Angels

Today is the feast of the Holy Angels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. These are three very powerful forces of prayer and guidance for us. Michael means the protector, pray to him when you are in danger in body or soul (especially soul). Gabriel means God's strength. Ask for his help when you need strength especially if you are doubting your faith. Raphael means the healer. He is a powerful source of prayer when we need any kind of healing (physical, spiritual, emotional, etc.) God is so good in that he sends his angels to serve us and protect us. Realize today that all around you are God's angels. You are never alone.

Adoption/Like Dandelion Dust

Taking in a child who needs a home and a family. What a beautiful thought.

I heard about a movie on Christian radio today - I don't know much about it other than they were promoting it and I watched the trailer. It looks like an interesting and sad film. If someone watches it, will you let us know...

http://www.likedandeliondust.com/'

"Pray, hope and don't worry."

Padre Pio, pray for us.

AMEN

Have you ever stopped to really think about what you mean when you say Amen? We say this simple word at the end of prayers, when we receive the Eucharist, or when we energetically agree with something but do we really know what we are saying? Most people probably think that Amen means something like "I believe" or "it is so." Really though the word Amen goes a lot deeper. Amen actually means to believe AND trust. Not only to trust but to trust fully. It is a trust that is complete. Think about that for a moment. When you say a prayer and end with amen, you are saying that you believe and trust. When the Eucharist is presented to you at Mass you say amen or I believe and trust. We are saying that we believe and trust that God will hear and answer our prayer and that we believe and trust that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. Next time you say amen, don't let it just be a short passing word. Call to mind what you are really saying, that you believe and more importantly that you trust.
AMEN

Reel Love Challenge

Marriage is a wonderful vocation that I have been blessed enough to embark on. After getting married in November 2009, my life has changed a lot! Because I am young, my marriage is often questioned. Even though at times getting married young can be difficult, it also has been a great blessing. 

Through each difficult moment, I am not alone. I have my husband with me to get through any obstacle we come across. 

Luckily, I recently graduated from college, but before being married meant that I needed to work a lot as well as go to school. Even though this often made me tired, being married to my wonderful husband enabled me to know that it was all for a purpose greater than myself.

In my opinion, marriage is a life long commitment. My husband and I vowed on our wedding day to love each other, for richer or poorer, sickness or health, until death. This is something we take very seriously. We talked long and hard about these vows way before we were even engaged. Marriage is not something we just jumped into, it is something we hold in high esteem. Marriage represents a love so strong that it is life-giving. 

And as my husband and I have recently experienced, love is called to bring life. And that life we have created will have to be named. And as that life continues to grow in me, and our family continues to grow as our marriage continues, I cannot wait to find out all of the rest of life's ups and downs that we will go through together!

I always love to see film contests that allow college students and young adults to voice their opinion! I think it is important for everyone to become involved and get together to make such great projects!

I'm very excited to see a film contest like Reel Love Challenge because I think that life-long love is possible! Do you?

Check out this Commercial. (Click Here)

Then go visit their facebook page: ReelLoveChallenge

Mammogram Thursday!

Hello Ladies!
I know people see the word Mammogram and get scared, but I'm here to talk about having one! My mother had cancer when she was 40. I've recently learned that the new tradition in medicine is that if a immediate family member, like your mother or sister has had Breast Cancer, then you are to begin Mammograms at least 10 years before the age they were when the cancer was found. So I started mine this year, the day after my 30th birthday! They had an appointment on my birthday, but I thought maybe I'd skip that barrel of laughs. Anyway I arrived for my Mammogram and it went very smoothly. The facility was so nice, I caught up on some magazine reading and Food Network while waiting. The procedure is quick and easy. A little uncomfortable for a second, but when are x-rays ever comfortable?

My point: please check early, check often, and check always! Be one less with Breast Cancer! Don't be scared of the X-Ray!
God Bless!

Amazon Mom

Amazon started a brilliant new program called Amazon mom. You get 3 months of Amazon Prime for Free and for every qualifying $25 purchase you make in a baby store (which is pretty much everything) you earn an additional month of Amazon Prime. The best part is an additional 15% off subscribe and save for diapers and wipes which gives you a total of 30% off diapers!! For example, I use size 3s as backups for Gigi...normally on Amazon they cost $40 for a box of 204 size 3 Pampers. With the subscribe and save discount I signed up for delivery ever 6 months and my cost was $28. That's 13.7 cents a diaper (even cheaper than Kirkland...never saw that one coming) Anywho, baby food counts do, as well as baby soaps, potty learning supplies, wipes, etc. Enjoy!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mom/signup/welcome

Guidance

In college a dance professor gave me a copy of this anonymous poem.  It has stuck with my, several years later.  As I was printing it out this afternoon for my own dance students, I thought that it was worthwhile to share it with you too.

