Sherlock, Wilberforce, & Being a Karen

January normally reminds me how long I’ve been doing pro-life work.

This is partly because our Houston Coalition for Life Benefit Dinner comes around in March, so in January I’m beginning to design invitations and flyers and wrangle volunteers, and I start to think about the Benefit and how I was hired at HCL the week of a Benefit Dinner that happened on my 21^st birthday. This year’s Benefit happens two days after my 25^th birthday.

Four years at HCL means I’m about to start my 5^th year as a Programs Coordinator and my 9^th 40 Days for Life campaign. But it also reminds me of the work I did as a volunteer before that  - my family had always been involved, but I “made it my own” about halfway between 19 and 20 years old. I was looking for my own little niche, something I think a lot of young adults who take their faith seriously probably do about that age. I’d just moved back to Houston after a stint at a college in a different city, and needed to belong somewhere.

Then I met Karen.

Karen knew (and knows) everybody. Karen was (and is) a hub of Houston’s pro-life network. And in order to belong, all I needed was to know her. Meeting her was an introduction to a world I’d been searching for. She sent me invitations, introductions, opportunities, and schedules. She gave rides, encouragement, mentoring, and more. Karen found a kid who needed a niche, and then she found a niche for the kid. She did it for me, and I’ve seen her do it for literally dozens of others. Already a good and beloved friend of HCL at that time, she helped introduce me to the people who became responsible for my being given an opportunity to do pro-life work full-time. Even now, she’s one of the volunteers I’m responsible for coordinating, and she’s a crown-jewel in a treasury of wonderful people.

I remember one particular conversation I had with her, right at the beginning of our friendship. She was giving me a ride (again) between a training session and lunch. We were having some conversation about being effective (don’t all pro-lifers love that conversation?) and William Wilberforce came up. I’d seen “Amazing Grace” not too long before and was totally enamored with William Wilberforce. Karen loved that I loved him, and we had a super-fun conversation solving all the problems of the world in general.

A great article regarding William Wilberforce and some of the exact the themes Karen and I discussed that day was published recently. It reminded me of my conversation with Karen, and gave me the desire to watch the film again. This week, marking the 41^st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, is a perfect time to watch it. William Wilberforce has a lot to teach pro-lifers. I’ll let you watch the movie to find out why, but to get you to watch the movie, here are some mostly reasonable and occasionally shallow reasons to go for it: 

1. Because Ioan Gruffudd's Wilberforce will convict you.

   (Reasonable Reason)

Already an actor I liked, Ioan Gruffudd (I believe this is correctly pronounced Yowan Griffiths, dude's Welsh) does a spectacular job as William Wilberforce. He makes accessible the complexity of Wilberforce's journey, and there were so many things in the character arc I can now relate to even better: his yearning for a quiet life, the devastation he feels over the plight of the slaves, the conviction he must act, his exhaustion after years of advocacy, and the determination of the final stretch are all well-played by Gruffudd. He even sings for us. 

2. Because, Benedict Cumberbatch. 

(Totally Reasonable and Maaayyybe Slightly Shallow Reason)

Uhm, hello, I for sure know there are people who do not need another reason to watch something besides this. Because, Benedict Cumberbatch. This movie was the first time I ever saw or heard of him. This movie is the reason I watched the second Star Trek. And Sherlock. And watching the new episode of Sherlock made me want to watch this movie, again. Because, Benedict Cumberbatch. Seriously though, BC is really a great actor, and his William Pitt will knock your socks off. He's brilliant showing the arc of a complicated character over a few decades and even makes us feel some sympathy for politicians. Sort of. 

3. Because Barbara Spooner is an ACTUAL Feminine Role Model. Also, Redhead.

   (REASONABLE REASONS. Seriously.)

Romola Garai sparkles (and occasionally snaps) as Barbara Spooner. Who is Barbara Spooner? Well, as depicted in this film, Barbara is the feisty, spirited, opinionated, knock-out redhead (REDHEAD!) that captures Wilberforce's heart and gives him his fight back...and also wears gorgeous clothes. While adding comic relief to the storyline, she is a wonderful example of *spoiler warning but dude, not really because the outcome is super obvious* what a good wife should be. Gentle, encouraging, firm, persevering, and supportive, while being still very much her own person - Barbara Spooner is one of my favorites ever. And Romola does her really, really well. Also I want to walk around looking like this, too:

4. Because I know people like this:

I am convinced that behind every engaged activist, there is a Hannah More or a Karen who helped them find their niche. Wilberforce has some Karens. Wilberforce IS a Karen for a few people. The movie shows the importance not only of having a Karen, but of BEING a Karen.

