Any Mother Worth Her Salt

has at some point made the following discoveries (I'm in list-making mode!):



No Time for Politics, Charles Dana Gibson

10     an abandoned egg or diaper, rotting away in her motorcar.
9           Most existential worries are helped by raucous play and a pot of coffee.
              Laughing with friends is a great clarifier.
8            Real men are necessary, mysterious and easy to please. Ditto little boys.
7            This!
6            Speech impediments are (extremely) cute and (mostly) temporary.
5            We don't need to recreate the wheel. (or is it re-invent? I am so bad at the idioms.)
4            The Divine will be protected in our midst as it first was in human form ~ by a Mother.
3             Serenity comes at a price, but is always a bargain.
                'be joyful because it is humanly possible" -Wendell Berry
2            There remain five steps to laundry: sort, wash, dry, fold, put away.
               And stuck on the fourth step, I remain.
1            The seasons of life are fleeting, even when they don't eat their oatmeal.

Lub is patient

I see that Fr. Barron has a new series in production! His life is such gift to the Church.

Ten Things I've Learned in the Past Month

10. Where I used to cluck sadly at bedraggled parents with their toddler on a leash, I now ponder the legitimate use of a (very small) Taser for getting mine in formation. Or at least into their carseats.

9. If you casually mock Axe body spray over the years, you will accidentally buy scented oils labeled Lavender & SomethingSomething, but they'll just smell like Axe body spray.

8. The most polished etiquette cannot replace manners. When you meet darkness in its most civilized forms, run. When warmth and light come in the distressing disguise of the poor or suffering, embrace. This takes practice.

7. I can no longer tolerate Kandinsky.

6. Conjunto is REAL.

5. Packing sack lunches and dispatching children for activities means the dishwasher can take three days (!) to fill up, which feels like being on vacation.

4. There is some redeemable value in Christian rock music. That might be the most embarrassing sentence I've ever written.

3. Polish people and Minnesotans have a lot in common -- the good stuff.

2. GoPro videos taken by children are funny. But they do seem like pointless "home movies" --- since the child is nowhere to be seen. Tree climbing is predictable and needs no narration. And I don't know why ice fishing needs to be re-enacted at all. Give me a stranger's clichéd travel slideshow any day.

1. Typing resumes for friends is gratifying, for selfish and unselfish reasons. I love to type and hear life stories, linger over design (all the best fonts are named for composers, have you noticed that?) and see the final product bring happiness to the person it describes.

PS This week's doddery (mine) brought to you by Her Excellence Jen, at Conversion Diary.

a link for you

Abby Johnson: Only Modern Pro-Life Women’s Centers Can Beat Planned Parenthood

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/abby-johnson-only-modern-pro-life-womens-centers-can-beat-planned-parenthoo/#ixzz2toAmMIRc

(great thoughts here: how can the pro-life movement encounter and transform the culture? I'd say pray for willing benefactors, #1. The eugenics assault has Bill & Melinda Gates, and we need similar muscle. God knows who they are...)

Six thousand barfing children

...at least that's what it feels like over here! (Okay. It was only one, but it was repeatedly, pink, and all over me.)

We can't say goodbye to winter without some round of sickness making a visit, I guess. Feeling homebound but grateful that my husband took the heavy driving rotation this afternoon. And I will return to the book typing endeavor very soon. Thanks for reading. As a hyper-social hermit, I appreciate road unity very much --- do you know the phenomena? Like I'm really impressed that people are obeying the traffic light system. It seems like a lot to ask, societally, and yet it goes off without a hitch. My first glimpse of severe road unity was a decade ago, on the Grapevine, when I didn't have any comfort level about driving in Los Angeles. It was white-knuckles all the way. My husband and I were caravan-ing for some reason, so two cars meant I had to drive. I was pretty miffed by the task, as I recall. Mostly scared of lanes that travel in the same direction, and being expected to keep a certain pace or an awareness of my surroundings. And then I remembered that life is about doing stuff that terrifies me, to some degree, so why not just ride it out? Anyway, a UHaul van was on fire on the side of the road, pulled over, in a sheen of flames and fog. The traffic was so heavy, we were making the ascent into Santa Clarita, and there they were, with likely their most treasured possessions burning into the hills along the 5 freeway. If aliens looked down it'd look like nobody cared, because nobody was pulled over to help. But we cared, it was palpable, this unity, we're travelling and your life is exploding, and our outreach is so limited, but WE ARE WITH YOU BUDDY.



