Just for fun

Haven't had much time to blog as of late. I'm working on slowing down BEFORE I run out of gas. Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

But I have to throw this in just for fun:

You Are a Green Crayon

Your world is colored in harmonious, peaceful, natural colors.While some may associate green with money, you are one of the least materialistic people around.Comfort is important to you. You like to feel as relaxed as possible - and you try to make others feel at ease.You're very happy with who you are, and it certainly shows! Your color wheel opposite is red. Every time you feel grounded, a red person does their best to shake you.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorcrayonareyouquiz/

I wish I could say that I am suprised that I am a green crayon, but I'm not. Must be the garden thing.

I'm working on a post to show my appreciation for a wonderful blog award given to me by Courtney, but I still have to try to figure out how to get the pretty graphic up on my blog. It's been a few weeks and I still haven't gotten it right, but hope springs eternal.

We are working frantically to have our walking Rosary up by October 9th when the Bishop is coming to our parish to bless it. We are currently working on making the stepping stones. Here is a pop quiz for you Catholic mums: We have completed 20 Hail Mary stones and 0 (yes, zero!!) Our Father stones. Who can guess how many more stones we have to make before October 8th in order to create an entire garden Rosary?? The first one to guess correctly wins a wonderful you tube video of me crying hysterically while I am shoving little mosaic tiles into mortar mix. (Just kidding, but it would be a great prize, huh??) You could say that I will be a bit busy for the next few days. Just a little.....

Have a great weekend, everyone!! :)

My Favorite "Binder"

Call it a "mother's helper", "Control Journal" a la FlyLady, "binder", or whatever you want. Sometimes a Mom just wants a special place to help her keep her affairs in order. This is my favorite binder template (and as a bonus, it is completely free to download and print!!): http://brocantehome.typepad.com/brocante_home/the-housekeepers-planner-.html

I wish for..........

Kid-sized bubble wrap. That would be perfect! You could just wrap them up before school or play and send them on their way. Then you wouldn't have to worry about broken bones or scraped elbows and such. But alas, no such thing exists and our children have to go out into the world unprotected to get their scrapes and broken bones no matter how much we poor mothers worry.

My oldest DD was running races yesterday on the play ground at school during recess. She tripped, somehow, fell onto her left arm and slid across the blacktop parking lot. Her arm came away from the incident with only a minor road rash, but her left clavicle wasn't so lucky. I was working in the school kitchen at the time, so the teacher on playground duty came up to the kitchen window (looking gravely serious, might I add) and said "Mrs KitKat, can you please come with me to the office." (Insert ominous music here....) After a slight joke on my part (The "Oh great, what did my kid do now?" kinda thing), I realised that it might be a tad serious. There in the office sat my beautiful little one just bawling like crazy and saying "I think I broke it Mommy! I want my Daddy! It hurts!!" My oldest DD can take a lot of pain without complaint. This was the kid who once told me "I think my ear hurts a little" when she had a double ear infection. The kid just doesn't cry, so I knew that we were probably in big trouble. I called my hubby and we decided that a trip to the ER might be a better choice than our local Quick Care, so I loaded her and my youngest DD into the car and off to the ER we went. (I pulled my youngest DD out for the rest of the day just in case I didn't make it back in time. It was the ER that we were going to, after all.) Hubby met us there right after we got out of X-Ray and just in time to listen to the doctor tell us about her fractured left clavicle that can't be put into a cast. So, my little girl has to walk around with a broken collar bone and her arm in a sling.

I think that the 9 year old is handling her first broken bone better than her mother is. But that, my friends, is another story..............

And did I mention that she has been working really hard the past few weeks on her school play? That's why I have been a bit scarce in the posting department. She in our school's version of "Alice in Wonderland". They have been rehearsing everyday. And she's Alice. And the play is TOMORROW! AHHHHHH!!!!! I will have to let you know how this all works out because I am not really sure what is going to happen.

And she broke her clavicle on the day after her 9th birthday and the day before my 34th birthday. I told her that nine years ago she gave me the best birthday present that I ever got, and then yesterday she went and broke it. At least it made her smile and laugh. Then she told me not to make her laugh anymore because it hurts to laugh.

