Barbara Curtis's Blog, page 192
September 2, 2011
Lawler: Why do Catholics have big families?
Any mom of more than two - Catholic or not - will enjoy this. But to tell you the truth one of the things that led me to convert to Catholicism after 20 years of evangelicalism and 12 children - and after years of people asking me if I was Catholic and answering "no" - was the Church's uncompromising position on life and the family.
Compromised Catholics aside, the Catholic Church gets it, has always gotten it, and will never stop getting it about children being a blessing and about trusting God:
Why do Catholics have big families?
By Phil Lawler September 01, 2011 6:05 PM
Yes, there is such a thing as a stupid question.
If you have more than two or three children, I'm sure you've heard it--often posed by a complete stranger:
Oh, you have such a big family! Are you Catholics?Although I am delighted that our faith is commonly associated with
the love for human life, I still recoil at the notion that there is
something odd, something sectarian, something strange--something that
requires a special explanation--about the willingness to welcome a large
number of children.On her own blog this week, my lovely wife Leila responded to a question
from a young woman who is not Catholic, and who wondered how she and
her husband should tell friends and acquaintances that they are
expecting their fourth (!) child. I won't summarize her reply, nor do I
think that I can improve on it; I encourage visitors to read it for themselves. But as I mulled over her response, I couldn't resist adding my own perspective.Catholicism doesn't cause childbirth. I don't propose to devote this
short essay to a discussion of the birds and the bees, but suffice it to
say that no woman ever became pregnant as the result of a papal decree.Years ago, Leila and I watched helplessly as a couple told a stranger
that they had many children because "the Pope encourages us to have
large families." We gulped. That couple--friends of ours, deeply in love
with each other, wonderful parents of a happy family--had stepped
directly into a trap. They had conveyed the impression that they had
many children only because they were Catholics--as if they reproduced
robotically, under orders from Rome.Nonsense! Our friends had many children for the same reason that
Leila and I have many children. They love one another, and the human
body is designed so that when a man loves a woman, the birth of children
will ordinarily ensue--unless the couple takes steps to prevent that
natural result.Yes, it's true that the Catholic Church encourages parents to welcome
children. But in giving that encouragement, the Church is only
recommending that we do what nature intended. In much the same way, the
Church might encourage Catholics to eat healthy foods; there is nothing
sectarian about the call for a healthy diet.Read more at Catholic Culture
Also LOL funny: The Grandmultipara Pushes Back by mother-of-soon-to-be-nine and terrific writer Simcha Fisher, who blogs at I Have To Sit Down and whom I have decided to read every day. She is that good.
The Beatles: Rubber Soul
Your favorite Beatle album? Mine was always Rubber Soul, which Maddy loves too and often plays when we are in the car together.
Released in 1965, - almost 50 years ago - it is still a masterpiece:
Do you know Rubber Soul? Here are some more tracks:
I've Just Seen a Face (one of my favorites)
Wait(another favorite)
September 1, 2011
Jonny rocks Down syndrome, ready to fly!
When Jonny was born and we realized he had Down syndrome, I was really quite honored to be his mom and thrilled to know that God had many lessons in store for our family. I don't know where this contentment came from - it must have been the Holy Spirit. Though I didn't go through mourning, we did have our share of emotional ups and downs the first 15 months of Jonny's life because he had several gastrointestinal issues that meant surgeries (including a temporary colostomy) and aspiration pneumonia. With six children at home, it was hard to be torn in two - and of course Maddy was born 54 weeks after Jonny which meant Jasmine really brought her up the first few months as Jonny went through two three-week stays in the hospital, once coming close to dying.
Nineteen years later I can hardly believe the 7-1/2 pound blue-blanketed bundle whose almond-shaped eyes captured my heart is now a grown up man.
So he doesn't know how to read - the goal I focused on as most important in those early days. Instead he has taught me to see things from God's perspective: Does God care if we read? No, not really. But God does care if we live with faith and love and joy and compassion. And Jonny does all those things better than anyone else I know.
Sometimes I think it's because we skipped the grieving period. because we taught our other kids from the get-go to be PROUD of Jonny's extra chromosome, because we taught him too - that we avoided the ambivalence. Did people stare? I never noticed. When people asked how old he was, I'd say, "He's three months, but he's a little small. He has Down syndrome!" hoping they would ask questions and ready to answer them. From the get-go I felt that my responsibility as his mother was to help him realize his potential, but also to help the rest of the world reach theirs - in terms of letting go of fear and learning to appreciate these lovely people God has sent to light up our lives.
