Where Have All the Babies Gone?

The last time I was at the grocery store, I got this strange feeling that there was something missing.  It took me a little while to put my finger on what it was, but eventually it hit me.  Look though I may, there wasn't a single baby to be found in the whole store...people rushed around buying things and visiting, but amidst the all the noise of conversation and music blaring over the speakers, there was none of the usual sounds of children talking or even crying.  It made me so inexpressibly sad when I realized this; our culture is so anti-child, and I knew it was only a matter of time before we came to this, but I still find it hard to accept that a baby in public is now a rare and unusual sight.   Even those parents who do have young children usually have them put in daycare and school before they're even able to walk, getting them out of sight where they cannot embarrass or inconvenience their parents' lives, or interfere with their careers.  Even at Mass, if a child makes noise or cries, everyone becomes irritated with both the parents and the child, and I have even heard people complain that the parents should keep the children home until they're old enough to know how to be quiet in Mass.  This makes me so angry every time I hear comments like these, because I know one day there may not be any more children left for them to complain about...at the rate of abortions happening every year, not to mention the unbelievable amount of couples who use birth control, it is a horrifying, but very real prospect ahead of us.  We are literally trying to annihilate ourselves! No one even seems to realize the gravity of this situation; everyone is far too worried about finding their Pokemon to notice we are very rapidly heading towards the extinction of the human race on purpose!  As Catholics, this should not just trouble us, it should deeply frighten us, because it just goes to show how much our world has fallen away from God, and how terrible His wrath is against us.  Children are one of God's greatest blessing, meant to be the fruit of the love between a man and woman in the sacrament of marriage.  Those who are blessed with children have been given a noble and glorious task; the raising up of future soldiers of Christ and citizens of Heaven, but the devil has so twisted it in the minds of virtually everyone nowadays that seems to have turned into a mark of shame, and embarrassment.  Second to the Church, the Family is the greatest force against the legions of hell, created expressly to be a unit of Grace against the world and satan, to pass the Faith down through generations and keep the love of God burning throughout the centuries till the end of time.  The forces of evil knew what they were doing when they attacked the family; without Catholic families, there are no more future soldiers to defend the Faith and no more souls to populate Heaven.  To me, the sound of a baby crying is music to my ears; it means that somewhere there is still some innocence left in this messed up, sinful world of ours, somewhere there is a small, perfect little being who is unaware of the horrible forces denying his right to even exist, somewhere there is a child who depends entirely upon the rest of us for survival and love, and when I hear the sound of a child, I always thank God for one more soul who was allowed to survive and have a chance to inherit eternal happiness, unlike so, so many poor unborn innocents who are torn apart in their mothers' wombs, by the very people who have the ultimate responsibility to protect and love them.

Our Lady Mother of God, pray for us and the unborn!

Feast of the Visitation...

The Feast of the Visitation is always a much looked-forward-to day in my family! Every year we try to have friends over and celebrate the feast with some good ol' fraternal charity and yummy food =P...

This year on the menu we had grilled hot dogs (on homemade, gluten-free buns made by my brother), chips, cheese dip, salsa, veggies, watermelon, brownies, lemon bars, and many other delicious goodies to keep us well-fed all day...

After dinner, we all went upstairs to our game room for pool, "Pictionary", and a very intense game of "Never Have I Ever"...maaany secrets were divulged that night =P...

My photographer brother wandered around the house with his super fancy camera snapping photos of everyone, so almost everybody there got at least one silly picture in before the night was over.  After everyone tired themselves out on the trampoline, we settled down in our theatre room to watch a movie...we were unable to finish it in one night, so we plan to regroup tonight for "Party B." =P...

For some reason this little goofball and I always seem to be wearing the same colors =)...

By the end of the night, everyone was exhausted, but still laughing and smiling right up to the time to leave.  I think I can honestly say that, thanks to everyone's hard work and fun personalities, the night was complete success ;)...