It certainly has been a long week. But yes, I can still laugh about it. :)

A comment that didn't make the cut

Over at My Blessed Home blog:

This is the exact, unedited comment that I submitted for approval. (ok, I admit that I did correct my spelling. I was tired when I typed it up last night and I didn't do a good job of proofreading. But I only changed the embarassing spelling errors.)
~
Jennifer, you have hit the nail on the head when you said that the "testimony" of Sister Charlotte (which I also have serious doubts about the truthfulness of) does not put forward one real argument against Roman Catholicism. In my humble opinion, both the "testimony" and the pagan symbols argument rely heavily on "emotional appeal" rather than on what most Protestants and Roman Catholics would consider serious theological issues. I attend a Catholic Church but was formerly a Lutheran. I NEVER heard anything like these arguments against the RC Church when I was a Lutheran. We did not attempt to villanize (sp?) Roman Catholics or the RC Church. The doctrine of Sola Scriptura provided enough of an argument. We just stuck with the theological facts and didn't need to make up additional stories to prove our point.
The use of such heavy handed and emotional tactics is what I believe makes the Roman Catholic readers of this blog so upset.
~
A definition of "emotional appeal" (from the University Writing Center of The University of Central Florida)

Emotional Appeal (pathos)
Not surprisingly, emotional appeals target the emotions of the reader to create some kind of connection with the writer. Since humans are in many ways emotional creatures, pathos can be a very powerful strategy in argument. For this same reason, however, emotional appeal is often misused...sometimes to intentionally mislead readers or to hide an argument that is weak in logical appeal. A lot of visual appeal is emotional in nature (think of advertisements, with their powerful imagery, colors, fonts, and symbols).

When done well, emotional appeals...
Reinforce logical arguments
Use diction and imagery to create a bond with the reader in a human way
Appeal to idealism, beauty, humor, nostalgia, or pity (or other emotions) in a balanced way
Are presented in a fair manner

When used improperly, emotional appeals...
Become a substitute for logic and reason (TV and magazine advertising often relies heavily on emotional rather than logical appeal)
Uses stereotypes to pit one group of people against another (propaganda and some political advertising does this)
Offers a simple, unthinking reaction to a complex problem
Takes advantage of emotions to manipulate (through fear, hate, pity, prejudice, embarrassment, lust, or other feelings) rather than convince credibly

Quite a Thinker!

I love MZEllen's blog. She's a smart, smart lady who really does get me thinking. She gave me a bit of a challenge to define the term "Gospel" in my earlier post about the readings at today's Mass. I left her this in response ~

"Ellen, that is a great question. And no, I do not take that as an attack. :) I guess that my personal definition of the "Gospel" comes mainly from my LCMS upbringing. I view it as the Greek definition of "good news" (of salvation) and from the four books of the New Testament that are traditionally considered "authoritative" in their stories of the life of Christ: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.Good question, and I think that I see the point that you are making. Other folks may have a different definition. I guess that mine is rather narrow."

Over on her blog, she has challenged us to give our definition of the term "Gospel" .I hope that you stop by and give her your thoughts. It really is a great question to ponder.

I Smell Fall!

There is no doubt about it, fall is in the air in my little neck of the woods. September is always a bittersweet month for me and my little patch o' the earth. I do so love fall crops. Spinach, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, and pumpkins make me smile. But I also fell a sense of urgency. I know that fall can betray me. One early frost plus one ill prepared me can equal the loss of my entire fall crop. Right now I have to clean up my leftovers from summer and still try to squeeze out the best that fall can offer. It's a delicate balance. Sometimes I win and have a great fall crop. Sometimes I lose and have a bunch of icky wilty veggies that can only be eaten by my crazy Husky. I'm not sure if I am quite ready to leave summer behind and play the fall garden game. But it appears that I may not have any choice.

I'm off to plant some frost resistant spinach and check on my fall peas. :)

What I Heard at Mass Today

To me, one of the most maddening allegations against the Catholic Church is that they do not "preach the Gospel". I cannot even begin to tell you how wrong this is. I grew up loyally attending a Protestant church (LCMS to be exact) and I now attend Catholic Mass. I can see no difference in the amount of Bible readings between the two. Now some folks are going to attack both by saying that the LCMS is just a toned down version of Roman Catholicism. Well, that might be your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it. But I would just like to share all of today's Bible readings and then open the floor and allow you to tell me how little the Catholic Church uses the Bible during Mass.

(Please note that I am typing only part of the reading. I am listing all of the verses that were read aloud, though)

Readings for September 8-9, 2007: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading - You sent your holy spirit from on high and thus were the paths of those on earth made straight. (Wisdom 9:13-18b).
Psalm - in every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge (Psalm 90).
Second Reading - I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary (Philemon 9-10, 12 - 17).
GOSPEL - Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? (Luke 14: 25-33).
~Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ~

Following the Gospel reading was the homily that was based on (prepare yourselves for a real shocker here!) the Gospel reading.

