Baby Talk

I can't keep my words straight some day. When I try to speak, the words come out in the wrong order and then I choke on some in my throat. I never seemed to have this problem before I got pregnant. So, I strongly suspect that this has something to do with the baby. I think my brain cells are so concentrated on the baby growing that I there aren't enough left to talk.

Happy Anniversay Charlie

One year ago today we brought Charlie home from the rescue organization. In that year, both Jeff and I beat cancer scares, I underwent surgery and we got pregnant. It's been a busy 12 months!

This morning, Charlie got a bath (so did Gilligan--who really smelled like he rolled in something awful). Yesterday, to start our anniversary festivities, the dogs got cornstarch bones and kongs filled with liver spray (think liver flavored spray cheese). Today, they got their special treat of Frosty Paws dog ice cream. Boy were they excited! Poor Gilligan got sick from it though, so we still have 2 ice cream cups that we will have to sneak to Charlie at some point.

The happy puppies are resting now!

(PS--Gilligan has been eyeing down the crib and pawing at it. Jeff contemplated picking him up and putting him in it, but thought better of the idea. We decided we would leave this as a "baby only" place.)

An Easter Gift

The east side of the Carrizo plain, in the Temblor Range, about 50 miles due west of Bakersfield , California . Photo taken by Barbara MathewsMay 14. 2005
The Day GOD SPILLED THE PAINT!

I Can't Imagine...

I recently visited a website I view often to find out the author of the site is expecting her eighth child. (8th, that's not a typo.) She just this past March celebrated the first birthday of her seventh baby.

I am having such a hard time anticipating and getting ready for this baby that I can't imagine thinking ahead to a second, much less the eighth. (Of course, my husband is already thinking ahead and we would like to have our children somewhat close together.) I just need to worry about getting number one here!

Sofa Napping

I am a Roman Catholic. I believe in the power of psychiatry to help heal depression and mental illness in addition to spiritual solutions. I believe that if I want to scream during childbirth, it's my right. I believe that I am on a journey with Jesus not aliens.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Scientologists and their right to believe whatever they believe. I have a problem with certain Scientologists who loudly and insistently tell everyone how much better they are than the rest of the world.

I will name names. I can't stand Tom Cruise. I own exactly one of his movies. "Top Gun". I won't ever buy another one and I won't be seeing any of his new work. He has yet to realize that it is one thing to live out your faith joyfully so that others might see it and proselytizing in such a way that it demeans others. Going on the "Today" show and arguing with Matt Lauer and telling Brooke Shields to "get over it" in reference to her post-partum depression are just two of the examples in which Mr Cruise has shown that for him, his religion is a sign of his "greatness" over us fellow mere mortals.

Well, Mr Cruise, I'm napping on the sofa you jumped off of. And I am praying for you. May God have mercy on both of our souls.

Thanking St Francis

I love St Francis of Assisi. He is the patron saint of animals and ecology and ecologists. As my husband and I have planted saplings for our new baby and have been working on a garden, St Francis has been close to my mind. He believed in simplicity and seeing God in all things.

I thank St Francis often for helping to protect our earth through his intercession with God when I tour state parks and go on nature trails or enjoy mornings at the beach. I can't help but think that if it weren't for St Francis' intervention, we wouldn't have so much natural beauty to enjoy.

This week I thank St Francis especially for protecting my dogs. Charlie suffered an injury this week when, while playing outside, he accidentally was stabbed by a stick. Luckily the injury was not life threatening and he is expected, with stitches and antibiotics, to make a full recovery. Charlie, like Gilligan--our beagle--, wears a St Francis medal on his collar. We also have a St Francis statue in our backyard where our dogs play. Our vet advised us that if Charlie was to get an injury like this, he got it in the best possible place. It missed all his vital organs and bounced off the bone. The injury happened just inches from where his St Francis medal hangs on his collar. I prayed all night while we waited to take Charlie to the vet that St Francis would protect Charlie. And he did.

St Francis has also protected Gilligan. Gilligan has suffered seizures since he was almost two years old. His seizures have been controlled by medication and now that Gilligan has lost all the weight the medication caused him to gain, he is a very healthy beagle!

Many people question Catholics as to their belief in saints. I do not pray to a saint the way I pray to God. Instead, in much the same way that many people "talk" to friends and relatives who have passed on, I "talk" with these men and women whom I consider friends, and ask them to intercede on my behalf with God. It's just like asking my family here on earth to pray for me.

