the heroic details

Right off the bat, this pregnancy was different.  I remember on the morning of January 16th, 2018, I was cleaning the kitchen after breakfast.  I wasn't feeling very well.  It was that crampy, irritable, fatigued feeling a woman gets when she's about to start her period.  I glanced at the calendar to look at the date and realized my period was a day late.  I had been tracking my cycle very closely ever since my miscarriage, and it had eerily come every month on the 15th like clock-work.  I knew in that very moment, even being just 1 day late, that I was pregnant. I happened to have an unopened pregnancy test in the bathroom.   I waited until I needed to go, then peed on the stick.  It was positive! Having had a miscarriage just four months ago, I wasn't exactly eager to announce the pregnancy.  I had my doubts as to whether or not this one would "stick."  I told my husband of course, but we kept it between the two of us f...

For the past 6 months, my oldest son has been receiving instruction at our parish for the sacrament of Confirmation.  His class consisted of 10 boys/men.  It worked out really well because Elijah's class at school is also preparing for Confirmation, so his religious instruction at school for this whole year has been focused on that.   Originally we did not think he would be Confirmed this year at all, but then our priest made the announcement about the classes and although Eli and his good friend, Finnian, are both only 11, the priest let them into the class.  They both did very well, and they were the two youngest confirmed yesterday at our church. During Mass Processing in The Bishop presiding over the ceremony was Eusebio Elizondo, one of our auxiliary bishops.  I had never had the pleasure of meeting him before, and I very much enjoyed his joyful and vibrant personality. His speech to the confirmadi was good and hilar...

My love for Tolkien and his writings have lead to me to read many books about both him and his wonderful works.  Perhaps it is because I am a mother, but the more I read about Tolkien, the more I find myself drawn to and inspired by his mother, Mabel. I believe she can serve as a beautiful source of encouragement for Catholic mothers, single mothers, and homeschooling mothers. Mabel, the single mother. Mabel and her husband, Arthur, were living in South Africa when J.R.R. Tolkien and his younger brother, Hilary, were born.  Mabel never liked living in South African and, shortly after Tolkien's 3rd birthday, she returned to England with her two boys.  Arthur had to stay in South Africa because of his job, but he intended to return to his family in England as soon as he could.  Unfortunately, he was never able to because he contracted rheumatic fever.  As his condition worsened, Mabel made plans to return to South Africa to care for him.  That never h...

I originally wrote this in 2017. I decided to modify and re-publish it. This is not meant to be a deep theological or liturgical study of the Mass, and I admit it’s hardly objective. This is an autobiographical sketch of my experiences growing up as an American Catholic with the Novus Ordo Mass, and what I experienced when I found and attended the Latin Mass. My family I have always felt very blessed to have been born into a Catholic family.  Even if I did not always appreciate, understand, or practice my Catholic faith very well, I still feel it was a privilege to be baptized as an infant into the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  I am so glad that I was raised from the very beginning with the Mass, the Eucharist, the sacrament of Confession, the Rosary, my Guardian Angel, and the Communion of Saints. My First Communion with Fr. Day and my brother, Joseph. I had a very average American upbringing; nothing special to report. I was a mostly worldly ch...