As a friend of mine said, I love my parish and I love being Catholic! Here is a link to a video about our church. It was shown at the Father Corapi Conference here in Omaha on Saturday. So cool.

http://www.storytel.org/storytel-blog/2010/9/12/latest-video-st-peter-catholic-church-restoring-the-sacred-i.html

Women and Friendship

Recently, a friend sent me a note that referenced a study about women, stress, and friendship. It seems that for men, having a supportive wife is extremely beneficial for their long-term health, but for women, it is our relationships with our girlfriends that keeps us healthy.

Searching the internet, there are many articles that discuss how we handle stress. Here's a good one: http://www.homemakers.com/health-and-nutrition/disease-prevention/the-healing-power-of-female-friendships/a/26445/1

Fairly recently, it was discovered that the old notion of the "fight or flight" response to stressful situations is not as universal as was once believed. Nearly all of those old studies included only men! Now, it seems that science has discovered that women are more likely to respond to stress with a "tend or befriend" response.

Isn't it funny how long it takes science to "discover" things that can seem perfectly obvious? Of course men would respond with "fight or flight." They are the husbands and fathers, the protectors and providers. Of course women would respond with "tend or befriend." We are the mothers and the nurturers.

What wasn't as obvious to me though was how important our friendships with other women are. One article went so far as to say that for women, not having good relationships with our girlfriends is as harmful to our health as smoking! The article went on to say that for most of us, when life gets crazy, the first thing we cut out of our schedules is time with our girlfriends. We feel guilty for "wasting" time this way when in fact it is extremely important for our health! I was inspired to immediately email three of my best friends and invite them all out for coffee.

I encourage you to do something important for your own health! Call up a friend or two for coffee or a "girls night out." Nurture those friendships. God created us to need each other!

Glorious Summer!

Here I am, trying to begin again on my blog. I treasure these days, weeks, months, and years with my family. I love every stage of my childrens' lives. Yes, even the teens. I want to savor them and remember them. I just wish I were better about writing things down.

Summer is my favorite season. No, not because it is slower. At least for my family, we are as busy as ever. I love the sunshine. I love the warm weather. I love the fun of grilling out, picnics, swimming, s'mores, water balloon fights, and watching my children get simultaneously browner and blonder. I think some days that they are like the flowers -- the sun and the water make them grow even faster.

I don't school over the summer. Do you? I find that I need the summer to pray, to plan, to organize, and to clean up the accumulated detritus of the home school year.

This week, Colin and Hunter are with our Youth Group attending the Steubenville Youth Conference and then working and praying at the Little Portion Hermitage. While they are gone, I am deep cleaning their room. Guess how many pairs of socks I found? Twenty-seven. Really. Now I know why there was always a vague locker-room smell lingering there!

I've also started re-organizing my homeschool materials. Zoe has been a wonderful help with that. I need to get back to it, but I find it overwhelming. This will be our seventeenth year homeschooling and I'm afraid I have a *lot* of books. So many that I sometimes end up having to re-buy books that I know I own but can't find. Sigh.

Last week, I got to visit with my sister and her new baby Joseph (a.k.a. Guiseppe). He is an amazingly calm, sweet baby. She is so very blessed and we were so very blessed to get to see him and hold him and smell him while he was still so fresh from God.

Here is a picture from our Independence Day Rosary, Barbeque, and Fireworks extravaganza, hosted by dear friends of ours.

Colin's Graduation

It has been a very long time since I've posted. Life is busy as usual and my focus has been elsewhere.

Colin graduated high school last Friday. It was a beautiful Mass. There were nine seniors in our homeschool group's graduating class. Here is the bio that was read for him:

Colin Easterday has been homeschooled his whole life. When he was 10, he said, “I just don’t know what I’m going to be because I like lots of different things – like math and engineering, and rocks.” He has decided to combine those interests with a major in Geological Engineering and is considering a minor in Explosives Engineering (if they let him). He was accepted at both schools to which he applied and will be attending the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri in the fall.

He has been offered several scholarships:

For South Dakota School of Mines, he was named a School of Mines Geology and Geological Engineering Scholar and awarded the John Paul and Virginia Gries Scholarship.

For Missouri University of Science and Technology, he has been awarded a Trustees Scholarship, a Midwest Student Exchange Trustees Scholarship, a Dean’s Scholarship and a Geological Engineering Departmental Scholarship.

