Leave Them Alone

Last Monday night was my night off for a couple of hours from the kids and after dinner clean-up.  I play Keeno with a group of women once a month.  We get together and eat, discuss what is going on in our little town, and try to go home with at least one prize.  It’s not so much going home with a prize, but the time with other moms and the couple of hours away from the kids that I enjoy.   That is a subject for another post.

While I was away, David and the two older kids cleaned the kitchen.  Our children love to bake.  While the cleaning was going on, our oldest was discussing plans for her next baking project.  Her brother wanted to help.  David told them that after they finished cleaning the kitchen, they could bake whatever they wanted as long as that got cleaned up as well.  They chose a Brown Butter Soda Bread, a recipe from the Epicurious iPhone application.  I came home to a wonderful smell coming from the oven.  It had rosemary mixed in with pepper on top – yes, pepper.  It had a wonderfully spicy taste.  This is the kind of bread that you bring out when company comes.  They were very excited with their creation, especially since it tasted so delicious.  And they did it all by themselves. … Continue Reading

I Can’t Afford Jesus

You might have noticed a change in the Catholic Family’s website recently. Our website has traditionally been a landing page for our audio podcast. Most of our traffic (i.e. listeners) comes through subscriptions to our podcast through iTunes and other RSS sources. But recently, Allyson and I decided to “up the ante” and create new types of content such as blog articles. This has shifted the purpose of the website from an ancillary to primary distribution source.

As part of this transformation, we decided to try some things that we hadn’t tried before. I recently went to OpenCa.mp, a conference having a mission,”to educate, foster a sense of community, and remove barriers for webmasters and web developers, bloggers, podcasters, and social media enthusiasts.” Needless to say, I came away a little overwhelmed with all of the information on SEO (search engine optimization), monetization, and leveraging social media. … Continue Reading

Was Jesus Green?

Often, I’ve wondered if Jesus was green. So I broke out my electronic bible the other day and started searching. Sure enough, there is tons of support for this theory. Here are twelve examples of green living from the Prince of Peas.

1. Jesus must have composted because he knew the value of fertile soil. “…other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty-fold and sixty-fold and a hundred-fold. (Mark 4:20)”
2. Jesus used homeopathic medicine “ As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Silo’am’ (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. (John 9:6).”
3. Jesus was thrifty and grew his own food. “Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.  And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. (John: 6:11)”
4. Jesus liked to eat good, wholesome, non-processed foods. “Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.(1 Corinthians 5:8).” … Continue Reading