I can't claim this as in my own garden... it's actually in my parents' yard, but here's Thomas, our 2 1/2 year old, smelling the flowers, as they say...

Enjoy the day, and enjoy God's wonderful creation!

Yep, I suppose it's been that long since I had a chance to post.  I had a whopper of a week of work last week. Most of my time was spent diagnosing an issue we were seeing in a client's analysis dataset, and it was deep-thinking, heavy-lifting time all day every day. So I didn't get my usual stop-downs to consume and think through much media or do much of anything else except think and work.

This weekend was glorious.  We had a lot of rain on Thursday and Friday, and then a little bit on Saturday morning (literally just a fraction of an inch.)  Then I got onto the roof and cleaned the gutters (actually, dad came over and helped by cleaning out the ones in the back of the house after I had knocked out the front), then we ran out to grab some new outdoor furniture for the front porch.

Mass on Saturday afternoon was followed by family time at home - including some Thomas & daddy time in the yard.

Sunday morning, the 2nd graders at church received their first Holy Communion.  After Mass, we went to spend some time at a celebratory party with a couple of the kids that we know and work with in the youth choir.  Then it was more Thomas & daddy time in the yard - sweeping and cleaning up, riding the tricycle, planting flowers, re-installing part of the siding on our front porch that had come loose and allowed a bird to start building a nest, putting an extra lock high up on the front door to keep Thomas inside, blowing some bubbles, drawing on the front porch with chalk, and doing some light magazine reading on the front porch (we even took Matthew outside for this one!)  In the meantime, mommy got some work done around the house and cooked us a wonderful dinner.

The highlights of the weekend were the family time, but a close second was watching all of the liturgies and events surrounding the Holy Father's visit to our country.  The Masses on Saturday & Sunday were beautiful (the execution and selections of music on Friday were pretty bad, in my opinion.)

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend with friends and family and got a lot of work done outside doing some gardening and getting the yard and garden more ready for more plantings.

I've collected a lot these last couple of days, and it's just been awaitin' a place to live... so here goes my little laundry list of interesting stuff, fascinating finds, and whatnot...

- The Washington Post hits another one out of the ballpark with some tremendous coverage of young (~30... hey! my age!) parents in NoVA (northern Virginia, for those unfamiliar with where my "main office" for my day job is located) that attend Mass in a very traditional, "old school", conservative Catholic parish.  God bless them and this wonderful parish.

"Young, orthodox Catholics are more enthusiastic about Benedict than are many in the older generation, said Colleen Carroll Campbell, author of 'The New Faithful,' a book about the youthful set. 'They like his countercultural stance on a lot of things. . . . They also like his emphasis on Catholic identity and fidelity to Catholic doctrine.'

"Like Catholics of their generation, young conservatives grew up under the liberalizing changes to the church brought on by the Vatican II Council in the 1960s, but some rejected those reforms as they reached adulthood.

"Paulitz, 32, remembers 'lots of guitars and banjoes' at church services and priests who had fallen away from church doctrine.

'"I felt uncomfortable about it constantly,' he said.

"Those who eschew artificial birth control and have large families say they hear comments and rude remarks when they venture out with their children: 'Don't you have enough?' and 'Aren't you done yet?'

"Sam Fatzinger, a Bowie mother of 11, has learned to respond with a tart: 'No, I'm just getting warmed up.'"

- Try this test over at Ten Reasons that "every Catholic eighth-grader should be able to pass before graduating from a Catholic grammar school."  If you don't get 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11 without reference support, let me know so that I can flog you with a wet noodle (just kidding, of course.)  Number 12 got me.  For some reason, I've never been able to remember them all.  But I know people at our church that can recite them like they can their own childrens' names.

- Former coworker and good friend Nicole Hollway is pregnant!  I can finally say (even though I'm happy to say I've known for weeks) since she's shared it on her blog and is actively blogging about it now. Congrats and best wishes to her and Cameron and baby!  I know of one other former coworker who's also expecting - due date at around the same time - but my lips are still sealed on that one.  ;-)

- Insight Scoop pulls out some wonderful Pope Benedict XVI quotes from back in his days as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (before the good old Holy Spirit singled him out to lead the Church), from his book "God and the World" about "The Essential Nature of the Church."  Invest two minutes to check it out.

- William F. Buckley is remembered as "truly touched by the grace of God"... check out this report on his funeral Mass at Catholic News Service.

- Matthew over at Creative Minority Report (whose writing and coverage I absolutely LOVE lately) talks about the joys of children and the wonderment that they cause in modern society.

- From the same entry at Creative Minority Report, this wonderful t-shirt that I'm wanting to buy. I have to go ask Suzanne...

Wow.  Is it Sunday night?

Friday evening, we had Jameson (a.k.a. Andy to friends) and Shaun over for dinner and had a great time and a wonderful meal.  They stuck around for a while into the night and hung out with me and drank coffee and talked in the downstairs family room.

Then on Saturday we got a lot of work (and laundry) done around the house before I headed to the rectory for a meeting about the parish 20th anniversary "Old Fashioned Family Reunion" celebration, then to warm up and 4:00 Mass in the church.  Then we had some Applebees carside to go and relaxed at home as a family before the boys' bedtime.

