When a Mom is Not a Loser

Tonight (it's 4am), I was feeling a little bit like the worst mom in the world.  My little boy is up every few hours to puke for his first bout with stomach-sickness ever.

We used to joke around in my family that because puke is the one thing I positively cannot handle (not even in movies--the WORST scene in The Sixth Sense to me was the puking one) that I better marry a man who could take care of that part of child-raising.  I've never been able to see/hear/smell it without joining in myself.  Is this TMI yet?  It gets better . . .

I thought that after having James do the baby spit-up thing all over me that I was now super-mom and up to anything.  But tonight, reality hit me square in the nose.  James puked.  I rushed in to help.  Larry told me to get away.  I tried to help.  I came; I saw; I ran into the 2nd nearest bathroom and lost my dinner.

Mom fail.

Larry, all night, has been the one holding James as he heaves and the one stripping his bed.  I've been on find-another-sheet and find-more-pjs and get-a-wet-washcloth and double-wash-a-million-loads-of-laundry duty.  In my head, the mom is supposed to be the one who inspires her husband with her heroic level of sacrifice directly with the sick child.  That's always how it was growing up in my family, and I can't thank my mom enough for being that woman.

Tonight, I learned a different (and more essential) truth about the roles of spouses.  Their roles are to support each other and to sacrifice for each other.  If puke is the one thing I can't directly handle, Larry loves me enough not to hold it against me and to pitch in at the crucial moments.  This doesn't mean I ditch him and leave him to handle it all on his own.  It means that we each sacrifice in the middle of the night for the sake of our son in the way that we are able to.  And we both become holier in the process, not by outshining each other in heroism, but in complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses with love and patience.

I read this article tonight as I was trying to eat something to keep my energy levels up for the sake of baby #2 that I'm responsible for protecting inside me right now.  I love how she talks about motherhood as a gift to help us work on our weaknesses, not as a reward for those who are already strong.

It's funny how God can confirm one's vocation in unlikely moments.  As Larry, James, and I slumped on the floor praying a decade of the rosary that Momma Mary would watch over our little guy and help him sleep, I was so happy.  Tired, a little overwhelmed, but so happy because my family loves each other, loves God, and loves me--even when I feel incompetent.  True love is stronger than any illness or inconvenience or failing; it builds up persons (children and adults) and shows the evils of this world to be only passing reminders that we are not yet the people we were created to become.  How merciful God is and how great is our hope in our eternal joy with Him!  Thank you Lord for the grace to transcend the moment, at least for now, and help us all get some needed sleep.  Amen.

[12 hours later: Update--James is doing well, slept beautifully for his nap, and has his appetite and a little energy back.  God is good!  Mommy got a nap too.  :)  ]

Goals (realistic ones)

This is probably t.m.i. for a blog, but I thought maybe it would inspire you to make your own list.  Plus, unless I put a list someplace where I can't really change it, I'm going to keep cheating myself out of a productive summer.  Here are some goals I'd like to accomplish before mid-August.  Some are more precise (and thus more practical) than others, but I feel that they are all important in different ways.


Spiritual
*Cultivate a spirit of greater gentleness and peace, even in moments when I need to be firm.  I want to be a parent (and spouse and teacher) who can transcend the anxiety of the present moment and think more about the person I'm addressing than my own frustration.  I'm pretty sure Mary and my own patroness Bl. Margaret of Costello were experts at this, so I pray that they'll guide me through this process.

Family
*Find ways of investing in my relationship with my husband in the evenings and on his days off more than just "chilling" near each other but not really together.
*Be creative about the ways James and I play together.  I know it excites both of us to try new things and explore new areas.

Home
*Have the dishes clean before bed every night except Sunday.  (It's really tempting to just toss some things in the dishwasher and leave the hand-washing for later!  I'd cook through half the day as happy as a lark, but dishes are definitely within the realm of sanctification for me.)
*Practice simplicity and really think about how much we need something before I buy it.

Personal
*Finish at least two sewing projects.
*Discipline myself to exercise (at least a long walk) a minimum of 3 times a week.  (I know, that sounds like nothing, but right now it feels pretty heroic).
*Schedule painting my deck and kitchen and waxing our cars into our calendar and do it!
*Go to an hour of adoration once a month.  (Again, learning to be a mom has totally changed my ideas of what I'm capable of committing to in nearly every area of my life.)

pic

My Brooke

Today, I challenged my students to write a vignette about someone who influenced them at some point in their childhood.  This is what Willa Cather did in My Antonia, and I wanted them to appreciate the difficulty of writing in this way and keeping it vivid and specific without diluting the story into "he was important" or "she was really great".  It had to be called "My ______" in reference to the person described.


