Random QuickTakes for a New Year

1. I didn't make many resolutions this year- I'm just trying to accomplish the goals I've blogged about in the past year! But I have been successful in not blogging much. 

2. Extreme pet peeve- those people who equate married priests with woman priests, actively homosexual priests, self-consecration of the Eucharist, etc, etc. This past week, a bishop has fallen from grace (well, he did that a long time ago) and has admitted he has two children. Allowing him to have been married wouldn't have solved this specific problem. Most likely, he is the kind of man who didn't take to keeping vows of any sort. We are praying for his soul; the scandal is serious as is the fact that he fathered two children and then wasn't present for them in their needs. Sins all around for the bishop...

3. We had a real New Year's party at the 'big mission' and the parish priest of the actual parish (they rent us the space- they are Byzantine Catholic, too- different ethnicity) let us sleep in the classroom connected to the big hall so we didn't have to drive an hour towards home in the middle of the night.  The last people left the party at 3:45 or so. We slept until eight, cleaned some more and then had Divine Liturgy as usual at 11:30. Yes, the little ones yawned, but we made it through.  So balance is possible. Work all day Friday and Saturday to set up and cook for the party- have Liturgy at the small mission- drive an hour to get to the big mission- have a party from 8 to 3:45- clean for an hour-go to sleep- clean some more- go to Liturgy at 11:30- have a leftover lunch with parishioners until about 3- finish cleaning- get home at about 6- get the little ones in bed because the sun is down anyway and they don't read clocks- watch an episode of Dick van Dyke with the big girls- plan for next year's party

4. Speaking of balance- my sister got an organizing book for Christmas. Not surprisingly, some of the advice was a bit too minimalist for my taste. It says to have only 4 pots in the kitchen. Um, no. But it did inspire me to Goodwill the set of pots I had before I got a different set about 6 years ago. I also decluttered some utensils and old plastic containers. I'm trying for balanced baby steps. The book also says that the goal for photos should be two photos per event and to retire with about 800 photos total. Um, no. But it did inspire me to delete some frankly lousy photos and to pick the best of a set of the same pose. I also have three bags of clutter to drop off at Goodwill.

5. Why my brother-in-law rocks- he fixed the circuit in the kitchen, thus giving me back three outlets. No more extension cord! He also narrowed down my problem with the dryer- now, I just have to tell the problem to the repairmen. On the downside, he-who-listens-to-Greek-on-his-Ipod-and-is-writing-a-book-about theology/art/etc introduced my kids to the annoying orange (warning- do NOT youtube that).

6. Life with 12 1/2 and 11 1/2 year olds- we got to run to see the new Mission Impossible movie. The theater is very close to the house, so they watched the little ones and saved us $10+ per hour for babysitting. The girls said to deduct it from their ballet costs. Will do, girls. 

7. Just a little thought from Father's homily from last Sunday (I think- remember our readings will be different than Roman-rite)- Mary losing Jesus for three days and finding him at 12 in the temple was a foreshadowing of the three days in the tomb. She kept all these things in her heart, and Jesus was always about His Father's business.

find more quick takes at conversion diary.com