The Oaklands on WMU Campus on Graduation Weekend

I made a reservation at the Oaklands on WMU campus many months in advance. It's a gorgeous, huge Italianate villa run as a bed and breakfast right in the center of campus. I thought I would never be able to rent all three bedrooms on graduation weekend. I kept waiting for the call telling us that it would be occupied during graduation. The call never came. We had the whole place to ourselves and right on campus. No traffic for graduation, no parking...we walked there. It was incredible. God is so good to us. (And I highly recommend the Oaklands for any event. It's so beautiful and very reasonably priced--even for graduation!! If you'd like to see more photos of the inside, see my previous blog post on it here. Graduation was not our first visit.

I couldn't help thinking, over and over, who are we to stay in such a lovely, convenient location, all together, for such an important campus event.

It made for great family pictures...These are my girls, Back row: oldest daughter Anne, Liz the grad, and Mary. Front: my two favorite daughters-in-law, Elle and Esther. (Yes, I only have two, but nevertheless they are my favorites. :-)

We kind of felt out of place in such a gorgeous mansion....

Only John could not attend, because of work, but here are my other five children...(Mike, Mary, Liz, Anne, and Jim) Yes, I know, very traditional names..

 Mike, Esther, and Joey (grandchild number 2) with Liz...

 Jim and his wife Elle with Liz...

 Nice when your sister-in-law is your good friend...

Photo of original family, just missing John. Perhaps we'll photo shop him in...

True to Michigan form, the weather brought a downpour of snow despite it being the end of April..Too funny.

And here she is with a snow covered mortarboard, and hanging on to those two degrees. (Human Resources-- a business degree, and Aviation (aviation management)

Yeah, I'm just a little proud of her....God is good.

Graduation!

My youngest daughter has graduated from college. What a joyful day it was. 

For well over 20 years my husband and I have spent a large chunk of our income on tuition--Catholic grade schools, Catholic high schools, and college. Now we are finished. There is a certain joy in that, but the greater joy is knowing that Liz has accomplished what she wanted to accomplish. And child number six is launched.

Oldest grandson (3 yrs.) We have to sit here for how long??

Liz with proud mom and dad!

Grandchild number 3. Happy to be with Grandpa.

 Liz with the dean of the College of Aviation. He very kindly invited every parent to come forward and get a good camera shot of the graduate receiving her diploma. Everyone appreciated it, I think, although it did make for a long event. :-)

But since it was in one of the hangars there were plenty of places to walk around and things to see. (One of Liz's degrees was in aviation management.)

My brother drove in for our celebration dinner. (Rich in the back, Jim with his wife Elle in the front, next to Mary.)

Another shot of yours truly with the graduate.

Son-in-law Zach with grandchild number 2.

Daughter-in-law Esther with my niece Monique who also came for the dinner. So sweet of her.

 Western Michigan University has another graduate.

More on this very fun family event tomorrow.....

He Knew All That He Would Endure

This is the night when Jesus was betrayed by one of his own. His friends asleep, he prayed in agony that this cup might be taken away. He did not have to allow this torture. And yet he did, out of love for us. And as our friend Stephen Rouhana describes in the beautiful poem below, Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to him. The image was so horrific that he sweat blood. Still, he chose to die in this way out of love for us. Amazing love.

You Knew

Stephen W. Rouhana

February 23, 2018

Every bruise of the fist, Every choke of the chain,

That was only the start of a time full of pain...

You knew.

Every lie to be told, Every false accusation,

The Total rejection of the Israelite nation...

You knew.

Every slap on the cheek, Every spit in the face,

The unbearable sin of the whole human race...

You knew.

Every welt of the rod, Every tear of the whip,

Every inch of your skin, as it started to rip...

You knew.

Every poke of a thorn, Every scratch on Your skull,

Every moment of hope that the pain would get dull...

You knew.

Every pluck of the beard, Every taunt and derision,

You could have said "No," it was all Your decision...

You knew.

The taunts of the crowd, their ridicule and laughter,

On your way to Golgotha and what would come after...

You knew.

The wound on your shoulder, The scrapes on Your knees, 

The destination ahead to be nailed to the trees...

You knew.

That three times you would fall and impact the street,

The holes in Your hands, and The holes in Your feet...

You knew.

Every drop of Your blood, and the hole in Your Heart,

Your last human breath as You finished Your part...

You knew.

You knew all these things, before You ever said yes, yet, You still went ahead.

YOU KNEW and YOU LOVED, so you still went ahead.

Copyright 2018 Stephen W. Rouhana

Used with Permission

Did Joe Biden Do Something Wrong?

