That could be Therese’s theme song this year. After a couple of very difficult nights, we inspected her mouth and not one but TWO teeth are cutting through! It appears as if her teeth insist on coming in pairs. She’s getting her left upper canine and the one to the right of that. They not quite her two front teeth, but they’re close enough!
Wow! We haven’t made a single entry since October! That’s pretty sad huh? I’d like to say that our lives are that boring but it seems I never have a free moment to just write an epistle of our lives. Let’s see, I’ll try to make this concise.
Therese is growing so fast. She stands pretty easily without any assistance. She can feed herself finger foods. She’s definitely NOT on a low carb diet. She loves pasta and my pumpkin-pecan bread and crackers. She’s still eating her oatmeal but insists on snacking on Cheerios while doing so. She’s become quite fond of the bells on the Christmas tree. I deliberately put non-breakables on the lower half for her to touch and she LOVES ringing the bells so much that I added more.
Adam has been doing some side projects…entering web design contests. We won’t let you know which ones in case he doesn’t win. 
Work and being a dad are pretty demanding. Squires and the Knights are winding down until January when he has the free throw contest. He had a wonderful birthday last month. He chose the German feast theme. So I made some German dishes. Although my potatoe dumplings flopped, everything else turned out ok.
I am still working hard on pro-life stuff. I nearly doubled the size of my committe for our parish! (Ok…two other people…it’s still double.) I’ve been spending many a day walking, lunching and playing with our good friends Misty and Anna Cey. Anna is a month older than Therese and will be turning 1 in just a couple of days. It’s so much fun to watch them together. It’s one of the best parts of my days. They enjoy each others company so much almost as much as their moms. I’ve also taken a hand at actually using our bread maker. I haven’t bought a loaf of bread probably since the last entry. This month it’s pumpkin-pecan for the holiday season. I’m really close to mastering the wheat bread.
We’ll hopefully have some new pics up after the holidays. We’re going to Indiana for a few days. And Adam is going skiing. I am going to freeze. Pray for me please! 
brrr…. I guess I’ll have that white Christmas I’ve been dreaming of!
I planted a seed. The storms will undoubtedly come. I pray that the rains will make it grow.
Below is a response to an email list where the term “pro-life” was consistently disregarded and the question “When does life again?” was time and time again left to “I don’t know” and the discussion moved on to other issues.
T. has said that a voter should look at all the issues at hand, find the ones she/he thinks are most important, learn them, and use those to pick a candidate. The popular topics mentioned lately on this list seem to be centered on foreign policy, terrorism, security, environment and the like.
A method of voting I discourage along with T. is considering relationships among issues to be linear and arithmetic. Meaning to count up how many issues a candidate is “right” on, and whoever has the higher count wins that person’s vote. More true to life, however, is to see the various issues in a hierarchical, or geometric relationship. Some are foundational; others depend on the foundation, and it is these that one should highly consider as being important. For example, one would not support a candidate who fights against forest mining but looks the other way on all forms of pollution. They would certainly favor one who supports the foundational issue of environment protection.
This being said, it does not take a lot of thinking to realize that life itself is foundational to all rights and issues including the ones mentioned above. If the government claimed the right to take away your life, it would hardly impress you if it promised you all kinds of other rights. In taking away life, it takes away all other rights and the chance to enjoy them.
I’ve noticed on a few occasions that the question “When does life begin?” has surfaced. And in every case the response is the same, “I have no idea.” By doing so, you then become a “hack” (as such is the term being used) and this basic principle is quickly dismissed in favor of what is perceived to be more visible issues further up the hierarchy.
First of all, in the year 2000, it is no longer a secret when and how the life of an individual human being begins. The widely used medical textbook The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th Edition, Moore, Persaud, Saunders, 1998, states at page 2 that “The intricate processes by which a baby develops from a single cell are miraculous …. This cell [the zygote] results from the union of an oocyte [egg] and sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being ….” At page 18 this theme is repeated: “Human development begins at fertilization [emphasis in original] ….”