Hope you all had a wonderful Feast Day! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you all had a blessed feast day! We went all out on the decorations this year...tulle, bows, leprechaun hats, shamrock ears; even Mishka had a sparkly bow.

Every year we have a party to celebrate with our friends and take a short break from our Lenten Fasting...my brother's Shamrock Punch is always one our traditional beverages, along with corned beef, guacamole, and brownies...mmmmm...

Our new kitchen is perfect for parties; there was plenty of room for everyone to get their food without stepping on each other for once...

As always, the trampoline was immensely popular =).  We had several new additions to the "Munchkins" this year, and while they were all a little shy around each other at first, there's something about bouncing on a trampoline that makes instant friends.

Between the hay ride, campfire, delicious food, conversation, playing pool, and spontaneous dancing, everyone had a lovely time...I got to spend the whole day surrounded by all my little friends, so, yep, I was one happy lady =P...

Have a lovely weekend! =)

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter!!!

Well, things have certainly been festive around here.  Personally I would jump in the air screaming "Hallelujah!" if I wasn't working so hard to keep my eyes open, because for the first time in *FIVE* years, I managed to attend, enjoy, and survive the Easter Vigil! For those of you who don't know, the Easter Vigil starts at ten P.M. Holy Saturday, with the blessing of the Paschal Candle, the blessing of the fire, the blessing of the Baptismal Water, the litany of the saints, and the renewal of our baptismal vows, and finishes up at midnight.  Then midnight Mass begins and lasts until around one A.M., after which you can either stay to pray Lauds with the monks for another forty-five minutes, or go socialize outside with everybody else.  It's a beautiful ceremony, and I've missed attending every year.  I wasn't even planing on going this year, but was going to just sleep in and go to High Mass on Sunday, but a friend told me frankly that (cough) I was a wimp.  Okay, since you put it that way, I'll spend all day long preparing Easter dinner, visiting with out of town friends, cleaning the house, changing the table and altar cloths, and then go stay up till two in the morning just to protect my self respect.  I didn't get to bed before midnight for the past four days and I will probably be exhausted in bed for the next four, but no matter! if that's what it takes to prove I am not a wimp, so be it. =)

Every holiday seems to have it's own share of catastrophes; this year mine included not finding anything to wear until literally twenty minutes before we had to leave, being attacked by a moth (it was scary), and the oven refusing to heat up (when you have been fasting for forty days and looking forward to a feast at the end, and suddenly you are faced with the possibility of NOT having that feast...panic ensues...).  On the upside, we all got to practice our improvisation skills and, thanks to pinterest, I now know it is possible to cook Creme Brulee in a crockpot.

 Dinner was HEAVENLY and we definitely enjoyed feasting after all that fasting...

After Vespers, some friends came over to play Yahtzee and eat dessert while Mom and Dad watched "Unbroken" upstairs.  As I mentioned before, I've been staying up late for the past few nights, and I'm so tired I can barely manage to type this post up, but, hey, it's only once a year. Even though this past week has been exhausting, it's been wonderful at the same time.  Now that I've gotten this checked off my list, I'm going lay in bed, eat chocolate and watch "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." with my family for the rest of the day.

(The Hot Cross Buns turned out to be a big hit, by the way.  I was too busy to try the recipe I had originally intended to use so I just made biscuits, replaced a third of the flour with powdered sugar (hehe), and added raisins.)

I hope you all have a very blessed Paschal-tide!

From The Kitchen..."Sweetsome Sundays"...

During Lent my family has always had a few standard sacrifices we offer up together every year (such as movies, sweets, up-beat music, etc.) in addition to what we offer up on our own. But we try to take a break to sort of give everyone the chance to catch their breath and start out strong again for another week by having a dessert on Sundays and first class feast days.  On Fat Tuesday I had attempted to make an apple pie with only about four of the correct ingredients (one of which was "apples") and ended up with a concoction that had a very strong "plantain" flavor.  It still tasted pretty good, but I wanted to make a more "perfected" version, so I finally got all the correct ingredients for us to have another pie on Sunday.