I slapped together a vignette of my own to show them an example, and I thought I'd share it with you.

My Brooke

My memories of my early childhood are often more strong impressions than images.  One of these impressions was of Brooke.  She was beautiful and kind with long hair exactly the color of newly-dried straw in the sun.  Brooke was the oldest of four children in the Smith home where I spent my week days as a young girl while mom was at work.  Mrs. Smith broke horses; I think each of her children had some of her tenacity in them as well.  Annie, who was closer to my age, had the largest dose of her mother’s spirit.

I remember nothing specific that Brooke did or said.  I do remember that she was calm when Annie was wild, and she treated me like a little sister when I had no one else to look up to.

I heard the news when I was about 10 and Brooke was a young teen; it had been a couple years since I had seen them last.  Brooke had been the passenger in a car of teenage friends.  The car had screeched to a sudden stop.  She wasn’t wearing her seatbelt and was tossed through the car window and crushed by passing traffic.  Her death was slow and painful.  Brooke's family was distraught, and Annie was rumored to have fallen in with a bad crowd apart from her sister’s influence.

I was not able to attend Brooke’s funeral, but I felt a more personal contact with her death than any other I had experienced, including the death of a kind aunt not long before.  For me, she was not just a teen driving statistic or even a fond memory with a sad ending.  Brooke was the harbinger of unexpected fate in a fragile world.

Though I was the type of child who thought deeply about faith, I never questioned God’s Providence or determined that individual goodness was futile if it could be rewarded so harshly.  However, I now understood that I and anyone I knew was vulnerable.  I no longer entertained an unfounded confidence in life’s invincibility.  Years later, fellow college students would become surprised by the unexpected vehemence with which I insisted on them securing their seat-belts.  I still pray for Brooke--I pray that her soul is at peace and I attempt to live so that I too will be at peace whenever fate or death or God holds out his hand toward me.

Clutter Clutter Everywhere and Not a Spot to Think

It's amazing how quickly the clutter monster invades my house on busy weeks.  I'm pretty sure he's secretly teaching James bad habits too, because I certainly didn't propose "Tupperware terror" as a new game idea.

I think that's what my mom was warning me about years ago when she told me to put away one thing before I took something else out.  At the time, I thought that inhibited my creativity ("I can't!  I'm using both of those things right now!")  Now, I'm just not sure it's humanly possible--at least not for someone 2/3 sanguine.  There have certainly been times when I reach the "if there is no visible dirt line, mold, or dust balls, it's good to go" state of mind.  I don't think I'll ever reach the level of pristine perfection my grandparents have achieved.

However, several motivating factors are capable of making me drop every other thing on my eternal check-list and do some hard-core scrubbing and sorting:

1) A guest coming--It's a very good thing for us to have at least one over-night guest and one dinner guest or play-date a month.  That way both the upstairs and down get a very thorough going over once or twice a month.

2) Major frustration (esp. if Larry's not in the mood to distract me in another way)--When life seems like it's taking over and I'm overly involved in situations that I can't change, I show life that I still can change something and go to town on anything dirty that's within arm's reach.

3) Larry says something--This is a rarity, and my usual, initial (interior) reaction is to mark his small comment as vastly unjustified.  However, then the bit of humility that helps inform my conscience kicks in, and I ignore all else until I can justify myself as a decent housewife again.

Someday . . .
I just hope that when I hit the pearly gates God will ask me something about love and not ironing.  Though, His standard of loving is pretty darn high too.

The Value of Vision

I have one particularly difficult class this year.  I had expected it to be my easiest and my most fun.  However, for reasons I don't need to go into here, it has become onerous.  It is a very unique sort of student who can nearly kill my love for teaching a particular book.

Yet, today I was given peculiar but good advice.  Teach the class for yourself.  The students who see that the material is worthy of admiration and study will come with you; the others will remain behind.  There is a point at which I cannot force someone to engage the world around them.  At first, I was upset--I don't like "giving up."  Yet, as was explained to me, it's not giving up to pursue a good beyond the present moment.  Every good thing we do is a preparation for another good thing in the future.  No worthy activity is a waste; no exploration, no gift given, no act of selflessness is devoid of impact.  For, in this case, to teach for myself, is to teach the student I wish each of them to become.  To voice the reflections of my own fruitful reading of the text may teach them to read as passionately and with as much desire to understand truth.

