She was supposed to dress up like a monkey...

...instead, a little Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde action from Edyn.

EDYN: (mumbling)

MOM: I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What did you say?

EDYN: Oh, I was just having an argument with myself.

MOM: Ah. Who's winning?

EDYN: I don't know yet.


--Sparki

On the Crises the Catholic Church now faces

Excellent words from His Excellency, Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz of the Diocese of Lincoln. Please go read it. He speaks about the misunderstandings that arose after Vatican II and other pertinent issues.

HT to Jeff Miller at The Curt Jester.

--Sparki

Thanks be to God...

...and thanks to Saint Anthony for the prayers! In our continuous "hurry up, there's a showing in half an hour" cleaning frenzies, we misplaced a Very Important Receipt. Immediately upon seeking the intercession of Saint Anthony, I had a feeling where the receipt might be. I didn't look there straight away, feeling rather foolish, but after a few peeks in "the usual places," I did. It wasn't there, but just standing there made me look in another very near location, and there it was.

Too bad Saint Anthony can't find a buyer for our house that quickly! (I've asked...no luck. And we've done a novena to Saint Joseph already. No, I didn't bury a Saint Joseph statue upside down in the yard, but I do understand the temptation now...sorta want to hold the fellow hostage when you're desperate. Not that we would...)

On the house buying/selling front, we close on the new house a week from tomorrow. ACK! Everything is going fairly well, even though our banker miscalculated and we had less than 3 weeks to cough up an extra $7500 by closing. Odd thing at my age to be borrowing money from our parents, but we had to, and we'll pay them back as soon as our current house sells.

We've had nine private showings for said current house, and the open house drew 6 groups. Tomorrow is the "relator walk-through," when relators from all over the city will come to see the house. That's good, because if they see it, they may want to help promote it. Every relator who's been in it has had good things to say, and a couple have been by with more than one client.

As far as interested parties, we have two that are saying it's between our house and another. I don't know if that other house is the same exact one for both couples, but if so, that would be great because the one couple who doesn't get the other house will surely buy ours. What are the odds, I wonder?

Tonight, I'm back to packing up our belongings in preparation for the move. I don't know exactly when that will be, as the professional cleaners can't get into the new house until November 6, and with my husband's cat allergies, we just can risk it before that. The previous owner has 7 cats, and we landed on a cleaning company that cleans for a lady who has 9 and will permit NO lingering cat odor in her home. They also clean for the local Cat Rescue out here, so I'm thinking they have some good exeperience.

Okay, that's all for now...

--Sparki

Prayers for the Departed Soul...

Alicia at Fructus Ventris has lost her father after many years of illness. Please pray for his soul, and also for Alicia and the rest of her family.

--Sparki

Good words from the Bishops...

...on protecting marriages by avoiding artificial contraception.

--Sparki

I hate to break it to her...

Apparently, Rose Rock, mother of comedian Chris Rock, believe she was the victim of racial discrimination when she was seated at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and then ignored for half an hour.

Sorry, Mrs. Rock -- really, I am. But that's normal service at a Cracker Barrel. At least, it has been every time I've been to one, and I'm caucasion.

--Sparki

In Between Everything Else...

Conversation heard at our house in between the cleaning, laundry, painting, catastrophic basement floor job, six house showings (and one to go), crying because it's raining AGAIN so we STILL can't finish painting the garage, etc., etc., etc....

Mom: (makes a seemingly non-controversial statement)

Edyn: No, it's not.

Mom: Yes, Edyn. That's just the way it is.

Edyn: No, it's not!

Mom: Yes, Edyn -- for you, for me, for everybody in the whole world.

Edyn: No. It's. NOT.

Mom: Edyn, you're just being contrary now.

Edyn: No, I'm not!


Siiiiiiiigh.

--Sparki

Comings & Goings...

A belated welcome to Benjamin Paul E____, the eleventh child of one of my high school pals and third son. He was actually born July 1, ten weeks premature, and as we live very far away from one another, I didn't know of his early arrival until I got the birth announcement over the weekend. Ben is now home from NICU and doing very well, with plenty of older siblings to dote on him and two experienced, loving, Christian parents.

And today I am also remembering a "friendly combatant" on a religious debate board I visit on occasion. I learned today that Franklin died last week of cancer. Please offer your prayers for the repose of his soul, as he was a very faithful Christian to the last. He had little use for Catholicism, and many misconceptions about my faith, but he truly loved the Lord and did his level best to honor Him. Rest in peace, Franklin.

