ to them.  I get to see their needs, pray for them, help them set new goals for themselves, and seek to meet them.  It is a way of dignifying them, and dignifying my relationship with them.
     Being a mother has always been for me a way to make my life a gift for others.  Whether it is holding an infant in my arms, teaching my six-year-old to make pie crust, or picking my teenager up from a homecoming dance late at night, I am giving my time, attention, love, advise, and encouragement to others.  How thrilled I am to get this precious year, making my life a gift in a new way.

Family is Everything

    Family is everything.  It is such an important part of our lives.  If family is not going well, we carry that with us and are dragged down wherever we go.
   What a blessing to have relationships with my mom, dad, these crazy sisters and brothers that is thriving!

Amazing travelers!

I am shocked at how well this troop did, crossing the Atlantic, then enduring 7 more hours of travel to get home.  Annie looks as adorable after an 11-hour plane ride as she does first thing in the morning!

The four girls were amazingly helpful with Sebastian and with the bag transfer at our layover, as well as getting through customs.  

Getting home was a delight.  We have been hard at work, switching four of the kids' bedrooms (and thus de-cluttering and redecorating), and repairing some garden beds our dog messed up and me building a little garden for Mary.  

How blessed I am to have my family.  

Mesmerized by the Beauty

   As our work and play in Italy, France and Greece comes to a close, I am mesmerized.  It is astonishing to me that our family of eight has been able to do these summers for seven summers in a row.  How can I thank God adequately for the blessing He has given us?  As people always say to Ron when he has explained his summer work, "What a job!"
   This summer trip has had the theme of beauty.  Perhaps it really began in the south of France.  I had never seen such beautiful colors, landscapes, mountain ranges, hillside villages.  I had never tasted mussels or baguettes or wine so delicious.  I had never smelled perfume or flowers quite so beautiful.  Although western Europe is close to the U.S. in many ways in terms of modern technology, medicine,  banking systems, and so forth, I felt a light year of distance between me and the locals of Provence.  Their heritage of sheep herding, lavender farming, bread making, fishing, and the like still defines who they are.  If modern Americans identify around Apple devices and having adequate wifi, the locals of Provence identify around beautiful treasures that grow out of the ground, whether it be flowers that make world-famous perfume, or grapes that become world-famous wine.
    The Greeks are no less exemplary for the world in terms of beauty.  The white washed stone structures built into Paleolithic mountainsides, the sunsets that spread of thousands of miles, the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea, all have a healing power.  They anoint the eyes, cleanse the heart, calm the spirit.  This sea and land is where civilization--what many today would arrogantly call pre-historic only for the incidental, accidental fact that we do not have any recorded history from their rich, personal lives and cultures--first sprang.  The Mediterranean Sea has no sharks because it is a sea, not an ocean.  It is temperate, never getting too cold.  It is life-giving.  The climate, the land, the fertility, the accessibility from island to island all contribute to a happy, delightful springing forth of human culture.  Being there for so long, it finally made such intuitive sense to me why it is the birthplace of who we are.