More on the Terri Schiavo case...

...a statement from CURE at the Life Matters blog.

--Sparki

More on Terri Schiavo

Fr. Rob has posted a heart-breaking statement from Terri's family on his blog. He also links to a new blog for Terri by RN Cheryl Ford. Amy Welborn links to the court's decision and also is hosting a discussion over at Open Book. Kevin Miller at HMS Blog provides some legal perspective.

More information, background details, legal documents and ways you can help are on Terri's website, created by her family. Above all, please pray for Terri.

--Sparki

Terri's Law was struck down...

I guess it's no surprise that the Florida Court overtuned Terri's Law, but it saddens me nonetheless. No word yet on whether Terri Schiavo's husband will try to have her starved to death again or not, but we might as well start praying now. Terri needs a miracle.

--Sparki

Please pray for this family!

Mike G. of Virginia and his wife are expecting their fifth child, a boy. They've just found out that the baby has Trisomy-13, a genetic condition that generally results in the death of the baby either just before or shortly following birth. They are a Catholic family and will carry the child to term, but they are desperately seeking God's grace to get through the next few months and also begging God to allow their son to be born alive so they can love him, have him baptized, and comfort him as he all-to-briefly passes through this life and into the next. Please join them in praying for God's mercy.

--Sparki

Help! My kid won't behave in Mass!

Not my kids...well, usually not my kids. But I know this is a frequent discussion between Catholics on the web and here in St. Blog's. My kids are doing pretty well these days, and I'm quite happy about it.

Truth be told, I've been relying on a children's bulletin during Liturgy of the Word and prayer cards during Liturgy of the Eucharist for Zooey and Edyn. Zooey's kindergarten teacher has said "No Mass aides any more!" for all her students. They go to Mass daily without a bulletin, so I guess it's time to take the crutches away from Zooey. I'll let him do his bulletin on the way to Mass, though, since they are interesting and help give pictures to the readings for better understanding at his age. I get them from Sacred Heart Parish in Qunincy, Massachusettes (may God bless that parish!).

Anyway, since Zooey is still far from being a proficient reader, I was looking for a kid's missalette for him and stumbled upon this article. I think the author has a lot of good things to say. I'm not in 100% agreement about the sippy cup thing yet. Still bringing one for Edyn, but we no longer offer it to her and there have been times she's forgotten to ask. Plus she doesn't like plain room temp water (she likes it cold, like I do, with a dash of juice for zip), so that's a bit of a discouragement. I hope it won't be long before she stops asking for it entirely. Laurel gets a few soft toys and a soft Catholic Baby's Bible that don't make any noise when dropped, and a binky if necessary (really trying to get her off that binky before she turns 9 months old in October). I feed her before we go to Mass so she hasn't had to eat during liturgy for many months now. Maybe we'll never give her a sippy cup. Won't that be a nice change!

Meanwhile if anybody can recommend a missalette for a pre-reader, let me know.

--Sparki

P.S. Haven't heard from Sommer yet, but still praying for her.

Monday Miracle Desperately Needed

It's for the McFarlanes. Please pray for a situation that is to be resolved on Monday, Sept. 13. They really need a miracle for this one.

--Sparki

Last week, I asked you to pray for Sommer...

She's the young mother who is pregnant with her second child and has a tumor in her abdomen. I'd thought her surgery was scheduled for yesterday, but it was just a consultation with the surgeon, who was not very hopeful. Apparently, the tumor is wrapped around her womb and other organs. The surgeon prepared her for losing both ovaries and miscarrying her baby. She's trying to deal with that now -- not even thinking about the possibility of cancer at this point. Tough situation for a woman in her mid-twenties.

Please pray for her. St. Gianna, St. Gerard, please pray for Sommer and her baby!

--Sparki

Pointless Mom Stuff (so feel free to skip this post & come back tomorrow)

Congratulations are in order -- or not. Edyn used the potty last night! And she intended to use it. And she was happy she used it.