I don't mean to make light of the reality that is was hard to face that he was not learning to read or to understand the details of money and time - though Lord knows, his teachers and I tried very hard for many years. But early on I began to suspect it wasn't about me helping Jonny reach his potential, but allowing God to let Jonny help me realize mine.
Being Jonny's mom has taught me that God doesn't measure us the way we measure ourselves. Do you think he cares about intelligence? Jonny taught me that there was so much more. He's been in over 30 plays and never missed a cue. He serves as an altar boy. He cooks and cleans and redecorates the house and and helps take care of his three younger brothers (we ended up adopting three other boys with Down syndrome, now 16, 15 and 11). He loves his Ipad, Facebook, movies, music and all the other things his peers love. He has a soft spot for his nephews and nieces and babies in general. He was Homecoming King at his high school last year. He graduated with his sister Maddy. who for the first time is not part of his daily life as she has moved on to college.
And Jonny has moved on too.
But first, let me back up to this summer, when we moved and counted on Jonny's terrific work ethic and physical strength to be part of what made it happen. What a thrill for a mom to know her son has a contribution to make and enjoys making it - maybe even a little more than his peers :)
I've been meaning to share this story:
One day in the midst of our move we arrived at Costco and I was finishing up a call on my cellphone. Jonny jumped out of the car and was gone in a flash, but I wasn't too worried as I figured he'd get stopped at the door since he didn't have a Costco card. When it turned out he wasn't at the entrance after all, I asked the attendant and she pointed in the direction of the food/bathrooms. I looked down there, but no Jonny.
I proceeded to do my shopping, hoping that we would run into each other eventually. Meanwhile, Tripp was in a panic at home, unable to understand why I was so casual. "What if he's lost?" But how could he be lost? I knew he had to be somewhere in Costco. Still, by the time I was ready to check out, I still hadn't found him and was finally starting to get worried. Then all of a sudden I heard, "Hi, Mom," turned around and there he was bragging about how he had bought coke for everyone. I asked him how, and he said with the money in his wallet. By this time I was going through the checkout and the next checker over chimed in that he had gone through his line. They let him pay for it with no Costco card.
"So where's the coke?" I asked.
"I took it out to the car," he said proudly.
This makes me happy and worried at the same time. He's so confident, so fearless, so eager to be a grown-up. I want all those things, but I want him to be safe. Sometimes I feel like God has him surrounded by angels who protect him. And I never worry that anyone will be mean to him because - well, how could anyone be mean to a person so full of joy and kindness?
The way the education system works is that kids with special needs can continue to receive an free and appropriate education (FAPE) until they are 21. Though Jonny graduated with Maddy in June, he is still starting his mornings this year at Loudoun Valley High, which serves as a base for him to gain experience in the working world. He has a job five days a week from 10-2 at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore which is just a hop, skip and jump away from the high school. He bought a new pair of steel-toed work boots for himself and he brings a lunch each day. At the ReStore, he helps clean, arrange and move furniture, sweep the sidewalk, and just anything else his bosses have for him to do.
He is so happy!
This is from his job coach:
Greetings!You just know it's going to be a good day when the employer tells you to go on, that they have work to do! Your son has been taken into the ReStore's family. All have jumped in to help guide and train him as he seeks vocational independence.
Today he unloaded the truck with ____; tidied the store with _____ and moved carpet tiles with ____. I went to check on him at 1:30 and he wanted to walk by himself to school at 2:00. The staff said they would watch the clock for him. He showed up in the classroom about 2:15. He had gone the gas station to buy a soda!
Wow...
Also the other day, his big sister Samantha and nephew Andrew stopped by to see if they could take him to lunch. There was a little discussion with the manager about whether they should call me and it was agreed that that was not necessary as he is 19 and signs himself in and out. Can you imagine what a thrill this is for me - every step he takes towards independent living?
When he was a baby I remember Tripp said, "He is the one who will never leave us." How little we understood what God had planned for our eighth child. With all the older siblings who've left to live their own lives, Jonny sees his way clearly. He is spreading his wings and yearning to fly.
Our job is to keep up with him, equip him with more skills and help him build a working resume that can prove to any potential employer he has what it takes to make a difference anywhere he goes.
Because he's been proving that he does make a difference since the day he was born.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
More about Jonny and Down syndrome:
Jonny's Birthday - celebrating 19 years of Down syndrome in our family
Jonny and Maddy - Loudoun Valley High graduation
Jonny Curtis- Loudoun Valley Homecoming King!
