Vaccine Info

Since Amelia had her first vaccinations yesterday I spent some time looking for info online about ethical alternatives to vaccination created from aborted babies. In the course of my search I found this site, that lists US-approved alternatives for all but the rubella vaccine. It also has a lengthy discussion of what Catholics are morally obligated to do if no alternative vaccine exists.

I found it pretty interesting, though I'm not sure that I agree that rubella is enough of a threat to warrant vaccinating in spite of the lack of a morally acceptable vaccine. Especially since a morally acceptable vaccine does exist in Japan, but just isn't approved here yet. According to this site, they were able to get the vaccine from Japan by just getting their doctor's approval. Of course, they are located in the UK so I don't know how it works here, but maybe if people get together and lobby for it we can get the morally acceptable rubella vaccine approved in the US. Or at least made available with the permission of a doctor.

Pajama Day

I was tired and grumpy and really didn't feel like doing anything today, so I declared a pajama day. However, I decided this after I was already dressed so it was just the girls who stayed in their pj's.

It has been a rough couple of weeks with all of us having colds (Maria's still pretty stuffy), and Amelia receiving her first vaccinations yesterday. Last night was tough, as Amelia's leg got all swollen, red and hot around where she got the shot. She spent about an hour screaming before I could get her to calm down and fall asleep. Later, I was able to get her to take some Tylenol before Jim lulled her to sleep again, but it made for a nasty end to the day.

So today, instead of the usual chaos of trying to get keep the girls occupied while I clean, I just let Maria pick a video and there she sat for an hour watching intently. She selected Winnie the Pooh's ABC's, so really it was an educational DVD. It even has a bonus feature where it shows the letter, gives the sound of the letter, shows how to write both the upper and lower cases, and gives a picture of one word that starts with that letter. You have a choice to do the whole alphabet or just a select certain letters. So again it was educational, really.

I think Maria had fun. She's been bugging me to let her wear her 'jamas all day for weeks. It's really been a struggle to get her dressed in the morning. I think that she was especially pleased that they were her penguin pajamas, as she is very fond of these.

I know that I enjoyed it... I even got a nap of sorts. I had Amelia snuggled on one side of me, and Maria on the other. And for about 10 minutes all was quiet and calm. Then Maria began to squirm, and then sing. I shushed her and told her to be quiet and sleep, it was naptime after all. But she persisted... she tucked her feet under me, then she got up and tried to sleep on my head (not so comfy). Finally, I told her to just go read a book if you're not going to sleep. This actually worked... for a few minutes she was quietly reading a book. Then she began to read, aloud, her version of Green Eggs and Ham.

It went something like this... "that Sam I am, I do not like that Sam I am. I am Sam. I do not like Sam I am. I do not like green eggs and ham." She kept repeating these lines in varying orders until I finally decided to give up and end the non-nap nap.

Ah, well.... even a pajama day is more interesting with kids.

Moving in the Right Direction

Okay, so I'm a little behind in my reading, but I just read this article from last week's Catholic Standard and Times. I was soo excited to learn that they have moved the tabernacle to it's proper place behind the main altar at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral (in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia).

The description makes me want to go and see it for myself. Mini-pilgrimage anyone?

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The Cardinal was clearly moved by the event. In his homily, he told the Cathedral’s parishioners, "Our hearts are filled with joy to celebrate this great event, and once again in a very special way to express our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the tabernacle. ...[W]e honor the presence of Christ truly and substantially in the Eucharist which we have enthroned in this beautiful new tabernacle that expresses our holy Catholic faith."

We're so blessed to have this man as our shepherd. Clearly, he has a great love for Jesus in the Eucharist, and desires to cultivate that love in all his flock.

Let's all pray that pastors in the Archdiocese may follow his lead and move Jesus back to the center of our churches.

Pizza night...

Here's some pictures from Friday night's pizza fest. As you can see Maria very much enjoyed helping me make the pizza dough.

Interesting Article

I found the link to this article on Amy Wellborn's Site, Open Book. It's about the differences between public and private schools in developing countries. Surprisingly (or not), the private schools are doing much better job of teaching those countries poor.

