super cute baby video

I know I'm biased, but my kids are super cute.

to Liz

Dear Liz,

Allow me to quote you and then follow up with my thoughts.

#1: being in a particularly non-religious country isn’t doing a whole lot for my spiritual life.
--- I know the USA is a lot more religious than the UK, but outside the cocoon of a Newman Center and college life it can be very hard to keep a spiritual life. I have found that in this stage of my life, where I am not surrounded by good Catholics and a chapel, it can be very hard to love, trust and serve God. Suddenly my challenges are much more mundane - like not losing my temper or not using foul language - but they are also so much harder to do. Sometimes I feel myself resenting God for how hard the easy is.

#2 I spent a lot of time admiring God’s handiwork on the island and in people around me. I took time to think about where my life will take me and what I want to do for a career.
--- I am so glad you know how to do this already. It will make the rest of your life easier and more joyful. Keep up this practice so that it becomes a good habit.

#3 And, I realized...that I need to take time to spend with God.
--- Yes! Do this as much as you can now! Please! Some day you will have little children and attending daily Mass will seem like such a daunting task it will make you want to cry just to think about getting them there on time and keeping them in line during the 30 minutes. I give up before I even try.

#4 I know I have a lot of work to do and don’t expect... an immediate cure-all for my life, but... The hidden solution to everything: prayer—even when we don’t feel like it or can’t do it. It’s then that we find the greatest treasures of all.
--- This shows much maturity; which doesn't surprise me one bit.

I love you and miss you. I look forward to when you come back to EC.
xo, Bonnie

tips from the Sisters of Life

This comes from the latest newsletter from the Sisters of Life:

Tips if you are discerning Religious Life

1. Pray! Go to Mass as often as possible; enter teh silent alchemy of love in Eucharistic Adoration
2. "Do whatever he tells you": entrust yourself to the Blessed Mother
3. Clean out the Pipes: go to confession at least once a month and get a spiritual director to guide your prayer
4. Finders Keepers: read up about vocations and different charisms in teh Church (like the charism of Life!)
5. Go on a Diet: cut your intake of movies, music and magazines that don't glorify God
6. Thougt Revolution: don't worry about wht is most "useful" in religious life; study what you love to study!
7. Theology of the Body: learn it

Let teh Games Begin: contact communities and keep an open heart!

songs for a bridal shower

Sunday was a bridal shower for a Newman friend's fiance. I was in charge of games and we played one where everyone had 3 minutes to write down as many songs that they could think of that had the word "love" in the title. Everyone goes around and reads their list, crossing off repeats. When all was said and done I gave two cd's away. The bride got a burned cd of love songs and the winner got, along with her prize, a burned cd of love stinks songs. I then read the following stories, which are the playlists for each cd.



Love Sweet Love

We all know that Everybody Needs Somebody to Love. In fact, we were Made to Love. Now, I Believe in a Thing Called Love, and usually this is how it plays out: a man and a woman meet and maybe they fall Accidentlly in Love. And the next thing you know the man is telling the woman Your Love is Lifting Me Higher and she's telling him that he's bringing her Closer to Love. Soon the man tells her, with a look in his eye, When a Man Loves a Woman... and he's begging her to Love Me Tender. But she exclaims that if it's Real Love then there will be Love and Marriage. Well, The Power of Love finds the two at the altar and at the end of the night she tells him to Come and Get Your Love. Nine months later they have a baby and little money, but All You Need Is Love and they tell their new little one You Cannot Lose My Love. Through the years he tells her How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You. She tells him "I have a Neverending Love for You and I've Always Loved You." In old age they look back at their marriage, their kids and grandkids and they look forward to Heaven, to a Love Without End, Amen.

Love Stinks

For some people Love Stinks. There's one man begging "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town." There's a woman yelling at her boyfriend, "You Give Love a Bad Name. There's another guy worrying about This Love, the Tainted Love until he finally decides, "I Need a Lover (who won't drive me crazy)." One person begs Love Me Do and another thinks, "I Wonder What Is Keeping My True Love Tonight?" What's Love Got To Do With It? Well, even though Love Is a Battlefield everybody wants Somebody to Love. You say you Can't Help Falling in Love but in the end all you have is an Elephant Love Medley. But hey, at least you can just tell yourself I Love Rock & Roll as you head on down to the Love Shack to mend your broken heart.

The songs, according to my itunes library, are by:

Love Sweet Love - Blues Brothers, tobyMac, The Darkness, Counting Crows, Ghostbusters soundtrack, Mat Kearney, Percy Sledge, Elvis, Regina Spektor, Sinatra, Huey Lewis and the News, Redbone, James Taylor, The Beatles, Sara Groves, Delaney & Bonnie, Third Day, George Straight.

Love Stinks - J Geils Band, Cake, Bon Jovi, Maroon 5, Soft Cell, John Cougar Mellencamp, The Beatles, Kate Rusby, Tina Turner, Pat Benatar, Queen, Elvis, Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, B-52's.

If I could download music right now I would get:

Sigor Ros' Hoppipollo
DeVotchKa's How It Ends
Meiko's The Piano Song
TobyMac's City on Our Knees
Michael Franti's Say Hey (I Love You)
Jay Z's Run This Town
Len's Steal My Sunshine

What would YOU download?

small successes

Today I cleaned the carpets, paid the bills, cleaned the bathroom, prepared games and food for tomorrow's bridal shower and painted my nails. I feel really, really good about all this.

My mom was babysitting the kids, by the way.