November has nearly come and gone. Just like that. The end of another Liturgical year. Just like that.

I thought, since I haven't blogged too much lately, and since I have a bunch of pictures to share with you, that I'd do a quick wrap up of our month. Here goes...

Dan turned 30 on his birthday (well, of course it was his birthday)! We celebrated with cake, complete with candles, every night for almost a week. He's in the prime of his life, or so he tells me it is for guys! His 20s brought almost 3 degrees, the best wife, over a dozen moves, at least the same number of trips across country, almost 2 kids... excited to see where his next 10 years take us.

We took a couple trips to the Melfort pool, the 'palace.' Joseph loves the water even more than he did last year! He's riskier and steadier on his feet too, which brings mixed blessings. He's not afraid to just walk off in the pool by himself (telling a 2 year-old to stay within arms reach is not an option). He was surprised, but not crying when he found himself hauled up from a little dive with the fish. Lifeguard Mommy decided after this that it was fair game to dunk him later and practice that underwater part. "I go under the l'eau!" he told Daddy later. 

Winter came to Saskatchewan and one little boy can't get enough of it! At least, once you get him outside, he doesn't want to come back in. We've had a week of -30 to-40 degrees already, but are happier when it's slightly warmer and sunny out. Joseph's favourite activity now is to shovel snow or, rather, tell Mommy to shovel the snow. "Shovel the path, make the train track!" he orders, all the while sitting on the steps watching me. We have to go get him his own little shovel (Black Friday deals, maybe?) so he's not wielding that huge weapon. 

The Riders won the Grey Cup at home in Regina! And there was much rejoicing (and still is). Joseph stayed up for the end of the game (as if I could have gotten him to sleep!) and was happily eating cereal during the final seconds, while watching his Daddy and Auntie Lynda jumping around like the crazy fans they are. "They're jumping! They're jumping!" he told me. "Mose jump too?!" And he later told his Uncle Ben, "The Riders won. I was jumping!"

Dan finished his last essay of his last Masters course! It hasn't sunk in yet. He is still not done all the work -- with a huge comprehensive exam, both oral and written, to come in the Spring -- but he is almost there.

Dan was dubbed (or dumped) with the job of official organizer the TES 'Christmas' concert. This is what happens at his school when you volunteer to "help" with the concert... and no one else does. So despite being finished all his course work, Dan still doesn't seem to have much more time these days. There's no Christ in this 'Christmas' concert though. And many people wonder why they still go to all the effort (oh wait, it's Dan going to all the effort for them!).

Our baby is growing and growing! I'm just about 25 weeks along now and according to the baby sites he/she is the size of an acorn squash. Yay! Our baby still eats lots of "foods," as Joseph likes to tell us, and there doesn't seem to be any that he/she doesn't like (and Mommy doesn't want to eat!). 

We're starting to think about Advent and Christmas around these parts, at least a tiny bit. Mostly in the form of checking our Christmas list, decided what to buy for whom, and ordering it online. This is how we do Christmas shopping when living 2 hrs from the city in the small town -- and I'm still getting used to it! I'm also trying to get it together to make a simple Advent Wreath, but again, trying to do this without a trip to the city. And lastly, we've been getting our seasonal music uploaded on MP3 players and the computer for easier listening!

Thoughts from a Fellow 13th Man

There is so much on my mind from the big win on Sunday in Regina! Rider fans read on!

1. The Grey Cup player introductions were interesting, to say the least. It began when the Hamilton defensive players were individually introduced. They weren't met with cheers. They weren't met with boos either. Instead, the players came out to dead silence. It was shocking, and I loved it! All week we heard about how they were planning on using the booing as motivation. Well, coming out to dead silence simply drained all of the excitement and energy out of their entrance.


2. On the other hand, as the Riders came out, something I have never seen before happened. Each individual player was supposed to be introduced. However, the Rider players simply all charged out, regardless of the common procedure! They come out as a team during the regular season, and this wasn't going to change for the Grey Cup! I loved it! It sure pumped up the crowd even more!


