Ball in the Ball

I cannot believe the Ball in the Ball is tomorrow night!  Months of planning--it is finally here!
My hope is that it will be like "Babette's Feast" for the guests--a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. The families who live under the guidance of this encyclical are counter-cultural, and live lives of love.  For many, the calling is hard.  It is time to take a break and party!

John Paul II, We Love You!

"The future of humanity was entrusted to mothers. . . "  (JPII)
   

Mothers Speak Up

Pres. Macron of France made derogatory remarks about women with large families.  The response was global: educated women with large families from around the world spoke up.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/10/19/perfectly-educated-women-dont-have-big-families-macron-said-then-moms-spoke-up/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7b92c607b7f0 

5 Stitches

    Our family had just finished prayer time, and we were all huddled around, laughing and talking. Sebastian was running around and tripped.  His head knocked right into a piece of furniture, and blood started spewing.  Ron, Clare and I raced off to the ER, and he got 5 stitches! Poor little guy!

Clare was especially fantastic, assuring Sebastian that he would be proud of his stitches after the fact, like she is of hers.  As she predicted, he is much better today, simply LOVING telling every one his "glory story" and showing off his bandage. Thanks be to God for good doctors and health care.  And thanks be to God for Sebastian.  What a heart-breaker he is! 

Woe Unto She

Woe unto she who begins the homeschool day by having all her students memorize "Rejoice always; in all circumstances give thanks" (I Thes. 5:16).  For undoubtedly, the washing machine will break, her toddler will throw a tantrum, and a check will bounce, all within the first ten minutes of the day.  Can she rejoice through the trials?  Woe unto she who ever-too-hastily chooses a Bible verse for the day!

Celebrating Mighty Is Her Call Inc.

Here is my good husband taking me out for a night on the town, celebrating the official documents arriving in the mail: Mighty Is Her Call, Inc, a ministry for Catholic mothers, now exists!

He is so wonderful to me! It is only because of the support he gives me that I can do the website (about to be launched!) and the events (the Ball in the Ball is coming up!) that I am doing.  God bless him!

Embracing Humanae Vitae

An article in First Things includes a powerful quote from a wonderful woman, Nina Heereman.  She laments the kind of Catholicism with which she grew up in Europe, which she describes as “Catholicism hollowed out … a shell with no serious sin and therefore no state of grace [and] no encounter with Christ.” (Article written by George Weigel, "The Catholic Crisis," 10.10.18).
    The point she makes is that only when we embrace the fullness of the Church's teachings, including its moral teachings on human love and sexuality, is it possible to have the full encounter with Christ.  With her, I truly believe that an embrace of Humanae Vitae is a path to the heart of the Gospel.

It Feels Like a Dream

   In the car, Clare was chattering away about the Confirmation retreat she just attended all weekend.  My other kids were laughing, probing, joking, and pelting her with questions about her 2 nights away with the youth group.
   We were driving through my grandmother's wonderful old neighborhood, and we passed all the places most memorable to me: my favorite Mexican food restaurant, my favorite shopping areas, the flavored popcorn shop, and the smoothie bar.  Those streets were the ones on which I learned to drive when I was sixteen.  The stoplights, the turn lanes, the curbs, the pavement are all so familiar.  There is no place in the world that is more like "home" to me than that little corner of the earth.
    As we drove, Clare's stories warmed my heart.  I thought, "I never could have imagined this.  When I was a teenager, I could not have begun to picture myself driving my own teenager and a bunch of other kids on these same roads.  It all happened so fast.  I am so grateful that I have been so blessed by my family.  It feels like a dream."