Weekly Joke - Envelopes

Morris had just been hired as the new CEO of a large high tech corporation. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three envelopes number 1, 2 and 3. "Open these if you run up against a problem you don't think you can solve," the departing CEO said.

Things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and Morris was really catching a lot of heat. About at his wit's end, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, "Blame your predecessor." Morris called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press -- and Wall Street -- responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.

About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, "Reorganize." This he did, and the company quickly rebounded.

After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. Morris went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope.

The message said, "Prepare three envelopes." ...

Quick Update On Christiana Mary

Just a quick update on Christiana since we have not blog about her lately. Today she is 3 months 1 week and 4 days old. She is as cute as she can be, and I know that is our opinion, but just look at her!

She is growing and sleeping well (anywhere from 8 to 10 hours a night). When you talk to her she will responds to you with big smiles. We all love our Christiana.

Favorite Sunday’s Cartoon - Pickles

Pickles by Brian Crane is one of our favorite cartoon on Sunday. Some Sundays are funnier than others, but this past Sunday was really funny. This is what marriage is all about, a two-way street and between a man and a woman (the latter one is not in the cartoon). Enjoy!

Catholic Cartoon Blog – Funny Stuff

In light of the “Georgetown University Scandal” I came across Paul Nichols’ blog, Catholic Cartoon Blog, there are some funny cartoons on his blog, make sure you visit him.
This one is titled Georgetown U. at the Resurrection.
Sad but true!  Image Source: Catholic Cartoon Blog

Blu-ray Movie Review: August Rush

We just watched a great movie, August Rush. Very clean movie, no bad languages… yes, even with Robin Williams in it, I know it’s hard to believe (just don’t watch the special features after the movie, than you will see the real Robin Williams) and it’s rated PG.

A Story about an orphaned boy uses his musical talent as a clue to find his birth parents. Amazing movie! I know it’s only April, but this might be our pick for movie of the year.

Has anyone else seen this movie?

Click image to watch clip

We gave it five stars!

Weekly Joke - Penthouse In Heaven

The Pope dies and goes to heaven. When he gets there, Saint Peter shows him to his new quarters - a tiny one bedroom apartment.
The Pope is horrified and demands to know why he doesn't have the penthouse apartment, which is huge.
Saint Peter informs him that the resident of the penthouse is a lawyer.
"A lawyer," says the Pope. "But I'm the Pope, surely I'm more important than a lawyer!"
"With respect Sir," says Saint Peter, "We have lots of Pope's up here, but we only have ONE lawyer!"

Happy Birthday to Our Dear Holy Father

April 16th, 2009 is Pope Benedict's 82nd birthday!

Happy birthday to our dear Holy Father!

Viva Il Papa! - Long live the Pope!

You can join us wishing our Holy Father a happy birthday by leaving a comment.

UPDATE: This article “BENEDICT XVI CELEBRATES HIS 82ND BIRTHDAY TODAY” was forwarded to me by Fr. Miguel Marie

What You Can Do With An iPhone – Part 4

If you are anything like me, I don’t like carrying those little plastic membership, discount, reward cards on my keychain or wallet. Every time you go shopping to those stores that has these “pesky” cards, never failed to always ask you, “do you have a reward card?” Why do grocery stores do this? Why can they just give me the discount without having to show these “pesky” little cards?

Well, the iPhone App has a solution for that too, CardStar! Yes, I can still get the discounts without having to stumble with my key chain. So, I have 5 or 7 cards, that is 5 to 7 cards I don’t have to carry in my wallet or keychain. I just turn on my iPhone and get to the card I need and show it to the cashier so he/she can than scan the barcodes that’s inside the iPhone. It is pretty neat and clean! Even the cashier commented, “wow, that’s way too cool!”

Highly recommended!

Conversation With A Two Year Old

This conversation took place between Coby and Abigail on Monday after Easter. Coby was tidying up around the house.

I want soooome milk

Okay, just a minute

Why do you always walk around?

Because I’m cleaning up.

Moms don’t do that!

Oh?