vintage Caltrans, you mock me still

The great thing is my husband doesn't recall this happening at all. And he was totally there, weaving slowly ahead of me in the golden darkness. When I try to explain road unity, and how momentous and beautiful this thing was that we shared, he shrugs. Me? Psychologically scarred, changed, a permanent reference point of humanity buoying each other along. Those Angelenos are hard. (actually, he's from Orange County and they're all pretty soft...)

Anyway, blogging is often like that. I dig the unity, stolen in early morning solitude, not so much intersecting as parallel travels, but an illusion of intellect tossed around together --- and I miss it when it goes away.

Eminent Domain

How vividly I recall the moment I realized that the 'most paranoid' people I know are, in fact, right about everything.

If Ever You've Lived On An Island

My friend Tonya's parents had this poem framed near their dining table, as I recall. Next to sliding glass doors that practically touched the beach ...

If ever you’ve lived on an island
 if ever you’ve lived by the sea;
 You’ll never return to the mainland
 once your spirit has been set free.

If ever you’ve smelled the ocean
 or tasted the salt in the air;
 You’ll know you’ve discovered a hatch
 that is uncommon, precious and rare.

If you’ve ever seen the whales play
 or watched the eagles in flight;
 You’ll remember, again, why you live here
 and why it feels so right.

If you’ve ever seen the sun set
 as the ferry passed the shore;
 You’ve seen the beauty of the island
 that will be with you forever more.

If you’ve heard the seagulls
 the waves, a foghorn, the winds;
 Then you’ve heard the song of the island
 and the peaceful message it sends.

Indeed, if you live on an island
 if you’re lucky to live by the sea;
 You’ll never return to the mainland
 as your spirit has been set free.

-J. Earnhart © ’92

Shoe Leather Evangelization, as God Intends

The shoes always made me slightly uncomfortable. Yes, I'm talking about the red papal shoes, a bit of flair on which I tried not to pin too much symbolism. "He's the Pope, he can wear whatever he likes," was my ultimate response. A flash of color, a spark of life, these are no bad things, right? Isn't it true, though, that in our world of blips and sound bites, it was enough for those who find comfort in rejecting the Catholic faith to see the symbol of custom Italian shoes as a harbinger of excess and disconnect, a dismissal of our wounded world?

Perhaps the only thing that makes some among us more uncomfortable than the appearance of excess, is the appearance of material wanting. We read that Cardinal Bergoglio's friends bought him some new shoes just as he departed Buenos Aires for Rome, since the pair he was wearing were pretty shabby.

Spiritual truths are, by their nature, simple. I've always found conviction and inspiration in the question, "What if we spent at least as much time working on our 'insides' and we did on our 'outsides'? Francis' Argentine life seems to overflow with this possibility. Even the charming description of his sister's reaction shows us we are not witnessing a fluke of Catholic religious life. He's doing it right. It's been reported that as a priest he spent most of his time offering masses and hearing confession. He's spent over four decades among our wounded world, gaze fixed, heart entwined, hard at work and prayer. We must now pray for every priest, bishop and Cardinal who lives similarly. And ask God to show us how to do it too.

We can check 'yes' in the box for both camps' requests, from radical stewardship to unwavering fidelity to Magisterial teachings. These camps of Catholics need not be disparate. And here's the crux, if you will: it's not so much that our new Holy Father has fulfilled each of our criteria. He does --  yet he adds more. God is adding more to the dimensions of our hearts and lives, by having less and doing more. For one camp this means a braver, more visible evangelization. As then Cardinal, Pope Francis spoke of our church needing "to spill onto the streets, for Jesus is the King of the Streets." For still others it will mean an equally brave interior quest which results in assenting (or not) to the teachings of the Catholic faith in order to call themselves Catholic (or not).

Pope Francis has said 'yes' to God, humbly giving himself to our world, in this age and beyond.
Just like Mary.