Perfect Paleo Pie Crust:

11/2 Cups Almond Flour

1/2 Cup Arrowroot Flour

2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar (or Coconut sugar)

1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 Cup Butter

6 Tbsp. Cold Water

1 Tsp. Vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in your food processor.  Cut butter into chunks and pulse with dry mixture until it resembles course breadcrumbs.  Add wet ingredients and blend until well mixed.  Shape mixture into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.  When ready, divide into two parts and roll out into desired shape.  Place one part in pie dish and save the other for the top.

Amazing Apple Pie 

3 Large Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced very thin

Juice of 1 Lemon

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

11/2 Tbsp. Arrowroot Flour

1 Tsp. Each of Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg (optional...we like it better without)

4 Tbsp. Butter

Preheat oven to 475 Degrees.  Gently fold apple slices into lemon juice until well coated.  Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Cover the bottom of your prepared pie dish with a layer of apple slices, overlapping them over each other.  Sprinkle one tablespoon of the dry mixture over the apples.  Repeat until apples and dry mixture is used up.  Cut butter into chunks and place all over the top of the pie.  Cover with reserved pie crust and bake for ten minutes.  Lower temperature to 350 Degrees and bake for another thirty minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool for a few minutes, then serve with ice cream for absolute decadence.

Le Ball Masque...

Nobody could stand a Thanksgiving Day dinner every day of the year. There can only be mountains if there are also valleys. It is a pity that the Reformation did away not only with most of the sacraments and all of the sacramentals, but also, unfortunately, with the very breath of the Mystical Body — that wonderful, eternal rhythm of high and low tide that makes up the year of the Church: times of waiting alternate with times of fulfillment, the lean weeks of Lent with the feasts of Easter and Pentecost, times of mourning with seasons of rejoicing. Modern man lost track of this. Deep down in the human heart, however, is imbedded the craving to celebrate, and, in a dumb way, the other craving to abstain, perhaps to atone. In general, these cravings are no longer directed in seasonal channels, as they are for the Catholic, or even for the aborigine who participates in some tribal religious belief..... 

It should be our noble right and duty to bring up our children in such a way that they become conscious of high tide and low tide, that they learn that there is "a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance." The rhythm of nature as it manifests itself in the four seasons, in day and night, in the individual's heartbeat and breathing — this rhythm we should learn to recognize, and to treat with more reverence. Modern man has become used to turning day into night and night into day according to his whim or pleasure. He has managed to lose contact completely with himself. He has lost the instinct for the right food and drink, stuffing himself with huge quantities of the wrong things and feeding himself sick. But worst of all, and this sounds almost ridiculous, in the process of growing up he forgot the right kind of breathing....

Again, it is our faithful friend, Holy Mother Church, who leads her children first back to nature in order to make them ready to receive supernatural grace. "Gratia supponit naturam."

Looked upon in this light, the weeks of Carnival are a most necessary time for the individual as well as for families and communities. This period is set aside for us to "let off steam," "to have a good time." And for this we need company. Therefore, Carnival is most obviously the season for parties and family get-togethers...with the avowed intention of having that good time together. Carnival is the time to be social, to give and to receive invitations for special parties. It is the time to celebrate as a parish group... 

(Maria von Trapp, Around the Year with the Trapp Family, Carnival or Mardi Gras).

In our community, we have a tradition that we look forward to every year.  On Fat Tuesday we cook up everything in the house that we are sacrificing for Lent and have a movie marathon...usually a series that we don't watch very often like "The Lord Of The Rings" or the "Bourne Trilogy" (edited, of course).  This year a good friend decided to add another tradition to help us prepare for our time of penance: a masquerade!!! 

