Leaving on a jet plane!!!! In less than an hour.

By 2:00AM our time we will be in Rome!!

Frantic preparations for Roma here!

Last minute toiletries. A needed item of clothing here and there. Call the credit card company so they know we will be in Italy. Did you know if you don't do that sometimes the visa will be denied? If it's coming from a foreign country they suspect fraud!!! (I'll have to write about what happened to Jim sometime.)

Last minute communications from the person we are renting the apartment from!

Time is running out! Yikes. Leaving in two days!!!! So excited!

Going to Rome!!!!!

Soon some of our family will be leaving for Rome!!!

Hoping to post a lot, maybe daily, during the trip. If anyone has any tips for travel to Rome we are all ears!!

Sign the Petition!

If you have not yet done so, please sign the petition to stop the HHS regulations that are tantamount to an attack on the Catholic Church. The petition has over 70,000 signatures so far.

The petition can be found here. I also recommend that you regularly visit Stophhs.com for the latest information on this battle.

It's like the president is engaging in a chess game against the Catholic Church. Keep checking stophhs.com for the most current information on the president's most recent move.

Love this essay by Ryan Messmore at the The Foundry. The entire essay is linked at the title, "Obama Fails to Empower People"

By forcing groups to offer health plans that cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, the mandate damages many mediating structures by stripping them of their ability to live according to their convictions. It gives unprecedented power to the federal government to dictate how social institutions must behave. It basically attempts to remake civil society in the government’s own image, leaving no room for institutions guided by moral convictions that differ from those of the President.

Yeah. It's all about freedom.

Julia Shaw has written a nice essay on James Madison, the principle author of the First Amendment to the Constitution....an amendment which some Americans, notably our president, do not seem to think still matter.

"Madison’s original draft of the First Amendment read: “the civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship… nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed…” Though somewhat less expansive in its protections, the final version bears Madison’s mark: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

"James Madison: Father and Defender of the Constitution" can be found at The Foundry, the The Heritage Foundation blog. I recommend you read it!

Substitute Teaching

Off to substitute teach.

What is the most important item a substitute teacher must have, in my opinion? The class list! Fortunately, where I sub I am always able to get one.

The key to to the school is also VERY helpful, if you have kids young enough to need recess.

Patience....you must have patience. Everything will not go perfectly. Find the child you can trust and ask him/her how the teacher does such and such. The teachers I sub for usually include the name/s of these kids in their lesson plans. Very helpful.

And pray for grace and peace.... :-)