Land of the Free?

Last night my husband and I watched Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed have you seen this movie yet? If not I highly recommend it. Ben Stein is the creator and narrator of this captivating documentary that takes a look at the scientific community and it's intense hostility towards Intelligent Design theory. This movie will frighten you yet sadly not shock you. It documents the blacklisting and intense discrimination that is taking place against scientists who dare suggest that Darwinism is wrong and that Intelligent Design has some credence.

The movie is very well done with great cinematography, excellent research and Ben Stein's famous dry wit. Anyone who takes the time to watch the whole movie can not deny that this is happening in our country and that the scientific community is not truly free and scientific at all. It is instead a group of "professionals" who are towing the party line for fear they be reprimanded and jeopardize their careers. The strong atheist agenda is shocking, at one point a Darwinian scientist states that he looks for the day when a modern utopia is achieved and there is no religion. Another stated that when you truly understand Darwinism you will realize not only is their no God, but their is no afterlife and no hope so their are no morals. Not only does he find this perfectly acceptable he then states that when his brain tumor returns he will put a gun to his head because their is no point or hope. What a sad way to live life. I think it is important that we educate ourselves on what is going on is this country and realize how quickly we are losing our true freedom.

To rent for free use code DVDONME at your local Redbox.

Columbus Catholic Womens Conference

WOW!!!

Today was the Columbus Catholic Women's Conference and it was AMAZING!!

We had the privilege of hearing Immaculée Ilibagiza and Sister Rosalind Moss speak.

If you would like to own a CD of the talks by Immaculee, Sister Rosalind and the rosary click here.

Immaculee is a Rwanda holocaust survivor that has written a few books including her National Best Seller Left to Tell.


Check out my review of 'Left to Tell' here.

When Immaculee entered the conference it was one of the most surreal moments in my life. My spirit just knew that I was in the presence of someone very holy. Her words touched my heart and truly inspired me to be a better disciple of Christ. Her story is one of forgiveness and devotion to Mary.

Sister Rosalind is a hilarious speaker. Her message was one of hope and perseverance during our walk with Christ. A Jewish convert, Sister speaks about the beauty of the Jewish-Catholic relationship and keeps you laughing a long the way. She encourages you to stand firm in your Catholic faith and look to Christ as our Shepherd.

Mass, Confession and a rosary made this day retreat a perfect opportunity to sit back and be spiritually pampered. I am walking away feeling renewed and alive in Christ. There is something about being around 1500 other Catholic women who are striving for holiness that really pumps me up!

Can't wait until next year.... Hope to see you there too!

http://www.columbuscatholicwomen.com/

From the Mouth of Babes

If only we could all see things as clearly and speak so passionately as this 12 year old girl...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOR1wUqvJS4

In case you were wondering her mother discouraged her from doing this speech, it was 100% her own. She also was initially told she could not do it by teachers then she was told she would be disqualified from the competition. She gave her speech anyway, one judge walked out, but in the end she won her competition and is now inspiring the world. Read the complete article here.

One2Believe Faith Based Toys Giveaway

About a year ago I heard Theresa Tomeo interview a man from the toy company One2Believe and he was talking about their new line of faith based toys. He spoke about what he called "the battle for the toy box" and how toys are becoming more sexualized especially for girls. As a mom of 2 girls this spoke right to my heart, I do not want my girls playing with Bratz dolls or dolls that wear provocative clothing. His company has come out with line of faith based toys that are just as engaging and well made as any other toy on the market with one exception they are based on bible characters. That is right now your child can play make believe with Mary, Esther, Jesus, David, Paul and so many more. Not only are these dolls very appealing to young kids but they talk telling the story of the Bible character. When I gave my daughter her Mary doll she was mesmerized as Mary told her story and remarked at how beautiful she was. You can even stop and start Mary as she talks. The words Mary speaks are direct quotes from the Bible so your child will be learning scripture while playing.
These great dolls are part of the Messengers of Faith collection and believe it or not can even be found at select Target and WalMart stores. One2Believe is generously giving one of you your choice of either the Jesus or Mary doll. To enter visit One2Believe and check out all the toys they have to offer. Come back here and tell me in a comment what product you like (besides Mary and Jesus). Be sure to leave your email if it is not available in your profile. For more entries do any or all of the following leaving a separate comment for each entry:

*Blog about this giveaway with a link back
*Subscribe to our emails
*Twitter about this email with a link back
*Email a friend abut this giveaway with a link back ( be sure too CC moderncatholicmom@gmail (dot)com)

Giveaway ends 2/28 at midnight open to US residents only.

Winner

Congratulations to Elizabeth on winning the Christ Music CD.

