December 25, 2008

Might Mom … Wednesday: Merry Christmas!

A mother’s letter to Santa  (from Sarah … A.K.A. “Mighty Mom”) Dear Santa, I’ve been a good mom all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor’s office more than my doctor, and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son’s red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I’ll find any more free time in the next […]
December 24, 2008

Wee Cook Wednesday: Christmas Eve Fruit Salad

Looking for something easy, festive … and green to tempt young palates to eat up quickly so you can make it to Midnight Mass? This is a childhood favorite, from my Aunt Suzy… she called it  “Pistachio Mold.” Which always sounded a bit … icky for such a delicious salad! 1 pkg instant pistachio pudding 1 can chunk pineapple, drained 1 can fruit cocktail, drained 1 jar marachino cherries, chopped 1/2 C chopped nuts 1 C mini marshmallows 1 large carton Cool Whip. Mix together everything but Cool Whip. Fold in the Whip and pour mixture into a Jell-O mold. Chill. Yum.
December 22, 2008

Mighty Mom Monday: Lessons in Gratitude

Thanks to “Mighty Mom” for reprising this heartfelt post here at EMN. In this season of Advent, may we always be mindful of those for whom the “holidays” are a painful reminder of what they need … first and foremost, the preservation of dignity. OK, when I was a child we lived in what I now know was poverty. However, because my then step-father was going to SMU to seminary (he never finished) we lived for a year and a half in the richest part of Dallas. It was very hard to be “the poor kid.” Well, during the second of those Decembers we got an […]
December 20, 2008

“Weird Moms” – A Belated Tribute

Karen at “Odd Moms” invited me to check out her blog the other day …  “I know the ‘Weird Mom’ contest is over, but I wanted to pass this along,” she wrote.  I’m so glad she did.  I was especially touched by this tribute to her mother.  Neither Karen nor her mother have had an easy life. But they managed to impart to their children important lessons about self-reliance and courage — first and foremost, by their own example as courageous single moms. Karen’s blog is a good reminder that not all EMs are adoptive or foster moms. Some of them are moms who are simply doing the […]
December 19, 2008

No More Snowflakes: On “Dignitatis Personae”

From “Dignitatis Personae” (“On the Dignity of Persons”), published by CDF on the 20th anniversary of “Donum Vitae” in order to address certain questions pertaining to reproductive technologies and the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death.  Paragraph 13 addresses the parameters of options available to married couples who want to become parents: “[T]echniques aimed at removing obstacles to natural fertilization, as for example, hormonal treatments for infertility, surgery for endometriosis, unblocking of fallopian tubes or their surgical repair, are licit. All these techniques may be considered authentic treatments because, once the problem causing the infertility has been resolved, the married couple is able […]
December 17, 2008

Wee Cook Wednesday: Seafood Newburg Chowder

This one is a bit dear to make with all the fish and shellfish — I like to make it for Christmas Eve or New Years’ Eve, served with cheesy bread. The shellfish adds up fast … but then, it’s only once a year. Make it part of your Christmas tradition! Enjoy! 1 lb fish (haddock or flounder, fresh or frozen) 1 lb med. shrimp, thawed and drained 1 lb scallops (tiny ones) 1/2 lb crab meat (NOT “krab”) 4 Tbls butter 1/3 C flour 1 qt half-and-half 1 C milk 1 pkg tiny peas 1/4 C dry sherry (aw… don’t bother measuring) 3/4 C […]
December 15, 2008

Mighty Mom Monday: Hooligan Mass Adventure – Part Deux

Who remembers the Hooligan Mass Adventure? Well, we have a sequel! We’ll call this one: “How the kids behave at 8:00 AM Mass before Preschool” (on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is why we went to church before school started). For the sake of convience we went to a church that was new to us. The Good: We had an entire pew to ourselves. This was really good during the prayer intentions, as Sugars decided that the missilette books needed to be rearranged in the pew holder. Every … single … one…. So each “Lord hear our prayer” found me taking a step […]
December 13, 2008

Pray for Mulderink family

Today I received the following from Cheryl Dickow (Bezalel Books) about a mutual friend, Kathryn Mulderink. Please pray for grace on this family: On their way up from Chicago this morning, my sister and her 4 children were in a serious accident. My sister, Anne Lorang, is in the ICU in Benton Harbor with closed head trauma. My 17 year old niece, Aimee, was killed. The other children (who are like my own!) are staying with us for now, while her husband, Tom, remains with Anne. My sister is not yet coherent enough to communicate, so she still does not know that her daughter did […]