Quick Takes: Lots of good stuff

Be sure to read to the end, where there'll be a payoff for some lucky reader….

1) A while back I received the coolest email from a lovely teen girl:

Hi!

My name is Maddi, I'm the 16-year-old daughter of Ellyn. (She emailed you a while back asking if you could direct her to specific points that would be easy teachings for me.) Now, as a part of my home school curriculum, I read a "Little Teaching" every morning.

I just wanted to thank you, first of all, for emailing my mom back with the links. Also, for writing these lovely lessons. They're easy to understand, and I really do enjoy them. I find it a good way to grow closer to God during Lent by learning more about Him, and why He does what He does for me! Every time I read one, or two :) , I feel more of God's love. Especially reading those about sin, and our freedom God gave us.

I could rant-on some more, but I'll keep this short...!

Sincere thanks,
Maddison

That got me thinking that the Little Teachings and some of the other posts would be good for parents to use with their teens, to nail down the basics of the Faith.

So, I recently added a new tab to the top of my blog, called "Little Teachings". Not only does it contain the past LT posts, but also the "What I Never Learned in CCD" posts, and the answers to the Doctrinal Quiz Shows. I may throw in a few more past links if I find them, and I will certainly add more as I write them, but at least now they're all in one place. Let me know what you think. (By the way, I think they are good for adults, too!)


2) I just like these (facebook is good for something besides sucking my life away)...

That last line says: "Regardless of whether they are born, unborn, big, small, black, white, weak, strong, wealthy, poor, planned, unplanned, wanted or not."

(And yes, I am mortified to discover typos in my posts and even in my comments. Sometimes my fuzzy brain or tendency to rush overtakes even my grammar nazi-ness. But please know that I never condone my own grammatical errors; I am properly appalled and ashamed whenever they occur, and I apologize for letting other grammar nazis down.)

3) Okay, the weirdest thing! I saw a huge increase in my stats this week, and I noticed that I've had almost 2,000 hits in the past few days on this post that ran last October:

Why I Should Have Never Had Eight Children 

(And many hits on this related post as well.)

I can tell that the readers were coming from a reprint of the same article on LifeSiteNews, which ended up as one of the top ten most-read articles on their site in 2011 (how nice that a list of all my faults was so widely read -- yay for humility!). But the posts have been dormant for months. So it's intriguing to me that suddenly this week a wave of folks were sent to that LifeSite article from…somewhere, and then a boatload of those folks made their way here. The point I'm trying to get to is that I don't know what the original source was! Do any of you know?? I am just so curious who or what could generate this kind of interest in an old post!

4) Finally saw October Baby! Whoa… that was a powerful ending and the most powerful part of all came during the credits. Really worth your time. 

5) So maybe you all heard the news reports that the big, bad Vatican meanies are bringing the hammer down on the sweet little nuns of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR)? Well, before you feel all sorry for the ladies, please take a gander at this:

Exhibit A for explaining the LCWR report

Yes, it should shock you -- if you haven't been plugged into the shenanigans of that group before.

Now, this stuff has been festering for decades, and the real story is not how the heavy hand of the hierarchy "suddenly" came down on the sisters, but rather how the Church moves so dang slowly in these matters of scandal and dissent, giving the sisters decades to conform their religious orders to the teachings of Church that they profess to serve. 

Think of it this way: An organization of vegans decides, after many decades and many warnings, to crack down on a group of its members who insist upon eating meat every day, proudly and loudly, while still proclaiming themselves vegans. Everyone in the world would see that action by the vegan hierarchy as just, and would wonder what took them so long. The press would report it accurately, as well.

If only the same consideration would be given to the Vatican.

6) Malcolm has a family in process of adopting him now all because they saw a video of him.

If it worked for Malcolm, it can work for Beau. Check out this sweet angel and just try to resist him (be sure to watch at least to the point where you see him walking -- such a good boy!):

Go here for more info on Beau. (I am his Guardian Angel, which means that I am committed to praying for him and advocating for him until he finds a home.)

7) Considering the debt I owe to the infertile Catholic blog community, I am thrilled to be today's stop on the blog book tour for The Infertility Companion for Catholics, written by Angelique Ruhi-López and Carmen Santamaría.

In the authors' own words:

Spiritual healing, encouraging hope and a new perspective: these are what we hope people will experience when reading The Infertility Companion for Catholics: Spiritual and Practical Support for Couples. We co-authored this book because we know first-hand the struggles inherent in the infertility journey and wanted to provide a companion book for the journey, one that, as our preface says, “you can consult and rely on when you need to be challenged, encouraged, and understood.” The book provides moral and spiritual support as well as guidance on the many options that infertile couples face and how to make necessary choices while remaining faithful to the teachings of the magisterium. “Its purpose is to give voice to the reality of infertility among those who seek to live as faithful Catholics.”


