Lily Lolek: Future Saint

 Lily Lolek: Future Saint

 

I was excited to receive Katie Warner’s new book, Lily Lolek Future Saint.  The illustrations are playful and well-done and the storyline is even better.

 

It tells of a girl named Lily who “there was nothing that she wanted more than to love with her might and to burst with God’s joy…”. It then is a whimsical introduction to the charisms of the saints, describing their virtues that Lily wants to emulate.  She becomes disheartened when she is told she won’t be exactly like these saints.  A priest comes to dinner and shares with her that God loves her and doesn’t want people to be exactly like a previous saint, but like the saint God made her to be.  It talks about building a relationship with God and following the examples of the saints, not copying them.  A wonderful message!

 

Overall, my son and I enjoyed this book.  He was familiar with the saints mentioned, but I think this book would be a great way to also introduce children to new saints and do further investigation.  The message of the book overall was wonderful to share with my son.  I think we will enjoy this book in years to come.

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Vet School Series: Critical Care Humor

This is from my vet school series- bear in mind that I was a sleep-deprived student when you look at the grammar and sentence structure...

I am on my Emergency and Critical Care rotation, that is why I am posting at 3:44 in the morning.  

After a long day of death, tears, hard work, throw in some anal glands, vomiting and diarrhea and exposure to X-rays, some dog wrestling, Chihuahua lunging, etc.. I am exhausted.

  Let's just say here, we start our days with Ibuprofen.  I have mysterious bruises on my arms that I don't know where I acquired them from.   I think I've developed dyslexia and I might have a concussion from body-slamming a Great Dane (when I body slam, it does nothing except stop the dog).  Am I complaining?  No, I'm a vet student,  and in some sick and twisted way, I actually enjoy this!

The people I'm working with are fun.  Sure there's stress when you have a cat on dialysis, a dog that ate chocolate, one that ate oxycontin, a septic abdomen and by the way there's a woman who is paging you every 60 minutes to ask annoying questions that you legally aren't allowed to answer.  We actually all can recognize her by her voice.  Unfortunately, we don't have laws like 911 operators do and we have to drop whatever we are doing to answer the phone.  But then there's those bonding moments, where you don't care that you have blood or other substances you don't want me to elaborate on, on your shoes, face shirt.   You just see that burrito that the angel from heaven, your beloved classmate, brings to you.  Then, as you're presenting an emergency case to the lead doctor, throughout the night he is trying different aerodynamic engineering designs to see if he can get the air conditioner to nail someone across the room.  There's laughter, tears, there is blood and there is guts, but what makes up for all the sad news and death we deal with is when Fifi goes home and the owners want to give you a hug, or when that cat who has been looking like death warmed over has the will to live!  (This typically means they try biting).  There's nothing like a cat who decides they feel good enough to be pissed off.  By the way, I'm not sure what day of the week it is and my body's schedule is all screwed up.  S
o if there are any spelling errors or things don't make sense, I apologize.

Election craziness

This is a post I wrote before the election in 2016.  It still seems to be relevant today....

I vacillate between worry about the election and a complete, "I'm done" with it all.  There's uncertainty in everyone's future and if you listened to the news and political people you would think whoever gets elected in 11 days the world will possibly end.

I work in an area where many people have opposing viewpoints and I work with people who either agree or agree to disagree.  This is a good thing.  It reminds me the world will go on and most people are just as frustrated as I am by our choices and the hostility in our current political climate.  I also am reminded everyday of the dogs and cats I work with who have no clue as to the partisanship around them and just display loyalty and friendship.  I'm not suggesting we should send our politicians to the dogs, but it restores my memory of what life is like with simplicity and without partisanship.

This election does matter.  It's important that everyone votes and understands the consequences, but should you be getting anxious and worried consider doing the following:

1. Know that as faith-filled people, "Jesus I Trust In You," can lower your blood pressure and remind you, render on to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.  Think what you will about either political leader, but either way, we aren't living in the time of Nero's Circus and the Roman Emperors.
2. Read a little about the Founding Fathers.  They may not have had e-mail, but their scandals and drama was every bit as scary as ours.  Even Alexander Hamilton had a rather racy sex scandal.  At least we don't do duels anymore.  This was also a time when we were still known as "The American Experiment".  At least with over 200 years worth of corrupt politicians, we know that our democracy has been through it before.
3. Consider turning off the TV and going for a walk.  Sometimes it's good to get outside, smell the fresh air, watch the autumn leaves and think of America as a simple idyllic land.
4. Drink some wine, or hot chocolate, or whatever warm (or cold) drink that makes you happy and be grateful for the little things.
5. Think about how we are blessed.  Sure, we have politicians who we wouldn't want our kids to look up to.  I'm grateful that I don't have to explain everything in the news to my son.  With liars and language that even my thirty-something self doesn't like it can get rough.  I listened to Francesca Battistelli's song, "This Is The Stuff" on my way home tonight.  If you haven't listened to it, give it a try.  It talks about losing your keys and all sorts of other stuff that is a regular occurrence in many people's busy lives.  It talks about, "this is the stuff that gets under my skin".  It also ultimately comes out with the message, "when I'm in the middle of this little mess it reminds me exactly how much I'm blessed."  Yes, no one wants to deal with all the politics right now.  November 8th (or November 9th if you are the other party, you know republicans and democrats vote on different days, right?  Just kidding...) can't come soon enough.  But we all need to remember, we are blessed to live in a country where we can vote, where both sexes and all ideologies vote and no matter all the dirty tricks and other tactics, we actually do live in a democracy.  Take advantage of it.  Vote and most importantly pray.  Pray for unity and peace.

Catholic At Home- A Review

I had the pleasure of viewing a new premium video series called Catholic At Home.

It is a series of fairly short (around 5 minutes) reflections, catechesis and information on,  "How God is calling us to Holiness through our families."  For a busy, active family, I think going through this series one day at a time is very doable.

It is professionally produced and has great images to illustrate points and short vignettes.  One of the best explanations I've heard of the Trinity in a while was distilled down to a very understandable level.

Parts of the series talk about how to pray, how to read sacred scriptures as a family.

Initially it seemed the presenter spoke very slow and deliberate.  I got used to it though, and realized in the cadence it gave me time to absorb and meditate.  Sometimes I think I need a change of pace to just not tone out the message, so this was initially a turn-off, but I
grew to appreciate the cadence the further I got into the material.

I enjoyed how this program was a mix of catechesis and practical applications such as how you can and should live a liturgical life at home as well as forgiveness in a family.  I look forward to viewing more of their material in the future.

I think overall this was a good series, and a great way to have many "mini-retreats" in this stay-at-home time.  It is a 21 day series and the price of $24.95 is fairly reasonable for the professional and well-done material.  This might also be a good gift idea for someone (a good idea for a small amount of date time for parents to watch together, or include in the gift giving time for someone to disappear with a cup of coffee for 5 minutes)