Back . . .

The beginning of the year whirlwind is winding down and I'm back to writing (which is good for my mental health--at least that's what the voices in my head say).  Things I hope to post soon:

*Some thoughts on healing relationships which were sparked by some great conversations with friends and a wonderful homily I heard

*Fall recipes, activities, etc.--this is my favorite time of year!

*School topics--SO many good books that I've rediscovered this year

*Whatever other things I possibly have time for

Only So Much Space & Time

The events and schedule changes at the beginning of a new school year have come tumbling towards me like waves, faster than I can anticipate and react to each.  Thus, blogging got sucked away into the undercurrent of life for a while.  I feel that I have little energy or time to devote here, yet I know that continuing to write helps my mental sharpness rather than further dulling a weary mind.  Hopefully, I'll post some insights on class materials and related thoughts in the near future.

Meanwhile, I'm experiencing a rare phenomenon--my brain is nearing its multitasking capacity.  I'm teaching 5 wildly different literary topics each day; most requiring extensive personal reading and preparation.  Oh, and then there's normal life to think about as well.  Fortunately, I have a generous, loving husband who picks up some of the pieces (literally and figuratively) of my life that get lost in the tizzy.

There are things I would change if I could--leisure (and not mayhem) is supposed to be the best environment for shaping culture.  Yet, it's also thrilling to feel that I'm on the brink of something grand, something much larger than myself, of which I am only a small cog.  I'm on the edge of my son's transition into toddler-hood, the edge of my husband's ambitions, the edge of the mental formation of a hundred-plus students, the edge of a great springtime within the Church, and the edge of who I might be as a housewife and scholar and artist.  That edge sometimes chafes and cuts, but it is a horizon of hope as well.  And, like Frost's chosen road, that makes all the difference.

Image: http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/waves/images/hokusai_wave_1.jpg

A Hundred Yesterdays Ago

I feel as though I've been time traveling.

First of all, I've been attempting to read (or at least skim) my whole elective curriculum this week.  [1 full book and 3 half books down!]  My elective next semester is a college prep. (read "college freshman level") class on Utopian & Distopian Fiction (people making up societies that are either seriously wishful thinking or satirical).  Thus, Brave New World, The Time Machine, 1984, and More's Utopia have been on my mind.  AND my husband and I watched a post-apocalyptic sort of movie called The Road . . . which I will never watch again.

Aside from imaginatively traveling into the future, I feel that my hobbies are taking me back into the past.

This week we've been harvesting from our little garden.  It's been doing ok, but not great.  I can't imagine living in a place (or time) when I didn't have the option to run to the grocery to pick up extras of whatever didn't grow well in my garden.

Then, in the interest of maintaining our health, being financially smart, and preserving the "women's culinary culture" very much lost in our society, I've been making lots more food from scratch this summer.  Finding uses for fresh produce like cucumber salad or a layered tex-mex dip is delicious and fun.  I also made a pie crust from scratch for the first time in years and discovered it to not be nearly as hard as I imagined.

I've also attempted to make scones from freshly ground flour.  This is MUCH better for you than store-bought flour or bread/wheat products.  However, getting used to the rougher cut grain is tricky.  The scones were a bit "nuttier" in flavor, courser in texture, and heavier in crumb than I'm used to.  I added blueberries because they make everything taste delicious.  I'm still going to have to work on this one . . . and I'm not even grounding the flour myself!

Lastly, I went shooting with my hubby for a date today.  I think learning how to shoot his larger "home defense size" hand gun will be a good remedy to whisk away vulnerability dreams stemming from that horror movie I watched with him. [Do other moms get those too??]  I wish I had a picture.  I really enjoyed myself and appreciated my husband's patience with my many questions as I sought to improve my accuracy.  It was not my first time handling a gun, but a deeper knowledge of firearms gives me an increased respect for the power of a gun and for the healthy enjoyment sportsmen gain from them.  It also makes me feel like one of those women during the American Westward Expansion--they knew how to use a firearm.  That was about as normal as using a shovel back then.  It's only this polished urban mumbo-jumbo from the media that makes us think that guns are mysteriously dangerous on their own.  Those women of the past would probably agree with the snarky bumper stickers that read: "Gun control is hitting your target."