So in essence, this zygote will not develop to become a dog, a giraffe or a fish; only a human being. It is a human in the earliest form of development, and therefore worthy of his/her rights.
But even if, for some reason, one were not to allow the light of modern science to pierce his or her doubt about when life begins, what is one to conclude from that doubt? Suppose you are hunting, and you do not know whether what is moving behind the bush is an animal or a human being. May you shoot? Or do you have to be absolutely sure that it is not a human being?
The Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, did not clear the doubt. Yet it chose to allow the destruction of — well, it didn’t know what.
Despite all this evidence it is still common to quickly write off those who are opposed to abortion as irrational, as T. perhaps subconsciously demonstrated when saying most sane people are accepting of some form of each side of the issue. Do I believe that “people should have choice in what happens with their bodies”? I do to a degree. I certainly wouldn’t support this statement were we discussing teen suicide. Also, not to the extent of considering abortion. Another body is at stake, and left without a choice.
I’d also like to respond to the comments that the term pro-life is “silly” and inaccurate. S., anti-choice is certainly NOT a more appropriate term. You ask any person opposed to abortion if they think American’s should have a choice in healthcare, and they will agree. How about a choice in education? Certainly. Religion? Likewise. Being American means having choices. However, should I have the choice of which of my neighbor’s properties I plan to forcibly take as my own? Nonsense. How about the choice of which ethnic group to oppress? Absolutely not! Nor should the choice of taking an innocent life be condoned.
And certainly not anti-woman. Has anyone seriously looked into the physical and psychological side-effects of an abortion or even the morning-after pill? Sterility, future miscarriages, suicidal impulses, ectopic pregnancies, bleeding and infections, shock and comas, perforated uterus, peritonitus, fever/cold sweat, intense pain, loss of body organs, thwarted maternal instincts, insomnia, loss of appetite, desire to end relationship with partner, exhaustion, loss of sexual interest/frigidity, weight loss, inability to forgive self, nightmares, decreased work capacity, seizures and tremors, vomiting, gastro and intestinal disturbances… and this is a short list. Abortion is the only medical procedure I’m aware of that causes harm to the body by interrupting a normal human process (pregnancy).
I in fact think the term pro-choice is quite ironic in itself. Abortion is not a question of giving a woman a “choice.” It is, tragically, a situation of women feeling they have NO CHOICE, feeling that nobody cares enough about them and their child to give them any alternative besides going to the abortionist. The woman feels rejected, confused, afraid, alone, unable to handle the pregnancy. Our society tells this woman that an abortion is a safe, easy, and legal solution. It would take too much effort to offer time, compassion, and assistance should they choose to bring the child to term. Besides, there’s a profit to be made in this industry. Just look at Planned Parenthood. This is true exploitation of women.
And all this is not simply an assumption based on my part. My wife works every day counseling women facing crisis pregnancies and I have acquaintances who console traumatized women from abortions: anywhere from the troubled teen to the rejected spouse.
Finally, as a reminder, pro-life does not gravitate around the issue of abortion alone, but promotes a consistent ethic of life in many issues: euthanasia, capital punishment, embryonic stem-cell research, poverty, war (yes, many oppose the war in Iraq including myself for certain reasons), violence, and others. Pro-life is not equated to single-issue voters, nor is the term anti-abortion appropriate since it is exclusive of these other issues.
I know many people on this list will be shocked or upset on what I had to say, and it’s expected. Having studied this subject greatly I simply felt the need to respond to T.’s invitation to “educate [my] surroundings”. It’s probably not often you hear from someone on this side of the fence.
Fathers are highly recommended to attend the classes.
Yesterday was the feast of St. Therese! Happy feast day to our little flower, Fr. Tim, and Katrina! To celebrate the feast day of our daughter’s patron saint and namesake, we went to San Antonio to celebrate Mass at the National Basillica of the Little Flower AND we saw the movie, THERESE.
What a very blessed day it turned out to be! The movie was just lovely. It was very nicely done and truely brought to life this simple and great saint. We have been waiting so long for the movie to come out and it was so exciting to finally see it!