Moms cook and moms call the girls in to clean up!

But Moms clean up too

No, moms don’t do that, moms cook and pour milk for the little girls and moms call the big girls to clean up!

Oh!

First Holy Communion on Holy Thursday April 9, 2009

Thank you very much for all your prayers for Gabriela’s First Holy Communion. The Holy Mass was beautiful and will be remembered for a long time. Alleluia, Thanks be to God!

We had a nice celebration after the Holy Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe hall and Br. Louis performed a juggling act for us. You are very talented Brother! 

Alleluia, He Is Risen!

Alleluia, He is risen indeed!

From our family to your family, have a Blessed Easter to all of you! May the joy of Our Risen Lord brings the real hope and change to us!

Image Source: EWTN

Weekly Joke – An Elderly Dying Priest

Since it is Good Friday, I thought this joke would be appropriate for today. Thanks to Patrick Madrid, he had this posted on his blog last week.

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An Elderly Priest Get’s His Dying Wish

An old Catholic priest lay dying in the hospital. For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. He motioned for his nurse to come near.

"Yes, Father?" said the nurse.

"I would really like to see Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi before I die," whispered the priest.

"I'll see what I can do, Father," replied the nurse.

The nurse sent the request to them and waited for a response. Soon the word arrived. Harry and Nancy would be delighted to visit the priest. As they went to the hospital, Harry commented to Nancy "I don't know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images." Nancy couldn't help but agree.

When they arrived at the dying man's room, the priest took Nancy's hand in his right hand and Harry's hand in his left. There was silence and a look of serenity settled across the old priest's face.

Finally Nancy spoke. "Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?"

The old priest slowly replied. "I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." His voice trailed off . . .

After a brief pause, he continued . . . "The Lord died between two lying thieves, and I would like to do the same."

Visitors From Around The World

Since we’ve started this blog almost a year ago, 28 different countries have visited this blog and one way or another taking an interest at looking at our blog. Some visits because of they know our family, some wanting to know what this blog is all about, some happen to stumble over it by accident, and some heard about it from someone else and decided to check it out. What ever the case maybe, it doesn’t really matter. This is not “the latest breaking news” blog, it’s just a family fun blog!Most of them we will never know who you are, for instance, we don’t know anyone from Serbia, nor Egypt, nor Turkey, but this is still amazing isn’t it?! You are welcome to comments on it at anytime you feel like it on a particular topics or just simply say hello.

This is what I call the United Nations on the palm of your hands!   Thank you for visiting and taking an interest at our blog!   God Bless!

Palm Sunday in Hanceville With MFVA

Today was a beautiful Palm Sunday, we had brunch in Hanceville with Fr. Miguel and Michael’s parents at the Ephesus house. We did a “little” hiking and also played a “little” tennis with Fr. Miguel. Thank you Fr. Miguel for inviting us to spent a day with you and thank you to Michael’s Mom for cooking a delicious chicken “Sate”. It was definitely a nice day to set the tone for upcoming Holy Week.

First Holy Communion Preparation Novena

As part of Gabriela’s 1st Holy Communion preparation, we are doing a nine day novena to Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament & the Archangel Gabriel. Gabriela’s uncle, Fr. Miguel wrote the novena prayers and The Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration made these beautiful novena cards. Our gratitude and thanks to Fr. Miguel Marie and The Sisters for being a part of Gabriela’s 1st Holy Communion preparation. Beautiful prayers and beautiful novena cards!
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Novena to Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament
and the Archangel Gabriel
for the occasion of First Holy Communion Preparation

Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Mary, my Mother, I love you. Thank you for always leading us to Jesus. Teach me how to assist properly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Prepare my mind and heart for my First Holy Communion. Pour your love into my little heart. Help me to always be ready to receive Jesus. Whenever I am not ready because of serious sin, lead me to Confession so that I would be ready to receive your Son. Help me to always receive Holy Communion worthily as if it would be my first time, or as if it would be my last time, or as if it would be my only time. And lead me to visit and adore frequently your Son, Jesus, Who is truly and really present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist.