Jonny and Maddy Curtis sing the National Anthem
Jonny and Jesse - Confirmation April 24
For Jonny, Down syndrome rocks!
Well, you get the picture - there's a lot more about Jonny if you use my personal Google to search for his name.
But here's a real blast from the past:
August 31, 2011
Rubio at Reagan Library on the role of government
Marco Rubio Hits it Out of the Park
Senator Rubio at The Reagan Library
At
none other than the Reagan Library, Florida Republican Sen.
Marco Rubio wowed conservatives. He delivered a one-two punch of a
speech which not only admirably paid tribute to Ronald Reagan, in this
100th anniversary of his birth, but laid out a path of fiscal courage
for the country.
Rubio,
of course, was only elected to the Senate last year and it is
unfortunate that as yet he has not offered himself as a candidate for
the 2012 election, frankly.
Nonetheless,
the freshman senator gave a stinging - and accurate indictment - of
how the country has gotten into its current fiscal mess, now presided
over by a Democratic White House.
Said
Rubio: "Program after program was crafted without any thought as to
how they will be funded in future years or the impact it would have on
future Americans. They were done with the best of intentions, but
because it weakened our people and didn't take account the simple math
of not being able to spend more money than you have, it was destined to
fail and brought us to the point at which we are at today."
He continued: "It is a startling place to be, because the 20th century
was
not a time of decline for America, it was the American century.
Americans in the 20th century built here - we built here - the richest,
most prosperous nation in the history of the world. And yet today we
have built for ourselves a government that not even the richest and most
prosperous nation in the face of the Earth can fund or afford to pay
for. An extraordinary tragic accomplishment, if you can call it that."
Rubio
rightly called for re-crafting the role of government by embracing a
crucial first principle: "The free enterprise system does not create
poverty. The free enterprise system does not leave people behind. People
are poor and people are left behind because they do not have access to
the free enterprise system because something in their lives or in
their community has denied them access to the free enterprise system."
Rubio
should be considered for a place on the 2012 Republican nomination for
his courage, properly on exhibit at the Reagan Library most recently -
but hopefully appearing soon in venues across the country.
Read the full text of Rubio's speech at the Reagan Library.
He also caught Nancy Reagan - who is rumored to have invited Tea Party favorite Rubio to speak - as she fell when they were making their entrance.
Boehner to Obama: postpone jobs speech
In regards to Obama's attempt to grandstand (which will still occur as he is giving an address that should be from the Oval Office with all the pomp and ceremony of a State of the Union) and usurp the Republican debates, a swift resonse from the House Speaker. According to the Washington Times:
Speaker of the House John Boehner sent a letter
back to President Obama regarding the president's request for a joint
session of Congress on September 7. However, Mr. Boehner told the
president that the date of September 7 would not be available and
proposed September 8 instead. Below is an excerpt of the letter:
I like the way he found other reasons - allowing Obama to save face.
By now, most everyone sees Obama for what he is. All but the most Kool-Aided understand that every single move now is carefully calculated to get him re-elected. He couldn't care less about the American people, jobs, housing, small business or anything else. For the next 14 months, we will see him pull out all stops, making taxpayers fund his campaigning under the guise of being president.
Obama speech conflicts w/GOP debates
More arrogance! First, that Mr. Big is demanding a joint session of Congress as backdrop for his campaign jobs speech.
Second that just today the White House announced the date and time - the same evening as the Republican debates.
Third that the White House gives "permission" for NBC to reschedule the Republican debate - which has been scheduled for many months and which involves bookings and reservations for many people - it is being held at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA.
John Boehner has the authority to say yes or no to the President's demand. Let's email him* to tell him we expect him to tell the President his speech will have to wait at least a day or two.
Carney grants NBC permission to reschedule debate
by Hayley Peterson Examiner Staff Writer
President Obama plans to lay out his long-awaited jobs speech
before a joint session of Congress next Wednesday evening -- which
happens to be the same night of a Republican presidential debate.
"I respectfully request the opportunity to address a joint session
of Congress on Sept. 7, 2011 at 8 p.m.," Obama wrote in a letter sent
Wednesday to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says the timing of the
speech is not aimed at overshadowing the next Republican debate, which
is cosponsored by NBC News and Politico, and is scheduled to air at the
same time as the planned presidential address.
"It is coincidental," Carney said. "It is one debate of many [that
will air] on one channel of many... [and] there are many other factors
here" to consider when scheduling a major address from the president, he
added.
