Ever had one of those days?

Today was one.

It started at about 2:30 AM with Clare deciding that it was time to be awake and playing. She would NOT go back to sleep. So I finally just brought her in bed and laid her down and tried to ignore her. It must have worked after a while because she finally fell back asleep.

Needless to say, I was a little tired this morning and my normal early-morning wake up did not sound very appealing. So I slept in a bit with Clare and Tom (he had to work swing shift today). The sleeping in part was great, but that also meant that I didn't have my normal morning prayer time. I thought, "Oh well, I can just do my meditation while Clare is taking a nap."

Nap time came and went, and she was not having it.

"Oh, well," I thought. "I have a Holy Hour today, I'll spend some quiet time with Christ then."

By this time I was annoyed at the whole lack-of-nap thing, and Clare was cranky.

So I got her in the car, thinking that she'd probably fall asleep in the car on the way and leave me in peace for a whole hour.

We got in to the Church, and everything was OK. I got her in her Ergo and let her nurse for a few minutes while we walked around in the back. Things were going well until she ripped the nursing cover off and decided that she was NOT going to fall asleep, and wasn't afraid to let everyone within a 10-mile radius know it.

So we went outside for a little bit to see if the fresh air and a walk would make her fall asleep (she so desperately wanted to, but was fighting it!). As soon as she had calmed down a little bit, I tried to sneak back inside for my quiet time with Christ. She started crying again. Back outside.

After 3 or 4 attempts, I realized that I was probably more of a nuisance to the others inside who were trying to have their quiet time with Christ. So we packed up and got in the car, where she fell asleep after about 5 minutes of driving.

When we got home, I didn't have the heart to move her and wake her up from her much-needed nap, so I closed the garage door, opened the car doors, and propped open the door leading from the house to the garage, and let her take a 2-hour nap in the car.

We were both much happier after her nap, and my mom's visit tonight came at just the right time.

I'm hoping that Christ knows that my heart was there with Him all day, despite the many things that seemed to prevent me from spending time with Him.

I had to laugh when I saw Clare doing this...

I think this would probably be among the things that Clare should not be allowed to do - but I couldn't help laughing and grabbing the camera instead of telling her "No," and getting her down before she either fell backward off the dishwasher door or broke the darn thing.



Last night I got to spend time with dear friends who were Peer Ministers with me at the Catholic Campus Ministry (still at the Shalom Center - now that tells you that it was a few years ago!) at Shannon Hickey's house in Bellevue. It was great to see them, and it's hard to believe that our get togethers are starting to include fiancees, husbands, and babies...how time flies!

Great Read

Below is the text of a fantastic satire piece written by Gerard Baker of the British newspaper The Times. With all the Obama hype in this country, it's refreshing to see that our friends across the Atlantic can look at it all and laugh. Enjoy!

July 25, 2008

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers
And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the

Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

Mother's Amnesia

I have been realizing this week that Mother's Amnesia really does exist. This proves that God wants us to have babies.

Through Mary's labor/delivery experience and now having Dominick at home for the first week, I find that I am completely unable to remember the pain of labor (I remember it happening, but it's just not that vivid), how Clare was the first week we brought her home, sleepless nights (and days), etc.

How else do you think we'd sign up to have more babies? God HAD to make it so that we wouldn't remember all the unpleasant things, or I think most of us would swear "I'm NEVER doing that again!" as soon as it's over.

But in the end, I think we'd all agree that it's totally worth it.