Article up

Ok, here it is... my article about zee Mr. Trump:

Trump Embodies the American Spirit

Even if you don't agree, I hope it's thought provoking. That's what I hope with all my articles. And this one was certainly fun to write.

By the way, you know that US presidents aren't elected by popular vote, right? This question is more for my non-American readers. And did you know that the electoral college only votes in December and the votes are only opened in January? And in a reeeeeally off-chance it could be a tie, the House of Representatives would decide? I read this article and was majorly confused. But then I read this article about the electoral college and how it works and feel much more clarified. I highly recommend it.

Voting...?

The election is coming.. the election is coming!!!

Is anyone else nervous/anxious/excited to see what happens like I am? Ok, I'm sure you're tired of hearing about it and kind of disgusted with the candidates.

I have an article about that... it will be published Monday.

But meanwhile...
Are you confused about all of this pro-life talk? Is it wrong/ignorant to be a "one-issue voter" and just vote according to a candidate's stance on abortion/euthanasia/etc? You should read Evangelium Vitae, if you haven't. It's very clear on those issues (as is every other Church document/statement on those issues... but whatever, people believe what they want to believe). I posted my favorite quotes from EV here.

I recently read a quote from Fr. Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, in which he says a government that authorizes the killing of babies and old people has become a "tyrant state" and moral corruption has been institutionalized in policy. It's not about one issue or another then, the very nature of the state is wrong. He takes this expression from Evangelium Vitae n. 20. I had already read this encyclical but I went back and read n. 20. It's worth a rereading so I'll post it here:

This view of freedom leads to a serious distortion of life in society. If the promotion of the self is understood in terms of absolute autonomy, people inevitably reach the point of rejecting one another. Everyone else is considered an enemy from whom one has to defend oneself. Thus soci- ety becomes a mass of individuals placed side by side, but without any mutual bonds. Each one wishes to assert himself independently of the other and in fact intends to make his own interests prevail. Still, in the face of other people's analogous interests, some kind of compromise must be found, if one wants a society in which the maximum possible freedom is guaranteed to each individual. In this way, any reference to common values and to a truth absolutely binding on everyone is lost, and social life ventures on to the shifting sands of complete relativism. At that point, everything is negotiable, everything is open to bargaining: even the first of the fundamental rights, the right to life.

This is what is happening also at the level of politics and government: the original and inalienable right to life is questioned or denied on the basis of a parliamentary vote or the will of one part of the people-even if it is the majority. This is the sinister result of a relativism which reigns unopposed: the "right" ceases to be such, because it is no longer firmly founded on the inviolable dignity of the person, but is made subject to the will of the stronger part. In this way democracy, contradicting its own principles, effectively moves towards a form of totalitarianism. The State is no longer the "common home" where all can live together on the basis of principles of fundamental equality, but is transformed into a tyrant State, which arrogates to itself the right to dispose of the life of the weakest and most defenceless members, from the unborn child to the elderly, in the name of a public interest which is really nothing but the interest of one part. The appearance of the strictest respect for legality is maintained, at least when the laws permitting abortion and euthanasia are the result of a ballot in accordance with what are generally seen as the rules of democracy. Really, what we have here is only the tragic caricature of legality; the democratic ideal, which is only truly such when it acknowledges and safeguards the dignity of every human person, is betrayed in its very foundations: "How is it still possible to speak of the dignity of every human person when the killing of the weakest and most innocent is permitted? In the name of what justice is the most unjust of discriminations practised: some individuals are held to be deserving of defence and others are denied that dignity?" When this happens, the process leading to the breakdown of a genuinely human co-existence and the disintegration of the State itself has already begun.

To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34).

 - Evangelium Vitae, n. 20

Bacalhau

I've posted this bacalhau recipe on here before. In case you don't live in Portugal, bacalhau is salty codfish and it's every Portuguese man's favorite food. It's apparently my two-year-old's, also. She actually yells, " I want bacalhau!" Why would you love a fish so salty and bland when there are so many other delicious things in the world? Beats me, Portugal.

Every time I make this my husband says "wow, this is really good". Which is motivating to make it more often. So I thought it deserved a reposting. And a reminding that you don't have to soak it that long (12 hours is enough) or boil it that long (five minutes is enough) or soak it in milk that long (or at all). And I don't use as much onion, just half an onion. And lots of olive oil. And I now add two cans of chickpeas.

Enjoy!

Don't take advice from blogs

Okay, that was a piece of advice from a blog. So... don't take advice from blogs except this piece of advice from a blog I'm giving you. Okay? 

I first started reading blogs when I saw Stephanie from nieniedialoges.com on Oprah and her blog is still my favorite blog that I check almost everyday. My blog was largely inspired by her blog. With her story and her blog, I realized I was dedicating too much of myself to my job and if I survived a plane crash (like her), my coworkers wouldn't come visit me in the hospital. My friends and family would, and that is who I needed to be investing in. So my blog was about the "small things".

My husband says blogs like nienie's are modern fairy tales and completely fictional. I agree to a certain point and so I try to take them with a grain of salt. I am always questioning whether I spend too much time looking at blogs and whether to cut them out entirely. But then I come to the conclusion they are good, but need to be carefully limited.

Blogs were essential in discerning my vocation to be a stay-at-home mom. Simply because I barely know any stay-at-home moms and few Christian families for that matter. So in our globalized world, blogs are a way to connect with likeminded people... as poor and virtual as that may be.

I still read some mormon mommy blogs like nienie's and what I like about them is that they simply share their daily life and struggles and don't try to give advice. Nienie never has a "10 tips for.." post or "How to do ..." post. Some of the Catholic mommy blogs I read give lots and lots of parenting/motherhood/faith/etc. advice and I have come to the conclusion I need to NOT FOLLOW IT. Hence the title of this post.

The other day one of the Catholic mommy blogs I read, which is very popular and which I like, suggested that you don't need to pray the rosary to be holy. She doesn't like praying the rosary. That was when this realization hit me. I see where she's coming from, but basically she's telling people not to pray the rosary. That's not okay in my book. That's actually very dangerous in my book. Who died and made her more important than Our Lady of Fatima who told the shepherd children to pray the rosary everday?

Then on that same blog she had some posts with the theme of how moms need a lot of "me time" and how many bubble baths she takes and coffee shops she visits without kids. If you don't do these things, you will be burnt out, she said. Again, I see where she's coming from. But this made me stressed out, angry with my husband and kids, feeling bad for myself.. until I talked to my spiritual director and got my ideas straightened out a bit. If I have time for "me time", that's great. If I don't, that's not a problem. Our world says it's all about "me, me, me" but if you are trying to live God's will, your priorities are set a bit differently.

I have also freaked out on various occasions with parenting advice from another blog.

So blogs. Don't take advice from them.

Friends

When I started working part-time after Addie was born (she was six months old), my mother-in-law would take care of her. But she went abroad for a couple of weeks and I had no one to take care of Addie. So I sent out an email to random friends I thought might be available, asking for volunteers. I think it was my husband's idea. I felt needy and bad for asking people to take care of my baby.

But then something amazing happened. All these people volunteered. And they were really excited about it. And nice about it. I was humbled. I would barely have time to drop her off and pick her up... and never ended up showing those people how much I appreciated it. But they were SO NICE. Most of them, I realized afterwards, were religious. Most of them I had met through our youth group or other church groups.

One of my friends sent me this picture above saying Google had told her two years passed since she had taken care of Addie for me. So much has changed in those two years, it's incredible. But I learned a lot in opening up and asking for help... God is generous and really does help. And creating community and friendship is possible... even in a big city, even in a workaholic world, even when you feel very lonely and forgotten.