3. Obviously the Riders dominated the game. It's been said all year long that the East Division was weak. They're usually weak every year, but at least every year there is one team that stands out (such as how Montreal used to, or Toronto did last year). Not this time around.


4. Defence and running the ball. This will win you a Grey Cup. And it certainly did on Sunday night.


5. The TSN turning point of the game was when Kory Sheets, facing 2nd and 19 from the Sask. 19 yard line, ran 21 yards for the first down. Momentum was clearly with Hamilton at that point of the game, and had Sask. punted, who knows what would have happened. No problem, just hand the ball to Sheets, get some great blocks, and keep marching the ball. I have never seen anything like that during a Grey Cup.

6. The person I am most happy for is obviously Rider QB Darian Durant. I sometimes compare him to Jesus. Yes, that's right. Durant takes all the criticism and blame whenever things aren't going well in Riderville. He carries the weight of the team, and province, and moves forwards. In short, he carries this heavy burden on behalf of others. After the game star receiver Weston Dressler spoke on how Durant takes the rest of the team's blame onto him, which then allows everyone else to play more freely. Yes, Jesus takes on the burden of our sins, and the blame we deserve, and allows us to live freely. Congratulations Durant!

7. I re-watched a large chunk of the game last night. What struck me is just how dominant Saskatchewan was. You see, in Grey Cups history proves that offences usually struggle. When the Riders were in the Grey Cups in 2009 and 2010, Montreal and SK scored a combined 9 touchdowns in those two games. On Sunday night the Riders alone scored 6 TDs! Again, it was shocking how well they ran the ball.


8. John Chick, family man, good Catholic, and all around great guy was the star on defence. He reminded me of how he played in the 2007 Grey Cup.

 

 

9. Also in the above picture is Ticats QB Henry Burris. Burris is undoubtedly a great QB, but he's always been one to get rattled if things don't go well. That's exactly what happened. HEEEEENNNRRRRYYYY!

10. Ricky Foley of the Riders won the Grey Cup with B.C., in B.C., in 2011. He won the Grey Cup with Toronto, in Toronto, in 2012. And now he has won the Grey Cup with Saskatchewan, in Saskatchewan, in 2013. This stat blows me away.


11. There is no understating what this victory means for the entire province. The devastation of 2009 and 2010 still hurts, and it will never really go away. But winning, in this fairy tale fashion, means we can move on. In many ways losing those past two Grey Cups made this win 100x more meaningful and sweeter.


12. The 13th man jokes can go away for a while, because the 13th man (the crowd) was very very significant in rattling the Ticats early. Even the TSN commentators spoke on this. Watching on T.V. can never give you a true indication of just how loud it gets at Taylor Field. I've been there. Trust me, it gets LOUD.


13. I will end with the number 13. In honour of Grey Cup 2013 and the 13th man. We certainly enjoyed watching the game! I couldn't sit for the 4th quarter!

 

 Nervous moment

 

 Group shot

A celebratory drink!

The Sumo Theologica

I'll update my last blog post another time. For now, I must share the Rider pride that is going on in our province. Basically, Saskatchewan is nuts right now! Though it's been 25-40 below all week, all people want to do is cheer on the Riders.

Yesterday at my school we had a Rider Pride day. After the last recess we all met in the gym and sang some Rider songs and had some football relays. Then, two people emerged. One person was a young teacher, Matt Chaput, who actually is from Southern Ontario (booo Ticats). The other person was a relatively young teacher who hails from this great Green province... yours truly. Ticats vs. Riders. Enjoy!!!!

The blog refuses to embed the video here, so unfortunately you'll just have to click on the link. Enjoy!


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXG6Se42uug


I guess I don't just teach so that I can be golfing at 3:30pm everyday. Too much fun! The gym was deafening!

Prayer Request

Tomorrow I am taking the afternoon off and driving to Prince Albert. At 4pm I will be meeting the Bishop. I'm not going to say why, other than that there is a terrible attack on Catholicism going on currently within this diocese. I am going through the proper procedures set up by the Church, with the next stop possibly being writing to Rome.

