My 5 Favorite Catholic Sites

By Resolver-Aphelion - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17365716

Sometimes there is a spiritual itch that just has to be scratched and for those of us that live in predominantly protestant areas, it can be challenging to scratch it. My own library was once impressive, but after the move is sorely lacking. I don't always have access to the parish library. As a convert living in the Bible Belt the internet has been huge in helping me find what I need. My journey to the Catholic Church really was a time of discovery for me, and a time of not really knowing where or who to turn to. This was during the era of dial up, AOL, and as long as you could handle ads 100% free providers. (Thank you NetZero!) The resources available online were and are invaluable to me, and appreciated is an understatement. The sites I have included here have been huge on my journey to and being a part of the Roman Catholic Church. I hope you enjoy them also.

Sacred Space
Who: Irish Jesuits and Loyola Press
What: prayer site, an exercise in spiritual meditation
When: It's pretty much a go at your own pace prayer space.
How: Click the begin prayer button, the date, there is an option to print the prayer, to move on, or click Guide for deeper spiritual prayer. Adjustable setting help to create a personalized peaceful space. There is an app for smart phone users.
Why: Hands down the most peaceful place I've found on the internet to help me reconnect with God.
Where: Sacred Space

Come, Pray the Rosary
Who: Fr. Dave Heney and parishioners of the St. Paschal Baylon Church in Thousand Oaks, CA
What: Online rosary
When: When you have about 15-20 minutes to spare
How: Click Enter, choose language, chose worldwide or individual, and back ground, you can add intentions
Why: The Rosary is my favorite prayer. Knowing I can pray in communion with the faithful from all over the world helps to cement the truth that we are truly a Catholic church.
Where: Come, Pray the Rosary

EWTN Libraries
Who: EWTN
What: Online site for the EWTN this area has all kinds of historical documents and current reading
When: This site needs a little time. I tend to get lost reading and can spend hours here if not careful.
How: click the libraries link then search under whatever topic you are looking for
Why: There is so much here that I get lost routinely. It was one of the chief places I turned to for answers during my conversion.
Where: EWTN Libraries

Catholicity
Who: Bud MacFarlane and The Mary Foundation
What: Site dedicated to getting free materials out to teach the Catholic faith
When: Whenever you're looking for materials to encourage your faith journey topics from prayer to catechism
How: The first page is pretty self-explanatory, just click on what you are looking for (there is a shipping fee for the free materials)
Why: Very informative, and easy to navigate. The CD's are recorded in a way that makes you feel like you are there with them.
Where: Catholicity

Catholic Home Study
Who: Missouri Knights of Columbus and the Vincentians
What: free Catholic enrichment courses
When: it is work at your own pace, ordering the courses is fairly quick, then taking the online quizzes goes fairly quickly once you've studied the material
How: Enroll, they send you the materials, take the quizzes online when ready
Why: The go to source for me as I went through RCIA to supplement what I was learning in class
Where: Catholic Homestudy

New Testament Women - The Gospel of Matthew Genealogy

By Phillip Medhurst - http://www.scribd.com/doc/17432631/The-Bowyer-Bible, FAL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7641069

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know some of you are raising an eyebrow because these women's stories are told in the Old Testament. However, lineage passages are usually all about the men so when a woman makes the list, pay attention 'cause somethin happened. They are listed for a reason. So I'm looking into the why? What is it about them that made the cut into the 'begat' list? To do that first I have to figure out what is this particular genealogy trying to tell me.  Once that is established, we can begin to look at their stories and find out just what makes them special. Then comes the fun of gleaning the wheat from their lives to help make the spiritual bread that hopefully you will share with me. They are there for a reason, and I want to find out everything I can about it and them.

 Gospel of Matthew Chapter 1 Genealogy

According to The Catholic Study Bible, this genealogy is written to point out two things, Jesus as King, and the virgin birth. We know the royalty factor is being stressed because David is mentioned before Abraham. Abraham starts the genealogy because he is the father of the Israelites as a whole. This proves Jesus is an Israelite and therefore the Messiah foretold by their prophets. The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology says the placement of the genealogy is telling us who Jesus is in relation to the old testament. That in fact, Jesus fulfills the promise of God to restore the kingdom of David. However, for Him to do so, prophecies have to be fulfilled. The royal connection is pretty straight forward. What else is being said here? Cue the women. The women mentioned in the genealogy are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba), and Mary. Tamar tricked Judah, Rahab was an enemy prostitute, Ruth a foreign widow, Bathsheba was lusted after by a king, and Mary was a virgin mother. There isn't much common ground here. They all had very different lifestyles and backgrounds. Look a little deeper though and you will find they all had their sons in unlikely circumstances. The ones prior to Christ's birth all lead to the most unlikely birth to have ever been recorded, that of a virgin, giving birth to the Messiah....... in a barn.

So now we know what the genealogy is trying to convey we can get to the real meat of what I want to learn. What is it about these women that made them special enough for the author of the Gospel of Matthew to include them and what can I learn from them? The next post in this series will be about Tamar. What did she do? Why did she do it? What can we learn from it? 'Till then. Be Sweet Y'all!

Product Review: Tiesta Tea, Immunity, Maui Mango

I make no claims one way or the other about the health benefits of this product.

Opening Scene: Sick, pathetic looking 18-year-old son, and mom in the kitchen

Son: Do we have tea?

Mom: Yeah, we always have tea.

Son: *irritated* Nooooo, not ice tea, hot tea.

Mom: Yeeeaaaahhhh, we always have both. You know this.

Son: *-.-* cough, cough, uuuuggghhhhhh, I don't feel good! *insert whiney sad face here while looking right at the tea and NOT seeing it*

Mom: *goes to cupboard* Here, we have Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Weight loss tea, Blueberry, Oh! I forgot I had this. I have some tea that says immunity on it. Same ones that make the weight loss one I like.

