Marriage Encounter article and column

My feature on Worldwide Marriage Encounter ran in today's Patriot Ledger. I also had my recent Marriage Encounter weekend in mind when I wrote this week's family column. Enjoy!

Food for thought

I actually sat down this morning and read The Pilot, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston. In it was an article about how the Israeli ambassador to the Vatican is urging Jews to dialogue with Catholics.

The thing that struck me was when the ambassador, Mordechay Lewy, quoted Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee, in an article he wrote for the Italian Jewish newspaper. The article was also printed in the Vatican newspaper.

Here's what he wrote that struck me so much:

"Claiming an absolute possession of truth would be to claim God's action in human hearts is limited."

I like that. I like it a lot.

Ohhh, boy. First politics, now religion. I'm sure I'm in for it, now.

Announcement

I welcome comments on my blog. While I especially welcome opinions that mirror mine (and who doesn't?) I do recognize that there are other viewpoints out there.

Comments written by people I do not know, who do not make their profiles public (in essence, anonymous commenters) may or may not be published. It's my blog, and I see no reason to publish comments that attack me or my writing, especially when the commenter isn't willing to identify him- or herself.

I stand by my writing, and invite commenters to do the same.

Thanks for reading!

This is not a discussion

I don't discuss politics.

Well, I will say that I do engage in a little bit of discussion -- and I mean very little -- with Earl, on occasion. But in general, I like to keep my political opinions to myself.

Some people enjoy political debate, and can remain civil and thoughtful even when confronted with opinions that are far different from their own.

Sadly, many cannot. This is why I don't discuss politics.

I don't enjoy listening to others discuss politics, either. Or watching, as in the case of Facebook over the past several days.

The Massachusetts special election for U.S. Senate is over. Hopefully the discussion will die down pretty soon.

Today's family column

Today's column ran online at Ledger.com.

New Year's column

My first column of 2010 ran in The Greece Post, my hometown weekly.

Feel-good Wednesday

Happy is the woman whose husband brings her coffee in bed.

I've been having such a hard time getting up in the morning, but I need to get up early to get some things done before the kids get up. Today when the alarm beeped, I asked Earl to come back in 20 minutes to wake me. He came back with coffee. He is the best.
***

In other news, I had a meeting with Abby's teachers this morning about some concerns I had about her math work and school-home communication. The three of us met for about 25 minutes and were able to come up with ideas and solutions that should make both the math and the communication go more smoothly. If you're looking for me, I'll be printing multiplication facts worksheets.
***

Earl's birthday is on Friday, and for once, I'm on top of it. Gifts are bought, cake is planned (complete with ALL ingredients...no olive oil cake like last year) and I even have a sneaky plan to take him out to breakfast. He wants to go to the high school basketball game on Friday evening with the kids, so that's where we'll go...in two cars, so when Abby and Timmy have had enough, I'll take them home and leave the two sports fans to finish the game. We'll have birthday cake and ice cream at home post-game. A sweet little family party.
***

I have gotten at least 5 compliments on my hair within the past two days. I'm letting it grow, and it's kind of full around my face now. A new look, after years of a pixie and a Martha Coakley before that. It sticks out in at least one direction every day, but it is a softer look, and it must suit me, because people are talking to me about it, nicely.
***

I rediscovered dark chocolate with a coffee chaser today. Oh, my goodness. How have I lived without it?
***

I've lost a few students over the past couple of weeks. I'm not panicking; students come and students go. I would like to fill up the couple of vacant time slots I have, though. This reminds me that I need to follow up with that mom I emailed from my waiting list.
***

One of my voice students had a major breakthrough this week. I talked with her last week about jaw tension and the correct positioning of the jaw relative to the head when opening the mouth. She took that knowledge and ran with it, and lo and behold, she had no jaw tension this week, and the hoarseness and cracking that had gone along with it just below the passagio was gone. I mean, gone. Vanished. I am so proud of her, and so happy that we were able to get to the bottom of the problem.
***

I lifted weights for the first time in two weeks this morning. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. I'm not beating myself up, because I did have a cold and didn't feel like working out before, but wow, what a difference. I'm glad to be back to it again.
***

And on that note, I think I'll bake Earl's birthday cake so I can just figure out the frosting tomorrow.