There were cheers and hugs and gummy bears to celebrate. (Dad's been hiding that contraband for weeks in anticipation. At least they are made with real fruit juice.) We also treated Edyn to own potty song. It's set to the tune of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," if you want to use it for your own toiletting toddler:

You peed! You peed in the potty!
You peed! You peed in the potty!
You peed! You peed in the potty!
And Mommy's so proud of you.
And Mommy's so proud of you.
And Daddy is proud of you too!
You peed! You peed in the potty!
You peed! You peed in the potty!
You peed! You peed in the paaah-TEEEEEEE!
And Mommy's so proud of you.

For #2a, we replace "pee" with "poop". I know that rankles some people. I used to think that it was important to teach children the correct terms for their bodies and their bodily functions. And then I babysat for a family that believed it. I never had a problem with one of their kids saying they had to "urinate," but it never seemed right to have a three-year-old announce, "I have to go evacuate my bowel." Which the mother thought was accurate but nicer than the D-word. I still shudder every time I think of it.

I know, I know. It's my hang-up. And when my kids get older, I'll make sure they know the correct terms and how to use them. But for now, I want my kids to use cutesy terms for bodily functions, like "toot" for, er, breaking wind and "ulp" for vomiting.

Zooey knows the correct terms for his body parts, but in general, we've taught him to refer to the, er, nether regions as his "private parts." This is not only polite, it's a safety thing in this day and age. All children need to know that they have parts of their bodies that are theirs to keep private, except when mom or dad is helping them get clean or a doctor (with mom or dad present) is examining them. Of course, Zooey used to misunderstand and say "pirate parts" -- then scrunch up one eye and bellow, "ARRRRGH!"

So anyway, we're trying not to be too giddy about Edyn's success last night, and we haven't entertained the notion of only having one child in diapers again. Not for long, anyway. At least I haven't. My husband has been counting the days since Lola was born.

Part of me is looking forward to Edyn passing this milestone...and the other part of me remembers the landry, the set-backs, the let's-visit-every-public-restroom-in-the-world-no-matter-how-disgustingly-dirty phase, and I'm not so thrilled after all.

Kids. They grow up so darn fast.

--Sparki

All I Can Say

...in response to this study that links teen sexual activity to the sexually charged television programs they watch is: "Duh!"

--Sparki

Urgent Prayers Offered...

...for all the folks in Florida. Hurricane Frances looks bad. May God protect and preserve all His children in the storm's path.

Prayers also offered for the folks in Russia...

...who suffered the terrorist attack on schoolchildren this week. So many lives lost, so many people grieving.

Please join me in prayers for these folks. I'm also trying to pray for terrorists, that they will be turned around, but the prayers seem to come out through gritted teeth.

--Sparki

If you would be so kind as to pray for Sommer...

She's one of my husband's clients, a very talented singer/songwriter. She is 11 weeks pregnant with her second child & they have just found a five-pound, foot-ball sized tumor crowding her uterus. She's scheduled for surgery on Wednesday, but because of the way the tumor is wrapped around her womb, there's some concern for the baby's safety. I told her about my own story, which I blogged about last October, to encourage her. She's fairly confident that both she and the baby will survive this experience, but apprehensive nonetheless. Who wouldn't be?

--Sparki

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...Part III

Earl over at Times Against Humanity waxes eloquent on the troubling issues children face when they are the victims of high-tech conception. Interesting discussion developing in the comments box, too.

Also, I've put Times Against Humanity on my blogroll, a long overdue addition.

Thanks, Earl!

--Sparki

Please continue to pray for Terri Schiavo!

Fr. Rob has a bit of an update on the legal hashings going on in Florida.

--Sparki

Please pray for the McFarlanes!

Elena over at My Domestic Church has this notice up and a link to this piece at the blog, Through the Narrow Gate. Narrow Gate's blogmistress, Amanda, has several interesting links and calls-to-action, so please go read it. (And thanks, Elena, for bringing it to my attention.)