Please pray for a successful meeting tomorrow. On one hand the situation seems absolutely hopeless. But with God in the equation, there is nothing but hope. Please please please pray for this intention.





And on another note, this from Fr. Z's wonderful blog:

The Medjugorje Argument

This past week I was on facebook when I mistakenly commented on a picture my brother had posted. The picture was of a concert that had taken place at the (fill-in-the-blank-adjective) new Cathedral in Saskatoon. In my comment (with a typical snarkiness that I usually get in trouble for) I mentioned the regulations regarding charging for a concert at a church, and then gave a link to the document. I was wondering what my brother (a priest) thought of the document. Just as a bit of a backstory, concerts-for-pay at churches is an extremely controversial issue in many areas. It doesn't help that, unfortunately, the document regarding concerts is not crystal clear. On one hand it kinda-sorta leaves room for the bishop to decide things. On the other hand, and in the same breath, it speaks on such things as performers being dressed in a fitting manner. So... can a bishop decide that a performer doesn't have to be dressed in a fitting manner?.. Yikes! In other words, its not very clear about things.

Now there's nothing wrong with seeing what my brother thinks of the whole issue. I've honestly been caught on both sides of the debate before. And again, it is a pretty big issue, especially in parts of Ontario. Nevertheless, I usually try to refrain from such conversations via facebook. Blogs are bad enough for seeing ridiculous comments (Becca and I have had to delete some very cruel comments before... not YOURS of course!), but facebook is just a stupid place to engage the world in a theological debate. Anyway, I responded to the photo without thinking. Whoops. Dumb dumb. Oh well, pas la fin du monde, or something like that.

Seeing that it was on facebook, though, I did get some reaction to my insinuation that there are bigger, more important, issues at stake with money-charging concerts in churches (i.e. it is somewhat theologically inconsistent with the whole idea of Old Testament Divinely instituted temple worship, and subsequent Christian practice of liturgy in God's sacred space). Some of the reaction I got, and what is ultimately the crux of this blogpost, is what I would call: The Medjugorje Argument.

Essentially someone responded that the concert in question was a beautiful, most prayerful, event. The people who attended were inspired and raised in praise of God. Therefore, what could possibly be wrong with that?


The Medjugorje Argument. That's what.

What is the Medjugorje Argument? It is the argument that: "see, look at all the tremendous blessings and conversions and faith inspiring things that are happening.... therefore Medjugorje must be authentic!"

And I say relativism.


To say that much good is being done, and therefore it must be the right thing, is to say that: a) you can judge exactly what good is being done, b) your seeing this apparent visible good trumphs anything that the wisdom of the Church says.


Example 1: "I see many conversions at Medjugorje. People are really truly growing in their faith! How is it possible that this is unauthentic, or that we are actually not permitted to pilgrimage there under the pretext of celebrating the sacraments as believers in the 'apparitions?'"

Response 1: Yes, God can work much good out of any situation. Even if the situation has a severe deprivation, or is outright untrue. However, likewise, the devil can also gladly allow some conversions and building of faith in order to achieve a greater evil end. What happens if Medjugorje is definitively declared as unauthentic? Then its followers will have a decision to make: stay with Medjugorje or stay with the Church? The division in the Church could be enormous. You can't be half pregnant.

The devil loves division, and will sacrifice a few to get hold of many.



Example 2: "Paying to attend concert at church must be right, for all in attendance were so blessed!"

Response 2: Maybe they were. Maybe they felt they were. Maybe they felt they were, but deep down their understanding of what constitutes worship in the church was cheapened? Maybe many began to associate worship more with feelings than actual faith? Maybe they're willingness to accept, either way, what the Church declares on such issues was damaged? As one of my professors always likes to say loudly: "WE DON'T KNOW." Ultimately I don't know or care about what the concert was about. For all I know everyone was truly blessed. My point is, though, that we can't use relativistic reasoning to argue for/against such things.