The Mass of the Roses at the Basillica was awesome. They started out with vespers–sung. Our Therese was getting tired by that time so she wasn’t as good as she usually is, but she still received many graces. Afterward everyone received a blessed rose. We then went to see the relic of St. Therese and touched that sweet rose and our rosaries to it. Thank you Jesus for such a great saint and wonderful way to celebrate her life.
Anyone who has hit a curb at high speeds (i.e. me) knows the damage it can do to a car’s rims and tires. There’s a slim to no chance any dent to the outer surface of a rim can be fixed. You’ll more than likely need to replace it.
Having my car towed to the dealer since I have yet to acquire a regular mechanic, they estimated $242 for a new rim, plus additional expenses for mounting and alignment.
Here’s the low down. Most factory OEM parts can be found conveniently online. Dealer’s purchase these same parts and charge extra for profit naturally, plus the hours for labor and additional fees. You can save some money by purchasing the parts yourself. Be careful though about taking the part back to the dealer. They will certainly raise their rates on their hourly labor and or fees recognizing they lost money on a sale. A later post will explain such an experience.
So a web-search for “Mercury Cougar OEM rims” led me to Wheels and Rims where I found a replacement rim for $190.35 (shipping included). A quick trip to Discount Tire and $30 later for mounting and balancing, I was good to go.
Total Savings: $51.65 at least
It’s without a doubt that vehicles are the biggest money suckers a family can own. Insurance, gas, regular maintenance, and the inevitable repairs (those of you with American-made cars know what I’m talking about) will sink your budget faster than a submarine with screen doors. All this and the hunk of metal/plastic on wheels continually depreciates.
With our continuous efforts to cut expenses, we have learned that a great deal of money can be saved by personally handling your own automotive maintenance and repairs. I have made it a habit that before driving (or towing) one of our cars off to the mechanic down the street, I will first research what really needs to be done to get the thing going on the road again. Surprisingly I have learned that I can save a bundle by doing half – if not all – the work myself.
Sharon has noticed that I have been through this grind a number of times already and suggested that I should begin sharing my experiences. I really don’t have a lot to offer since I am without a degree in Auto Mechanics, but I can throw out a few tips on how to keep a few bucks in your pocket. Perhaps it’ll also give you a little encouragment to take the leap and get under the hood of your own vehicle.
Hence the new category to our site: Automotive Care. I hope you’ll enjoy some of the forthcoming posts on my sometimes terrifying, yet never dull adventures in car care.
Well, I get the bad sister of the year award. I TOTALLY forgot my brother’s birthday. Sorry Hector. 
I did think of you and said a prayer for you, but I forgot to call you.
But don’t feel too bad, Adam’s siblings get their birthday cards late all the time!
We love you anyway. –sharon
I doubt if anyone has noticed at this point, but I’ve been making quite a few modifications to my work/portfolio related site. Most of it has been “under the hood improvements” so you won’t notice a lot of visual change other than cleaner templates across the site.
The primary goal is to begin participating more with the Flash developer community; writing more frequently on design and development issues around Flash-based applications and games. A secondary goal is to *possibly* pursue more work, as if I don’t have enough to do. Christmas is around the corner and Thérèse is showing no signs of growing any slower, so a few bucks could come in handy. Not to mention beefing up the ol’ portfolio in this area wouldn’t hurt.
Friday night a one-woman drama on the life of St. Therese was performed at our parish. Adam and I had arranged for the play to come to our community with the help of several sponsors. It was produced by St. Luke Productions and directed by Leonardo Defillippis.
It was simply beautiful. What a blessing to have the life of this great Saint come to life for us! We had a great turn out with over 400 people in attendance–and lots of youth! It’s been interesting to hear people’s reactions. Everyone we’ve talked to so far loved it. It’s also been interesting to hear how God was speaking to different people through this play.
Margaret and Michael Masny, the actress who played Therese in the drama and her husband (who is also the technical assistant) stayed with Adam and I. They are an awesome couple. They were actually married the same day AND time that we were. I also think they met about the same time we did as well. They are expecting their first child. Please keep them in your prayers.
