So, when's our flight home?

Eating at Damon's is great;
You get to pretend you're just visiting.

*Disclaimer: I love Franciscan University, but Steubenville, not so much.

Advance at your own risk...

There's simple, and then there's THIS:

So, I've been a bit of a hypochondriac lately living in our greasy apartment and was speculating that maybe I have bacterial meningitis because my neck hurts (quite the leap I know, but I told you I am being a hypochondriac..)

Anyway, while I am reporting my symptom to my husband who should be listening attentively and lovingly, he says:
Oh! My vision is blurry! Wait, I'm not wearing my glasses; this is how it always is!

Thanks honey.

Happy Thanksgiving

If you're wondering what to be thankful for,
just open your eyes.
-Father Scanlan

Jon was hungry

Usually when we drive past our church on the way home, we like to say hello to Jesus or a prayer like "O Sacrament Most Holy..."

The other day, however, when Jon initiated the prayer, he began: Blessed Us O Lord, for these thy gifts.."

I started saying the prayer in sync with Jon until my abrupt stop :

"Bless Us O Lord, for these thy WHAT?"

We laughed the rest of the way home... and fed Jon right when we got there.

--I don't know what it is, but these are the delightful moments when you just smile at each other and think about what a couple of dorks you are.

Steubenville circa 2000.

That's me with the one eyeball...

So, I have a small itty bitty fear that sometimes rules my life: I resist getting my blood drawn. No problem with needles at all--I'll take a shot anyday, a hundred if you please--but please no blood!
Anyway, so last time I went to get my blood drawn two months ago, I decided to go by myself so I could "conquer" this fear. The nurse took blood out and then discovered that she used the wrong tube, so oops! I got two bandaids that visit, one in each arm, you could imagine my face afterwards, a smile upside down, just looked like a 5 year old whose Lego castle was hit down by a bully.

Now, speed up to today, I went with Jon since we were heading out together anyway and was a little nervous, although getting better at this whole blood thing. I went in and sat down, put my arm out and the same nurse puts the needle in and then in shock starts panicking: "%)*&^$!..Oh where's the blood?! Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh *#%$@!"

OKAY--now imagine MY REACTION to THIS! "What? NO BLOOD?!" So, then she takes the needle out and decides to go in my other vein in my right arm. At this point I am worried but nothing like that can happen twice, right?? (btw, a nurse cursing that there is no blood while trying to take out blood is a veritable nightmare for someone already disposed to faint by a less traumatic experience) So, she puts the needle in, and again, nothing. So in the second panic of the day she calls for the other nurse to come look, meanwhile I am turning ghastly white (wondering if indeed I am a ghost who has no blood, or any other possible explanation for how I have been living without blood in my veins) and then the other nurse comes and tells her that she went too far, evidently past the vein in some way. So I get jabbed now a third time by the new nurse, and alas, I do have blood in my veins after all.
So, the end of story is this, poor pitiful me, oh feel bad for me, it ain't easy getting over your fears when they are accompanied by "%*@$*&#!!"
My worst nightmare about getting my blood drawn CAME TRUE.

Thanks Riesbeck's in Steubenville

Just happy to see some "covers" on the more scandalous magazines by the check-out line at Riesbeck's grocery store.
Confirms two things for me:
One, I am not the only person who would vocalize this concern to a business (hence, if I AM a crazy zealot for the protection of children and adults, then at least I am not the ONLY one and that feels good--No more "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" for me) And
Two, Riesbeck's responded as far as they could to the request, which does add a tally mark to their store in my mind
So, I still don't know who to thank personally, but I have a feeling there's a Steubie out there somewhere who deserves a thanks from all of us who are benefiting from their action...
So...THANKS!!

Protecting Children

I feel compelled to write a short note on protecting children. We all assume it is our daughters we must watch out for. So, we look up the sex offenders in the area, we always supervise them, we don't let them go alone to friends' houses. But, it is so important to be aware that these assaults can be directed toward our sons. And, not just by adults (adult males, as the most obvious and statistical offenders), but by other children who have been victimized themselves, and so perpetuate the molestation. Of course, all children deserve great love (esp the ones who have been brutally mistreated by others), but it is so important to protect our children while they are young and vulnerable. So, I hope that this note increases your awareness (for those who have children already or are looking forward to them in the future) of the existence of sexual molestation between children, even very young children, who simply do not understand the harm that it can cause.
God bless you all and keep praying for a culture of life that does not trample upon the joys of childhood and the true meaning of our sexuality.

From Father Frank Pavone on What "Pro-Choice" Means

"In the day that you eat of it," God warned them, "you
shall die" (Gen 2:17). What is wrong with knowing good
from evil? Aren't we supposed to know the difference
between good and evil? Why, then, is this the one tree
of which our first parents were not to eat?

The answer lies in the fact that the "knowledge of good
and evil" here does not simply mean "knowing." It means
that Adam and Eve would think they could decide the
difference between good and evil, that they would be
the ones to determine what was right and wrong, that
they would be the norm of morality.

This is the original temptation. "What's right and
wrong for me is up to me... What's right and wrong for
you is up to you... Do not impose your morality on
me... I will create my own values... I am accountable
to nobody but myself."

In other words, it's all up to my own personal choice.
The original sin is to put choice above goodness and
truth, to abuse freedom by trying to create what is
right rather than submit to it.

Jesus showed us the way of submission to the Father, of
obedience even unto death on a cross. That is why he
was highly exalted. Following his example, and living
in the power of the Spirit, we lead our culture from
the self-exaltation of "choice" that leads to death to
the self-sacrifice of obedience that leads to life.

I Love My Husband..

He couldn't find his rosary last night.
So used his giant wooden muti-colored one from when he was a kid.
You know the one. I usually leave it out for kids who may visit us.
It was hard not to laugh, I must say,
seeing him pray, 6'3", almost 26 yrs old,
with a scruffy beard, and
a giant kid's rosary.