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.

**********************************************************************************

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!
**********************************************************************************

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!

Earth Hour – Let’s Be Real!

Global warming, global warming, I’m so sick and tired of hearing it. You’d think they would give it a rest by now. This is what our house looks like during Earth Hour on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM for several hours. If you are going to conserve energy, do it for the right reason! Like lowering your power bill. I’ll turn them off because I don’t like paying the high bills, not because global warming!

I found this quote from the Earth Hour website: “We need the world to take action on Global Warming”, how about, We need the world to take action on abortion, stop that first!!!

Weekly Jokes

I’m going to start a weekly tradition of a weekly clean jokes. So if you have any good ones that you’d like me to post, just email it to me. Please make sure they are clean, rated G.

 

Here’s one to start for this week: Hillary in Heaven

Hillary Clinton died and went to heaven. As she stood in front of Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, she saw a huge wall of clocks behind him. She asked, "What are all those clocks?"
Saint Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock.
Every time you lie, the hands on your clock will move.
"Oh," said Hillary, "whose clock is that?"
"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved indicating that she never told a lie."
"Whose clock is that?"
"That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have only moved twice telling us that Abe only told 2 lies in his entire life."
"Where's Bill's clock?" Hillary asked.
"Bill's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

BIG and Important Word

We are in preparation for Gabriela’s 1st Communion, God willing it will be on Holy Thursday. During the preparation, among other things, she has to know the meaning of transubstantiation [tran-suh-b-stan-shee-ey-shuhn] Even I had a difficult time pronouncing this word, but I think I got it now!

According to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Transubstantiation means the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of his Blood. This change is brought about in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit. However, the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is the “eucharistic species”, remain unaltered.

Let’s keep Gabriela in your prayers during her 1st Communion preparation that the Holy Spirit will guide her during these days and to continue opening her heart and mind to love the Eucharist and to understand fully what this sacrament is all about.

Solemnity Of The Annunciation Of The Lord

The Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25, is one of the most important in the Church calendar. It celebrates the actual Incarnation of Our Savior the Word made flesh in the womb of His mother, Mary. Happy Feast to Everyone!

#Catholic

Praise God

Being that it is lent and we are half-way there, I’m grateful & thankful with many things, but these are some of the most important ones:

1. Praise God for my faith.

2. Praise God that my parents chose life.

3. Praise God for my wife who’s constantly fulfilling her vocation as a spouse and mother without any hesitations.

4. Praise God for our healthy children.

5. Praise God for my job during these difficult times.

6. Praise God for the cross He has put in front of me, and for me to carry. (I have to remember this when I’m having any difficult days)

On A Lighter Side… Did You Ever Wonder?

1. If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

2. Since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?

3. Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

4. How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

5. Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?6. Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

7. Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.

8. Can you cry under water?

9. If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

10. Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural?

If you have more, your welcome to added in the comment box.