Our friends asked us to help them organize and teach the dances ("ABSOLUTELY YES WHEN DO I START?!?!") so we started meeting at our house on Monday to go through all the steps.  Mrs. H. was wanting to do a more Jane Austen themed evening, so we collected songs and dances from the Period Era...everyone was watching "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma" all week to get in the mood.  All of us girls were exchanging dresses and hair styles and frantically trying to find "the perfect mask"...not to mention trying to learn to dance the "Ship's Cook".

On Friday we all gathered to decorate the room with tulle and lights, and practice more dancing...

Saturday night the room was almost filled...

We danced for nearly five hours straight!!! I even got to help call one or two dances because Mrs. H.'s voice was starting to give out...everyone had a wonderful time and the only people sitting down were those who didn't want to dance or were resting.  We're already planning a May Day dance for after Lent...  

Five Lies About Modesty...

When I first began dressing modestly I was pressured on practically every side by our culture to give up.  I was only about twelve years old so it was my parents who decided what I was going to wear or not wear, and I didn't understand at first the importance of their decision.  The biggest problem, I think, was that I literally knew NO ONE at all who dressed modestly.  This is a big problem when you are a young girl because you don't want to stand out or look "weird". Once I met a girl my age at our parish who did, everything became easier, but it wasn't until I was in my late teens that I began to research the whys and wherefores of dressing in a "Mary-Like Manner".  What I learned was that most girls and young women (including myself) have been and are being presented with a false image of what modesty really is...if more of us could see the truth about modesty, the world would be a much nicer place.  I could go on for hours about everything that's currently wrong with the world but for this post I am going to limit myself to clearing up the top five lies about modesty.

1. Modest Means Frumpy...

I really, really prayed that this wasn't true when my parents first changed our clothing standards.  I had no one to look to for inspiration when I was a teenager, so I thought I was the only girl who wanted to look stylish and yet modest at the same time.  Thank Heaven, I was VERY WRONG.

The Church's position on modesty is:

"A dress cannot be called decent which is cut deeper than two fingers breadth under the pit of the throat; which does not cover the arms at least to the elbows; and scarcely reaches a bit beyond the knees.  Furthermore, dresses of transparent materials are improper." (The sleeve length was raised to at least a quarter of the arm)
As long as your clothes fit into these standards, you're free to mix, match, and style as you like! I have found a wealth of inspiration from people like Olivia Howard from Fresh Modesty  and Colleen Hammond from Dressing With Dignity, not to mention several lovely ladies of my acquaintance who always try to dress in a stylish, yet modest, manner.  The internet is full of blogs by young women trying to bring back more feminine styles, not to mention the Pinterest folders! You can see my personal collection here.  To sum up, women were dressing modestly and stylishly for thousands of years before the mini-skirt was invented.  

2. Modest Clothing Restricts Your Movements, So You Can Do Nothing But Sit Inside And Knit...

Firstly, I like knitting.  And secondly, I have never had to pass up a single activity (short of rock climbing...and I probably could have joined in on that if my skirt had been longer) that I have wanted to partake in at any time of my life because I was wearing a modest skirt.  I have gone tubing, jogging, bouncing on the trampoline, dancing, tree climbing, motorcycle riding...and not once had a problem.  A dear friend even rides horses and and can beat her brothers (and mine!) in a race...depending on the style of skirt you are wearing, you can do pretty much anything in a modest way.

3. I Shouldn't Have To Be Uncomfortable To Keep Men From Committing Sins; That's Their Problem...

Sigh...Okay, there are men out there who will be committing sins regardless of how you dress, but there are also many, many men (young and old) who are trying to keep their minds and souls pure, and we really should try to help them out.  Men are designed to be attracted to women's bodies, so when you dangle forbidden fruit in front of them continuously, you are making it that much harder for them to avoid mortal sin.  Wearing sleeves or a long skirt does not make you that much more uncomfortable than you would be otherwise, but even if you felt like you were being broiled in an oven from the extra material, what is that compared to the immortal souls you will not be putting in danger? The Bible says that we are "our brother's keeper" and we should all be helping each other avoid sin as best we can, men and women alike.  What really made this hit home with me was the remarks my brothers have started making as they've gotten older about how much easier it is to talk to a girl when you're not constantly having to fight a battle in your mind because of her scanty outfit.   