Also, you may want to go read this August 23 press release about Bai's efforts to legally stop the divorce proceedings. And if you didn't read the article "Divorce, American Style" when it was printed last March, it's still on line.

In our own family, my brother-in-law had his final court date regarding his own divorce last week Tuesday. Now the lawyers will tie up some loose ends, and the marriage will be legally over. My 4-year-old niece is a mess. My brother-in-law is "moving on." I'm still bewildered about the whole thing, but helpless to do anything other than pray and help my brother-in-law out as he needs it.

--Sparki

I know God answers prayers…

…and I don’t have any trouble praying for other people. So why is it so hard for me to go to God with my own needs?

There’s been a lot weighing on my mind lately, but I’ve been too afraid or pig-headed or something to take it before the Lord, even though if it were anybody else, I’d tell them to pray over these things and trust God. So this morning, being the first of a new month and all, I finally sat myself down and forced myself to write out a list.

It’s dismaying to see everything scribbled out in black and white. Well, blue and white, but you know what I mean. I have thought very carefully about each item, though, to make sure it’s a legitimate need and not just a want. And I am taking these things to God in prayer. Plus, later today when I have time, I am going to find some patron saints on some of these issues and ask them to pray with me.

Early in our marriage, my husband and I created a similar list for him, and God very quickly enabled us to cross every item off, one by one. I don’t know how long it will take me to fulfill the current list for my family, or even if I will be able to cross every item off, but I know that taking it to God is the right thing to do.

In the hope of inspiring others to faith, I am going to post most of my list here today and keep my few readers informed as God answers my prayers. I removed a couple things that need to remain private for personal reasons – I’m sure you understand. Even so, the length and scope of my list is embarrassing to me. But it’s time to put aside pride and take it to God. I can’t hide from Him anyway – He knows we need these things. So here it is. If you’d like to pray with me on any of these issues, I’d sure appreciate it.

Things We Need Now

More income for my husband’s side business.

More freelance income for me, because we’re paycheck-to-paycheck now and it’s time for me to market some of my skills.

Money to pay our 2003 taxes…and 2004, too. It’s a long story, but basically the deal is you can have too many deductions taken out of your check, even if the total number isn’t any more than the number of people in your family.

A new furnace, before the cold weather set sin.

Things We Will Need Very Soon

A vehicle to replace our 15-year-old van.

A new car seat for Laurel, who will soon outgrow her infant seat.

A solution for our basement foundation, which is brick and 85 years old, and shifting badly in some places. Re-mortaring isn’t working.

A few winter items for the children. Zooey needs school pants (at least 3 pairs), Edyn needs boots and will probably outgrow her shoes in another month, and Laurel needs a snowsuit.

Dental work for me.

Exterior house primer & paint and time (or workers) to paint it. (We started painting last year, then I got pregnant and the weather turned cold. Only the front of the house and part of one side was completed, but the whole thing was scraped. We need to get the paint on because there is so much exposed wood siding. But we didn’t store the paint & primer properly, and it’s all ruined. Now we can’t afford to start over…and can’t afford not to. )

Money to pay off few miscellaneous debts.

Things We Will Probably Need Within a Year

A solution for our leaky windows.

A new water heater.

Some sort of savings to fall back on in lean months, so this paycheck-to-paycheck thing isn’t so bad when it happens.

Things We Need But Can Put Off for a While Longer

Savings for the children’s education, weddings, etc.

A new mattress. (We got a cheap one when we were married 10 years ago, and it’s in pretty sorry shape. One of those “you get what you pay for” lessons.)

New clothes for me. (I did finally manage to buy a church-worthy outfit a couple months ago, but the rest of my clothing was all purchased before I got pregnant with Zooey, and he’s five. I don’t mind hanging out in the house in holey jeans and shabby t-shirts, but the fact of the matter is, what I have isn’t going to survive too many more trips through the washing machine.)

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Okay, that's it. A tall order, to be sure, but I have faith that God will help us get exactly what we need, when we need it, as long as we keep working hard and faithfully serve Him and our neighbors.

--Sparki