Son: -.-, *sniff* Earl Grey sounds good.

Mom: *still reading the Immunity tea package* This has pineapple in it.

Son: *perks up a tad* pineapple? ......... waaait, how does dried tea have pineapple in it?

Mom: .............Yeah, you're sick. The fruit is dried, not fresh. 

Son: *almost blushing* hush..... I don't feel good.

Mom: Go rest. I'll make it. (There might have been an eye roll involved on the parents part, but you know, I can't recall for sure. The ol' memory ain't what she used to be.*cough, cough*)

Son: *pathetic* Ooookaaaayyyy

*fast forward to mother and son sipping the hot immunity tea (still in kitchen because he can't follow directions.....sigh)*

Son: *looks up and attempts eye contact, carefully though, the effort might kill him* You can get this again.

Mom: Gasp! The horror! It's not Earl Grey and I didn't add sugar! Can I pass out! *grinning and giving a side eye*

Son: *genuinely impressed* No honey?

Mom: Nope

Son: Yeah, *cough, cough, cough* @#^&$! *cough, SNORT, HACK* Uuuuggghhhhhh!  soon.

Mom: *looong sigh* Watch your mouth, drink your tea, and go back to bed

Son: *attempts a genuine grin, giving side eye* I love you too mom.

Mom: *smiles and reaches up to his 6ft plus head to gently ruffle his hair* Turkeyhead

(The above is not an act. This is my life.)

So this tea has passed the pathetic sick teen boy test. It tasted good, it made his throat feel better, and he could drink it without adding sweeteners. It has this mom's seal of approval.

Now for the nitty gritty.

It isn't organic, but to be fair, not many readily available teas around here are. I didn't expect this one to be. It does have the  'All natural ingredients inside' stamp, take from it what you will. I do not have the stamina to attempt that hornet nest!

It is caffeine free. That is a blessing and a curse around here. David, the 18-year-old, likes caffeine first thing in the morning, it helps him with his ADHD. More importantly, it helps me when it helps his ADHD! (When your kid is called the poster child for something like that, your gray hair is a badge, rock it!)

Now for the ingredients, if I can't say it I don't want to eat it. If it takes longer to get through than a Stephen King novel, it ain't happenin'. (Unless I don't have the kids with me, then I will take all the time in the world to read that bad boy. I won't buy it, but I'll read it.) If it has both, no,....just no, ....not gonna happen. This is when the 'Oh hell no!' face appears, and I put it back like I'm handling poison. 

Ingredient list:(front)

pineapple pieces 

orange slices

mango bits

natural flavors

safflowers

strawberry fruit granules

white hibiscus

marigold petals

(back)

rooibos tea

fruit tea

Articles related to the health benefits of the ingredients:

(This list is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully, will help give an idea of the properties of the ingredients. Take from it what you will.) 

Pineapple - How Healthy Is Dried Pineapple

Orange Slices - Nutrition Information for Dried Orange Peel

Mango bits - Dried Mango Nutrition Information

Natural Flavors - What it really means when you see 'natural flavors' on a food label

Safflowers - The health benefits of safflower

Strawberry - Strawberries nutrition facts

White hibiscus - All You Need to Know About Hibiscus

Marigold petals - Marigolds Can Brighten Up Your Life With Their Various Health Benefits

Rooibos tea - What Are the Health Benefits of Redbush Tea?

Fruit tea - Fruit Tea

31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NASB)

Excercise!

Yesterday was TOUGH! I did NOT want to exercise. I was a baby about it. I even joked with my life coach "buuuuuttt mmmmoooommmm!!" when she asked about me. When my oldest son called to see if one of his brothers was joining him at the gym I joked with David (ds#2) asking if he wanted me to work out.  He said, "I wouldn't mind it." His eyes were sad. Uuuuggghhhhhhhh! Talk about feeling like crap! I wasn't thinking about the fact that all of my older kiddos (bio and heart babies alike) have mentioned they worry about my weight. Seeing his eyes and thinking about my youngest, who is already big for her age made me put on my workout clothes. I don't want this to be her life. I want her to live, and to live a strong and healthy life. I want that for all my kids. So I got up off my butt and I found a YouTube video. Today when I woke up early I went back to YouTube and found another one. God willing I will keep it going with YouTube until I can get the external DVD and use my old videos again.

This all started snowballing again with me taking a walk with my daughter two days ago. I'd done the water challenge I'd blogged about before and was still doing well. My nutrition was better too. My exercise was the pits though. My back to health journey actually began when I found Beachbody about a year and a half or so ago and did the 21 DayFix. I LOVED it. I love Shakeology. However, in my current situation, I can't afford it. (I still have some left so don't be surprised if you see me drinking it.) I want to. I'd love to be able to do the OnDemand videos and rock them like I did this time last year. I went from 365 to 322. I could do all but the burpees without modification. Then around January of this year, I stopped. I wasn't even in survival mode for part of it. I was simply frozen in fear of what was happening in my life, and in my relationships. I felt more alone than ever despite living with other adults. As a result, I gained every bit and then some back. I got to 368. Seeing that number crushed me. I won't lie and say I'm great. I'm not. I'm just not as bad as I was and I'm getting better. I am "okay". The biggest thing I noticed though was the less I moved the worse I felt. I did need a break from things, but exercising wasn't one of them. I need that to help keep my mind clear, and my iron pills to keep my anemia at bay. (One of the side effects of low iron is fatigue and that does nothing to help memory or motivation.) Will I get off my butt tomorrow? I don't know. I hope so. I do know that the more I exercise the more likely I am to keep exercising. One step at a time is all I'm worried about for now. As the good book says, "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34 or one step at a time.