Step up and be big - The Arlington Catholic Herald

Step up and be big - The Arlington Catholic Herald

I’ve got an App for that…

Awesome segment on how the Ipad with special Apps is helping with Autism….

From 60 Mins, Oct 23 segment, CBS

Apps for Autism

Support for the Daily Journey

I have been wanting to blog for the longest time and just haven't had the time lately.  I can't believe it's already October 20th!...Wow, the summer sure flew by and Sept is long gone it seems.  We are fully engaged in school and moving along with each week, attending therapies for the boys, and our weekly home school co-op.  We have had a few bumps along the way - quite literally a bump by another car rear-ending us recently while heading to therapy!...but it was okay, minor damage.  Still there are not enough hours in the day, and as I type this, I should be up and getting ready.  Just wanted to say HELLO and may God bless you abundantly today.  If you are in need of spiritual direction and would love to prayerfully meditate on the words of Christ in the gospels and other great spiritual writers, do consider the In Conversation with God series by Fr. Francis Fernandez (a priest of Opus Dei).  I find the day to day wisdom to be so invaluable, and when I get away from my morning devotions of reading this, I seem to be less prepared for what the day brings.  I have gotten so much out of the encouragement and spiritual direction.  Fr. Francis tells it like it is, using our Lord as model and guide.

William Stillman, adult with Aspergers

It always interests me to read about adults who have grown up with an autism spectrum disorder.  The last one I watched on DVD (The Way I see It) and read about was Temple Grandin a few months ago.  This time I'm seeing there is another Asperger's/ autism author who is also Asperger's himself and you can find his blog here:

Bill's Blog

I Have an App for that!

Much has been said about the recent passing of Steve Jobs, but I would like to post here some very deep and thoughtful commentary on his life and contribution to our world.

First, from MacBeth's Opinion, this reflection surely upholds the dignity of human life from conception to natural death; Steve Jobs had both because of his unwed mother's decision to give her child life:

Steve Jobs and One Christmas Eve


And this next article links from the one posted above:

Flashback: Steve Jobs is a genius alright, but even geniuses need to be born

And I'd like to leave you with my favorite tribute to Steve Jobs I came across; may he rest in peace and may the grace and salvation of Our Lord be with him in the glory of Heaven.

Who's reading What?

More...oh my goodness...lol!...this post was also from Oct 2006...we've come a long ways since then....amazing to look back now!

Someone asked me recently, what is Michael reading these days? (last we left off, he was reading about the pancake loving Nate the Great and several Peanuts a.k.a. Charlie Brown vintage comic strip books). Today, he is reading his way through the Magic Treehouse books; right now: Sunset of the Sabertooth; (for further learning, the research guide for this one is: Sabertooth Tigers and the Ice Age). These are fun books that mix a piece of history (real learning) along with a fictional adventure of the main characters.


Also, we all have been going back through the beautifully done, My First Little House Books. They are an easy read for Michael, and Mark (3 yos) enjoys having them read to him. They have lovely artwork; some of the illustrations by Renee Graef; in other books in the series, Jody Wheeler. Our daughter loved these books when younger. (Until she graduated to the actual Little House on the Prairie books, and prequels).

Next, our daughter is currently reading through medieval histories; this includes Son of Charlemagne right now.

And our oldest son is reading, reading, reading, some of which includes: Fabre's World of Insects and Antigone by Sophocles.

St. Therese's "Vocation of Love"

Oh my goodness, a flash back to 2006 on this same day, per my Zenit subscription I use to have:


I am currently reading and truly enjoying the book my friend Esther pointed out recently on St. Therese, called Maurice and Therese, The Story of a Love. It has not been disappointing. And how timely, just this in from Zenit.org; something more reported from Rome regarding St. Therese:


St. Thérèse's "Vocation of Love" Recalled
Missionary Dicastery Receives Her Relics

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, patroness of the missions, are being venerated in Rome at the start of the missionary month of October.

The relics were received in the chapel of the Propaganda Fide Palace, headquarters of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

"Little Thérèse," as she is known, wrote: "My vocation is love. At the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be love, and in this way I will be everything."

"Love and charity is the soul of the mission," said Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the missionary dicastery, as he recalled St. Thérèse's experience and Benedict XVI's message for the World Mission Sunday, Oct. 22.

The cardinal pointed out the meaning of the mission during a concelebrated Mass in which those who make up the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the four general secretaries of the Pontifical Mission Societies participated, reported the Fides news agency.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a Doctor of the Church, was proclaimed patroness of the missions along with patron St. Francis Xavier.