Why not?


Let's ramp this up even more...

Example 3: "Look at this! One billion people worshiping Christ in their own churches! One billion! What could be wrong with this? Praise God!"

Response 3: We speak here of one billion non-Catholic Christians. In other words, one billion Protestants. Is it better that there be one billion Protestants than one billion atheists? YOU BET!!! Does this mean that God wills to have one billion Protestants, to go along with 1.2 billion Catholics? Even my good friends at Redeemer would admit that this is absurd. This is a huge division of faith! What about one billion Protestants spread around over 40,000 plus denominations, often with severe differences in doctrine and dogma? Of course not. Just because there are one billion Protestants praising Christ does not mean that God wills Protestantism.

The point is this: we are to above all seek to follow the wisdom of the Church, and not what we feel, or even think, is true. We must get past The Medjugorje Argument and instead seek the mind of Christ, through His Church. We can't do it on our own. We can't simply say we see good being done, and therefore what is being done must be correct. That is relativism: to personally decide what is right or not.

Bottom Line: We need the Church. The WHOLE Church. And nothing but the Church

 

P.S. For the record, my brother responded to my facebook query by focusing on the actual Church document. This is what we need to do. Look to not only what the Church says, but why.

P.P.S. I'm not taking sides either way on the whole paying for concerts in a church debate. The document is somewhat muddled. There are many good arguments on both sides. I do, however, hope that we can take these opportunities to re-examine the bigger picture of the argument, and to study the entire theological, biblical, and historical importance of the church as a sacred place of worship.

P.P.P.S. I do truly hope people were blessed and moved to deepen their faith via that concert in question. How nice of me.

P.P.P.P.S. In the spirit of inviting dialogue on these issues... I am closing the comments box for this. Hypocrite!  I know. But then again, I never did say that blogs were the best place to have such debates. They're better than facebook, but only by a little bit. Come on over for a cup of coffee and we'll have a good old chat! We'll pull up our Catechisms and Summas and get right down to it!

Reader Pride

 

This is what happens when I'm put in charge of decorating the main display in the entrance of our school:

 

Baby Millette

Here's your first view of our beautiful baby, folks! It's been a little bit loved already by a certain 2 year old who decided to kiss and crumple the picture. Now it's safely behind plastic and this picture was taken through the plastic, so it's not as clear as we see it. But there you have it. Isn't he/she beautiful?!

Joseph and I were so excited to see our baby on Friday at my 22 week ultrasound! Everything is perfectly lovely inside the womb, as far as we can tell. Amazingly, our baby held still for much, much longer than usual and happily showed us some cute little yawns.

I've been feeling lots of kicks for the past 4 weeks or so now, but still haven't managed to get Joseph still for long enough to feel them. Since the ultrasound he's been even less inclined, telling me instead that his baby is kicking and I need to feel his belly for kicks. We've also been talking a lot about other things our baby does, most especially, eat. Joseph's favourite is to tell me: "Baby eating applesauce" or "Baby eating bacon." Sometimes baby sleeps, but mostly he/she eats, or so he says. Hopefully, that's not a the real case or I'll have a heck of a time getting this baby out.

We've also been teaching Joseph his last name and he's figuring out all the people around him who share it too. He is "Jofus Millette," then there's Daddy Millette, Mommy Millette, Grandpa Millette, etc. And now, of course, there's Baby Millette.

Discrimination!

Always good for a laugh, here is the latest from the Eye of the Tiber:

Man Angry That Only Women Can Become Female Priests

DECEMBER 17, 2012 BY ADMIN  
FILED UNDER LIBS & TRADS, UNCATEGORIZED

19 COMMENTS

41

Florence Hensley and companions minutes after practicing mass

Medford, OR––Speaking at a Women’s Rights group at the home of fellow parishioner Florence Hensley of Medford, Oregon this week, 58-year-old Roger Shannahan complained that the group was being sexist for unjustly excluding men from the group’s hopes of a female priesthood. “I mean, you could see in the early Church numbers of male figures that held positions of authority,” Shannahan told the group. “St. Paul was a man, for instance. He had authority, right? So, if St. Paul was a man and had authority, why wouldn’t I be able to have it?” Hensley, who hosts the weekly Women’s Rights group, told Eye of the Tiber after the meeting that men cannot be considered, not because men are unequal, only because it is not in a man’s nature to become a female priest. But Shannahan believes otherwise, telling Eye of the Tiber that the group has always overlooked men simply because of the group’s own insecurities. “I’m sick and tired of sitting on the sidelines. I too have a voice.”