Carney gave NBC his permission to reschedule the Republican debate
so it doesn't conflict with the president's speech, saying "if the
network so chose and the candidates so chose" to reschedule, "that would
be completely fine with us."
Boehner and Reid have not yet responded to Obama's letter, according to Carney.
Feel free to cut and paste what I wrote to save time:
Dear Mr. Speaker -
Obama's scheduling of his "jobs" speech the same evening as the long-planned GOP debates is wrong. You have the authority to postpone the date. Please do so.
Barbara Curtis
Mike Tompkins a capella Firework
Not a Katy Perry fan, but this cover by Mike Tompkins is amazing. Show your kids - they may be inspired to experiment musically too:
Katy Perry Firework - A Capella Cover - Mike Tompkins - Beatbox
Dog mourns at Navy Seal's funeral
Dog Mourns At Navy SEAL's FuneralDog Displays Loyalty To The EndPOSTED: Thursday, August 25, 2011
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ROCKFORD, Iowa -- A touching moment was seen at a funeral for a Navy SEAL killed in action.
Navy
SEAL Jon Tumilson, 35, was killed was one of 30 American troops,
including 22 Navy SEALs, who were killed when a Taliban insurgent shot
down a Chinook helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade on Aug. 6.
During his funeral in his hometown of Rockford, Iowa, family members brought his Labrador retriever, Hawkeye, to the service.Hawkeye walked up to the casket at the beginning of the service and lay there until the end.
The photo of Hawkeye was snapped by Tumilson's cousin, Lisa Pembleton, and posted on her Facebook page."I
felt compelled to take one photo to share with family members that
couldn't make it or couldn't see what I could from the aisle," Pembleton
wrote on her Facebook page.
As for Hawkeye, the loyal Labrador will now be owned by Nichols, Tumilson's friend.
August 30, 2011
Hillsdale: Free Introduction to the Constituition
Here is a wonderful opportunity for our families to learn more - a free online Introduction to the Constitution offered by Hillsdale College beginning September 15. Hillsdale College is a politically sound institution - one of a very few in our country which has declined federal funds so as to not become a slave to government mandates.
Since these are lectures, they will be especially valuable for audio learners, so be sure to have your kids participate. I would suggest having them take notes and then discussing it with them after. This is a wonderful way for us to prepare our children to defend their country against attacks from within.
Dear Friend of the Constitution
Thank you for your interest in Hillsdale College's
Constitution Day Celebration and "Introduction to the Constitution"
webcast series.
On September 15, in observance and celebration of
Constitution Day, Hillsdale College will hold our second annual
Constitution Day Celebration, this year featuring Congressman Paul Ryan,
syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, members of the Hillsdale
College faculty, and other distinguished guests. Once you register for
this event - it's free - you'll be able to watch all of these speeches
and panels live from your home or office. Even if you are unable to
watch on the day of the event, we will make all of the videos available
to view in the weeks following.
Then, for the next five weeks
after our Constitution Day Celebration, we invite you back to this site
for a special lecture series we are calling the "Introduction to the
Constitution." Included in what we will discuss is:
What the framers of the Constitution
understood about the document they were writing, especially its
fundamental principles true of human beings at all times and in all
places;Why the fundamental features of the American Constitution are representation and separation of powers;Why the key to a republican form of government is the vibrancy, size and independence of this private society.
This program will serve as the basis for future
educational programs on Constitution and related topics, including a
more complete Online Constitution Class, of which this series will serve
as a basis. We will be asking for your participation and feedback along
the way to help us improve our efforts.
If you have not
already, please take a few minutes to register for this program, the
Constitution Day Celebration and the "Introduction to the Constitution"
series. And please share this information with others - your friends,
family, and colleagues who, like you, understand the vital need for
restoring an understanding and love of the Constitution in our great
nation.
We look forward to your partnership in this important work.
Best regards,
Dr. Larry Arnn
President, Hillsdale College
Please visit Hillsdale to read more, see the dates/times/syllabus, and to register. When you sign up, be sure to say yes to receiving Imprimis, their monthly speech digest, which is always something timely and valuable.
They will ask for a donation, and if you can make one, do so. But it is not required. I plan to make one later, once we get through with all these moving/back to school/off to college expenses.
I have signed up and hope many of my readers will too. We could have a discussion here amongst ourselves after each session. Leave a comment if you are signing up so we will know who will be here after the first session September 15. Really looking forward to it!
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