Colin has worked the last two summers at Papio Pool as a lifeguard. He has participated in ballroom dance, the St. Peter’s Youth Group, the March for Life, was a junior counselor for two years at Camp St. Francis, and has participated in the Ora et Labora summer Youth trip with St. Peter’s Church for three years.

At age eight, his mother told him she was signing him up for piano lessons. Well, Colin didn’t want to play the piano, he wanted to play the bagpipes. “Hey Mom, did you know you can hear bagpipes from seven miles away?” Colin plays the bagpipes with Omaha Pipes and Drums and plans to play with the Missouri S&T marching band while he is in college.

He also enjoys reading, computer games, listening to music (he is a veritable encyclopedia of band and song information), his Firebird Trans Am and watching movies. Colin looks forward to a career where he can use science and engineering without being in an office every day.

We are very proud of him.

Tortilla Soup

A Mexican Restaurant in town serves a Tortilla Soup that I really love. I have managed to duplicate their recipe fairly closely. It is delicious and just spicy enough that my little ones don't complain. It is even better with some avocado, but I didn't have any.

Tortilla Soup

2 T Canola Oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 small bunch cilantro, leaves chopped
3 corn tortillas, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 gallon chicken stock
14 oz. frozen corn
3 cups diced red potatoes
1 T ground cumin
1 T chili powder
4 bay leaves
4 cups chopped, cooked chicken
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime

Saute the onion in the canola oil over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and saute just until you start to smell it. Add the corn tortillas and cilantro andcook another minute. Add the diced tomatoes and their juice, the chicken stock, cumin, chili powder, and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Add the corn and potatoes. Return to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are done. Add the cooked chicken and cook until heated through. Add cayenne pepper and lime juice. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Serve with fried tortilla strips, sour cream, shredded cheese, and avocado if you've got it. Warms you up!

The Birthday Boy!

Taran was long overdue for a big birthday party, so this year he got it! We had a great time playing laser tag with eight little boys!

Snow Fun!

Our Homeschooling Highschool group had a sledding party at a State Park this year. It was perfect! In the 20s after not getting much above zero for days, lots of snow and lots of food. Can you pick me out in these pictures?

The Holiday is over...

Monday and back to the old grind. Half of our school year is gone. 'Tis the season for resolutions and so it's a great time for me to evaluation how our school year has gone and update plans for the rest of the year. I never seem to have accomplished what I set out to back in August (and this year is no exception). I spent the summer praying over the needs of each child and painstakingly reading catalogues and homeschooling reviews. I spent hours writing out assignments. Unfortunately, those assignments have not all been checked off the lists. A good friend recently reminded me of the saying that, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. I'm afraid He must laugh at me all the time! I have a tendency to focus on how "behind" we are in various subjects. Certainly it is good to work hard and I think that we have. If we worked hard and did what we could, then perhaps it was not God's will that we check off every science experiment and history project. So, among my resolutions this year, I will focus on the things we have accomplished, I will give thanks to God for the opportunity to be with my children every day as they learn and grow, I will be grateful for the tremendous blessings He has bestowed on us, and I will marvel at the generosity of our Lord who, as Father John Bartunek says in his book The Better Part, allows us to be "collaborators with the Blessed Trinity, ambassadors of God Himself."

Feast of the Epiphany!

Really, it isn't until Wednesday, but the Church celebrates today. We are celebrating, too! Troy picked up two turkeys when they were on sale at Thanksgiving time and we're cooking the second one today. Lunch today is crock-pot beef and barley soup with orange rolls. I started it this morning and we came home from Mass to the wonderful smell of hot soup. Especially nice since it is about 5 degrees outside right now! I should put soup in the crock pot every Sunday morning.


Crock pot Beef and Barley Soup

Layer in crock-pot:
4 medium carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. browned ground beef
2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 cup pearled barley
1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
3 T chopped parsley
8 cups beef broth
salt and pepper to taste

I started it on low and four hours later it was delicious!

My New Year

Well, I finally did it. My son asked me why I spent so much time reading blogs and why I didn't just write my own. So here it is. I hope this will be a place where I can write things down so they won't be forgotten. A place where I can reflect on my life with my great compensation -- the wonderful husband and children God has blessed me with.