Joe Biden has been accused recently of inappropriately touching women, of making them feel uncomfortable.

It bothers me that many conservatives are belittling these accusations, claiming they are politically motivated and instigated by Biden's opponents for the democratic nomination. Well, that may be. But let's look at the accusations themselves.

Lucy Flores claims the following happened at a 2014 rally for her campaign for the Nevada Assembly:"Very unexpectedly and out of nowhere I feel Joe Biden put his hands on my shoulders, get up very close to me from behind, lean in, smell my hair and then plant a slow kiss on the top of my head." (CNN interview)

Well. In the above video Biden claims that he is always trying to connect with people in an effort to help or support them. He says he's striving for a human connection. Well, Senator Biden, there are connections and there are connections.

Biden is not denying that the above incident happened. So there is no comparison between this case and the confirmation hearings of Justice Kavanaugh.  Please. Don't even go there.

Biden claims that the boundaries protecting personal space have changed. No, they haven't. A generation or two ago, if a man did this to a woman he might have been slapped. If anything, I would say that the boundaries in many circumstances have loosened.

Mr. Biden, if what Lucy Flores says is true and, to my knowledge, you have not denied it, you were engaging in very creepy behavior. Yes, creepy. Please don't pretend that some years ago this would have been acceptable and only now that personal boundaries have changed it is not. No, this would never have been OK. And you did it in a backstage situation where you were clearly the person in power and where it would have been very difficult for her to even give you a what-the-heck-are-you-doing look.

Should Biden therefore not be nominated for president? Please. Donald Trump is the sitting president. Need I say more? But, yes, it would be my strong preference to have presidents with great personal integrity, who didn't need to make excuses for having violated a person's "personal space."

The Papacy: What the Pope Does and Why It Matters-- A Review

As Steve Ray received his first Holy Communion tears streamed down his face. I know because I was a Eucharistic minister, facing the congregation, at the Mass at Christ the King in Ann Arbor when he and his family were received into the Catholic Church. I remember thinking, “Now there’s a convert!” (Read more about Steve Ray’s Conversion story HERE)

Steve Ray was raised as an evangelical protestant and came to the Catholic faith through reason and study of the historical church. Deacon Dennis Walters has a rich background in Scripture and theological study and numerous years of ministry experience including directing RCIA programs. Together they have written a book, The Papacy:What the Pope Does and Why It matters. It just might answer every question you have about the pope.

What is particularly interesting about this book is that it is not written with the assumption that the reader is already a faithful Catholic who understands and accepts papal authority. In an interview with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio, Steve described his book as a job description of the pope or an A to Z of the papacy. It is exactly that. All aspects of the papacy are covered including the Scriptural and historical underpinnings of the Catholic understanding of the pope’s role.

The first chapter starts with the birth of the Church at Pentecost and three different scenarios that could have happened after that earth shaking display of the power of the Holy Spirit: 1. Everyone could have gone home filled with the Holy Spirit and with enriched personal lives 2. The apostles could have divided the people into groups, each having their own following and interpretation of what happened. Or 3. Peter could have explained to the crowd what had happened and how it related to the death and resurrection of Jesus and urged that everyone be baptized. Those thousands would make up the infant church and under Peter’s leadership the faith would spread all over the world. The third possibility is what happened, Steve explains, and thus Peter’s leadership dates back all the way to the birthday of the Church.

From there we learn how the pope is the defender and teacher of Catholic moral theology, the unifier of the church. He is a reconciler, an evangelist, leader and teacher. I particularly appreciated the details about how the pope teaches and the differences among such familiar terms as encyclicals, papal bulls, apostolic constitutions and apostolic exhortations. There are also a number of references to infallibility and discussions about when the pope is infallible and when he is not. To be infallible is not be impeccable (unable to sin.) The authors remind us that not everything the pope says or does is infallible.

The reader will also find rich biographical information about a number of our greatest popes, the history of the conclave and the selection process today. There is also a discussion of the pope as brother and how he is a leader to all religions. The pope is the successor to Peter and not just to the previous pope.

I think my favorite chapter is “Ten Common Attacks on the Papacy.” Included are the following accusations. The pope can change doctrine. The fact that popes have said things that are incorrect shows that they are not infallible. The sinfulness of some popes shows that they are not infallible. The authors deftly refute all of these attacks.

Steve Ray, in the aforementioned interview with Al Kresta, said that he remembers his evangelical protestant father saying, “Why would Catholics let some old man in Rome tell them in America how to live their lives and what to do?” In many ways this book is the answer to that question. Between the lines you can almost hear Steve Ray the convert talking to the protestant he once was, explaining the legitimacy of the papacy and the evidence of papal authority from the earliest times.