Who was/is Pope Emeritus Benedict? Deeply dignified, a man of resplendent faith, insistent on sharing the transformative power of God's love.

Francis appears to be this and delicately, more --- by showing us less. Less of himself, more of God.
Just like Jesus.

It seems each person who clamored, even casually, for the Church or the papacy to change is getting their way. What's more, we're being newly invited on The Way.

Star Parker on Religious Freedom

I just found my scribbled speech from the March 23 Religious Freedom rally. It will be available here tomorrow, with apologies to the people who asked for a prompt transcription (hey, we were busy moving! And getting pregnant generously transmitting new life!); in the meantime, please give yourself nine minutes with a righteous defender of life and liberty. Godspeed, all who are gathering this week across the country in another wave of rallies.

NFP: Not For Pansies

My habit of representing myself and my husband as adherents to Natural Family Planning is entirely incorrect. It's become my shortcut, a kind of lazy jargon I toss into written and spoken exchanges to signify how joyfully we welcome news of a pregnancy. I've never read an NFP text, and have minimal experience with charting my ovulation, even when we longed for children and were diagnosed as infertile. Every once in awhile I read something about those wacky Providentialists, and realize that our response to the gift of fertility is more aligned with theirs than careful NFP in any form.

I can't overstate the imprint on my psyche and my soul those barren years produced. For a young woman who gave casual assent to damaging sexual ideals, it was fairly shocking not to have children right away in married life. In hindsight, I am grateful for every necessary step, especially praying together and the painful conclusion that we may not ever physically bear children. At that conclusion, the only thing we had to overcome was our own egos, in order to consider adoption. Birth mothers (fathers too) who entrust their babies to another family have self-knowledge and courage of a caliber I can only ponder. God love them.

Our kids are healthy, my husband earns a strong income, and life is stable by most measures. None of these are factors in our openness to the gift of new life. I don't even like babies, generally! (Love my kids, love your kids, I'm just bothered and intimidated by the delicate, dependent and darling responsibility of it all. It's overwhelming.) I exhale around the seventh month, when my anxieties are replaced by a sturdy little pal who is eager to see around every corner, meet every stranger, and wield their own amusements for just a moment while I stare slack-jawed at the coffee pot and dream of library visits that bypass the children's floor entirely.

Real life began when we became parents, and I still find equal parts encouragement and panic in Peter De Vries idea that “the value of marriage is not that adults produce children. but that children produce adults.”  The day may come when our circumstances merit actually learning the NFP method, and I don't moralize over other couples' decisions or struggles in this private matter. In the meantime -- limit this? No thank you. I'm called to limit everything else: material excess, leisure time, heady solo pursuits and even predictable sleep patterns. But another eternal soul may be called forth, and my family is at the service of a God whose generosity I know to include grace. Children are the visible sign of marital love fulfilled, which makes them a sacramental of sorts.  It's also the way we all started out, so let's not get too big for our britches. If you're raising kids or at a stage when this makes sense to you -- just for today, envision your home with one more child, whether biological or adopted. Ask God to make the way clear. I offer my free advice with a handy money-back guarantee, as usual.

"The greatest gift you can give your child is another sibling."

Bl. John Paul II

For Mattea

Even if pie is not on the menu in Montana, today...

Pimp My (Free) Ride

Secular shoulders are being shrugged around America just as rapidly as documents of resistance are being penned by our bishops and congressional leaders. The suggestion that contraception coverage will be mandated to include Catholic institutions has put a finer point on the paradigm, but the American taxpayer has long subsidized many unhealthy rites of passage that are now commonplace.

Sacred, life-giving milestones in the Catholic faith are called Sacraments, outward signs instituted by Christ which point to inward reception of God's grace. Reciprocally, secular society has milestones to which many people feel great loyalty and expect unfettered access. Certain restrictions exist to protect public money from funding violations of human dignity still viewed as illicit, but many of them are practically de riguer in adult life.

Let's be intellectually honest and recognize the tenets of the American Left as the framework of a nihilistic faith tradition. Through this lens it becomes clear that our federal government, which must remain secular in order for our republic to survive, has its disciples well-trained by age eighteen and expecting no less than utter redemption through good service.