In addition to the spiritual and practical support provided toward the middle and end of the book, the first four chapters lay the ground work of what the Church teaches on infertility and why the Church only has our best interests in mind. Here is an excerpt from the chapter entitled, “What Does the Catholic Church Have to Do with Infertility?”

God doesn’t only work through us and what we think. He uses our friends and family as well as the Church to speak to us. The scriptures tell us, “Oh, that today you would hear his voice: Do not harden your hearts” (Ps 95:7–8). We know how hard it can be to see the truth in the Church’s teaching. The pain of infertility can be so profound it can cloud our vision and make us only focus on one goal—having a baby. But in the end, “what profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Mk 8:36). With obedience, we can properly hear God’s voice as we walk along this infertility journey instead of allowing society to dictate our decisions.

This is particularly challenging when one considers all the competing voices in the world. We must know God well enough to recognize his voice above all others in the stirring of our consciences. God should first be our friend, as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said. The Lord is our Good Shepherd, and “the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers” (Jn 10:4–5). When reading Church teaching, we form our consciences and learn to recognize God’s loving voice. In a similar way, if we learn to recognize God’s voice and his promptings in our everyday life, we will be better equipped to hear his voice while navigating the confusing world of infertility treatments, instead of the voice of the stranger that we do not recognize. (…) 

The Church is for us, not against us, when it comes to helping us walk this arduous path of infertility. The Church is our mother, and just as the loving parents we also desire to be, it seeks only our good. We need only open our minds and our hearts to understanding why it teaches as it does. Angelique explains her initial encounter with Church teaching on infertility treatment:

I had always heard that the Church did not accept some infertility treatments, but before we were faced with infertility, I never knew why. I am an avid researcher by nature and as the months continued to pass without a positive pregnancy test, I began doing online searches on the Catholic Church and infertility. I don’t know what surprised me most about what I found: the wealth of Church materials on the subject or the fact that the information is not widely known. Initially, what I read overwhelmed me because of how profound it was; later, as I continued to read it and pray about it, that same material overwhelmed me because it made me realize God’s profound love for me.

Amen, ladies, and thank you for consolidating what Catholics need to know about dealing with infertility in this morally confused age.

I'm excited to say that I have a brand new copy of this book to give away! To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment below stating that you would like the book. If you feel more comfortable remaining anonymous, please email me at littlecatholicbubble (at) gmail (dot) com.

But wait!! To sweeten the pot, I will give you two additional chances to win if you become a new subscriber to or official follower of my Orphan Report blog (be sure to let me know), and I will give you five additional chances to win if you donate in any amount to Malcolm's iPad giveaway, here. (Yes, I am still obsessed with the orphans, and I don't see that changing anytime soon, so y'all will have to live with it.)

I will pick a winner on Sunday night at random, yay!


Have a great weekend, and thanks to Jen for hosting!




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IVF, and what to do with "excess" embryos.....

A few of the bloggers have broached the difficult subject of in vitro fertilization recently, and I am glad they did. It needs to be talked about. People today are oblivious to the fact that there might be any moral problem with it at all ("Hey, we want a baby, so we will do whatever it takes to get one" is the mentality), and yet it is a moral quagmire!

Imagine the wrenching dilemma of a faithful Catholic priest who is asked by a contrite couple what to do with their many frozen embryos left in limbo after IVF. Embryos which the wife is unable carry to term, and which the couple cannot afford to keep frozen. Here is an excerpt from an article by a priest in our diocese, Fr. Pete Rossa, who faced this very dilemma:

One Sunday morning I was approached by a married couple who wanted me to meet their beautiful twins. The couple was elated that after many attempts to conceive they finally had received twin gifts from God. Still, they were troubled. After a few minutes they revealed that their twins were conceived through multiple attempts at in vitro fertilization; they loved both children and beheld them with pride and joy.

Not until after their children were born did the couple discover that every human embryo is a child according to the Church. They now faced terrible new dilemmas; their first dilemma was that “selective reduction” was utilized so that their twins would survive-- an abortion had occurred. And, without knowing, they incurred excommunication. Their second dilemma was that the wife no longer could carry children to term; yet they had 15 embryos in a cryobank. They didn’t know what to do and asked me for advice. Their strong desire for children led them down an unexpected slippery slope. They felt trapped. They are not alone in their quandary: In 2002, more than 400,000 embryonic children were being stored in the cryobanks in the United States, according to a Rand Corporation study.

