February 14, 2008
February 14, 2008
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Does Your Mommy Monster Need Taming?!

Drum roll, please! Simon Peter Press has just released … Raising Up Mommy Virtues for Difficult Mothering Moments Moms everywhere will understand what I mean when I say that there are days when the monsters win. Those seven deadly habits — pride or envy, gluttony or sloth, greed or lust or (in my case) anger — eat away at the soul until the very fabric of family life begins to come apart at the seams. Fortunately, as women we have also been blessed with extraordinary gifts, spiritual antidotes to these sinful inclinations. As we exercise ourselves in virtue — whether that spiritual “weight training” be […]
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February 12, 2008
February 12, 2008
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Happy Feasting!

Ebeth has posted this week’s Catholic Carnival at “A Catholic Mum Climbing the Pillars.” We foiled her in her “Valentine’s Day” theme … but it is still well worth reading. Enjoy! Sunday was a special feastday … although I didn’t get anything posted about it (I don’t think she’ll mind … St. Scholastica perfected the feminine virtue of hiddenness.) Instead, four dear friends and I gathered for our annual “Ladies’ Tea.” Our friendship goes back more than a decade, when I first moved to Michigan to take the managing editor’s job at Servant Publications. Shortly thereafter, I joined St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann […]
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February 1, 2008
February 1, 2008
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When Love Gets Expensive

After taking a bit of a break, I’m ready to jump back into the series about Mother Teresa, as revealed in the book Come, Be My Light. As I’ve said — most recently in the last post in this series — I believe Blessed Teresa should be (if she isn’t already) the patroness of adoptive and foster mothers. Today I’d like to share with you another way this dear saint of Calcutta lived a life that is a model for adoptive and foster parents everywhere. Reason #3: She continued to love, even when it cost her dearly. It would have been very easy, after receiving […]
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February 1, 2008
February 1, 2008
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Fighting to Win … a Lenten Pledge

Tonight on “Celebrity Apprentice,” Donald Trump didn’t get to utter his signature “You’re fired!” Instead, Vincent Pastore (pictured, of “Sopranos” fame … a show I never did see) stunned everyone by resigning. Long story short, Piers Morgan (what a twit) was such a toxic individual that Mr. Pastore decided he would rather go home than continue to deal with the man’s nonsense. So first Pastore tried a double-agent maneuver with the girls’ team, which ended badly, then he simply resigned. (Trump seemed disappointed; I think he was itching to ditch the snarky Brit, as was everyone else on his team except the boxer, who must […]
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January 29, 2008
January 29, 2008
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Adoption Journey and Catholic Carnival…

The Catholic Carnival this week is hosted by Kate Wicker, and is entitled (appropriately) “Feast Before the Fast” in honor of the upcoming Lenten season. Great job, Kate! Also, here is a link to the latest Adoption Journey Blog Carnival.
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January 23, 2008
January 23, 2008
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Blessed Mother Teresa: Waiting Room

“Put your hand in Jesus’ hand, and walk alone with Him. Walk ahead, because if you look back you will go back.”Parting words of her mother to 18-year-old Gonxha Bojaxjiu(the future Mother Teresa) In Come Be My Light, we follow Blessed Mother Teresa as she begins God’s work among the most impoverished and powerless in the slums of Calcutta. Despite her urgent, repeated requests, years pass before Mother Teresa receives the necessary permissions – first from her spiritual advisor, then from her bishop, then from Rome, then (finally) her own superior. Even after the permission was granted, delays and misunderstandings (even within the Loreto community) […]
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January 21, 2008
January 21, 2008
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Happy (Other) Mother’s Day

In honor of this other Mother’s Day, I’d like to invite you to enjoy this.Comedienne Anita Renfroe captures in 2.55 minutes everything we all say a million times a day. Kids snuck in while I was watching this classic for the first time, and said, “Hey! Is that YOU? You say that all the time!” Sarah has watched it about 27 times today. Gee, how come she never laughs when I say these things!‘Nuff said.
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January 18, 2008
January 18, 2008
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Movies and Books to Shape the Womanly Soul

All of the resources mentioned in this post are available for your convenience in the “Highly Recommended Favorites” widget to the right. Enjoy!Certain books and movies leave an indelible impression, especially those with characters that make a lasting contribution to the way we understand our place in the world. Some of these people are singularly courageous in love and life, others are fragile and even broken, yet they shine with undeniable gifts bubbling just beneath the surface. Today I’d like to share with you ten of the book-and-movie heroines that have made a lasting impression on me. Some are historical, others are characters … all […]
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January 18, 2008
January 18, 2008
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Painful Truth: A Review of “Silent Prisoner” by Amanda Young (BookSurge Publishing)

From the angry, drunken brawling of her parents’ house to the soul-chilling austerity of a children’s home, eight-year-old April learned early in life that her best chance of survival involved keeping quiet and making herself useful. And so she cultivated a habit of silence. She was silent as she stood in the yard of the orphanage, exposed to the elements, nearly dying of pneumonia. Silent as she endured unspeakable verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. Silent as the only family who had ever shown her kindness died untimely deaths. Silent as she married hastily to escape her childhood horrors, only to find the nightmares multiplied. And […]
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