I believe God answered both my prayers and the prayers of St Francis of Assisi for Charlie's recovery this week.

So I thank you God for your miracle.

And I thank you, St Francis, for your powerful prayer and intercession.

Daddy Moments

Jeff has started a small tradition that I'm sure is common among many expectant daddies. Each night when we lay down to go to sleep, whether the baby is moving or not he rests his hand on my stomach for a while. Usually the baby responds. Since men cannot carry children, he feels this is one of the best ways to let the baby know now a little about who he is. Being able to feel the baby move as a regular event, the baby reacts differently when it's Jeff's hand versus someone else's. I swear the baby knows it's his or her father. I know these times are special for Jeff and they are special for me as well. For the first time in my life, I understand what the Gospels mean when they say that Mary kept all these things in her heart.

Thank You....

There is a Christian song by Ray Boltz called "Thank You," in which a person dies and goes to heaven wondering if he or she made a difference and runs into all kinds of people who thank him for the "giving to the Lord."

Last night I was awakened by the baby having hiccups. While I lay there waiting for the hiccups to stop and my mind began to wander and I began to think of all the clergy I had known in my life and the thanks I owed them. So here goes....

Thank you to Sister Isaac Koenig. Sister Isaac runs the social ministries at St. Mary, our parish. Jeff and I were discussing Sister Isaac the other day and how beautiful we found her as she truly reflects God's love. There is no doubt that Sister Isaac is doing what God intended for her. Her smile lights up a room whether it is filled with volunteers folding donated clothes or with the uninsured waiting for appointments with doctors and nurses who are donating their time. Sister Isaac takes on several duties aside from social ministries. She has taken over the religious education at our parish. Her love for her fellow human is so immense I have found myself overwhelmed by it almost to the point of tears when I am in her presence.

Thank you to Father Pat Keane. I first met Father Pat when he was just Pat, a seminarian candidate at my home parish. I was a teenager at the time and he volunteered with the youth group. I found in Pat a true friend who understood that being a teenager was incredibly difficult and did not judge teenagers as the selfish and sometimes cruel beings most people see but as children of God who needed all the love they could get. After high school, I kept in touch with Pat as he entered the seminary and went on a mission to El Salvador. During some very difficult times in college, Pat listened to my problems without judgment. Little did I know he had bound me to his daily rosary since we had first met in 1996. When I met my future husband, who was Pat's age, Pat expressed some reservations but also expressed to me that he felt God would guide me and that I surely had a place in Jeff's life. Pat was later thrilled to hear of our marriage and when he heard we were married in Methodist Church, he did not criticize me and accuse me of leaving my faith. Instead he commended me on finding the beauty in the diversity of Christianity. When I underwent surgery to correct a birth defect that had caused me to miscarry a baby. Pat, now Father Pat, sent Jeff and I a spiritual bouquet and had two masses said for us at his parish in Fayetteville. Which brings me to one of the greatest things Pat taught me. While on his mission in El Salvador, Pat fell in love with the poor indiginous peoples. He has made several more trips back and started a charity, The Least Among Us (http://www.theleastamongus.org). Pat knew that he could do more than just tell people and give his own time and money, he could find a way to get others to help this mission. And he told me at one point, that if there was nothing else someone could give another person, one can always give prayer.

Thank you to Reverend Skip Williams. Skip is the pastor who married Jeff and I. Like Father Pat, Skip did not find it unusual that a couple of mixed religious backgrounds would want to be married in his church. He also did not proselytize his beliefs over mine. In fact, he commended my faith. He acknowledged that there was a difference in doctrine, but was commited to respecting my Faith. He asked us early on why we wanted to be married in a church. My answer was something I had not thought over, but came out naturally. In the 90's there were a series of billboards that appeared around the Triangle area of NC where I grew up. The most famous of these was one that said, "Don't Make Me Come Down There.--God" But there was one whose impact on me I didn't understand until that night Skip asked me about wanting to get married in a church. It said, "That was a beautiful wedding. I hope I'm invited to the marriage.--God" I expressed how I felt that God was an intregal part in every marriage, or should be. I had almost never thought about that billboard since going to college. But I had no doubt of the importance of seeing it and sharing that with Skip. Without Skip, Jeff and I would not have been married in a church. We would not have had the guidance he provided. And the impact he has had on our lives shows each year when we stop by the church around our anniversary and try to make the church's annual Pancake breakfast on the 4th of July a part of our tradition.

