Tuesday, December 31, 2013

St. Angela Merici - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

St. Angela Merici - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Catholic Online has a Saint name generator. I tried twice and had fun reading about them both but thought I would take St . Angela as my patron saint for 2014.

The generator was created by Jennifer Fulwiler and her blog is at www.conversiondiary.com.

St . Angela Merici, pray for us!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Uhura

I don't often do silly things here...I should remedy that! :)

How about a quiz!


Your results:
You are Uhura
Uhura
80%
Deanna Troi
65%
Beverly Crusher
60%
James T. Kirk (Captain)
55%
Will Riker
50%
Chekov
45%
Data
44%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)
35%
Jean-Luc Picard
35%
Mr. Sulu
30%
Geordi LaForge
30%
Worf
30%
Mr. Scott
25%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)
25%
Spock
20%
You are a good communicator with a
pleasant soft-spoken voice.
Also a talented singer.
Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

Monday, September 2, 2013

The Catholic View of Sex

A friend asked recently how I would respond to someone that believes the Catholic Church teaches that sex is sinful. This post is a general response to that question. I know that there were other specific things relating to the discussion with her friend, but I wanted to keep my response here to that basic question.

My first thought in such cases is that in order to have any kind of rational discourse, you must be able to get the other person to agree as to WHAT Church authority they will consider the proper teaching authority of the Church. It must be something beyond "the nuns who taught me sex ed in Catholic school 30 years ago" or "everybody knows that". Ideally, if you can get them to agree that the Catechism of the Catholic Church contains the 'rules' which govern Catholic life, you're golden. That may take a discussion or several, but it really does have to be the starting point to get beyond the "he said, she said" sort of arguments. If they are of the 'my opinion of what your Church teaches is just as valid as your opinion' mindset, and will not agree that there can be a definitive source of teaching, then there's no way to have a rational conversation on the subject and further discussion will only devolve into argument.

For the specific challenge of the Catholic Church teaching that sex is sinful I counter, no, the Church teaches that sex is SACRED and therefore not something to be taken lightly or entered into frivolously.

From the CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church):
III. THE LOVE OF HUSBAND AND WIFE

2360 Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament.

2361 "Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until death."

    Tobias got out of bed and said to Sarah, "Sister, get up, and let us pray and implore our Lord that he grant us mercy and safety." So she got up, and they began to pray and implore that they might be kept safe. Tobias began by saying, "Blessed are you, O God of our fathers. . . . You made Adam, and for him you made his wife Eve as a helper and support. From the two of them the race of mankind has sprung. You said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; let us make a helper for him like himself.' I now am taking this kinswoman of mine, not because of lust, but with sincerity. Grant that she and I may find mercy and that we may grow old together." And they both said, "Amen, Amen." Then they went to sleep for the night.

2362 "The acts in marriage by which the intimate and chaste union of the spouses takes place are noble and honorable; the truly human performance of these acts fosters the self-giving they signify and enriches the spouses in joy and gratitude." Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure:

    The Creator himself . . . established that in the [generative] function, spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. Therefore, the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and enjoyment. They accept what the Creator has intended for them. At the same time, spouses should know how to keep themselves within the limits of just moderation.

2363 The spouses' union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple's spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family.

The conjugal love of man and woman thus stands under the twofold obligation of fidelity and fecundity.



How cool is that?! The Church teaches that sex within marriage was created for both the pleasure of the spouses and the transmission of life. Clearly not teaching that sex is sinful.

You would be correct in saying that the Church limits the beautiful and sacred act of sex to those within bonds of holy matrimony. If you have issues with that limitation, we can discuss that another time, but it is the clear teaching of the Church that sex is a GOOD thing, not a sinful act.

A couple of good resources for some one who wants to know more about the Catholic views on sex are:

The Theology of the Body website- a great place to start!
The Theology of the Body Institute website
Good News about Sex and Marriage by Christopher West


Saturday, August 31, 2013

On Reconcilliation

It's always so good for me to go to confession. Even when I'm not sure the priest understands me, or when the penance feels 'generic'. Ten Hail Mary's make me stop and think and really pray. Remembering that I have Mary to intercede for me, for my family, is a powerful thing. I have to remember that my spiritual walk can be to Mary, for she will always bring me to her Son. Sure, I go to Jesus directly, but why wouldn't I want the company of his mom on that journey?