4. It's Impossible To Find Modest Clothing...

Yeah, right.  See the links on number one.

5. Guys Don't Notice Girls Who Dress Modestly...

This is the part where most people say "Guys may chase girls who dress like that now, but when they get married they'll want a nice girl" and I'm sorry, but I don't believe that is a very helpful thing to say.  If a young man does not have enough self control to refrain from "chasing girls" because they dress in an immodest way then he probably wouldn't make a very good husband anyway.  Believe it or not, there are good young men out there, and though they be rare, they are not so extinct as to give you the excuse to give yourself to a man who does not deserve you.  Guys do notice the girls who dress modestly, and they do appreciate it, even if they don't say anything to you.  It makes most guys uncomfortable to even admit that they have a problem in this area, but don't think just because they don't flirt with you they don't think you're special.  The fact is, they see you're different and respect you too much to waste your time and emotions with flirting.

Well, there are the top five lies most girls are presented with about modesty.  I hope I was able to encourage you all to move further away from the world's standard of how to dress and closer to a more "Mary-like Modesty", because we should always be progressing forward in this area, as in every area of our lives.

(Last Three) Weekly Roundup...

What I Liked:

...attending a St. Nicholas party at a friend's house! There were games, delicious food, singing, and even a visit from the great saint himself! 

...having some new neighbors over for Thanksgiving dinner...then, after they left, heading over to another neighbor's house for dessert

...starting the Ketogenic Diet

...thoughtful friends who think to buy my brothers and me Almond Milk Eggnog

...the new "Maze Runner" movie...they followed the book closely enough to make me happy, though I was very disappointed about the language in there...

...finding THE Christmas tree

...having turkey for Thanksgiving...for the first time in ten years

...my new eShatki Christmas dress

...the rumor that a friend may be hosting a New Years Eve dance

...receiving the Piano Guys "Family Christmas" sheet music from St. Nicholas...I can only play one song so far, but as I'm not Jon Schmidt, I am not surprised

What I Didn't:

...finding out the Warren Theater will not open until December 23rd...so I will have to wait until January to see "The Battle of the Five Armies"

...no snow.  Last year had at least three blizzards by now...

...the news that our friends may have to go out of town right after Christmas...which means they will miss our Christmas party AGAIN...

...the Christmas gift I got for my mom taking an unpardonable amount of time to get here

...no internet for nearly two weeks

What Made Me Laugh:

...at the St. Nicholas party, when the saint called my little brother up to give him some candy, he bounced out of his chair and said "Hi! How are you doing?" like it was the most ordinary occurrence to meet a saint from Heaven.  I have a feeling he would say the same thing if he really did see an apparition.

...reading "Go, Dog, Go" to a friend's little boy...he always gets all worked up at the "Where are those dogs going?" part...the suspense is such torture...

...my photographer brother offering to take pictures of one friend's family...and suddenly everyone in the neighborhood wants their portraits done

...the Nutcracker song by Straight No Chaser...you must listen to this...I defy you not to roar

...my little brother dressing up as St. Lucy and bringing St. Lucy buns to my room because I overslept on the feast day and forgot to do it myself

...some friends from out of town telling me that they love coming to our house because me and my brothers make such great food

...babysitting some neighbor's kids, and the reaction of the five-year-old when his little brother started swinging a rosary around like a whip..."L----! YOU NAUGHTY BOY! THAT'S A ROSARY!!!"