The Papacy is a wonderful resource for a Catholic family to have. It’s easy to read and well written. The appendixes include a chronological list of the popes, a glossary, recommended citations from Scripture and the Catechism, recommended reading, a subject index and a Scripture index. You couldn’t ask for anything more to add to this book’s usefulness.

If you have protestant friends who are asking questions about the authority of the pope, this book will provide you with every answer you might need. Maybe your teens have never understood how the pope is the successor to Peter. (This book would make great required reading for high school students.) Or maybe you yourself would like to be better informed about the church’s teaching on the papacy.

The Papacy: What The PopeDoes and Why It Matters would be a valuable addition to any library. I highly recommend it. You can purchase it at    www.catholicconvert.comhttp://www.steveraysstore.com/books.

It's morning on what looks to be another gray day. It's the middle of March so we know the cold weather won't last TOO much longer, although we will sometimes get a random snowfall even in April. Thanks to a couple days of above freezing weather the sidewalks have mostly lost the occasional icy glaze that we have to watch closely for. And most of the sidewalks are even dry. Makes walking my dog a lot easier and a lot safer.

Just saw my neighbors kitchen light turn off. It's early. Not quite 7:30. We need to get blinds up in our new room soon. Just waiting for sample colors to arrive.

It's quiet. My daughter has just left for work and my husband is not up yet. It's a good time to write.

Well, as far as neighborhood news goes...there was a murder just about a block away from us. It's been several weeks now and there has been no arrest. The only thing the police will tell us is that it did not appear to be a random murder. I hope all their secrecy will lead to an apprehension of the perpetrator. All of us neighbors are a little on edge about it. A murder, for heaven's sakes!

He was a man who grew dahlias all over his front yard. They were lovely. He kept vases of water at the end of his driveway and would put cut dahlias in each vase with a note to take one. Such a simple thing. He brought a lot of joy to everyone in the neighborhood who walked by. Then someone killed him. Lord have mercy. Please pray that the killer will be found soon!

We've used our new room a lot since it's been built. I think I'm counting 15 times for large groups. 16, if you count our family Christmas celebration. We had an Alpha class here for our parish Christ the King. We had an open house, just to show our neighbors what all the construction was about. We've had 2 or 3 neighborhood meetings about a proposed new apartment complex that would be built right along the backyards of many of our neighbors. (Totally inappropriate for the site.) And we had a gathering of neighbors just to mourn the loss of the man who gave away flowers. I'm happy we've been able to use the room like this. It's been a great blessing and has helped to build the community of our neighbors.

How is your day going?

Ice Everywhere!

We always have snow and we always have ice.

But back to back is a real mess. These are how the branches looked a couple days ago.

Then it all melted and everything was just wet. Then it all froze again.  Yikes, it's a mess.

And it's going to happen again tonight. There's been a lot of snow covering all the ice from before. But now it's around 40 degrees. Everything is melting. Nice. And during the night we will even have rain. So it will be real wet everywhere. Then, just before rush hour, the temperature will again drop below freezing. Come on! Prayers for everyone's safety on the road!! Be careful!

New Blog Alert!! "Catholic Librarian"

I was blessed, after home schooling my children for a numbers of years, to be able to send them to a very faithful Catholic elementary school. My friend Barb was the librarian there.

 How I appreciated being able to ask Barb about any of the youth books and their conformity to Catholic values. She is a devout Catholic mom and entirely reliable in her recommendations.

Barb, who is now retired from library work, has started a blog!! Www.catholiclibrarian,blogspot.com. She is writing reviews of books she recommends and will have ongoing lists of these books by category. (She will also write an occasional warning about books she does NOT recommend.) You can count on Barb to let you know if there is even an implication of objectionable content. She's attentive even to nuances, pro that she is.

What a fantastic resource this blog will be for all moms raising kids.

Barb IS the Catholic Librarian every Catholic mom ought to have as a resource. Now you have access to her extensive knowledge from a very faithful Catholic perspective.

I would bookmark it!   https://catholiclibrarian.blogspot.com/

Thank you, Barb, for sharing your experience with the world! It's crazy out there. You will be a light in the darkness!!

God's Crazy Love

I'm reading Doors In The Walls Of The World by Peter Kreeft for a book club I'm in.

There are a number of wonderful passages in this book, but yesterday this one really struck me.