Miracle on Ice

Today we had a nice little Remembrance Day service in our school gym at 11am. For those of you from Ontario, Remembrance Day is a holiday in Saskatchewan (and so it should be!). That is why we had our school service today.

During the service, immediately following the O Canada, we were told to remain standing. Then, to my surprise, the Our Father was said. It took me a line or two to actually realize that this was being done. "Wow, in our public school!" Hearing the Our Father at my school was especially shocking considering I spent roughly 10 hours this week sifting through "appropriate" Christmas songs for our upcoming Christmas Concert (I'm in charge... *sigh*). Of course none of the songs have anything to do with real Christmas. So anyway, here they were praying the Lord's Prayer. Obviously I joined in. Curiousity got the better of me though, and I glanced up to see if other teachers were praying it. Many were, some weren't. I was actually surprised by some of those who were. But anyway, shame on me for looking.

This was not the most surprising instance of praying the Our Father that I have ever experienced. That honour goes to game one of my Midget hockey playoff game against Carrot River, probably 13 years ago now. You see, we were sitting in the dressing room in Carrot River nervously preparing for our big game. Carrot River was certainly the favourite going into the series. There we sat, kind of joking around, kind of just chatting about whatever. Then, one of the boys half-jokingly called out: "boy it's tense, we should pray or something." Someone then piped up the beginning words to the Our Father, sort as if to prove that he knew at least two words of prayer. Then, wouldn't you know it, the entire team joined it. There we were, all praying the Our Father before the big game. To put it mildly, most of these guys never, ever, went to church. Yet there we were. When it was over we all just looked at ourselves as if to say "whoa... that was... weird." But we all were strangely calm afterwards, and felt all around great. It was just... just... nice, you know.

We went on to win the game, and the series.


Now that's a true Miracle on Ice.

Settling In

This is the view we woke up to this morning! Knowing it was very likely to look like this outside, I opened the blinds to show Joseph. He stood there, speechless. "What's that?" I asked him. "'NO (snow)" he was awed.

We spent the morning busy with all the catch up after being away and having a disaster of a house for so long. 3 loads of laundry done; 4 loaves of bread, 1 squash, 1 pumpkin and seeds baked; bedrooms back in order and vacuumed; and all the dishes washed. It's amazing how productive we can be when we have a mind to do it (or the necessity of getting it all done)! We still have some pumpkin muffins to bake and squash soup, but they can wait until later.

We're settling back into our house, slowly. It amazed me how having everything out of just two bedrooms could create such a huge disaster in every other room. When it was in our bedrooms they still looked empty, but when we moved it all out every other room was full. We spent a lot of time just setting up the bare minimum again: setting up and making beds, putting clothing back into the closets and dressers, putting curtains back on the windows.

But having to sort through and return clothing to its proper places gave us the opportunity to dejunk! Dan and I filled two garbage bags -- one for the garbage, one to give away -- of clothes we just don't wear or clearly shouldn't be wearing anymore. That alone almost makes up for the chaos. Our closet and dresser are so much cleaner now!

Happy Winter! By the time this white stuff goes, we should have a new little baby kicking around!

Here's What You (don't) Need to Know

As they say on TSN SportsCentre: "Here's what you need to know..."


1) We're back in our house! For now. Two de-humidifiers, an air filter, and running the bathroom fan more have cleaned this place up significantly. It's actually very comfortable to live in at the moment. But, we're always keeping an eye on it.