Snow Day...

Here's a few pics of Maria playing in the first "nice" snow of the season.
(nice = snow without ice involved)

All work and no play around here - even Maria has to do her share.

More Pics of the Girls

Lenten reflections...

If you're looking for something to help you make it through Lent, then you should check out this site. This Benedictine-Cistercian monk writes really interesting reflections on the daily and Sunday Mass readings.

Jimmy's Post on the Jesus Tomb

Jimmy Akin has posted his response/debunking of the Jesus tomb movie. Here's the link as promised.

Visual DNA

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Another Grave of Jesus...

this one in LA. Get the story here.

Thanks to Rob for finding finding the site.

How Crunchy Are You?

Take the quiz here, then let me know your score.

I scored 116. Hmm.... looks like I have some work to do.


(I found the quiz link on this blog, Journeys of a Catholic Poster Girl)

More on the (phony) tomb of Jesus

I was just over at Jimmy Akin's site and found this link in the comments section. Since Jimmy is going to put together a post on the subject soon I'll sit back and wait for it, rather than trying to explain/debunk the 'documentary' myself.

I will say this however, on the site (the only part that I read so far) they claim that their film in no way contradicts Jesus' resurrection or ascension. They use spurious theology to defend themselves, saying for example that if they have found Jesus' physical remains, then it only contradicts a physical ascension, but not a spiritual one. However, Jesus' physical resurrection and ascension are non-negotiable tenets of the Christian faith. Just look at the Nicene Creed, "I believe in... the resurrection of the body." Serious Christians would not be swayed by such "logic", but I worry what effect it will have on those whose faith is not as strong or reasoned.

I can only pray that this "documentary" does not gain enough popularity to draw people away from the faith.

Alphabet and the Alpha and Omega

Recently Maria has been learning her alphabet. She loves the letter W and is very happy to pick it out on the pages of various story books. She also likes M, which she generally calls "upside down W," since I explained M as looking like an upside down W. Last night however she looked and an M and said M leaving me hopeful that my teaching tactics aren't totally wrong.

She likes to sing the Alphabet Song as well. Her version goes something like this: "abcd...xoy...w..xoy...z...now I know...abcd's...sing with me!" One day as she was singing this it struck me..."she knows the beginning and the end of the song! ...the beginning and the end of the alphabet!" This was a principal we learned in one of my psychology classes...people tend to pay more attention to/remember the first and last things in a list (or in a speech or series of events). I know this principal has some fancy name, but I recall it right now. Must be something I learned in the middle of my schooling.

In any case, this human bias towards attending only to the beginning and the ending seems to me to play out in our spiritual lives as well. Even one of our names for God reflects this bias... Alpha and Omega. Not that there is anything wrong with this name for God, for He is the beginning and the end of all things. But some people focus only on these extremes.

Some focus on God as the beginning... as the Great Author of All Creation, who sets the world in motion and then sits back and watches it turn, without becoming involved in the daily lives of the people that He has created. For others the end of all things takes precedence and they end up with a morbid focus on the end times, studying prophecy, building stockpiles, etc. They see God only as the Supreme Judge who will return at the end of time to punish the wicked and reward the good.

But I think that it's important to remember, especially now at the beginning of Lent that God is not just the Alpha and the Omega, but He is also everything in between. He didn't just come down at the beginning to start things up and then leave until the end of time. He is intimately involved in every moment of every day for every person on this earth. All we have to do is tune in to His presence with us.

Lent is the perfect time for us to shift our focus. As we pray and fast and sacrifice, let us keep in mind the God who is with us... the one who walked this earth and calls us to follow Him into the desert to be purified. To once again repent of our sins and come into an ever closer and deeper relationship with Jesus, the one who gave His life so that we might always know His presence. For God is not just the Alpha and Omega, He also Emmanuel, God with us, and He wants us to turn and follow Him once again.

News?

I was watching the noon news today and heard a story about how some archaeologists found Jesus', Mary's and Joseph's bodies in a tomb outside of Jerusalem. So, I decided to check out some blogs for the real scoop. But it took my a while to find anything anywhere. Then I found this.