I like pursuing hobbies that connect me to things people have been doing for hundreds or even thousands of years--things that were done a hundred yesterdays ago and then again today.  New things (like blogging) are nice, but they don't have the depth, value, or aurora of timelessness that these older arts have.

Top image source: http://media.photobucket.com/image/time%20machine/MBLOOM777/ALPHABET%2520SOUP/the_time_machine_large_01.jpg

A Little Girl with Big Dreams

Sometimes I have to smile when I think of myself as a little girl (or of what I can remember of those years anyways), because I realize that in many ways I have not changed very much.  Family, books, and East Coast hills and mountains are my comfort zone; I love swirly skirts; and I love to learn.

That little girl also always wanted to write.  When I was little, I naively created piles of books that opened the wrong direction (lefties would have loved me), contained creative spellings of the big words I knew, and spoke about happy things inside their brightly colored covers.  I now have learned which way to staple a book.  The other two elements have not changed.

I decided yesterday that I want to write a book . . . well, 4 books actually.  The theme would be discovering one's role as a woman and daughter of God in the modern world (each book covering a different stage of life).  The idea is not very unique, but I hope my approach would fill the gaping hole that I think is missing in this genre of literature.  I find that currently published books are (1) naive about the real struggles facing young women today and they just want to talk about what clothes to wear and not ever dating until you're 25 OR (2) they are graphically honest about the struggles of young women (sometimes to the point of verbal pornography [eg: Girls on the Edge]) and miss the center of who women are by merely focusing on "healing and empowerment" OR (3) they make every young women who reads them suddenly start focusing on how "emotionally scarred" she is [eg: Captivating].  In addition, rarely do these books combine tech-age teen experience with the richness of Catholic Tradition & Scripture.  Finally, too many books say "find yourself" and "avoid all these bad things" without explaining how.  Tall order, yes.  But maybe I'll make it a several-year project, and we'll see what happens.

If you have any ideas for chapters/themes let me know!

New Life

My garden is growing, new seeds are sprouting, and my rose bush bloomed for the first time this year!  I'm thrilled beyond words (well, almost beyond words . . . since I'm taking the time to type this so my husband doesn't have to put up with me dancing around the house chanting, "My rose has bloomed!" over and over like a 5 year old on her birthday).

There is something intoxicatingly wondrous about new life.  We prepared the soil, planted little sprouts, seeds, and seedlings with careful hands, and breathlessly waited for a sign of green.  This year, it's working.  Some TLC mixed with sunshine and God's touch has brought dry little seeds to verdant life.  In a funny way, I feel like a new mama again with all my little plant babies that need to be nourished and guided in their early weeks of life.

Last year, we began our garden too late, cut some corners, and probably didn't water enough.  Our garden returned the favor by offering a measly few peas and beans, a handful of tomatoes, one cucumber, three heads of lettuce, and a couple peppers.  Then, the deer decided to help themselves to about 1/3 of what did actually grow.  Not to be deterred (especially after watching my in-laws' garden become the Jurassic Park of vegetable smorgasbords), we resolved to be diligent this year and try again.

Because I have a tendency to infuse every little thing in my life with meaning, my little sprouts remind me of my larger life efforts to do good in this world.  My individual actions, like those seeds, seem too small and too weak to really have much of an effect on anything.  What good will one more load of laundry do today when I know 3 more await me?  What good is it to read one more book to my son instead of sticking him in "the farm" (his farm-themed excersaucer) while I try to return phone calls?  My actions, like my seeds, have a greater potential within them than I see at first glace.  My seeds are full of life and can produce fruits to bless my family.  My actions, if I am open to God's work in my life, can be opportunities for grace.  That laundry serves my husband's peace of mind because he doesn't have to search in the morning for a clean undershirt.  That book helps to develop my son's mind and serves to strengthen that loving bond between us.  Every good choice helps me to build good habits of virtue.

This analogy is not new; Christ used it multiple times.  But, I need to remind myself often that the seeds of Faith that He speaks of are not placed in my life just once, but daily.  My choice to be both the receptive soil and the careful gardener are also daily choices.

What are ways that you re-focus yourself on the importance of the little things in your daily life?