2) Yes, it was my birthday yesterday. 30 years old! If it's any consolation, Becca says I don't look 30. Come to think of it... she didn't say I looked younger than 30 either...

3) The day was good. I took Joseph to the rink and we watched a game featuring a number of students I teach. And then there were many more students I teach watching in the crowd (siblings). I then did all of my report cards from start to finish. We went for a walk to the graveyard to pray for the Souls in Purgatory, then my dad and Lynda came over for B.S. (Burger Saturday) and cake. The Riders didn't win, but they were playing mainly 2nd and 3rd string players in order to rest their starters for the playoffs next week. We finished the day off with Mass (and some more Master's course work).

4) Snow is on the way.

6) I'm already feeling sad that CFL football will be over in three weeks.

7) I'm excited that Advent will start in four weeks.

8) I skipped number 5.

9) You just went and checked

10) Becca's making breaded chicken, potatoes and squash for supper. And I have some wine here that my dad brought over yesterday. There's leftover cake too. Sorry, you can't come over.

Baby Blessings

Last week marked three years since we lost our first little baby. At 8 weeks pregnant, in the middle of all the joy and love we could imagine at being first-time parents, our lives were totally rocked by my miscarriage. We were so devastated. We had fallen in love with our new little baby, talked of names, and found a new bond and meaning in our marriage.

Although time has passed, the aching pain has healed, and we not only have a healthy, wonderful son, but also another new little life growing within me, we haven't forgotten our first child. Recently, a few friends publically acknowledged their own children lost during miscarriage by expressing how they are not just parents to those living, but have other children. And so have we! We have three children: our tiny baby who God wanted for Himself, our wild Joseph, and our active little bloop still waiting to see the light of day. Each one is a blessing, a part of God's complete plan for our lives.

Having a miscarriage changed the way I looked at life. No parent ever wants to lose a child or anyone else close to them before their time, but I believe that often we under value the people around us until we are faced with the reality of life and death and how out-of-our-control they are.

I believe that in a small way, before I miscarried our first baby, I simply expected to become pregnant and birth happy, healthy children. Not that I took it for granted, but without realizing it, I expected that blessing from God, without truly understanding what an undeserved gift life is. 

Our baby is about this size now!

None of us deserves life and it is only through an incredible gift of God that we exist at all. Human life, all human life, is truly the most incredible gift!

And so, in the loss of our child, I came to know on a much, much deeper level than ever before, the real, true, and utter beauty of life. I felt deep sorrow for all those parents who have also lost children through miscarriages, as many of our friends have. I felt an even deeper sorrow for those couples who struggle with infertility. And I understood in a new way the stark reality and ugliness of abortion and felt pained for those parents who willingly discard one of God's greatest gifts to them.

Besides labour pains at Joseph's birth, miscarrying is the most physically painful experience I've ever had. Although I was only 8 weeks pregnant, I "laboured" hours and even had to be admitted overnight at the hospital. But the physical pains of miscarriage are empty. You don't get to experience the joy of childbirth; you don't leave the hospital with your little bundle of joy.

And the pain of miscarriage goes so much deeper than the physical. The emptiness, the mourning are indeed real and take a long time to go away.

I was never mad at God for taking my baby. At the time, the Bible passage "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the Lord" continually echoed in my mind. While I was staying overnight in the hospital, all alone after such a difficult day, I knew more vividly than ever, that Our Lady was present there with me. She stood there to comfort me, to wipe away my tears, and all the while, she held our baby, whispering to me that she would be a mother to it in my place. 

God's ways are so mysterious to us. Just a month and a half after miscarrying, we discovered to our delight and surprise that we were expecting Joseph. It boggles my mind to think that God had in store for us, even in our sorrow, another blessing that would not have been possible had I carried our first child to term. 

And now, three years later, as I look down at my growing belly and feel the glorious little kicks of another new life, I am so grateful again for another undeserved, but oh-so-loved little baby blessing and a new chance to marvel at and thank God for the gift of life.