GUIDANCE

When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing “dance” at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.

One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.

It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw “G: I thought of God, followed by “u” and “i”. “God, “u” and “i” dance.” God, you, and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday.

May you abide in God as God abides in you.

Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

"You changed my mourning into dancing…"
Ps 30:12

Psalm 95:7-8

For this is our God, whose people we are, God's well-tended flock. Oh, that today you would hear his voice. Do not harden your hearts

Identity

Every story in order to draw the listener or reader in, must have a good plot. We have all gone to a movie because it has big name actors or crazy effects only to find out that it has absolutely no story line and it is void of a real plot. Plot is to a story what identity is to an individual. Each person needs an identity. It is crucial to who we are. Where we find that identity is the challenge of today's culture. I work with teenagers as a morality teacher and I see more and more how much teenagers today are at a loss to really know who they are. They are searching for an identity, for their own story, and are turning to anything they can to try to establish one.

Take a trip back in time with me for a moment to reflect on how we got to be a culture of people struggling with identity. During the period of the enlightenment science and technology took off. Reason became the mantra of this period. People thought that everything could be solved through science. Pope Benedict XVI said of the Enlightenment "people believed they could regain paradise lost through science and technology. They moved their hope from Jesus to science." Deep inside us we long to get back to the the perfection that Adam and Eve experienced in the garden and in a way the enlightenment period thought they could get back there through science and technology. Society started seeing science as their savior instead of God. We lost a sense of the grand storymaker and with a loss of Him came a loss of the story itself. People then had to make up their own story.

Fast forward to the Baby Boomer generation. The baby boomers took this idea of creating your own story to an extreme. It was during this time that people started telling their kids "you can be anything you want to be." They lived during a time of great advancement and so they were dreaming big. They were giving them permission to write their own story. This might sound great and like something an "inspirational speaker" would say but in reality it isn't true. I couldn't be an NBA player. God just didn't make me a super tall, super athletic person. When we tell children that they basically make their own story and their own identity we are by default telling them that they have no identity until they create one themselves. Their worth then is self made. This is a terrible burden for someone to carry during their teenage years when their identity is most questioned. It is like sending them into a storm with no compass. The wind can push them any which way. Why is the generation after the baby boomers called generation X? Because they had no real identity. The generation after that is called generation Y, because well, that is what comes after X. Human beings need to know that they have an identity. That they have a story. Yes we are writing our own story through our life but we have the best co author possible, God himself. If we loose site of Him, the story becomes very confusing and tough to write. We don't need to make up our story or create our own identity. God has given us an identity as his child. Instead of telling kids they can be anything they want to be let's start giving them permission to be exactly who God made them to be!

College is...

I have a new article up on IIBloom!!! 

This article is dedicated to the AMAZING Class of 2010 and Professors from John Paul the Great Catholic University!!!!

College is...

Parental Rights

My mother in law forwarded me an eye opening article about parental rights. Did you know that if your child is 12 years old you have NO legal rights to view their medical records?? Yup, your 12 year old who is 100% dependent on you for food, clothing, shelter, and allowance has the legal right to hide their medical records from you and can even go to the doctor to the doctor to be prescribed birth control (not sure if a pharmacy can fulfill that prescription though if they are under 18...) Yet another piece of legislation brought to you by pro-abortion groups to chip away at our parental rights. Don't you just love California?

Here's the article.

Pray for Priests

I just found out yesterday that a Priest who I greatly admired has left his community and the Priesthood. This reminded me how much we need to pray for our Priests. The Devil hates them most because they bring us Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. We may often remember to pray for an increase in Priestly vocations but let us not forget to pray for those men who have already given their life to the Church has a Priest. Below is a prayer for Priest. Please keep in your prayers Fr. Xavier, Msgr Dale, and all Priests who have been led astray that they return to the their vocation like the Prodigal Son in scripture.

Prayer for Priests

Most gracious Heavenly Father,
We thank you for our faithful priests and bishops, whose spiritual fatherhood and example of fidelity, self-sacrifice, and devotion is so vital to the faith of your people.
May our spiritual fathers be guided by the examples of Saints Peter and Paul, all the Apostles and their saintly successors. Give them valiant faith in the face of confusion and conflict, hope in time of trouble and sorrow, and steadfast love for you, for their families, and for all your people throughout the world. May the light of your Truth shine through their lives and their good works.
Assist all spiritual fathers, that through your Grace they may steadily grow in holiness and in knowledge and understanding of your Truth. May they generously impart this knowledge to those who rely on them.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.