Sunday, July 28, 2013

The odd thought from today's reading

"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

I wonder if we know how John's disciples prayed. Not that it's important for our faith or our salvation, but it would be interesting to know.

Just the stray thought that popped into my head as I read the reading before Mass this morning.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Sigh...

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted most of February's pages either!!


ladydrake64's February 2013 album on Photobucket
Here's the Photopucket Slideshow of them all, including the video I link to in the Storm Brewing set.

Here's the Pinterest link!

Whoops!

Well now, it's been a while, hasn't it?!

Life tends to get in the way sometimes, and I'm way behind on my scrapping. I did FINALLY get the pages for March finished up, but rather than deluge you with them, I've got them up on both Photobucket and Pinterest.

Here's the slideshow on Photobucket:


ladydrake64's March 2013 album on Photobucket

and here's the Pinterest board


The order of the pages is a little wonky on both sites, but you get the general idea! Credits for the pages are listed in the Photobucket versions, and in the metadata for each page (right click on the picture, select Properties, go to the Details tab and you'll see the credits).

I hope to get April through June scrapped sooner rather than later, but we'll see how that goes!

I'd love to know what you think, do you prefer this way of showing the pages, or would you rather have a long post with each scrap page showing individually?

Thanks for following me! :)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Powerful Reminder

One of the wonderful ladies at Digital Scrapper posted a link to this-

So You're Feeling Too Fat to be Photographed

Really good reminders there, especially this one-

And if you’re thinking that high school friend on Facebook will say to herself (“wow she has gained weight”) then . . . newsflash you DID. You gained weight. Shed a tear. Read a book. Drink a Sweet Tea. Watch Oprah. Whatever it takes. Accept this reality . . . YOU GAINED WEIGHT. The truth is you’ve gained a lot of other things too (a career, a family, some kids, a house, a love for travel, the ability to coordinate your separetes . . . ) and that girl from high school is going to spend a lot more time hating on those things then she ever will on your double chin.

So you’re feeling too fat to be photographed? . . . Ok. But you’re the only one who notices. The rest of us are too caught up in loving you.

Go read the whole thing, it's worth your time. Now I have to figure out how to get out from BEHIND the camera so much! :)

Saturday, February 23, 2013

One last page for January!

It's becoming more frequent for me to take pictures with my phone, and sometimes I forget to check may camera and make sure I've downloaded photos!

Here's one I took of Aaryk and his dad when he was in town last month, and I got to use Jilbert's beautiful kit, Southwestern Venture for it!
Kit: Southwestern Venture by Jilbert
Fonts: Lithos Pro and Nueva Std

Looking back at this page, it's going to be amusing once I get the snowstorm photos scrapped for February! :)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

A first for me!

Okay, I've done 2 page layouts before, but I've always done one page and then the other and not really worried about whether the sides lined up or anything. I generally go for the 'feel' of the kit, not exact symmetry on the opposing pages.

Tonight I wanted to try and make a 2 page layout using a single 17x11 page. I had the pictures Mom took of Dad with the Keurig we got him for his 80th birthday and came up with this-

Kit: October 2012 BTB with parts by- 3 lil Monsters, A-liya, Veronica Spriggs,
 Cabana Girl, Darlene H, Kim Jensen, Kakleid, Designs by Krista, Mad Genius Designs, 
Snuggle Berry Pie, Snips n Snails, Sugar Moon, Word Art World, 
Amanda Heimann and Charm City
Font: Gabriola

If you click on it to enlarge it you'll see a thin black line down the center of the page. That's what I used as a guide to know how close I was getting to the split for the pages. I like the sense of symmetry I got by doing the two sides at once this way. I only have one element that cuts across the page, but I didn't have to try and line it up this way.

When I was done and had saved the complete 2 page spread (a very important step!), I then used my crop tool, set to 8.5x11 and starting at the top left corner drew it out to  encompass the entire left hand page. By clicking on the green check at this point it cut off the right hand page (but we'll get it back in a sec). I saved just the left hand as page 1 and then used my Ctrl+Z to 'undo' the crop. Viola! My 2 page spread is back! I just repeated the crop from the top right corner for page 2, saved it, and I've got a nice 2 page layout that tells the story of my Dad and his first cup of coffee from his new Keurig!