There are so many more I have to thank and will from time to time. But I am most thankful to God for bringing these people into my life.

What a Day!

Okay, my alma mater was eliminated in the first round of NCAA tourney play (UNCW, sadly). Today, though, I am amazed to announce that both Carolina and NC State have been ELIMINATED!!!!!

I, long ago, stopped really caring that much about NCAA basketball. But for people like my husband who now cannot root for his alma mater (also UNCW) and his all-time favorite team (NC State) do you stop watching, do you find the least offensive candidate to root for?

Oh well. The WBC is almost over and there are really only three more rounds to NCAA play, so, soon there will be opening day for baseball and the Stanley Cup is coming up as well! It will be great when life gets back to normal!

Who Did Jesus Die For?

Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

Brothers and Sisters:
Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, through perhaps for a good person one might even find the courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

A Happy Belated St Patrick's Day

Okay, we're all Irish on St Patrick's Day. We all try and drink Guiness (unless like me you are pregnant and have tried it before anyway and hated it). We all seem to want to eat corned beef (yum) and cabbage (yuck with corned beef, sorry). We all wear green and tell people without green on that we will pinch them.

But do we all show honor to the man who made this day possible? The missionary who spread the word of Christ's love is the reason for the day and in his honor, here is a quote from the Patrician brother's website:

The Patrician Brothers are enlivened by Patrick's faith in Christ: daily we recite The Breastplate of Saint Patrick to emphasise that we find Christ "in the heart of everyone who thinks of me".

Visit these men who are inspired by their devotion to St Patrick's mission:

http://www.catholicozvocations.org.au/directory/religious/patricianbrothers.html

An Argument

...for why professional athletes should not be allowed to play on Olympic teams.

Last night I went to an NHL game. I love hockey and live NHL games.

I also love the Olympics. I was a few months old when the Miracle on Ice occurred. One of my favorite movies is the movie "Miracle." At the end of that movie, there is a line from Herb Brooks about all of the "dream teams" that have become a part of Olympic play. Coach Brooks goes on to make a comment about how none of those dream teams has captured the imagination and hearts of Americans quite the way many of the amateur players has done.

When NHL players were first allowed to play in the Olympics, for me, it was amazing because players such as Wayne Gretzky, who never had a chance to play Olympic hockey were getting that chance. But this last Olympics, reality set in.

It came in the disguise of the Canadian and US National Hockey teams. Both were eliminated well in advance of the medal round. The teams that took the medals were the Swedes, Finns and Czechs. Two of the teams that showed the most heart were the Slovaks and the Latvians. Now, all of these teams had NHL players on them, but what they had that the Canadians and US did not was the pride of playing for their own country.

I watched in shock as players like Dominik Hasek and Jaromir Jagr got injured because they refused to give up the hard play that would win them an Olympic medal.

I watched in disgust as players like Eric Staal of Canada and Erik Cole and Bret Hedican of the US failed to make easy plays because they didn't want to get hurt and sacrifice the rest of the NHL season. In fact, when NHL play resumed, a Carolina Hurricane's announcer actually said on air that if Cole and Hedican had played the way they were playing in that NHL game in Torino...the US might have had a chance at a medal.

People acted upset that Mike Modano failed to meet with the US team at their final meeting before returning to the US. Modano was right though, players like himself and captain Chris Chelios will not have another chance at Olympic Gold, and they felt robbed by many of the other, younger players who did not behave as if it was an honor to represent their country but were just trying to get out of the games injury free.

In 1980, the US team was a miracle team. It was made up of college players and young men with fight. In one of the most memorable scenes of the movie "Miracle", after losing a game in Norway, Coach Brooks makes the exhausted team run drills tirelessly. Earlier in the movie, Brooks had many of the players introduce themselves by giving their name and where they were from and who they had played for (their college team). Now, as this team was close to collapse, one voice yelled out, "Mike Eruzione." And when Coach Brooks asked him who he played for, Eruzione came back swinging like the fighter about to crumple on the mats who has just enough strength to land one last good one, "The United States of America." These young men had no doubt at that moment who their captain was and what their mission was, to represent their country. They didn't win a gold medal at the risk of not being injured, they won it because they played with pride in their hearts, no matter what the outcome.