The World's First Love

Fulton J. Sheen writes:

"Mary is the one whom every man loves when he loves a woman- whether he knows it or not."

"She is what every woman wants to be, when she looks at herself."

"She is the woman whom every man marries in ideal when he takes a spouse;

She is the secret desire every woman has to be honored and fostered;

She is the way every woman wants to command respect and love because of the beauty of her goodness of body and soul,

And this blueprint love, whom God loved before the world was made; this Dream woman before women were, is the one of whom every heart can say in its depth of depths; 'She is the woman I love!'."

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The World's First Love is a beautifully written book about Mary.

Honestly, it is BEAUTIFUL! Definitely wordy, not a quick read. You may want to buy your own copy so you can highlight and underline what moves you. Written in the 1950's it becomes evident that the Bishop was ahead of his time......

For the Catholic who loves Mary, this book will only lead you deeper in love with the Mother of God. It is inspiring and challenging. It makes you stop, go back and reread sentences that speak to your soul. For those who may not understand her role this book will help to clarify many misconceptions and potentially lead one into a much deeper relationship with our beautiful Mother.

Small Successes

Faith and Family- Small successes:

My three successes this week:

1. I made Valentine's for Olivia's little friends and they turned out pretty cute. I had some extra time on my hands (you know, time that could have been spent cleaning out the closet or doing dishes) stamped her cards and taped lollipops inside.

2. I had dinner with my husband at his hospital for the first time in weeks. Liv and I were able to go with Anthony to work before his shift and actually eat together as a family. It takes a lot of effort on our part because usually we have the little guy I nanny and mainly because the food is so um, unappetizing.

3. I finally bought a humidifier to help Liv sleep better at night. This is something I have been trying to do for a week and every time I am at a store I completely forget. So yesterday, after the hospital and of course during a brief hail storm I bought the humidifier which Liv calls her fireplace. :-)

I got this great idea from Faith and Family.

Now it's your turn!

Holy Sex

That's right Holy Sex, no this will not be an awkward post that is the title of a book I am currently reading, the full title is Holy Sex: A Catholic Guide to Toe-Curling, Mind-blowing, Infallible loving by Gregory K. Popcak ( yes the same guy who wrote Parenting with Grace). I am not going to actually review this book because A. I haven't even come close to finishing it and B. I think it is better you just read it yourself. But as I have read the first section it occurred to me that this is a book people need to know about. This book is all about understanding the church's true teaching on the beauty of marital intimacy. It displaces and explains the misconceptions that have sprouted up in our world. It not only clarifies but it urges you to take your love to a whole new level, to reach the point of holy and infallible lovemaking where you and your spouse help each other to glimpse the Eden our fallen ancestors lost for us.

While I am very well catechised in the Church's teaching on the beauty of human sexuality, I found that I even held some misconceptions. So I urge you to pick up this book as a gift for your self and your spouse. Challenge yourself to become an infallible lover one who's love and passion will grow with age and not fade. One who's love will be nurturing and life giving. In essence a love that will blow you away.

American's United for Life Action

Here is our chance to continue to make a difference for the unborn. If you follow this link Americans United for Life Action you can write your congressman and voice your disapproval for FOCA. It takes two minutes to fill out and the computer figures our who it needs to be sent to.

Our Lady's Grotto

Thanks to Shower of Roses and Waltzing Matilda! My three year old had so much fun coloring and gluing Mary. (Mom did too). Great idea!

How about you? Did you get any good idea's from these sites?

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

This morning I read a great post over at Shower of Roses she has pulled together a wonderful list of ways to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. I plan on using the beautiful immaculate conception coloring page from Waltzing Matilda to make a grotto page with my daughters. I plan on mounting the picture and decorating it somehow, I am excited to do this with my daughters. Another great idea for a simple grotto is this one using a cake pan from By Sun and Candlelight Now I am not sure I am ambitious enough but this cupcake rosary at Catholic Cuisine is a fantastic idea! Be sure to check out all of the great ideas over at Shower of Roses what a blessing this resource is to those of us new to celebrating feast days and holy days with young children.

Baptism Day

Since I have started this adventure as a Catholic Mom Blogger I have come across some amazing bloggers who really inspire me to express my faith in a whole new way. I have always been a private person when it comes to my faith so making my faith a more outward acknowledgement has been a slow process. My desire to teach my children about the Catholic faith has been my driving force to make changes in this area. As I have read all of these great blogs I have been continually inspired with great ideas of bringing the faith to life for my children and am constantly adding new things to our lives. One such tradition we will be adding for the first time next week is celebrating Baptism Days!