Quality, not quantity

The two patron saints "remind us of the two aspects of mission, contemplation and action," said Cardinal Dias. "We must be contemplatives in action, working while not forgetting prayer and the spiritual aspect."

The Indian cardinal acknowledged: "If I am here, it is because St. Francis baptized my forefathers."

Taking these two figures of the Church as reference, the Vatican prefect reminded those working in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples that "it is not the quantity of work but the quality which counts and the love with which it is performed."

He exhorted them not to let the bureaucratic aspects dominate, since what is important is to have a heart filled with love, like St. Thérèse.

The Mass over which Cardinal Dias presided was celebrated for the whole missionary world, in particular for all those living in territories entrusted to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. There are 1,082 ecclesiastical circumscriptions directly under the purview of the missionary dicastery, almost 40% of the Church's presence in the world.

The celebration of October as missionary month worldwide reminds those who are baptized that they must collaborate in the universal mission of the Church.

Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi and New Beginnings....

So, on this the Feast Day of the great St. Francis of Assisi, I created the email forum for our church mom's support group.  I simply call it: Catholic Families Schoolhouse.  You can read the detail of it at this page:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CatholicFamiliesSchoolhouse

So happy to have a wonderful group of mothers to gain support and encouragement amongst ourselves, who share our parish as a common church home.  God has truly blessed us with His love.

Romans 12:12

Many years ago a young home school student we know was going to a bible study at the Hahn’s home in Steubenville, (our diocese).  This young lady needed a bible to take and asked if she could borrow mine;  I was using a hardbound Ignatius Bible, it was a favorite suggested one of Dr. Scott Hahn at the time.  I told our friend she could certainly borrow my bible under one condition, Mrs. Hahn, who was conducting the bible study, would need to sign it as proof that this was where the bible was really being taken :)  Well, at the end of 9 weeks or so, my bible was returned to me, and the young lady was very pleased to have me open up the front of the bible and read this inscription in cursive: 

“Rejoice in hope, persevere in tribulations, be constant in prayer” Rom 12:12      Yours in Christ, Kimberly Hahn

For me there could be no truer or wiser words even to this day. Whenever I open that bible I am reminded of that time in my life, a time when my children were very young and we had only been home educating for a few years….A time when I had a group of strong women to help encourage me and give me their support and share the joyful burden of home education; a time that is no longer here, no longer duplicated….only a sweet and enduring memory.  It is bittersweet…..in that many of those supports have withdrawn and left the parish we all shared, for different reasons.  Once that occurred, in the end only three home schooling families remained…..and we have remained ever since…not looking at leaving our home parish family as an option.  We are very traditional in our thinking of blooming where we are planted, knowing that God will always be present to us, deeply in our hearts and souls, and he will be no better or better attained in any other Catholic church.  The imperfections of the men conducting our Mass doesn’t make our Lord any less present or diminish the Almighty in any way. 

And so….a time of drought began for us…a time of yearning for more encouragement and support, more families for we mothers to share our journey with, and more children being schooled in the same manner.  It was a long prayer….we were patient and accepting. During that time we stored up many spiritual benefits that could not have come to us in the hey-day times; we raised our children up, continuing strongly without power in numbers…but humbly and steadily with the help of God and Our Lady.  And in the end, we graduated our older ones into college and we continue on with our younger ones.  All in God’s time, and all for God’s purpose do our lives unfold…..

Now, we are rejoicing, as three other home schooling families are in our midst and we are getting to know them and support them.  I believe so deeply and so much in having the support and care of other home educating mothers.  I believe that we need to be generous with our experience and generous in sharing it with others.  Others need us.  And we need their newness and spirit. We are clearly veterans now having been through the desert and found ourselves in the comfort and content of the land of milk and honey…..We are ready to give support and feel blessed to be able to do so.  So where there were the remaining three, now there are six…..and maybe with the grace of God’s goodness we will once again grow further, newer, different and needed.

Today is a beautiful day to rejoice as we home schooling mothers met and got to know one another a little better, with our children nearby meeting one another.  We are able to know silently that we are on the same journey when we see one another at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  We are able to understand one another and the goals we have for our families.  And we share the common bond of love of God and family and the one true Church on earth.   Once again, God is good.

As I pray for a new name for our newly formed group, as we are truly putting aside the old wineskins and putting on the new, I ask that you pray for us as well.  And may God bless you in your generous heart of prayer.  God has proven His words do not fail, ever.  Romans 12:12