I'm not going to say this problem only lies in hockey (remember the US's basketball team in Athens?). And I'm not going to say that there weren't NHL players who didn't give it their all. But, it was embarrasing to watch the US team play and to hear the announcers talking about how no one wants to risk injury. Maybe we need to rethink the idea of just letting professional athletes into this type of arena.

I did say in my last post that I can be cynical about sports, so thank goodness there were those little kids last night pushing the puck around the ice and loving it. Too bad some of the players weren't out their to watch. To remember why they got into the sport.

And it's too bad we put professional athletes on such a high pedestal that we fail to remember they are representing our countries and should play in that manner.

The Sweetest Thing

Last night, as my birthday present from my in-laws, Jeff and I enjoyed seating in a VIP lounge area at RBC center to see the Rangers and the Hurricanes (or the Whalers, which is who they have been for most of their history). I loved sitting up there in my blue jersey and although my Rangers lost, they played their hearts out. We enjoyed a real meal and individual monitors and for a pregnant woman, there was plenty of room.

The best thing that happened all night, though, was that in between the periods these little kids came out and played against each other. One little boy's jersey was so long it went past his knees and during the shoot-out he had to be helped to skate the puck in. They were so cute. Plus, they were having fun. They fell down a lot (but let me tell you, so did the guys who were getting paid to play-- Darius Kasparitis had to get his skates worked on at one point it was that bad), but they shook it off and got up and played some more.

For all the cynics in the sports world (and believe me, I'm among them a lot) seeing these kids play is the sweetest thing.

Daddies

Sister Patricia of http://www.franciscancards.com publishes a daily Catholic ezine called Joy Notes which include her reflections, the reflections of Catholic author Danielle Bean and the reflections of Sister Janet who works for Vatican Radio. Yesterday, Sister Janet had a beautiful post about daddies. She sounds like she was truly blessed with a wonderful father and we all are with God as our heavenly father. Here is her post:

Greetings from Rome with Sister Janet Fearns, FMDM

Sister Janet's new site! Pause for Prayer

On a personal note… What is a father? Never having had the experience myself, I can only look backwards to my own father, who was probably not perfect, but, as my mother said the other evening, “He was special, wasn’t he?” I can only agree. I suppose that some of my understanding of fatherhood could be summarised by saying that a father is the sort or person a small child makes impossible efforts and excuses to be around. My own lifelong habit of early rising originated in my enjoyment of the early mornings, when only Dad and I were around to chat, share breakfast and the first cup of tea of the day. Often we would attend the 07.00 Mass in the church opposite, leaving the rest of the family asleep, so my love and understanding of Liturgy and Eucharist grew out of his.

A father sings to his children even if he hasn’t been gifted with the best voice in the world. I still associate the Salve Regina with peeling potatoes and frying chips, perhaps to the horror of the Church’s official liturgists. O Mary, conceived without sin means that the light is about to be switched off and it’s time to go to sleep.

A father has silly little habits that his children continue, just because they were his. Even today, when I’m at home, I touch the wall above the stairs when I’m coming down them and do it for no other reason than Dad was tall enough to reach that spot and I wasn’t, so I longed for the day when I would also have a few extra inches in height.

A father is the one who comes up with Bright Ideas for long walks on sunny days, whose stories are worth hearing again and again, whose jokes are not always funny but still make his children laugh, who is honest, trustworthy and works hard to make ends meet. He is a much-loved friend, whose worth continues to grow in splendour even many years after he has died, whose sayings and off-the-cuff remarks provide a framework for the whole of life.

Some people have problems with calling God their Father. I don’t.

My understanding of God’s Fatherhood is coloured by the moments when I saw my own father at his most vulnerable, his most loving and his most lovable. Everything that Dad was, God is bigger and better. It seems to me that, in these days when family life can seem so fragile, good fathers are more and more necessary. Jesus showed us how important his own relationship was with his Father. He was only highlighting a fundamental relationship in our own lives.

Thank God for Dads!

God bless, Sr. JanetWeb outreach and development

The News I Know isn't on anyone's Radar

Jeff and I celebrated our third anniversary this past week on March 8. We had to work, so it was a small affair, just a dinner out without our dogs.

Our anniversary brought me to think of our wedding vows and something someone I know said recently that bothered me.