Today, we all went to 10:30 Mass and then did a lot of prep for Father Jeff to come over for dinner and conversation (including Matthew and me visiting three different stores in town to track down another pork tenderloin.)  We had a wonderful day and evening, though, and are finally settling down to get some rest.  I have an early morning, starting a support shift at 7 AM!  Time for some ZZZs...

Tonight we tried a new method of getting Thomas to bed.

Typically, Suzanne has laid with him (he prefers her at bedtime) and read to him and turned out the light and put him to sleep.  Sometimes, I put him to sleep (and love doing it), but he normally asks for - and gets her.

We're trying to get him to sleep in his own bed now, and trying to get him used to me putting him to bed more as well.  So I read to him on his floor then tried to put him to bed.

We ended up on the window seat in his room, with the window shades open, looking out at the night and saying our night time prayers.

He led me in the Sign of the Cross, then closed his eyes and bowed his head and said "Thank you, Jesus, for..." and listed every family member and Father Larry and Father Jeff and many of our friends from church. And then he said "Jesus, best friend."

I was so proud, and happy, and all the other good feelings, that my son was that good at prayer - and that open and honest (and thankful) with God.

But then the clincher came.  As we closed with the sign of the cross, he said "In the name of the Father... and of the Son... and of the Holy..."

Then he shouted "SPIRIT!!!  Church!  Songs!  Happy!  Life!"

That was a very cool moment.  I was so thrilled, deep down, that he had been so reverent and thankful with the Father, knowledgable of his friendship with the Son, and immersed in the gift of the SPIRIT!  With Spirit, he connected Church. Songs. Happy. Life.

Gosh... he's 2 1/2.  I think I might be the proudest dad on the face of the earth tonight.  He's such a good boy, and we're so blessed to be surrounded by all of our family and friends who are sharing in helping to raise him and Matthew as faithful, loving young men.

Now it's time for me to go say my prayers... and I know one thing in particular I'm going to thank God for...

A few things I ran across today...

1) An Illinois lawmaker has proposed legislation that would make it illegal to talk on your wireless phone while crossing the street.  Uh, yeah.  My state rocks [wet, juicy sarcasm intended.]  This from the state that won't let me let patrons in my (hypothetical) private-property bar and grill smoke if I choose to let them.  The police state just keeps growing its police powers, my friends.  Here's my solution: natural selection. I've seen them in Chicago, holding the old wireless 24/7/connection appliance to their skull as they cross Michigan Avenue without looking.  Natural selection would solve the problem if we didn't do anything to punish the driver who hits one of these people.

2) Trent over at The Simple Dollar continues his "book club" series on Born to Buy, and it's scary how much of the growing consumer tendency and recognition of brands I see even in 2 1/2 year old Thomas.  Heck, it was more than a year ago (at just over a year old) that he new Starbucks by the signage and could say that's where "daddy mocha."  If that post interests you, here's the first in his series, this one on the introduction to the book.

3) Ted Turner warns that "We're too many people... Too many people are using too much stuff... [and in 30 or 40 years] Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."  Uh, yeah. He's had a bit too much of the Al Gore Kool-Aid.  "The Mouth of the South" is back at it.  Here's an idea: there'd be plenty of room for more people if he shared some of the 1.91 million acres that he owns in six states.

And last but not least...

4) I always enjoy reading his stuff, but Cory Huff over at A Good Husband hit the ball out of the park on this post today about "How Important Is Your Relationship With Your Wife?"  As much as I wanted to head to coffee night tonight and hang out with the guys, I stayed home because of the gentle reminder (and peer pressure) that this article gave me to consider after having spent two hours from 6-8 at Starbucks meeting with a couple of other parish council members about the 20th anniversary celebration we're planning for Holy Family. Thanks, Cory.

I've often wondered:  If you're Baptized on April Fools' Day, does it really count?  Of course I've wondered that (jokingly, of course) because I was baptized on April Fools' Day back in 1978 (yep, 30 years ago today!)

30 years in God's grace... 30 years as an heir to the Kingdom and a born-again son of the Almighty.  What blessings I have known!  What an amazing gift of life I've been given!  It's gone by fast, and I look forward to the next 30 years and seeing my own sons grow in faith, hope, and love and in their exercise of the fruits of the spirit that came upon them at Baptism and will fully enrich them at their Confirmation.

God is awesome.  And He is good... all the time.  And I praise Him for the wonders of this life and of the next and for the joys of life in His family.

". . Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that 'we too might walk in newness of life'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 977)

"Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God's mercy" (CCC, paragraph 2020)

So I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary,
  beholding thy power and glory.
Because thy steadfast love is better than life,
  my lips will praise thee.
So I will bless thee as long as I live;
   I will lift up my hands and call on thy name.

My soul is feasted as with marrow and fat,
   and my mouth praises thee with joyful lips,
when I think of thee upon my bed
   and meditate on thee in the watches of the night;
for thou hast been my help,
  and in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to thee;
   thy right had upholds me

- Psalm 63: 3-8 (Revised Standard Version)