The Tower of Babel

My husband and I just moved into a new house. It's an overwhelming blessing and just plain overwhelming at the same time. Initially we had the tower of Babel in the middle of our floor . . . boxes full of meaningful keepsakes, meaningless junk that was just never thrown out or given away, and even more puzzling assortments of random, useful objects tossed in by helpful family and friends as we moved. Oh, and we have more books than the Nokesville Mini-Library (possibly).

Sorting through the material flotsam of each other's lives has provided ample subjects for conversations between my husband and I. It's remarkable how much the Things that surround our lives tell about our priorities and attachments.

The Best Things Come in Little Packages

Larry and I recently found out that we're expecting a little one! Naturally, we were overjoyed and I was fully overwhelmed that my body was housing and nourishing a small life in the image and likeness of God. Wow!

Until now, it was easy to laugh about pickle cravings, be rather unsympathetic about a pregnant woman's constant fatigue, and trivialize the importance of decisions like "is a little boy going to have permanent psychological damage if we name him Thaddeus." Well, pickles seem amazing to me right now, nap-time is more appealing to me than to my night-owl Sophomores, and every new name I hear is a candidate for serious consideration. So much changes because a blue plus-sign appears on a stick...yet, at the same, time this cross signifies a blessing, another soul nestled beneath my heart and entrusted into my incompetent hands.

Question Quota

At one point yesterday, I officially reached my question quota for the hour/day/and perhaps week. My mom, having raised at least two very inquisitive daughters, probably knows exactly what it means to be physically unable to handle even one more question. However, this was an utterly new experience for me. Whether it is the purer motive of altruistic desire to help others or the more egotistical gratification of being looked up to as some sort of "source of truth" and "keeper of the secrets of life (or tests)," I usually enjoy being asked questions. I consider thoughtful questions to be one of the essential parts of the learning process.

All that being said, this week, I can barely walk two steps (literally) without questions being asked about quizzes, tests, how many papers I have finished grading, and why the girls gym bags can't be stored in the middle of the bathroom floor...and, by the way, do you know where my brother is? :)

Nuptial-itis

I was recently diagnosed with "nuptialitis." It's a very serious condition and almost impossible to get rid of quickly. The symptoms are similar to ADHD, ADD, OCD, and insomnia...combined. This disease is a close cousin of "senioritis" and a prerequisite to "bridezilla syndrome," though that particular strain is more rare than typically believed.

My doctor tells me that with proper amounts of sleep, laughter, and hugs, I should be fully cured by December 27th. Until then, my students just get to have the pleasure of seeing me rather more absent-minded than usual. Oh well!

Humility: A Prerequisite to Education

Often the ancients remind us to know ourselves honestly and adopt an attitude of humility before we seek to learn or to teach others. Humility has certainly, sought or not, become a theme for me as I begin teaching.

Every day, the school begins with prayer, specifically, the Litany of Humility. That prayer always works . . . always. It astounds me how many questions high schoolers have; it humbles me that they see me as the source of their answers to not only literary quandaries but also the rocky patches of their tumultuous teen lives. I praise God for my theological education and missionary background to handle the moral and practical questions they ask. But I pray to God to help me think quickly or answer honestly, "I don't know, but I will find out," in response to some of their academic questions. Some of my freshmen are Greek & Roman culture enthusiasts (yes, it's a prep school) and understand the mythological connections in Homer as well or better than I do. Similarly, I recently had to lead two hour-long (was it really that short?) discussions on economical theories. I couldn't talk for a couple hours after that as my brain recovered.

However, opportunities for humility are not limited to intellectual challenges, I also feel like the queen of awkwardness. A week ago, I almost completely wiped out as my skirt caught on a chair at Mass. In addition, every day I walk through the front doors looking like a thin dromedary with half a library's worth of books hanging off of me in various bags. In addition, my students now know all of my funny mannerisms and verbal "Kelly-isms."

Isn't it wonderful when your vocation can clearly become an opportunity for virtue as well? Ok, so it doesn't always feel wonderful. However, God taught me quite a while ago to laugh at myself (Larry helps too, he laughs "with" me almost daily) . . . more on that to come in a later post.

Dorothy Land

I'm here in Kansas and loving life. All the other missionaries are so wonderful; it is inspiring to be surrounded by so many enthusiastic, young Catholics. Their radical generosity shines through in every aspect of their lives! The men are perfect gentlemen, the ladies seek to serve their sisters and brothers through conversation and little acts of kindness, the professors gladly enter into discussion after class about everything under the sun, and there is no end to the invitations to have good clean fun with 170 new friends.