The good news is not just that God loves us but that he is crazy in love with us. Us, who are not only stupid and shallow and silly but morally insane (that is, immorally insane), who choose the fearful over the cheerful, the misery of selfishness over the joy of selflessness, despite our universal experience of the results of that experiment. God is not just proper and correct and philanthropic in His love. He is crazy. He is super-rationally insane as we are sub-rationally insane. We are crazy-bad, but God is crazy-good. He is madly in love with his severely brain-and-heart damaged children, and we cannot know the reason for that because that reason is not to be found in us but only in Him.

What a beautiful and amusing passage.

Yes, he loves us crazily. I can hear the atheists asking "How do you know that?" Well, there is enormous Scriptural evidence. And, yes, Scripture IS historical evidence. It's much more verifiable than many other examples of historical evidence that no one ever questions.

But for those of us who believe, the evidence is in our lives, in the way we see His hand in everything-- sometimes in hindsight, I will grant you. But it is always there. In every sunset, in every sunrise, in every lovely bird that brings a smile to our faces. He is always there. Every child's adorable expression speaks of the creator.

Could each molecule on Earth have coincidentally fallen into place in exactly the ordered position to support life and unspeakable beauty all at the same time? I think not. That is too hard to believe.

The creator is lavish. He is crazy Love itself.

The Polar Vortex (Sounds terrifying, doesn't it?)

It's bitter cold here today in Michigan. Scary cold. The high is supposed to be -6. Yes, the high. Real feel is 38 below zero right now.

The power companies asked the manufacturing facility where my husband works to please turn off anything they can because the Midwest is experiencing a power shortage. Yes, it's that cold.

I have not been outside. The Adoration chapel at my church is closed. The Pilates class I usually attend has been canceled. All the schools are closed.

Even the University of Michigan is closed which hardly ever happens.

Blame it all on the polar vortex. Learn more about it HERE and HERE.

It seems that polar vortexes are not new. They occur fairly regularly but the term has only recently been popularized. I like the term. It sounds powerful, just like the drama of these dangerously cold conditions.

Mu husband enjoys feeding and watching the birds. He has a heated bird bath for them. Clearly this is the only liquid water around.

But I haven't seen a bird all day. They must be in shelter, poor things.

Just checked the Audubon website where it says that birds have varying techniques to cope with frigid weather, that is the birds that decide to tough it out here in the North, rather than fly south for the winter.  Learn more about it HERE.

Ties That Bind

There are many ties that bind but one of them is surely blood. Here I am with my brother and sister.

I know not everyone gets along with their siblings, and some sibling relationships not only do not bind but aren't even healthy. Life is complicated.

But I love my brother and sister and I credit my parents for having made it so. We had our squabbles. We still do occasionally. But our parents set the example of forgiveness. If you mess up, you apologize. If you disagree, you try to understand the other's point of view and apologize for whatever part you played in the conflict. Rarely does the blame fall entirely on one person.

We also were never allowed to be intentionally hurtful in our disagreements. You couldn't go personal. And there was a line past which no one ever crossed. Respect for each other had to be maintained. Did we ever yell? Sure. But we did not attack. We stuck to the issue at hand.

As a result, I don't think any of us hold any grudges against each other. (Watch, one of them will call me and bring an incident up. Remember that one time.....Hehehe. Well, nothing comes to mind.)

When I'm having a bad day I call my sister and she lets me vent. I do the same for her. We both know that, for the most part, we will always be on each other's side.

My brother can always make me laugh. Regardless of the circumstances, he will be able to find something funny about it-- and something that I will think is funny as well. We seem to have exactly the same sense of humor. Sometimes just a look from him can crack me up. And when the three of us are all together, sometimes we can hardly stop laughing.

So today I'm feeling grateful for my siblings and for parents who taught us well how to get along.

Stay warm. We're getting a lot of snow in Michigan. Guess I better call my sister and find out what the weather is like in Missouri. :-)

Winter Wonderland Hot Chocolate Bar!!

We all agreed that we had taken on a bit much for this one-year-old's birthday party. The theme of the party was "Winter Wonderland." Yes, parties have themes now. That's a thing. We always just put on a party, but now everything revolves around a theme. It's actually kind of fun.

Daughter Mary not only played a major role in the decorating of Steady Eddy the Snowman, she also planned additional cupcakes that would have clear gelatin snow globes over the frosting. That was quite an undertaking and didn't quite work out as planned. We still had the cupcakes though with the little trinkets on them that would have been under the globe.

Daughter Anne, the mother of the birthday boy, planned a hot chocolate bar, with rich hot chocolate (whipping cream, condensed milk, regular milk, vanilla and melted chocolate chips) simmering in a slow cooker, and add-ons: marshmallows, praline sticks, candy canes, cinnamon, whipping cream, snowman peeps and caramel sauce.