What I Accomplished:

...getting my body into a state of ketosis in only three days...the average is two weeks...=)

...making grain-free St. Lucy Buns

...learning an entirely new Latin Advent Hymn for Mass in approximately three minutes

...making it to the 6:50 AM Low Mass three days in one week...my friends were about to give me three cheers

...winning every game of "Catholic Trivia"

...getting our Christmas card photos done with minimal stress..thank heaven for brothers with professional cameras...

Weekly Roundup...

What I Liked:

...attending the beautiful ceremonies at the Abbey for All Saint's and All Soul's Day

...Daylight Savings Time

...finding the original sheet music to "River Flows In You" by Yiruma online FOR FREE!!!

...all the lovely Fall colors

...this WONDERFUL weather we've been enjoying

...my brother's Paleo Samoa Donuts...to DIIIIIIEEEEEE FOR...here is the recipe

..."Dear John"...such a sweet movie, though it requires some editing

...getting some new leather boots for this winter

...a campfire/chili night at a friend's house

...organic, all-natural, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, fruit-sweetened blow pops...and chocolate truffles...and Tootsie rolls...oh my!  Didn't realize these things existed...

What I Didn't:

...suddenly realizing there weren't any meals made in the house...and I am starrrrrvvvviiinnnggg...

...Dad taking the laptop to South Carolina for a week, thereby preventing me from using it

...the library notifying me that the movie I ordered had come in...after I had picked it up, rechecked it twice, and returned it

...old friends who were supposed to come for dinner but couldn't because they got sick

...four hour old Whole Food's rotisserie chicken...ugh...

What Made Me Laugh:

..."Seven Brides For Seven Brothers"...I love that movie!

...winning the "St. John Bosco Relay Race" at our party and hearing all the younger boys cheering me on...until they remembered I was on the other team...

...King St. Edward and St. George chilling out on the porch with their blow pops...

What I Accomplished:

...beating my friend at "Dunk the Devil"

...making myself and both of my brothers costumes for All Saint's Day

...learning the words to "Bless Your Beautiful Hide" after hearing it only twice

...Paleo Italian Flat-bread

...introducing my friend to Pinterest...Her life will never be the same...

All Saint's Day...

So we decided to have an All Saint's Day party this year...

Some good friends down the road graciously contributed the games and came over early in the week to help set up...

 The guests attending were (top row, left to right) St. (Dr.) Moscotti, St. Isadore the Farmer, St. Charles of Austria, St. Hedwig of Sweden, St. Prudentia, St. Edith Stein, (bottom row, left to right) St. Joan of Arc, St. Edward, St. George, St. Edith, and St. Ia of Ireland.

Some of the games included "Rock of Peter" (or "Musical Chairs)...

St. Isadore was the DJ...

It ended with a show-down between the British king and the Irish peasant maiden...

...with the peasant maiden as the victor!!!

Next was the "Works of Mercy Relay Race"...

And the "St. John Bosco Relay Race"...

...which the girl's team won =)...

Afterwards was the "St. Anthony's Cake-Walk"...

..."Dunk the Devil"...

..."St, Kateri's Pumpkin Bowling"...

..."St. Patrick's Snake Toss"...

..."St. Isadore's Pig Roll"...

...and "St. Damien's Aqueduct Race".

When we had won all the prizes and finished all the games, the boys built a campfire and we all sat around eating chili, white bean soup, salad, potato chips, sour cream dip, chocolate and gummi worms.  After dark we all grabbed quilts and coats and piled onto our trailer for a "hay ride minus the hay" to a neighbor's field, where we all sang every song we could think of (from "Under the Sea" to "Ave Maria" to "Whiskey In The Jar" to "Misty Mountain") at the top of our lungs.  Hot Apple Cider was waiting for us when we got home, and by the time everyone was ready to leave we had decided that we were going to have to do this again during Christmastime.  Everyone had lots of fun... and we were all thanking God for Daylight Savings Time at Mass the next morning. That extra hour of sleep was just what we all needed...