It's worth mentioning that many Christians suffer the delusion that elements of their lifestyle should be on the dole, and plenty of hardcore liberals live self-sufficiently off the grid. American people are not a one-size fits all populace, which is precisely why we must unite to confront this overreach --- to restore personal liberty. The MTV generation occupies the vast middle, and we risk too much by continuing to feed their superficial accessories and unexamined pursuits with the hard-earned income of good men like my husband.

Pastimes, medical care and education are personal decisions with complex factors, and criticism of neither is my goal. Clarity is my goal. Catholics have been carrying on for milennia without need or desire of our sacramental lives being funded by anyone but ourselves; we wouldn't consider it. And we give.

Nanny-state tyranny, however, demands ever-increasing public dollars for the narrow agenda of its lobbyists and death merchants. Here are the broad strokes of such an egregious presumption, contrasted against the Sacraments of Initiation, Healing and Communion.





Lox Pop 2.0

Instead of tracking my family's progress following Dave Ramsey's plan, I've rediscovered a book whose message I need more. First, if you'll permit me a few words about Total Money Makeover. Ramsey is convicting and compelling, but not inspiring. At the core of his program is the goal of affluence. I have no general contention with that, in the sense he delivers it --- true affluence, not borrowed bling or living in debt. He frequently emphasizes charitable giving.  

There is nothing objectionable in his program. It's a mathematical solution which begs people to confront their financial dysfunction and assess their long-term goals. He writes about sacrificing now to insure stability later. It's all admirable and we've appreciated the discipline of his steps. I will still be using them and including that information as it seems relevant here.

Most people, if they commit to his program, are able to make phenomenal gains in as short as twenty months, even on a modest income. I just can't find the parts of the Bible or Catechism that say buying four duplexes is actually going to help me do anything except have four duplexes. (again ~ not a bad goal. Anthony and I see the true wealth in our family and friends for those who buy and hold real estate.)

However, without veering off into "I'm so unique" territory (because I'm not) ... I just need to make clear that math and plans and charts are stimulating but not sanctifying. Our income has been boom, bust and in between. Our needs have been met, we've enjoyed excesses and I have learned plenty.

But.

I am a dirty sinner in need of conversion.

Let's read this one instead.

From Amazon reviews:   

"To the modern mind, the concept of poverty is often confused with destitution. But destitution emphatically is not the Gospel ideal. A love-filled sharing frugality is the message, and Happy Are You Poor explains the meaning of this beatitude lived and taught by Jesus himself. But isn't simplicity in lifestyle meant only for nuns and priests?

Are not all of us to enjoy the goodness and beauties of our magnificent creation? Are parents to be frugal with the children they love so much? The renowned spiritual writer Dubay gives surprising replies to these questions. He explains how material things are like extensions of our persons and thus of our love. If everyone lived this love there would be no destitution.

After presenting the richness of the Gospel message, more beautiful than any other world view, he explains how Gospel frugality is lived in each state of life."

This also ties into my more political interests, since human greed and corruption perpetuate so much innocent suffering. I cannot transmit radical stewardship and sacrificial generosity to my children unless I undertake the lifestyle myself. What's the 12-Step aphorism? "You can't think yourself into a new way of living, but you can live yourself into a new way of thinking."

I think Mindy at the Devout Life will join in posting with occasional reflections about family economics, and maybe Allison at Northern CF Family? (No pressure, Bellisima!) Other blogs are welcome too. I hope you'll join us. I'm thankful to a friend for initially introducing me to Dubay, and Jen for mentioning it again yesterday over coffee after Mass.  Friends who recommend good books are not to be trifled with.

My second note, more of the housekeeping variety -- is that I have deactivated the comments feature on this blog. There's a note with an explanation on the right top sidebar under "Pages". It's essentially a time management thing, and I trust you will understand. Isn't Facebook just a huge combox, anyway? Chatter away about anything you read here. You just need to find a human to say it to, first.

Oh, that just figures.

