Saturday, January 31, 2009

Superior Scribbler Award

I was awarded this by Jen a few weeks ago and am just now able to post it...







Now I get to pass it on!The rules are:
Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass the award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received the Award.
Each Superior Scribbler must display the award on his/her blog, and link to this post, which explains the award.
Each Blogger who wins the Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List (scroll down). That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives this prestigious honour!
Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.
And so I pass this onto Lynn, Rachel, Suzanne, Lerin, and Christi.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Super Party...Super Snacks

Our beloved Cleveland Browns are not in the Super Bowl this year so my husband will be rooting for the team with the "prettiest helmets" which in his opinion is the Cardinals.

But that won't stop us from celebrating the game and watching our FAVORITE half-time entertainment, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band.

And it won't stop our pursuit of yummy food either...

On this years menu
1)WINGS!!! we plan on a few types, probably hot, honey barbecue and garlic parmesan
2) Meatballs...again there will be more than one type, probably covered in marinara, Swedish and sweet and sour
3) "The Stuff" a yummy nacho dip we got courtesy of my parents
4) Southwest Eggrolls
5) Homemade Malasadas--the sweet Portugese fried yeast rolls so popular in Hawaii.

I am so very lucky to have married a chef!!!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Semper Fi

On January 23, Mike graduated from US Marine Corps boot camp in Parris Island, SC. He is now part of an elite fighting force dedicated to protecting our freedom.
This is the yummy cake we got to celebrate. It was made by our good friend Rachel who we highly recommend.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Prayer Request

Please keep Suzanne and her family, especially Baby Micah, in your prayers. After a nasty bout of the flu went through the family, little Micah, born just before Christmas, now has RSV a very dangerous infection to one so little. Please pray that his condition continues to improve and no secondary infections appear!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Maybe it's just me...

But I think it is highly amusing that my husband and two-year-old love the Jonas Brothers!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

It's the Guilt (duh)

Certain people I know of a certain generation hate mass, but go every week regardless.

Certain people I know of a different generation also hate mass, and NEVER go.

I was asking a member of the former group why this was and her response, "It's the Guilt!" Her face bore an expression as she said this that I can only be described by the word "duh".

She went on to explain that when she was growing up, her catechism was filled with lessons that created a great feeling of guilt among those learning them, something not done today.

Me, not being of that generation, cannot relate with stories like those.

As my friend put it, her generation celebrated the son who stayed and worked with his father and later generations celebrated the prodigal son.

Now, the lesson of the prodigal son is NOT lost on me, but I do see where many today would benefit greatly from learning the lesson from the brother who had stayed. We are not meant to purposefully stray from God, but should make EVERY effort to stay.

Maybe we need a good old dose of Catholic guilt injection in our lives!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Is Your Opinion Really Humble?

No, or you wouldn't be sharing it.

That's the answer in a nutshell.

I love reading comments on public websites where the response starts or ends with the phrase, "In my humble opinion" precisely because that comment will typically go on to be one that is very judgmental or highly critical or downright nasty.

In the South, we have a version of this, "Bless her (or his) heart." Which as long as you say that in a cheery tone, you can proceed to say whatever negative or ugly or offensive thing you would like about the person.

We put these types of qualifiers on our speech to let the listener, or reader, know that, hey I am a REALLY nice person but now I am going to say something that is going to be hurtful or offensive in some way.

There is a long standing joke at my work that we would much rather be cussed out by a customer and get it over with than be politely torn to sheds with a pretty accent.

If you have an opinion worth sharing about anything, first off, you should NEVER apologize and secondly, say it in a mature manner that does not require qualifiers.

It's okay to disagree with someone but you should be able to use your words not hide behind them.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding

I have two friends who became Catholics this past Easter at our parish. They were graduate students at our local University who also graduated this past spring and are engaged to be married next summer.

They were lucky enough to both get teaching positions at the same school in another part of the country. As soon as they were settled, they made plans to marry at their new parish.
With one being a former Southern Baptist and the other an Evangelical and their families still practicing these faiths they have proceeded cautiously but assured in their goal to have their wedding as part of a mass. Because both of their parents are divorced and remarried, this wedding has also been a balancing act in respect to parental feelings as well.

It was in keeping with thinking of the parents that the decision was made that the bride would walk down the aisle solo and that the unity candle would be eliminated from the mass as all of the parents and step-parents had made it clear they wanted part in that ceremony. The priest at their new church was fine with the bride "giving herself away" but still believed the unity candle should be included. Quite frankly, I had never heard of this "requirement" so when the emailed me asking about it because I am a cradle Catholic, I had no idea of the answer.

Enter: Faith and Family Live! where I asked the ladies during the weekly Coffee Talk session. There are many women in the community who know much more than I in regards to this matter. But, I was doubly lucky because Danielle picked up this thread and asked a priest who assured her that the Unity Candle was not an integral part of the wedding mass!

While we were collecting the answers, a very funny thing happened though, instead of just answering, many women decided they would pose their own "solutions" to this problem. One said that the biological mothers should do it because the bride's biological father would give her away (which was not going to happen) while another suggested that all eight adults should come to the altar and light a candle each so that the bride and groom could somehow combine all these flames, and then there was the lady who suggested that they should do "unity sand." What is so interesting about this was that the question posed to these women wasn't "how do you include all these people" but "is it okay to exclude this ceremony." In fact, the best man in the wedding, the best childhood friend of the groom, happens to be Jewish and when he read the response about all eight adults lighting a candle, he jokingly suggested donating his family's menorah.

Because the original priest at the new parish was so adamant, in desperation, the bride contacted our priest back here who had an opening that weekend and is allowing the couple to not use the unity candle.

Nothing was wrong with their decision to remove the ceremony from the church's stance and the bride and groom had decided to do this to respect the feelings of all of their parents. The stance of many of the women who responded who obviously thought the ceremony should still be included, was a stance taken that did not respect the unusual (at least in the Catholic church) family situation or the feelings of the bride, groom, and other family members. In fact, there were other women who responded that a priest had not allowed them to have a unity candle and some who said that priests in their parishes no longer allowed them at weddings because they detracted from the actual vows and are actually a Protestant tradition "borrowed" for the symbolism.

The decision that was made by this couple is one that will still allow their love to be center stage as they take these important vows, and will keep the peace among an already fractured family.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!

2009 is here! We can't wait to see what God has in store!