The couple I spoke with that Sunday also mentioned that they had suffered severe financial difficulties because of the extreme cost of the multiple in vitro procedures but wouldn’t relent on their need to pay the storage fees as they couldn’t abandon their embryonic children. They were experiencing severe financial difficulties due to the debt they incurred. They expressed concern that if they declared bankruptcy or were unable to pay the storage fees, they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves; they might have to cease paying the storage fees and lose what remaining control they had over the rest of the frozen human embryos.

Physical, economic, spiritual and moral torture is what they were experiencing.

To find out what Fr. Rossa ultimately told them, and to read a deep and detailed analysis of the role IVF in the present Culture of Death, read the whole article here. It is long, but it is so important. Nobody seems to know this or speak of it (outside the Catholic bubble), yet it's a situation that needs to come screaming into the light!

You know, it always astonishes me that even pro-life Christians, who know that life begins at conception, will go the IVF route and not seem to have any problems with producing dozens of embryos (their children!) and then disposing of them. Can someone help me with that? Is it just a mental block? I really want to understand it, because it troubles me greatly.

How a fertile found the IF bloggers: The Sequel

(See Part One here.)

So, to continue....

I don't think I would have become a regular reader of the IF blogs if it weren't for one blogger in particular. Catching my attention like a neon sign at midnight was this dynamic woman calling herself "Sew Infertile"! Such a clever name, and so many, many, many, many exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!! I liked her immediately!

I also wondered if she sprinkled crack on her morning Corn Flakes.

But no, that was not possible, because we all know that crackheads are incredibly fertile... ba-dum-bump! (Did I get the IF humor right?)

Sew kept me hooked (My gosh what is this woman gonna say next??), and then I started to look around, clicking on her substantial blogroll. So many amazing ladies, so many pretty blogs.

I must confess that initially I had a hard time telling some of the bloggers apart. Lots of hope and prayers and trust in their blog names (a good thing!!) and every variation of flower imaginable, in various stages of bloom. A couple of bloggers had a similarly colored background, and I mixed them up for months. I have since gotten everyone straightened out. :)

I know this will sound strange, due to my advanced age (let's face it, I could technically be a mom to some of the IF girls), but I initially pictured many of the bloggers as older than myself, due to their profound wisdom and depth of faith. Their pictures and ages were often jarring in contrast to my mental image of them!

For the first few months I stayed quiet. I felt like an outsider, peeking into an exclusive and sacred space. I was a new kid on the block who definitely didn't fit in. I did not feel right intruding; however, I couldn't stay silent forever....

Now I will humiliate myself by recounting the first time I came out of lurkdom to comment on someone's blog. Keep in mind, I have grown since those days!

Okay, so someone had posted about the expense of home pregnancy tests, and many others responded in agreement. I thought, "Aha! I can be of help to these wonderful ladies! I'll make myself useful!" So I posted a comment informing the bloggers that -- wait for it -- the dollar store sold pregnancy tests! Yup, didn't ya know?! ("Um, yes, Leila, everyone knows...."). Hey, at least I didn't pop in during the early weeks spouting my brilliant knowledge that flax seed oil was the cure for infertility. (cringe!)

Moving right along....

I slowly, steadily, began to comment on different blogs, with riveting and memorable gems like, "I'm praying for you!" or "That's such a cute picture!" Profound stuff, no?

At some point, and for what reason I don't remember, I got up my courage and... I emailed Sew!

All right, I admit it! I was a groupie!! These were rock stars to me, and Sew was the lead singer! She was so kind when she responded, and I swear I felt like I had just been allowed backstage! Yee-haw, I was in with Sew!

I had infiltrated the IF bloggers.

It was a happy day. :)

Since those early days, I was peer-pressured into starting my own blog, and more IF Catholic bloggers have come on the scene. Wanna know how boldly confident I feel about my place in the IF blogger world now? Well, get a load of this: Check out who welcomed Hebrews when she first introduced herself! Ha! The gall of me, but I did it! You all have created a monster, ha ha ha!! (Sometimes I feel like the self-appointed house mother of this IF sorority!)

Now, I have often said that I wish I could somehow transfer my fertility to the IF bloggers. Of course that is impossible, and yet... there sure has been a tidal wave of pregnancies and adoptions 'round these parts. Some folks (who have right reason and sound judgement) might conclude that the awesome prayer buddy network at Advent and Lent have something to do with all that. Or, Jeremiah's pilgrimage to Lourdes. Or all the petitions, prayers, and offered sufferings.