***If you would like to go ahead and attack the reading from the book of Wisdom please do some research first about why the Catholic Bible contains these books and the Protestant Bible does not. Research from jackchick.com, jesusislord.com, etc does not count and will be DELETED if left in a comment here. I will only accept research material that would be considered historically valid by reliable sources -i.e if you could use it in a college thesis paper then you can use it here. Anything less will be deleted immediately.***

Here is a list of the readings of the week:
Monday: Col 1:24 - 2:3: Lk 6:6-11
Tuesday: Col 2:6-15; Lk 6:12-19
Wednesday: Col 3:1-11; Lk 6:20-26
Thursday; Col 3:12-17; Lk 6 27-38
Friday: Nm 21:4b-9; Phil 2: 6-11; Jn 3:13-17
Saturday 1 Tm 1:15-17; Jn 19 25-27 or Lk 2:33-35
Sunday: Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; Ps 51; 1 Tm 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-32 [1-10]

As you can see, there are readings listed from both the OT and NT. There is a Gospel reading listed for every day of the week. Father Pete encourages us to study each reading at home before Mass so that we are fully prepared to participate.

I just can't understand why some people still believe that Catholics do not read the bible or hear the Word at Mass. Some folks go so far as to allege that they have attended Mass and have been saddened by the fact that Catholics did not bring their Bible and the Priest did not read the Word. I absolutely do not bring my Bible to Mass, it's true. I did not bring it to any LCMS services either. Both denominaitons provide copies of the readings for the day to all those in attendance. Since I try to study the readings before I go, the copy of the readings in the Missal is good enough for me.

I hope that this will help in some small way to clarify any misconceptions that one may have concerning the "lack of the Gospel" at Catholic Mass.

Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Why do people lie?

For attention. Really, it all boils down to that point.

It is with great reluctance that give this blogger the attention that she craves, but I really have to say a few words on this post: http://www.myblessedhome.blogspot.com/. This former nun story is widely circulated on the internet. But a simple google search will also provide information like this: Sister Charlotte's Testimony Refuted.

PLEASE, stick to the facts when debating religion.

Anti-Catholicism

Disclaimer: First of all, please ignore my typos today. I really don't have time for much of a post, so I am typing as fast as my little fingers will go. Second, I just have to say that my blog is open to EVERYONE. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. I am not here to pick apart your beliefs or to tell you that you are wrong and I am right. Frankly, I don't claim to know exactly who is wrong and who is right in the vast world of theology. I simply have my beliefs that I have come by over the years through formal religious education, self study, and personal experiences and reflections. But if you are a human being, I consider you my "sister" or "brother" in this great big world and it is my prayer that we can all work together to make the rapidly shrinking world a better place for people of all faiths. If you happen to like what I say, great. If not, well, I still like you anyway. ;)

That being said, I do have a strong dislike for outright lies. If you are going to question or attack the faith of another religion please do try to skip all of the great exaggerations. If you are going to attack Roman Catholicism, please try to stick with the facts and not the fanciful imaginings of various authors throughout the years. And PLEASE skip the web sites hosted by non-Catholics if you ever want to fully understand what Catholicism really teaches. If you have never been surrounded by Catholic culture, you really have no idea what it is about EVEN if you think that you have studied it over the Internet or through "interviews" with various fallen away improperly Catechised (SP??) Catholics.

In case you are still wondering what (or who) I am talking about, please read this: http://myblessedhome.blogspot.com/2007/09/roman-catholicism-and-paganism.html . The blog entry titled "Roman Catholicism and Paganism" is just filled with inaccuracies and some really nasty lies. (Does anyone really still not understand that the upside down cross in that picture is the Cross of St. Peter, the rock upon which the Roman Catholic Church was built? I was taught in grade school that the inverted St. Peter's cross was a symbol that was stolen, if you will, by Satanism over the years. It is a common practice in Satanism to take the sacred and make it profane. But do you honestly think that if the Roman Catholic Church had any real connection with Satanism it would be so bold as to advertise it for all of its faithful and the rest of the world to see?) I do not have time to go through and point out all of the faulty parallels that Candy has drawn between Roman Catholicism and Paganism. Fortunately, Visits to Candyland is back up and Elena has taken the time to explain what the symbols that Candy mentions in her article REALLY mean. Thank you, Elena.

I must say again, I like to keep my blog open to people of all faiths. If you are going to comment on this because I have offended you, please be nice. :) I truly do try to understand and respect the beliefs of the people that I meet. I just can't stand it when people LIE about what another group of people believe without taking the time to do legitimate research.

Yikes! I'm out of time for the day. I hope that everyone has a wonderful day and weekend!

Seek knowledge, but do it with love and honesty! :)
~KitKat


Updated to add:

I found this link kind of interesting ~ Bent Cross. Please let me know what you think.