Great Catholic Resources!

I found these two resources through Facebook recently, and wanted to share:

Pillars of Catholicism is part of the John Paul the Great University program and will be a 12 part study on Catholicism. Part one is available now, and hopefully shortly they will have their registration snafu situated and the whole program will be available over the course of 12 weeks. What I've seen so far looks wonderful!

The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is Dr. Scott Hahn's online home. There are a number of free studies there, including some audio ones. I know Dr. Hahn's work, it was his book, "Rome Sweet Home" that really brought home the fact that I could be Catholic.

Okay, and while I'm posting about great Catholic resources, I should really give the site for the Catholic Home Study Service. This site has been around for, well, longer than I've been looking into Catholicism...so more than 13 years! They offer free books and workbooks, and you can submit your answers for each chapter and get a certificate of completion at the end. I've done two of the books, and while the workbooks are a little dry, the books themselves are wonderful. This would make for a good small group study, and in fact our MCCW chapter at Ft. Bragg used the book on Happiness one year and we invited Fr. Lukefahr to visit. That was fun!

I'd love to hear about other good Catholic sites, especially ones with free study aides!

August Progressive Scrap

Well, when I get going, I really get going! :)

Here's the August Progressive Scrap from theStudio-

This one was a lot of fun, I look forward to these every month! This one uses the August Mega Kit- Tropical Beach from theStudio, with the free Sand Alpha from Carin Grobe Designs.

Assorted July goodness!

Okay, here's a mass payout post of pages from July. None from my vacation, that'll all be later.

First up, my July chapter page, it was a busy month! :)

 Just because!

 Great pic of Kristin and me!

 Rooter!

And more Rooter! Expect LOTS of pics of this little pig, he's just tooooo cute!

Stand by, more pics on the way soon!

Scrap-a-Thon!

Back in July I took part in a Scrap-a-thon speed scrap over at theStudio as part of their Christmas in July celebration.  Here are the pages I made that day!

Credits for these pages can be found here. It was tremendous fun, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Reflections on Mass Today

So much of today's readings at Mass fit something I've been thinking about or struggling with.

The first reading was from 1 Kings 19:4-8

Elijah went a day's journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
"This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
"Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Elijah was tired, he had been called by God to be a prophet and do do God's will, but the people wouldn't listen. He was ready to give up, call it quits, just be done. But God gave him food and drink. Even that though, wasn't enough. God gave him more food and drink, and made him eat, "else the journey will be too long for you". Strengthened, he continued on his journey to the mountain of God.

If Elijah, who KNEW his purpose in life, KNEW he was doing God's will needed to be fed by God, then how much more do we, poor sons and daughters need to be fed as we struggle to find our place in this world, struggle to find God's will in our lives?

It's a good reminder too, that even knowing we are doing God's will doesn't mean it will be easy. In fact, it's all the more likely that it will be extremely difficult.

All the more reason to make sure that we being strengthened by the food and drink that God gives us in the Eucharist. That is the only food that will sustain us in our journey to see God.

This is the important thing. Don't let anything separate me from the food that I KNOW will sustain me. It's too easy sometimes, especially in times of stress or depression, to let Satan get in my head and convince me that I'm not worthy of the Eucharist. That this sin, or that sin is enough to separate me from His Communion. There are sins that DO separate me from God, missing Mass for no reason being high among them, but even when that happens, I know that I can come to Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and get made whole again. The little things though, I have to work at accepting that while they may in fact be things I need to deal with, they do not separate me from God. No matter how much Satan tried to convince me otherwise. All I have to do is come to the table. Not exclude myself from His Communion. That is my struggle.

Prayer

This. It strikes at the heart of so much I have been thinking about lately, so I wanted to share~

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"
© Abbey of Gethsemani

July's Progressive Scrap

Hey! I almost forgot, here's the PS from TheStudio for July~

As always, you can download my QP here!

June Pics

June was a slow month for pictures, but I do have a few!

Here's my Monthly page, and one of when Melissa and Angel finally became friends-

The latter happened on our Girl's Day, when Kristin was out again!

Now it's on to July and vacation photos! I'm so excited! :)

ComiCon...Finally!

I had to wait to get some photos from my wonderful girlfriends, as so many of mine were beyond blurry.

We had a great day, lots of Steampunk, great fun seeing old friends and finally meeting some online friends, and I even got star struck meeting Ed Asner!

 Kristin, David and Jasmine drove out from Texas for the Con. We had a great time playing games and such before, during, and after Con!

 It was really fun getting to see Jim at the UFP panel, and to see that they are STILL using the banner I made all those years ago! Finally getting to Meet Marcy, in person was very cool too!

 So much fun Dr. Who stuff going on, only one 4th Doctor that I saw (had to get a pic with him), a life sized TARDIS, and Romans! :)

 Steampunk, steampunk, and more steampunk! Need I say more?

The big reason I went to Con this year was to go with Alicia and stuff with her and see what she enjoys at cons. She found a couple of different groups of My Little Pony Cosplayers, and get her picture taken with each of them. The TARDIS was a big hit for pictures, and I had to get one of the 6th Doctor. Not many folks would know who he is these days I'm afraid, but he pulled it off very nicely! I took the Minecraft cosplayers pic for Melissa, and the one of the guys at Blind Ferret for Aaryk.

At the end of the day, I got a pic of the four of us in our Steampunk costumes, You can find it down a few entries under "Steampunk Ladies".

Wonderful, exhausting day, and I'm already looking forward to Wild Wild West Con in Tucson next year! A whole Steampunk Convention? Count me in! :)