But it seems to me that it all began after I arrived on the scene. Hmmmm.....

Just sayin'.

Tee hee.

How a fertile found the IF bloggers....

Okay, so this fertile walks into a bar.... Wait, that's not it.

So, this fertile surfs into some blogs and finds a boatload of infertile Catholic bloggers and slowly infiltrates their numbers in sort of a sneaky, stealthy, underhanded, fertile-y way until she fools them all into thinking she is really cool and that she can fit right in without being beaten up, and.... Wait, that's not exactly right either.

Let me try again. How did a fertile like me end up entranced by and embedded with an amazing sisterhood of infertile Catholic bloggers?

It started with my interest in Catholic matchmaking (read a post about that here!).

Many years ago (when most of you young IF whippersnappers were still small), I became interested in Ave Maria Singles, and the idea that devout Catholics could find each other through the internet. Fascinating and fun! I have a cousin who was a member of AMS, thanks to my obnoxious urging, and I loved to surf the profiles with her and help her shop at what amounts to a Catholic "man store" (I believe that's the correct theological term).

I especially loved reading the success stories. I am a sucker for romance and orthodox Catholicism, so those stories were pure entertainment for my pathetic self. I couldn't get enough. I would follow a couple's story from engagement to marriage, and then I would wait for the pregnancy announcements and the baby pictures. I'm all about building families for the Kingdom of God (or watching from afar and rejoicing when that happens).

One couple that I followed on the AMS site, Katie and Devin Rose, had a created their own blog. I became a periodic reader, and I followed them through IF, miscarriage, fostering, adoption and pregnancy. At the time, the only other blogs I read were political blogs.

Then came the summer of '09. I was newly pregnant with my eighth child, and we were thrilled. I was also acutely aware of the pain of two dear friends, devout and worthy, who were suffering from infertility and secondary infertility. I wanted to be sensitive, and I also wanted to help in some way.

Here's where it gets fuzzy.... I know that I got to an IF blog (Maria Therese, perhaps?) by clicking on a comment on the Roses' blog. Somehow, I think, that led me to the Apostolate of Hannah's Tears. I emailed those blog references to my friends, but I am pretty sure I was more compelled to keep reading than they were! Or, maybe my friends were actually attending to their lives instead of sitting on their butts at their computers all day like me? Hmmmm....

Anyway, over the next days, I kept clicking.

There, still solidly within my little Catholic bubble (which extends into cyberspace), I discovered a goldmine of faith in an IF Catholic subculture that I never knew existed! A small but powerful sorority of Catholic IF bloggers were being made strong in their faith through their suffering, and were supporting each other as they carried their crosses. In a world of IVF and other artificial reproductive techniques, these women bravely held firm to Church teaching -- no easy task, when even most Catholics don't "get it." It was so incredibly moving to watch faith in action, and see profound Christian charity among believers.

What was a silly fertile to do? I became a stalker... um, lurker. :)

Okay, stay tuned for my next post, where I will talk specifics and name (blog) names! You'll hear my first impressions of the bloggers (heh, heh, Sew!), and my boneheaded early moves on the comment boards (it's good for my humility to recount).

(The Sequel, here.)

Why I love the IF bloggers!!

Well, okay, there are lots of reasons I love 'em, but after reading this post and the amazing comments that follow, one reason jumped out at me.

These wonderful ladies get it! Meaning, they get the crux of everything... life!

They grieve the loss of their fertility precisely because they understand what a precious gift it is. Their loss would not be so great if the gift withheld were not so good.

We live in a culture where people throw away fertility with both hands via contraception and sterilization. (And that comes just one step before throwing away life itself via abortion.)

In our culture, fertility is seen and treated as a disease instead of the blessing that it is. We even have pills and surgeries to "fix" it. (As if something were broken? Hello?)

When so many women can't sterilize themselves fast enough, the IF bloggers stand as a beacon of light and a sign of contradiction. Mourning the loss of fertility is right order. The women who understand that have been given a great and precious gift.

I don't pity my infertile friends. I pity the others, who don't know enough or care enough to cherish fertility as the precious and undeserved gift that it is.

So, without wanting to sound corny, I want to thank my dear IF friends for cherishing what should be cherished, and mourning what should be mourned! I admire you so, and you are surely pleasing to God, Who is the Author of Life!

You guys rock!!! :)