--Sparki

Keep them in your prayers, please!

The Amish are a private group, to be sure, but there is word that one of the youngest victims of the Nickel Mines School shooting, who was previously taken off life support and brought home to die, is showing signs of improvement, for which the family is thanking God and asking for more prayers.

The article goes on to say at least two of the other girls are communicating with their families and reporting great bravery among the girls as the situation unfolded.

Please keep praying for all five of these Amish daughters, their families & friends, and for the others who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

--Sparki

Showing the house...

Day Seven since we listed. We've had five different people/families in to see the house. The first loved everything about the upper part but felt the basement could not be finished. (We think it can be -- heck, my husband ran a recording studio down there -- but differing opinions sometimes prevail.) The other four were in Saturday & Sunday, and I think it would be later in the week before we could hear from them. Hoping and praying for at least one bid, preferrably a "workable" bid.

It sure is hard to keep the house in "showable" condition, though, with three little kids. We've put all their hard-to-pick-up toys in storage, things like Lego sets and Lincoln Logs and the play-kitchen things. Even so, it's amazing how much of a mess they can make with a spiral-bound notebook and six crayons. (They have more toys than that still at home, honest -- it was just an example).

So hard not to be anxious...

--Sparki

UPDATE: Our relator has been in contact with three of the four relators who visited over the weekend. One said they wanted two bathrooms, one didn't like the basement, and the third said it just wasn't right and they wanted a main floor bathroom. But two of the three relators had positive things to say about the house, the condition it's in and its location. So...now I guess I should pray for more people to come see the house, huh. Four definite "no" answers out of five visitors.

Monday’s Mass

Monday’s Mass for the Feast of Guardian Angels is always the second-grade Mass at our school. Each child has a role. Zooey was chosen to give the welcoming message and announce the opening hymn, and the other two kids in his class in the “Challenge Reading Group” did the other readings.

I was very proud of Zooey. He walked out of the sacristry (and was thrilled to be allowed there), strode up to the lecturn, hands as in prayer, and read in a strong, clear voice with very good inflection. “Welcome to Saint Mary’s. Today is Monday, October 2, the Feast of Guardian Angels…” He read a short paragraph about guardian angels, inviting everyone to think about what a blessing they are to us, and then announced the hymn.

As Zoo walked down the aisle, around the back, and back up the second aisle to his class pews, he saw my husband and daughters and I and just beamed. I’m glad we all got to go to hear him deliver his first service to the Mass, and I am very proud of him.

So my thoughts were on guardian angels that day, and my own long-neglected one who has, I’m sure, performed Herculean feats to keep me safe over the years. It’s only been maybe in the last month that I’ve been trying more to thank my angel for his protection. I asked him to show me his name (somehow the male persona fits?), and it seemed to be Victor, so that’s what I call him now.

On Sunday, I fell off a ladder while painting the kitchen – not too far – and it was jarring and bruising, but nothing was broken. And I know I have Victor to thank for it. And how many times have I prayed to my kids’ guardian angels, too, and my husband’s…!

But Monday got very difficult when I learned of the ten Amish girls shot by Charles Roberts. How frightened they must have been! Or maybe their innocence left them calm because they could not imagine the evil thing that was about to happen. I think about their guardian angels and I wonder how hard it must have been for them, not to be able to stop what was happening.

I am inspired to accept the critical injuries of five of these girls and the deaths of the five others as fitting, somehow, into God’s will, if only because their Amish families and community have made such a profound statement to the world. “We must forgive…” How nobly they follow the teachings of Christ, even in such terrible loss and agony.

I hope you are in prayer for these fine people. Their faith is being sore tested, I am sure. It is easy to be angry, easy to want revenge (not that it’s possible), easy to feel hatred and loathing. It is much more difficult to walk the way of Christ at this time, and we need to pray for all of them and offer what spiritual support we can.

And do not forget Marie Roberts, the widow of the attacker, and her three children. Theirs is a different kind of pain, but they are victims of this evil and in dire need of spiritual support and prayer as well.

Finally as Christians, we must remember to pray for the soul of Charles Roberts himself. God’s mercy is infinite and powerful, and those last nanoseconds between the final pull of the trigger and death could be like a thousand years to God. He could have reached into Charles Roberts’ soul and spoken to him, heard his repentance and offered absolution in that tiny space of earth time. It is a decent thing to pray for.

--Sparki

No words...

Sorry, I know I need to update, but with the Amish school shooting on top of everything else last week, I just don't have any words.

Except: Pray, pray for the children, please.

--Sparki