Daughter-in-law Elle did decorations complete with twinkle lights...And daughter Liz helped with everything.

They also served subs!!

We finally looked at each other and agreed. This was a lot! We also realized we had actually pulled it off. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun!

I remember thinking in the last half hour of preparation how delightful it was to work with my daughters on a hospitality event. We worked quite well together, all kind of on the same page. No one chatted about unrelated things or told stories. We helped each other as needed. We stayed on target. We talked fast. We moved fast. I loved it. I was so proud of them. And even though it was not my party, I felt a certain maternal satisfaction as I watched them work. I thought, "I have a team."

Yes, we overdid it. We took on too many elaborate projects. But we truly enjoyed ourselves and we pulled it off. Somehow. Thanks be to God.  :-)

Everybody, stay warm. It's freezing cold in Michigan, not exactly a winter wonderland.

Biting Off More Than We Can Chew...

                                                       

It was such an adorable cake pan. And the birthday boy loved snowmen. Perfect! We would make him a snowman cake.  I couldn't find a flat Wilton pan in the shape of a snowman, where you just decorate it flat. No. So I discovered this three dimensional guy who stands up. I thought, "Cool. That will be adorable." It was only after having placed the order on Amazon that I thought about what I had done. I had never made a three dimensional cake that stood vertical before. How would I get it to stand up? What would steady it? It would probably fall off the tray with a lit candle on it, just as we brought it to him singing Happy Birthday.

There would also be no extra time. The pan would arrive the evening we would have to start baking. Oh dear. I solicited the help of my clever daughter Mary. That took some of the pressure off.

We had to bake him the night before, glue him with thick icing to the cardboard and refrigerate him overnight. I started referring to this guy as Frosty, of course. With great trepidation we lifted him, undecorated on the cardboard, with only wet frosting holding him vertical. After he made it into the fridge I started calling him, appropriately I think, Steady Eddy. The next morning we started the decorating. The snow was mostly done as stars, the hat and the scarf with a ribbon tip, I think.

My daughter, who has much less experience than I in cake decorating, turned out to have quite a natural knack. Thankfully!

And here was Steady Eddy, on his little pedestal, the prince of the hot chocolate table (which I will write more about tomorrow.)

 When my one-year old grandson saw it he started laughing and pointing. (Heart throb!) It was worth every effort just to see his face.

As moms and grandmoms we have to be careful about overextending. Generally, I've found that, for me, it is not a good idea to take on too much.

But sometimes it just works! This was one of those times. There was stress, yes. But it was a good stress, the kind that propels you forward and uses creative energy, powered by love.

May we all learn the right boundaries on what we ought to try and ought not to try. May the Spirit guide us. And if the Spirit says, "Go for it," may we go for it. Blessed be God.

Mosaic Masterpiece

I am blessed to be part of a parish with some astonishingly talented artists who give generously of their time. Claudia Burns was the mastermind artist behind this incredible mosaic for behind the tabernacle at our parish, Christ the King in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The project represents 1800 hours of construction, completed by 54 volunteers, over 15 months.

My daughters and I contributed just a couple hours. We loved it, but life got too busy.

The mosaic consists of thousands of tiny shards of glass, all brilliantly chosen and color coordinated by our master artist Claudia.

Look at the detail. It's exquisite.

Here is the installation behind the tabernacle. It's perfect.

It's gorgeous from a distance and even more beautiful up close.

Is it not a fittingly magnificent mosaic for behind our beautiful tabernacle. Brought me to tears!

Thank you, Claudia, for designing and executing this extraordinary work. How you give glory to God with your talent and willingness to use it for HIM!

You can find more photos of the construction of this beautiful work HERE

Another Celebration

The end of Thanksgiving dinner marked the beginning of another family celebration: a slightly early birthday celebration for my second oldest grandson.

My daughter-in-law had the ingenious idea to make a cake like a baseball, to match the sport themed balloons we had bought. She thought she would use a pie pan as the mold. I have to confess I had my doubts. She used a glass pie pan which I think she greased and floured. It came out of the pan nicely!

She then put berry jam in a baggy and piped the lines of a baseball on it. After that, she used little slices of fruit snacks to form the stitching on the ball. It was quite impressive. I have a very resourceful daughter-in-law.

Happy Second birthday, Little Guy! I don't use his name because his parents avoid an online presence and I want to respect that.

Such a cutie, and looking so much like his father as a baby I am always taken aback...

It was a great opportunity, when the whole family was present, to celebrate another milestone event! It's rare these days to have everyone together, and what a precious time it is.

God bless you, Little One, on your birthday and throughout your entire life!!