5. Because of Matthew 10:16.

"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves."

Wilberforce is a role model for pro-lifers because he illustrates this command of Our Lord remarkably well. It can be so difficult to find the balance between lax self-content and off-putting extremism. The balance we want to strike is a sincere dedication that attracts others to join us in our efforts to defend life. Wilberforce can help us learn how to find it.

Do Not "STOP" In The Driveway. Or, "You keep posting signs, but all I see is blah, blah, blah."

For everybody that's been wondering about PPGC's new signs, this is how we're updating our Sidewalk Counselors (SWCs). 

And in case you haven't seen the signs yet, here it is.

Also, if you haven't seen the signs: they been up a couple weeks now - where ya been, kid?

---------------------------------------------------------------
As far as the signs stating that “stopping” in the driveway is against the law, the actual wording in the law is a regulation for the facility in regards to its ambulatory surgical center (ASC) license and states the following:

“(f) Fire department access. As an aid to fire department services, every ASC shall provide the following.
(1) Driveways. The ASC shall maintain driveways, free from all obstructions, to main buildings for fire department apparatus use.”

So, saying it’s against the law to "stop" in the driveway is totally outrageous for several reasons:
1. It’s impossible to never stop in the driveways. People stop in the driveways all the time when they’re exiting the parking lot in order to yield to oncoming traffic.
2. The law doesn’t say not to STOP in the driveways, it says not to BLOCK the driveways. Since there are two open driveways for clients to access the parking lot, having a car stop in one driveway does not block access since there is another driveway available.
3. You can’t be blocking the driveway if there’s no-one trying to enter or exit, so pausing in the driveway for a conversation is not disrupting the flow of traffic if there is no traffic flow. Also, it still wouldn’t disrupt because of the aforementioned second driveway. However:
4. The regulation isn’t even in place concerning the flow of traffic, it’s concerning access for EMERGENCY vehicles. Planned Parenthood doesn’t bring emergency vehicles into the client parking lot in any case. It is well-documented that they send an employee out of the employee parking lot to enter the gate code to open access for emergency vehicles to come in to the employee parking lot. Several HCL employees have seen this happen in person on multiple occasions, and we have photo documentation of several instances. I saw it happen myself within the past two weeks. If anything, the gates around Planned Parenthood’s employee parking lot is breaking the law MUCH more than a sidewalk counselor holding brief conversations with clients in the client driveways, since this law pertains to emergency vehicle access.

One of our SWCs was approached by a PPGC volunteer and told the signs were in place because PPGC is "a hospital." Okay everybody: they are NOT a hospital. They are an Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC). For more on the differences, you can see here: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/hfp/rules.shtm. It’s factually false to claim they are a hospital, and if it comes up again and you want something to say, you can just ask casually, “If you’re a hospital, why are your doctors required to have admitting privileges at another hospital before they can perform procedures here?” It’s part of state law now that the abortion practitioners have those hospital admitting privileges before they can perform abortions in an ambulatory surgical center. They’re an ASC, not a hospital.

As usual this is much more about PPGC trying to intimidate sidewalk counselors than it is about the law. But this is a good sign – if your hard work wasn’t successful, they wouldn’t care enough to make stuff like this up!

(Special Thanks to our faithful SWCs: M, S, and R for their insightful suggestions that helped make up the whole.)

Happy Hats & Advent Grinches

Behold, all ye who enter here, the Hat of Happiness:

The Hat of Happiness hath been given unto me by mine sweetheart, and mine sweetheart hath decreed the Hat shall be worn at whatsoever time I am in moods not of the endearing kind, and the Hat shall sway the darkness of mine temper and sweeten the disposition of mine self.

Also, mine sweetheart shall therefore be warned by mine adornment in the Hat of Happiness of the dangerous waters into which he may be sailing.

 

 So hath it been decreed, so shall it be done.