Archangel Gabriel, my patron, pray for me and be always with me especially as I approach Jesus, our God, to receive Him and to adore Him in the Holy Eucharist. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Weekly Joke - "saint" Nancy Pelosi?

On a Saturday afternoon, in Washington, D. C., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aide visited the Catholic Cardinal-Archbishop of Washington, D.C.

He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day's sermon, and he asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words that would include calling Pelosi a saint.

The Cardinal replied, "What have you been smoking, Sonny? No. I don't really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi's view. Maybe--heh-heh--you should try that in, say, Chicago?" 

Pelosi's aide then said, "Look, 'priest' ... I know yer' soft-spot ... I'll write a check, here and now, for a donation of $100,000 to your Archdiocese if you'll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a saint."

The Cardinal thought about it and said, "Well, the church can use the money, so I'll work your request into tomorrow's sermon."

The aide sneered: "Ah, ha! Gotch'a, 'priest'! Seller-outer! Prince of 'the Church', eh? PPffft! Opportunistic, typical sell-out-for-a buck PRIEST!!! My 'boss' will have lotsa fun with this---best 100k we ever spent! But, for now ... you enjoy the dough--'priest'--, and, uh, we'll just love your sermon! Heh-heh-heh."

The cardinal just smiled. And, of course, took the money. As Pelosi's aide promised, House Speaker Pelosi appeared for the Sunday sermon and seated herself prominently at the edge of the main aisle. And, during the sermon, as promised, the Cardinal pointed out that House Speaker Pelosi was present.

Then the Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation:

"While Speaker Pelosi's presence is probably an honor to some, she is not my favorite person.  Some of her views are contrary to those of the church, and she tends to flip-flop on many other views.  Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker, and a nit-wit.  Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief. Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed. She married for money and is using it to lie to the American people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington, and in California.  She simply is not to be trusted."

The Cardinal completed his view of Pelosi with, "But, when compared to legislators likeTed Kennedy, Barney Frank, Harry Reid, and John Kerry, House Speaker Pelosi is a saint."

Video Tribute – Thank You JPII

Today is the 4th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s eternal life. We miss you and we love you and please intercede for all of us, our family, our spouse, our children, and especially for the condition of our country!

Honorable Mentions

Patrick Madrid had a caption contest last Friday of a picture of Hillary Clinton being "introduced" to the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe by Msgr. Diego Monroy Ponce, and the winner will get a free, personally inscribed copy of his book 150 Bible Verses Every Catholic Should Know. Well of course I entered the contest and along with 130 others and hoping to win it so I can give the book to my dear Wife.

But, I didn’t win it! My congratulation goes to the winner, Nick!

However, I’m so thrilled to even get on Patrick Madrid’s Honorable Mentions category. Thank you very much Pat, I’m very grateful ! And thank you also for hosting the contest!

The circled one is what I submitted!

An Expensive Wish and Dream!

It is because I’m working in the automotive industry, so my wish will be related to automotive. I like these  two cars, I know especially the Smart car is not a manly car, and as far as safety, probably do not have a good safety rating! But, look at these cars, wouldn’t you want to drive either one of them around town on a Saturday afternoon? I know I can’t take my whole family, but with an 8.7 gallon tank on a Smart car, I can pretty much do the driving around five times and it wouldn’t cost me a lot of money.

The Mini Cooper is a little bigger, I can actually take three of my girls driving around on a Saturday afternoon. You will get 26 miles/gal in the city in the Mini versus 33 miles/gal in the Smart.

Maybe when I receive the stimulus money, I can then purchase either the Smart Car or the Mini Cooper, until then, I can only wish and dream!

So, How’s That “Hope” And “Change”...?

I’m not much of a “bumper stickers” owner myself, but it’s fun reading some of the ones you come across to while you are driving. And I guess in the next 4 years you will see more and more bumper stickers expressing the true feeling about our current President of the United States. So, I thought, if I don’t like sticking stuff on my car, I’ll just have to stick them here, they have more, but these are my favorites. You can get them at Zazzle.com. Enjoy!