Oh, I did 'hide' the line on both the 1/2 pages, I didn't know if it would show or not, but it's easy enough to either hide or delete, so that was no problem.

I know this is nothing new to many digital scrappers, but it was a first for me today and I thought I would share! I can see myself working in this format quite a bit!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Today at Mass

Every once in a while God needs to hit me upside the head with the clue by four.  Today it was in the second reading from 1 Corinthians 13:5b-
Love does not brood over injury

Let's say it again so I don't forget...

LOVE DOES NOT BROOD OVER INJURY

Aaryk says I could just stop at 'Love does not brood', and he's probably right!

This is a hard lesson to remember, but an important one.  Not only for my marriage, but in all my relationships. I need to learn to let go of the hurt and move on. Whether a friend or loved one is the source, and whether or not it affects the relationship in any meaningful way, I need to learn to let it go and pray. Just pray. That's the only way I will still be able to love, really love.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

What else I did in January

Here are the other pages I made in January. I was busier than I thought!

First up, the Progressive Scrap over at theStudio-

Kit: Winter Ice Mega Kit from theStudio
Day 1- Aimee Harrison Design Studio, Nibbles Skribbles, Laitha's Designs, and Snickerdoodle Designs
Day 2- Sweet Made Inc, and Laitha's Designs
Day 3- Aimee Harrison Designs and Snickerdoodle Designs
Day 4- Booland Designs and Laitha's Designs
Day 5- Created by Jill
Day 6- Nibbles Skribbles and Piggyscraps
Day 7- Julie C Designs and Sweetmade Inc
Fonts- Kirsten ITC, Geodesic, and Constantia
 
The rest are ones that just called to me in one way or another, either a color or pattern on the photo, or just wanting to try my hand at working with older pictures from slides. Either way, here they are~

Kit: Woodvale by Booland Designs
Font: Scrap Rhapsody
There's a story behind this photo, but I have to ask Mom about it. I had fun coloring the purse!

 Kit: Family Yearbook by Julie Mead at Digital Scrapper
Font: Berylium

Kit: Family Yearbook by Julie Mead at Digital Scrapper
Font: Berylium
 
Kit: An Innocent Heart Mega Collab
Font: Scrap Rhapsody
 
Kit: No Bones About It by Digiliscious Designs
Fonts: Nueva Std and Postino
 
It's been a fun start to the year!
 

January Scrap pages

January has been a crazy month. It's the beginning of the semester at the school I work at (I manage the copy center, mailroom, and maintain the printer fleet on campus), and that's the busiest time of the whole semester. Now that things have settled back into their normal routine, I've had time to finish working on the few photos I took last month.

I'm also taking Linda Sattgast's, Get Organized Now class over at Digital Scrapper and that's been a tremendous motivator in getting my photos and workflow organized. It's a nine week class with new videos each week. Nice thing is, I'll have access to the videos, the transcripts and the class forum FOREVER! I highly recommend this class to every digital scrapper, and even those who just have an overflowing abundance of photos that you'd like to get more organized.

So, without further ado, here's the January pages starting with my Project 12 2013 cover page for January (a monthly challenge over at Digital Scrapper)~

 Kit: Winterbloom by Booland Designs
Font: MV Boli

Kit: Inspire Me BTB
Font: Caflisch Script Pro

Kits: No Pirates Allowed BTB (bits by Designs by Mikki, The Brown Owl, Z Pink Boudoir Designs, Pardon the Mess, 
and Pixiemama Designs), and Refresh BTB (bits by Amiee Harrison Designs, Scraps by Mara, Twho Peas in a Bucket, 
Elaine Therese Digial Designs, and Cinnamon Scraps)
Font: Berylium
Kit: Auld LAng Syne Mega Kit from theStudio with part by Carin Grobe Designs, LouCee Designs, Digiliscious Designs,
 Booland Designs, Aimee Harrison Designs, Nibbles Skribbles, and Mad Genius Designs
Fonts: Rockwell Bold, Pristina, and Gill Sans Ultra Bold
Kit: Family Home Evening by DeDe Smith
Fonts: MV Boli, HP PSG, Graphite Std, and Jokerman
Kits: Camp BTB parts by Aimee Harrision Designs, Armina Designs, Created by Jill, Bon Scrapatit, 
and Millstream Cottage
Alpha: Camp BTB by Carin Grobe Designs
Photo Mask: Brother ans Friends by Manu Scraps
Font: Poplar Std
.
Kit: Dots of Fun by Cottage Arts
Font: Freestyle Script
Word art: Everyday Scrapwords Freebie from Cottage Arts

Kit: Dots of Fun by Cottage Arts
Fonts: Freestyle Script and Sencil Std
Kit: Dreams Come with the Night by AA Designs
Font: French Script

I wasn't able to be at Ellen's party, but I made her this page from one of the pics she posted on FB. One of the many things we share is our love of purple, so I had my choice of kits to use to match her sweater! 

