7 Quick Takes Friday

1)  What are you doing for Lent? Or NOT doing? I was going to try not raising my voice with my 13 year old but I don't think that's going to work.  So, now I have to come up with something else.  And I'm two days late. So, it would be good if I could think of something I haven't done in two days that I like to do to get a jump on my tardiness.  But what........?

2)  Scorpions--I have to wonder why Jen at Conversion Diary sees scorpions every ten minutes in her house, in the same area as my house, and I have never seen a single scorpion since I moved to Texas in 1978? Why is that?  I have seen rats, flying tree roaches (seriously--FLYING roaches?????), yellowjackets, fire ants, geckos, you name it, but never a single scorpion.  Why is that?

3) Speaking of hideous critter tales--once upon a time about 10 years ago when we lived in a little stone house with crumbling foundations and fireplace holes that could not be plugged up and an attic opening big enough for raccoons, etc, we had the occasional rat scamper merrily across the living room floor as we were watching tv or something.  It sent me into paroxysms of terror as we had a baby in the house, plus I am no friend of rats.  We called the pest control people and they basically said there was nothing they could do.

Then, one horrible night around Halloween, I had a bowl of those small orange mallow Halloween pumpkin candies on a table beside my bed. We were asleep and suddenly, I felt a warm, furry creature nestled in my hair in the crook of my neck.  As we had no small pets, I immediately deduced what it was and threw myself screaming onto my husband, and the critter wisely took off. We turned the lights on, I sat up, and one of those pumpkin candies rolled out of the crook of my neck and onto the bed.  It had teeth marks in it and they weren't mine.  That was not one of my better nights.

A little bit like this

4) As for the flying tree roaches, I was instructed by the wife of the former renters that I should never ever venture outside the house at night--that the backyard was full of all kinds of unsavory flying and swooshing and slithering things, like in a Stephen King novel, and I would regret it bitterly.  She was right.  The tree roaches, however, came right on in when it got too hot outside for them, and I recall vividly lying in bed with my 4 day old baby and watching one emerge from our closet and begin walking slowly around the top of the wall towards where I was ensconced in the bed with my innocent babe. I actually called my husband and made him come home from work to murder said tree roach before it reached us.  I was having enough problems already with mastitis and thrush and giant purple nipples from the gentian violet I was told to use on them without tree roaches trying to carry off my baby.

It is NOT ok for these to fly.

5)  I JUST got this nice picture of Pope Benedict put up and now he's leaving office.   I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I wish him  peace, bless his sweet heart.

6)  My husband is still at MD Anderson in Houston, awaiting test results next monday morning from his PET and MRI scans, to see if and to where the cancer has spread.  I am terrified. I  cannot fathom being without him.  Please keep praying for him.

7) I am so grateful for all the dear friends in my life who have done so much for us these past few weeks of agony--I could never have made it through without them.

Pope Benedict XVI and Ash Wednesday

Like many of you, I was surprised and saddened to hear of our Pope's resignation of his office a couple of days ago, starting at the end of this month.  I was not yet a Catholic when Bl. JPII died, but I recall watching the announcement of his death and the papal conclave on television, and thinking how sad it was to lose such a great man.  His final words, "Let me go to my Father's house", moved me deeply.

However, I must admit that I was unaware a pope COULD resign. I had often wondered what would occur if one became thoroughly incapacitated, perhaps with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, or complete physical incapacity. What would occur? Has this ever happened in papal history? I'm still not entirely sure.

I will miss Pope Benedict--I enjoyed his writing, his gentle manner and soft voice, and his openness to a resurgence of traditionalism in the Church.  I pray that he gets some much needed rest and is able to serve God in a new capacity now.

Pope Benedict XVI

As for Ash Wednesday this is my first one as a confirmed Catholic, so I will be attempting to carry out the fasting ritual, attending Mass for imposition of ashes, visiting with Fr Wade, my Spiritual Director, and visiting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.  My husband is in Houston at MD Anderson Cancer Center, undergoing testing to find out the extent and origin of the cancer--he will be having a PET scan tomorrow. Please keep him in your prayers, as well as my son Daniel, 13, who is having severe, extreme behavior issues, as well as strength and faith for me.  Thank you so much and a Blessed Lenten season to you all!