I have seen so many women write posts about the anniversary of their child's baptism that it got me thinking, why wouldn't we celebrate such an important and meaningful day. This is the day my child was brought into the church, the day we pledged to raise her in the Catholic faith, these are big deals that should be celebrated. So next week we will begin a new family tradition and celebrate my youngest daughters 1st anniversary of her baptism. We will have cake and read the story of Jesus being baptised and she will get a small religious gift. I think this will be a fun way to help my children remember their baptism and the commitment we made to raising them in the faith. Do you celebrate your child's baptism day and if so how? I am very excited to embark on this new family tradition of celebrating our faith in yet another way.

Interview me

Cassie at A Blessed Life sent me these fun interview questions. If you want to be interviewed too just email her.
Here goes a bit more about me...

1. With winter dragging on I am thinking about warmer weather. What is your favorite summertime activity? With my kids I love to go to the zoo, we love animals and our local zoo is great here in Columbus. By myself I LOVE floating in the pool on a hot summer day.

2. What would be on the menu for your ultimate birthday dinner? My ultimate birthday dinner would have crab cakes, shrimp, asparagus and cheesecake for dinner. I know that is not a meal just some random foods.

3. What household chores do you actually enjoy and which do you try to avoid at all costs? I enjoy cooking ( is that a chore?) I do not enjoy cleaning the bathroom at all!

4. What TV show, doesn't matter if it is current or not, would you choose to live in for one week? I have to say none, not a fan of any show that much but if I had too I currently like Psych they make me laugh, not sure I would want to live their though.

5. This is a classic, but I'm curious to know: If you could have three people, dead or alive, over for dinner, who would you have? My grandmother who passed away when I was younger, Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa. A table full of family and inspiration.

Christ Music Kids Giveaway

Christ. Music Kids

I have the awesome opportunity to review music from Christ. Music Kids! Immediately after putting on the first song, which my three year old has never heard, she starts humming and dancing around the room. There is something about kids hearing other kids sing that really moves them! And there is something about praise and worship that really moves me.

I am one of those people who can get choked up when I hear really beautiful music… So you can imagine the feeling that surged through me when I turned on ‘Catholic Kids Worship’ and ‘ I Am a Friend of God’. I love that Christ. Music Kids has combined praise and worship music and the beautiful sound of children’s voices to witness to KIDS! (And to their parents!) What a great way to allow children to enter into the beauty of prayer through singing. I believe it was Saint Augustine who said ‘Singing is praying twice!’

One of the things that I really like about this music is that it incorporates adult voices AND kids voices. I don’t know about you, but sometimes straight up ‘kid’ music can make me batty. You can only hear so much of it before you lose it. These CD’s utilize both voices to really bring together fantastic praise and worship.

Overall I love that my daughter and I are able to enter into praise and worship of Our Father in Heaven together. Songs that I love are becoming songs that she will love. And we can sing them together.

Christ. Kids Music has generously offered one of our readers the chance to win some of their music! All you have to do is go visit their site and pick out what your favorite praise and worship song. Go to http://www.christmusickids.com/ and hit music store. Come back here and comment about your fave.

For more entries do any or all of the following: ( be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry and include your email if it is not in your profile)

* Blog about this giveaway with a link back

* Subscribe to our emails

* Twitter about this giveaway with a link back ( leave your twitter name)

* Make a purchase from Christ. Kids Music website

* Email a friend about this giveaway with a link back ( be sure to CC moderncatholicmom ( at ) gmail ( dot) com )

This giveaway will end 2/14/09 at midnight.

From Christ. Kids Music web site:

Engaging Kids In Worship

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing!” Ps. 100:1

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise!” Ps. 100:4

Scripture is full of exhortations to give praise, worship, honor and thanksgiving to God! By doing so, we enter into His holy presence! How vital it is to our relationship with God that we not only learn about Him, but know Him personally, experience Him and learn how to worship Him! God created us to worship Him for all of eternity. Let us start eternity now by creating opportunities of worship for our kids!

How does one engage kids in worship? First of all, kids CAN worship, but do so differently than adults. Kids, by their nature, are so open and uninhibited. They also come with a lot of energy when it comes to worship! We can capture that energy and openness by engaging them through the song selection, motions and the right leadership

Holy Baby DVD winners

Thanks to everyone who entered our Holy Baby DVD giveaway. If you didn't win don't worry you can always purchase them here. We also have more great giveaways lined up so be sure to check back often.

Congratulations to:
#19 valerie2350
#15 okaat
#46 Sherry and Gena
#14 Michele F
#16 teriannm

Please check your email and get back to us asap.