I have been privileged to meet the new 1st year staff too. Two of them are my new teammates, Danny & Diane! They seem to be wonderful people, and I look forward to getting to know them better through this next year. Please pray for them, as God prepares their hearts and minds for work on campus in the Fall.

Off to Training

I'm off to Kansas in a few short hours for New Staff Training (for the 2nd yr.). However, my FOCUS work on campus does not end when I leave campus. A student called me recently to tell me about a professor in her "Teaching Diverse Cultures" summer course. He blatantly made fun of Catholics and pretended to be a vampire, cupping his hands and saying, "Drink my blood. Eat my body." With reason, this student was outraged. It hits me with fresh pain every time I hear another story like this. Truly, anti-Christianity seems to be the only politically correct prejudice to have in academia. Please pray that Our Lord will keep these students strong and help them not to be discouraged, even in the face of blatant anti-Catholicism.

Spring in the Sunshine State

It is well into Spring and allergy season here in FL. I will probably hit the beach with some friends this afternoon after getting some work done. :)

This semester has gone really well. I have just seen some of the students grow in their relationship with Christ by leaps and bounds! One girl who has been getting more involved went to Confession for the first time in a long while, has begun to attend daily Mass, and is making significant progress in avoiding the secular, party life-style she had adopted last semester. I'm so excited for her and praying hard!

We also had our largest event yet this semester. We invited Msgr. Swetland to come and field questions at an, "Ask Anything About the Catholic Faith" open Q&A forum. Over half of the audience were non-FOCUS students (don't usually attend our Bible studies or events). They included an officer from the Muslim Association, a student who wants to be a Protestant minister, and many of our Christian brothers and sisters from other campus ministries.

Sucessfully Started Semester!

Dear friends,

First of all, thank you all so much for your prayers, letters, and support!

The leadership conference went very well and was a wonderful opportunity for our student leaders to reflect, pray, and make goals regarding outreach on campus this semester.

Personally, this has been yet another semester of challenges as Our Lord teaches me to regard myself as nothing compared to His infinite Love and Mercy. He constantly asks me to examine myself and weed out those faults that prevent me from serving the students and my teammates as I should. It has also been a time of further detachment as my dear friend and roommate of 4 years, Therese, just joined a religious order in Italy--please pray for her! However, Our Lord has also blessed me and consoled me in so many ways and continues to do so.

Another exciting bit of info: I was asked to write for the new FOCUS blog on Catholicism and Catholic culture. Please feel free to check out my posts and those of my eloquent fellow-writers at http://www.focusonline.org/blog/.

Also, I have another newsletter coming out in mid-Febrary. If you do not currently receive my newsletters and would like to, please e-mail me at kmulhern@focusonline.org.

Take care and have a blessed day!

Simply a Tool

The last few weeks, it has been continually impressed upon me that I am simply a tool in God's hands.

I have been blessed to get to know a wonderful young lady named Tana. Over the last year or so, she and her fiance have experienced an incredible conversion from a life of secular hedonism to a faith filled and joyful discovery of the Catholic Church and Our Lord Jesus. She will be accepted into the Church on Easter Vigil next spring and will receive the sacraments from Baptism through Confirmation all in one day! The last month, she has joined my Bible study and has begun to make friends within the FOCUS group at UNF. Tana often expresses her joy at finding like-minded people who are excited for the journey she has undertaken and want to assist her however they can.

Though RCIA and Bible study contain a lot of the new information that she wants to learn about the Catholic Faith, I have been blessed to have wonderful conversations with her about some of the things she hasn't learned through those sources. Talking with her about Christian prayer, the Eucharist, Mary, Catholic relationships & sexuality, and living a Christian life dedicated to Our Lord has helped me to re-approach the truths of the Faith with all the excitement of a convert learning it for the first time.

The beautiful thing about the Catholic Faith is that, though Faith is essential to a full acceptance of the words of Christ, reason & logic supports all that the Catholic Church teaches and holds to be true. Our Faith is something that can engage both our emotions and our intellect and fulfill us completely in that way through a complete dedication of our hearts, our wills, and our lives to Our Lord and Savior.

If you ever question something that the Church teaches, I encourage you to ask me or a trusted Catholic authority the "why" behind the teaching. CatholicAnswers.com is also a good source for answers.

Meanwhile, please pray for Tana and her fiance as they enthusiastically learn about and become more involved in the life of Faith and fall more in love with Jesus!