So it turns out the real story is 26 years old, and it's just now being made into a documentary which will air today. Hmm.... that's really relevant news for you. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with watching the news at all.

Ash Wednesday

At our Ash Wednesday Mass yesterday I couldn't help but notice that some children were given ashes and others were not. Neither Maria nor Amelia received them, but a little girl Amelia's age who was sitting in a different section of the church did. I saw one mom take her children back through the line in one of the wings of the church after her three year old twins did not receive ashes from the center line.

Now I've consulted with a few people (and the EWTN Q & A page) and it seems that anyone, even the unbaptized can receive ashes. So this left me wondering if maybe I should have done as that other mother and taken Maria and Amelia back through to receive ashes. Then I went to the Vatican Website and found this:

Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, Part Two, Chapter IV:
125. In the Roman Rite, the beginning of the forty days of penance is marked with the austere symbol of ashes which are used in the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday. The use of ashes is a survival from an ancient rite according to which converted sinners submitted themselves to canonical penance. The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent. The faithful who come to receive ashes should be assisted in perceiving the implicit internal significance of this act, which disposes them towards conversion and renewed Easter commitment. (italics added)

That last sentence struck me. While I think that I might be able to bring Maria to some understanding of what the ashes mean, Amelia would have no clue. So now my question is this, while children can receive ashes should they and if so at what age? Should you wait until they reach the age of reason? Or just until they have some basic understanding of what the ashes mean?

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

Storytime

Just one reason that I love my husband.

The ups and downs of stock...

So I recently attempted to make my own chicken stock. I got the idea several months ago when CCL's Family Foundations magazine had an article about how to do it, and how much more nutritious it can be compared to store bought stock. Well, always wanting increase my "crunchiness" I decided to give it a go.

I combined two recipes, one from Nigella Lawson and one from the La Leche League cookbook. Here's what I did: When I first read the article, I started saving up chicken bones (when I remembered). So I ended up with three frozen carcasses, with some meat and skin left on them. I took these and threw them in a large pot. Then I added a sliced onion, some chopped carrots and celery, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, celery seed, a bay leaf and nine peppercorns. Then I put in enough water to cover, and set it to boil for about three hours. At that point I strained it and put it back on to boil down to about 6 cups of stock. After it cooled, I put it in the refrigerator to chill in a large bowl. Then the next day I skimmed the fat off the top and separated it into cup size portions to freeze for later use.

Now here are the problems that I had: I was interrupted several times in the beginning when I was chopping the veggies...first by Maria, then by Amelia. At one point I was frantically trying to get things into the pot and get it starting heating while I was holding Amelia and trying to nurse her. The books don't tell you how to deal with a situation like that.

Once it was on the stove, things went well, since you really don't have to watch it. It was only later, trying to decide where to put it (the downstairs fridge was the only place it would fit), how to skim the fat, and wondering why it looked like gello, that I began to question my sanity. I had to call my mom to find the answer to the last question. Apparently, if you want it to be a thin, non-gelatinous liquid, you have to strain it through a cheese-cloth. Ah, if only the recipe had mentioned that. Now I'll have to buy a cheese cloth and strain the stock before I use it. All-in-all though it was an interesting experiment, one worth trying again a I think.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

...watch that baby rollin'! Roll-on! Yeah!

Yep, Amelia's made her first moves...yesterday one roll, today many. Now she just has to figure out how to get back.

Here's a pic of how I found her after her first roll.

"Hey, how'd I do that? That was pretty cool!"

And here's a pic of the magical rolling outfit from the front. See, it just so happens that Maria was wearing the exact same outfit for her first roll. There must be something about that giraffe.

"Oh, ya! I'm doing that again as soon as I get a chance."

A shoulder to spit on...

Amelia: WAAAAAH! WAAAAH!

Me: It's okay Amelia, Mommy's got you now.

Amelia: Spluuup!

Me: Arrrhhh! Not again! Just needed to spit, huh?

Amelia: (BIG SMILE) Ga!

Yep. Lots of laundry around here.