This person was referring to Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war protestor. This individual told me that he had told his wife that if she did what Cindy Sheehan did he would divorce his wife on the spot. (This couple has a son in the military.) I wasn't bothered by this person's politics, but I was bothered by the fact that this one action would warrant an immediate divorce. After all, I know that Jeff and I vowed before our family and God that our marriage was "for better or worse." And if that was worse, it would be something we would have to get through. I wondered if this man I was speaking with vowed the same thing to his wife.

I feel that far too many people take marriage too casually today. It is so easy to get a divorce, that fewer and fewer men and women seriously examine the job they are undertaking. I have met a lot of women who feel so desparately that they must be married to be fulfilled that they are less interested in finding the person they are supposed to fulfill this vocation with than just to find someone period. And it's not just women. A man my husband worked with is on his second marriage and is not reportedly happy and hasn't been. Another man my husband worked with is divorcing his second wife, a woman he met and married within a year of divorcing his first wife. This same man was engaged several times before tying the knot the first time.

It is sad for me to see all of these marriages rushed into and ending so soon. Then on top of that to see people who have been married for a significant amount of time saying that their marriage would end with no questions asked based on one incident is too much for me to comprehend sometimes.

Jeff and I were married in a Methodist church and the minister who married us required us to go through counseling sessions. In one session he asked us why we wanted to be married and what our expectations of the marriage were. I answered honestly that I believed that marriage was a vocation and that it was something you did once. The minister then commented that even if he hadn't known I was Catholic he would have guessed it because the one thing he believed that Catholics did right and Protestants were wrong about was making marriage a sacrament. He felt Protestants should be doing the same thing or at the very least at least treating marriage sacramentally.

I don't know that this is a Catholic/Protestant issue and I don't want to make it one. What I wish for people, all people, is that if they are led to married life, that they examine and discern their choice fully.

Tom Fox --RIP

The news today is sad from Iraq. Tom Fox, a Christian Peacemaker who went to Iraq to help the people there, is dead. His body was found this morning. Tom Fox is just one of many Americans who, despite his opposition to the war, saw an oppurtunity to help people and make lemonade out of lemons. For his efforts, he was kidnapped and murdered. May he rest in peace.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060311/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hostage_killed

A Prayer Request

A good friend needs your prayers. Please pray for our friend ME. She is battling cancer. She is a wonderful woman who is full of love for Christ and is an amazing mother. We pray that God heal her!

RIP Dana Reeve

Dana Reeve
b February 19, 1961-d March 6, 2006

A tireless crusader for victims of spinal cord injuries, a devoted and loving wife and mother. As the wife of someone who has sustained a neck injury, I always looked up to Dana Reeve. Now I will look up to her as she joins her husband in heaven.

May you rest in eternal peace.

Have You Ever

This is one of those tag things, I removed some of the less family friendly questions as this is a family friendly blog. The idea is you are supposed to put your name or initials next to things that apply to you.... so here goes....
Crashed your car
Been in love KH
Been laid off/fired KH
Quit your job KH
Gone on a blind date
Been to another country KH
Been to Mexico
Been on a plane KH
Been lost KH
Been on the opposite side of the country
Gone to your countries capital KH
Swam in the ocean KH
Cried yourself to sleep KH
Played cops and robbers KH
Colored with crayons KH
Caught Snowflakes on your tongue KH
Done something you said you wouldn't KH
Driven the Wrong Way on a One-Way Street
Taken a Dare
Laughed so hard you cried KH
Fell in Love at First Sight KH
Walked Out of a Movie you paid to see
Put a Penny in the "Take A Penny, Leave a Penny Jar" KH
Sang karaoke
Paid for a meal with only coins
Danced in the rain KH
Written a letter to Santa Claus KH
Been kissed under the mistletoe
Watched the sun rise with someone you care about KH
Blown bubbles KH
Made a bonfire on the beach
Crashed a party KH
Gone roller-skating KH
Ice-skating
Gotten a tattoo
gotten a body piercing KH (ears count)
Been to another continent

For Those Interested In Food...

I recommend my other blog http://360.yahoo.com/herrettgilligancharlie. I mention food here, but most of my food related posts are there. I have a couple of recipes there now for Mardi Gras (so people can start collecting them for next year) and reviews of restaurants I go to (some often, some not so). If you haven't checked it out, I love to have visitors stop by there as well!