Category: Random Newness

Latin Mass with Friends and Family- Worship Old School Style

image1-1I’m questioning my mental faculties… No surprise to many (yeah, yeah, my family can all stop voicing their assent. You all are sooooo funny). Forgetfulness is becoming my ever-present, unwanted pal.

It’s driving me nuts!

My problem is that I see my world in layers, and should really look at the whole: when I work on a job, or layer, I tend to focus on ONLY that one layer. Often, other obligations become mere background noise. This past week we focused on getting school supplies, sports physicals, forms, etc. purchased, met, and completed. The previous week was spent moving kids rooms around and welcoming their friend to our home. It’s been busy, but I had completely forgotten our plans made for Sunday, August 16th.

Guess who remembered to bring veils/scarves? Yep. Samantha.
Guess who remembered to bring veils/scarves? Yep. Samantha.

Three weeks ago, on the drive to Vidcon in Anahiem, I told Friend of The Girl (Samantha) that I wanted to attend a Latin Mass. As soon as I mentioned this to Samantha, also known as our Chief Organizer and Planner, she had her phone out and found each church in our area offering one. The Girl, The Husband and The Boy all were on board. Samantha later went on to research the different kinds of Latin Masses, appropriate dress, times, parishes, AND her own train route to get herself to the church. The only thing she forgot was my forgetfulness… The Girl had to remind me, “Mom, quit planning our morning, we are meeting Samantha, remember?” Of course not, I can’t remember where I park my car half the time!

Saint Anne's Catholic Church, San Diego
Saint Anne’s Catholic Church, San Diego

Needless to say, we all made it. And were early, to boot! Samantha studied the different kinds of churches and different types of Latin Masses offered, and hit on the best one for us, Saint Anne’s Catholic Church in San Diego. It was humbling to experience the Mass in the language of the early church. We all decided that we’d like to visit St. Anne’s again- the parishioners that we met afterwards were so warm and inviting. We felt truly welcome and are thankful for their warmth and geniality!

Inside St. Anne's
Inside St. Anne’s

Thank you for the research, the scarves, and these photos, Samantha! You will take university by storm, and no doubt continue to make everyone proud!

One Heck of a Busy August = Blank Blog Dates, ARGH!

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.
Denis Waitley, Author of “Raising Confident Kids“

In the course of four weeks we will have accomplished (among other things…)-

  • One Freshman leaving for college.
  • One Freshman starting High School.
  • One  High School Senior moved into our home.
  • Four visiting groups of family and friends.
  • One hotel stay in Anaheim for VidCon and Disneyland.
  • Countless trips to the Salvation Army/Goodwill drop off as three teens swapped rooms to make space for each other.
  • The cramming in of a few new things that I didn’t have time to write posts about. Boo.

I’m pooped, my kids are cooked, and we are all keyed up for so many new things happening in our lives in our near future. My cup overfloweth, my gratitude is reaching heights I’ve never experienced and I am beyond thankful that my uneventful, humble life is one of the greatest gift to be treasured.

On Being Flexible…

The setting goals is always an interesting endeavor. We often accomplish more, we are encouraged to do better… “Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” (Norman Vincent Peale) We need goals and drive to accomplish them.
But, we must also be flexible. In being flexible, we are open to surprises and blessings we might otherwise have missed! “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” (Albert Einstein)

I’m temporarily setting aside my month’s goal of attending to home fixer-upper chores this month. There will still be time to repair the damage from barstools gouging into the wall under our kitchen counter, and I will eventually repaint my stair risers to cover up six years worth of scuffs. Instead, it looks as though we will be swapping over my two teens’ rooms and adding on a third one. Teen, that is, not rooms- oh my GOSH, I don’t think I could put up with remodeling a home… I’ve heard the horror stories.

We have never played host to an exchange student or any houseguest for more than a month at a time- usually, it has been my mom and we have had a ball with her long stays. But my parents, on the other hand, many years ago they have had a few of my friends live at their home for one, three, twenty-five months at a stretch. They made me proud. To know that my parents were ready, willing, and able to help out a friend gave me such a good feeling about my family. They taught me well.

If we can, I look forward to having one of my teen’s friends hang here for his senior school year, as my parents did for my friends.

It will be a pleasure.

Thanks VidCon for the Winning Weekend…

We won 4th place in the Mental Floss Trivia Challange on Friday night-

We’re Number 4!

I won a coloring book at the same event-   The Girl won VIP seating at tonight’s Vidcon concert-

note the “Jack’s Films”  tat

Friend of The Girl won a poster signed by Hank Green of Crash Course and Vlog Bros. Fame- And The Hisband was the big winner, he bagged an Epiphone guitar at the Gibson Vidcon raffle!

THANK YOU Berkeley Breathed -or- Opus Wakes Up

“I will go to my grave in a state of abject endless fascination that we all have the capacity to become emotionally involved with a personality that doesn’t exist.”
Berkeley Breathed
found on BrainyQuotes.com

There are those of us stuck in a generational limbo, smushed between the loopy Baby Boomers and the entitled Gen-Xers, that  got a blast from our past with the return of Bloom County this week, yea!!!

#1 It's back!
1st strip of Bloom County 2015…    It’s back!

Twenty-five years ago Berkeley Breathed didn’t pass the comic on to a relative, like Family Circus or Blondie, neither did he have newspapers rerun his strips as we see with the beloved Peanuts. He just stopped, for his own reasons.

My kids have read all of the Bloom County comic strips; we own all of them. They are equally excited with this weeks reemergence, too. My son would read them on the half hour ride home from school, asking me about the period based humor that he didn’t get… he now knows who Jean Kirkpatrick is, and Mikhail Gorbachev, and he even knows what a Turnip Twaddler is and why late-night infomercials can be hazardous to your bank account.

Today I read through the fresh, first four 2015 comics that Breathed has shared on Facebook and man, oh, MAN. It sure took me back. Thanks, BB, I’ve missed Opus.

swiped from a comment left on Berkeley Breathed's Facebook page
swiped from a comment left on Berkeley Breathed’s Facebook page