Splenda is to Eating as the Pill is to . . . : 7 Quick Takes IV

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Two of my boys can say they were named for a Pope, but only one can say that a Pope was named for him.  (Sorry Gus!)  

When Gus was a toddler, a priest once remarked to me,
"If you didn't want him to give you trouble,
you probably shouldn't have named him Augustine."

God Bless Pope Francis!

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We are currently expecting 74 adults and 88 kids for our Annual St. Patrick's Day Hooley this Sunday.  Baking for a hungry horde doesn't bother me, but doing it during Lent does, since we give up treats on all but Sundays, Feast days, and Papal Election days.  

Here, suffer along with me:

Don't worry, they'll be frosted.

Aren't they cute?  I finally found white cupcake wrappers that don't dissapear on chocolate cupcakes!  At Party City of all places.

I made a little deal with myself that I wouldn't eat any full items, but that to throw away the crumbs would just be wasteful.
Fortunately the brownie bites are the crumbliest:

They're supposed to be pots of gold,
I'm not sure if that's coming across.

We're looking forward to the feasting, singing, and carrying on!

For more on how we roll for St. Patrick's Day, see here.  And if you prefer St. Joseph, there's also here.

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Great Moments in Homeschooling (in which birthday parties totally count as PE)

Anita (at the skating rink): Look Mommy, those boys are ice skating and playing golf at the same time.

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It has been HOT here in the Valley:

(oh mah ga Becky, like, totally hot)
This was in the late afternoon shade.

But the kids are enjoying it:

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Pope Francis was the Ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful in Argentina who lack an Ordinary of their own rite, giving hope to some that he might be able to bridge the gap that still exists between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. 

Pope John Paul II famously said that the Catholic Church must "breathe with two lungs" -- East and West alike -- rather than with only one Western, or Latin, lung.

Pope Francis has only one lung.

Discuss.

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Want to support a vocation?  Do NOT want to run a marathon?  Jenn can help.  She's trying to raise money to pay off her student debt so she can enter the community of The Norbertine Cannonesses  of the Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph this coming autumn.

She'll do the running and pray for your intentions, you help fund her vocation.  Everybody wins.

Check out LitanyRun for more information.

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The problem with contraception is that it allows a person to separate the pleasure of a physical act from the results God intended to accompany it.  Doesn't Splenda do the same thing?

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!