Next up, the other pages I did in January that weren't from this year.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

St. Thomas Aquinas

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of my Church. Doctor of the Church, scholar, writer, and philosopher.I've only read snippets of his work...well, to be honest mostly I've just read assorted quotes.

This prayer attributed to him was in our bulletin today-

Student's Prayer

Creator of all things,
true source of light and wisdom,
origin of all being,
graciously let a ray of your light penetrate
the darkness of my understanding.
Take from me the double darkness
in which I have been born,
an obscurity of sin and ignorance.
Give me a keen understanding,
a retentive memory, and
the ability to grasp things
correctly and fundamentally.
Grant me the talent
of being exact in my explanations
and the ability to express myself
with thoroughness and charm.
Point out the beginning,
direct the progress,
and help in the completion.
I ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

I think I will use this prayer next week for our opening prayer at bible study!

Oh, and as an aside, I went to the Teen Mass tonight, and enjoyed the music immensely. We sang a song that just stuck with me and I thought I would share it here-

More Like Falling in Love by Jason Gray

Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Polar Express!

On Christmas Eve, we drove up to Williams AZ to experience the joy and wonder that is The Polar Express. If you EVER get a chance to go on this wonderful family adventure to the North Pole, take it!


 Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios, Snowkissed by Sherwood Studios, and Winter's Breath by Sherwood Studios
Alpha: A Royal Wedding BTB by Digi Cyber Scraps

 Kit: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

 Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios and Winter's Breath by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

 Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios and Winter's Breath by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

 Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios and Winter's Breath by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

 Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios and Winter's Breath by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

 Kit: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

 Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studio and Snowkissed by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studios, No Place Like Home by Sherwood Studios,  and Winter's Breath by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studio and Snowkissed by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script
 
 Kits: The Stars Above by Sherwood Studio, Winter's Breath by Sherwood Studios, and Snowkissed by Sherwood Studios
Font: Bickley Script

It was an amazing way to spend Christmas, and an adventure of a lifetime! It STILL makes me grin to think about it all!
 

 And now that 2012 is scrapped, I need a cover for my book~
Kit: This Is Me Add On by Cami Jo Designs
Word Art/Frames: Word art World by Jennifer

















The Last of the 2012 pages...Part Two! (Only one mre to go!)

Here's what little I did in November:

Are you tired of seeing cute piggy pictures? Me neither! :)



Kits: Kellie by Booland Designs and Thanksgiving Sampler by WinksArt
Fonts: Vinque and Edwardian Script ITC
Kit: Gather Together by Snips n Snails and Aimee Harrison Designs
Fonts: Edwardian Script and Graphite Std
(Info for Deep fryer pracitce page-
Kit:Autumn Moonlight by Nana's Digi Scraps
Font: MV Boli)
 
And then we get into December. Our special Christmas adventure deserves it's own post, but I'll put the rest of the pages here~
 
 Kit: Coming Home for Christmas Blog Hop
Font: Vinque
 Kit: Coming Home for Christmas Blog Hop
 Kit: Coming Home for Christmas Blog Hop
Font: Tekton Pro
 
 Kit: Coming Home for Christmas Blog Hop 
Font: Tekton Pro  Frame:Maf Genius Designs

 Kit: Coming Home for Christmas Blog Hop 
Font: Tekton Pro
 Kit: Coming Home for Christmas Blog Hop
 Font: Tekton Pro
 Kit: A Christmas to Remember by Mye De Leon
Font: Bradley Hand ITC
  Kit: A Christmas to Remember by Mye De Leon
Font: Bradley Hand ITC
 
 Kit: Winterbloom by Booland Designs
Font: Bradley Hand ITC
 Kit: All I Want for Christmas is You mini by Nibbles Skribbles
Font: Edwardian Script
 
Next up, our Christmas Eve at the North Pole!