First, thank you to the forty-six voters in my navel-gazing poll asking for a 'subplot'. You have boldly chosen to join me the quest for freedom from our debt-insistent surroundings. Are you stoked? The tally is still visible on the right sidebar, and you're clearly geniuses for sparing yourselves my rather pedestrian goal of dropping the last (thirty!) pounds of the baby basket. The only thing more boring than gym exercise is reading about someone's gym exercise.

This, however, is going to be a great challenge. I'm intrigued by the idea of having no mortgage, buying a home outright and having our income available as we please. Travel. Helping with our childrens' college tuition, enabling them to begin adult life without debt. Giving to the causes and people we love.

I'll explain pieces of our financial history as we go along. Or no, I'll just summarize --- sketchy. Since leaving the workforce eight years ago to raise a family, I've watched my husband meet our every economic need. He's amazing. He left a career field he was passionate about for one that was much more lucrative. Then that effectively tanked, so he was brave and took a lateral kind of mumbo-jumbo which has kept us afloat.

We've learned good stuff along the way, not the least of which is reliance on God's providence. Simplicity. Unity. Most tender and elusive: humility. I have no original tools to offer you, but I have discovered this dude and will craft a program around that, and share our progress with you each Monday. As for today, homeschooling and the elliptical machine call.

Building The Kingdom



Serious joy at the Church of the Nativity
Magadan, Russia

When I was newly Catholic I attended a mini-retreat given by Fr. Michael Shields, who serves a mission of the Archdiocese of Anchorage in the Russian Far East. (aka Siberia.) His presence is saintly, his perspective is broad, and his charcoal grey habit is cool. He has a tireless optimism for what we're capable of by loving God, who loved us first. What more can we ask of our ordained men?

His outreach has largely focused on sex workers in Russia, saving them from a life of oppression and violence --- and their babies from death. Many brave women accept his offer of concrete support; all their needs are provided for by the mission, usually for as long as three years.

Today I share this article especially for those reading from beyond Anchorage, since local folks will probably already see it in our trusty Catholic Anchor.

Connect with Mission to Magadan on Facebook by clicking here, and support their work financially here.

Our Selves and Our Choices

Violating everything we know about attention spans online, I'm hoping you'll check this out. As Hilary at Orwell's Picnic suggests, such thought exercises are a worthy beginning but unlikely to instill a long-term change of heart. Watching the video, I was struck by the average person's hunger for honest deliberation. This conversation offered basic good vs. evil quandaries. One gets the sense these topics simply haven't been broached in the recent memory of those interviewed. Some of them look like undergrad college students, and it appears to take place in Southern California, but even controlling for those deficiencies (kidding!), they seem to really be stretching their abilities. Did you notice towards the end, how many of them were visibly relieved to have a logical approach by which to call themselves pro-life?

"Those who have hope live differently." PBXVI

Before we rally on the Internet in defense of life, may we stop to first pray and sacrifice for the cause.

If a stranger observed us going about our comforts, how would they recognize our concern for the nearly 4,000 little people whose lives will end today? My suggestions are simple, active and they start with concern for mothers. At one end is the call to prayerfully consider adding to our own families through adoption. There are simpler ways to encourage mothers at risk, too: shop at thrift stores for baby clothing and supplies. Answer Craigslist ads in your area posted by pregnant women looking for free stuff. Bring a box of diapers to a shelter that assists families. Pray for their fears to be removed.
Just as it's wrong to demonize (all) pro-abortion people as being predatory eugenicists, it's wrong to oversimplify pro-life America as callous oppressors. As a nation, we are an uncatechized people. My own circle of friends and family is peppered with many good women who have had abortions. So is yours. It doesn't grant me special knowledge of their suffering, but I hope it has made me more compassionate. The factions of those who would declare any baby 'unwanted' and those who reject that, from the very moment of conception, don't have many places to run parallel. May civilized and sane conversation be our start. I'm not minimizing the efforts that will be undertaken by many smart and dedicated people to commemorate the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. But this is too grave, and perhaps I am too naturally flippant --- so personally, I have to pass on the invitation.
We who have travelled from buzzwords to truth owe this change to specific moments in time, like more of an incremental catharsis. "That time someone got snarky on Twitter" ain't on the list, I guarantee it.  Radical, ongoing conversion to Christ --- to say nothing of bio-ethics --- happens one soul at a time.