It totally works, too, ya'll. I mean, just today I was in a not-so-chipper mood, and I put on the hat. Then I says to myself in the middle of an inner complain sesh,

Me: "Self, what is that on your head?"
Self: *pauses to consider* "It is a hat."
Me: "With two pom-poms?"
Self *pauses again to consider again* "Yes, in fact, it is a hat with two pom-poms."
Me: "So, what is the problem again?"
Self: *pauses for a considerable amount of time to consider* "Nothing. Actually, nothing."
Me: "Well, there we have it."

And so it goes. Really quite brilliant, that sweetheart of mine. Quite. Brilliant.

I need it fairly often. I've only had it four days and, already, I have needed it quite often. But, sometimes, I do not need it.

Like, for example, when Christmas attacks me.

Now, I could be all, DUDEHELLOITISADVENTNOOOOTCHRISTMAS!!!

But I do not need my Hat of Happiness for that. Because I do not feel like that.

Now, I love Christmas. I do.

And I actually love Advent even more. Advent is My Very Favorite Ever. See last year's December blog posts for proof.

I had a little "moment" about a week before Thanksgiving. There was a tree. A Christmas tree. A decorated Christmas tree. A week before Thanksgiving.

For half a second I froze up with the onset of frustration: what the heck happened to Thanksgiving?

The next half second, something occurred to me. I mulled it over quite a bit, and started discussing it with that brilliant sweetheart of mine. My conclusion was that people setting up Christmas shop so incredibly early does not make me angry.

It does make me sad in a certain way, but not angry. I get super more bothered by Christmas evaporating on December 26th than I do about it appearing on November 26th. But that is another post for another time. The reason it makes me sad is that I think, buried down in the hype is an earnest hunger for what we call "Advent."

Now, okay okay, I do know that all this craziness is significantly due to commercialism and consumerism and Americanism and whatevertheheckelseism you want to blame it on. But as someone told me once: in every convincing lie, there must be a grain of truth.

I know there seems to be some ever-present overhead-announcer-voice shrieking: "Hurry hurry hurry get ready the holidays are coming!" However, I think it's arguable that the reason people listen to that driving, screaming overhead-announcer-voice is that, deep in their hearts there is an aching whisper of, "Get ready, He's coming."

Now, as Catholics we should be as accustomed as it is possible to be to living the liturgical calendar within the goings-on of the secular one.

Every spring, we suddenly show up wearing dirt on our foreheads one Wednesday and shunning meat on Fridays. Different feast days find Catholics processing through downtown city streets with what look to outsiders like a Jewish wedding canopy over a giant gold sunburst. Catholics are weird, man. And I love it. Weirdness attracts attention, and if we handle the attention right, we get to start a conversation, and if we handle the conversation right, we get to do that Catholic thing. You know, THAT Catholic thing: evangelize.

You didn't know that was a Catholic thing?

Dude. Meet Advent.

I heard a priest speak very beautifully last weekend about the importance of our living faithfully the Advent season. But I do not suppose that he meant I am to run around freaking out every time somebody busts out a Christmas tree or a snowman or a Santa Claus is comin' to town. I'm going to (try to) smile calmly, live my Advent, move in peace and joy, and when somebody says "Merry Christmas!" I'm going to say, "You too, and a blessed Advent!" and if they ask me about that, then I get to do that Catholic thing. Or if people talk about how stressed they are, or how tough the holidays are since they lost a loved one or a job or a home, then I can listen, and maybe have a chance afterwards to share some Advent.

I mentioned in the last paragraph that I'm going to "live my Advent." In case you're looking for ideas, I thought I'd share some of my favorites. :)

--------------------

1. Advent at Ephesus - Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles.

From their website: "We never cease to marvel at the wonderful, unexpected blessings which Divine Providence prepares for our community. The story of this Advent recording is another striking example. Truly our Divine Spouse orders all things 'mightily and sweetly,' as we chant just days before Christmas in one of the beautiful “O” Antiphons of the Church’s Advent liturgy."

Singing cloistered nuns who tell their story like that...How can you resist? You just can't. I've already listened a few times through in our whole four days of Advent. If you get on Spotify you can listen to the whole album free before you cave and buy the CD. I especially love "O Come, Divine Messiah" and "Gabriel's Song." Go listen now, you can thank me later.

Also, silence is good. Try some of that, too.

2. Advent of the Heart - Father Alfred Delp

Don't even get me started, I could go on forever. I love this book. So. Much. I discovered it last year and was itching to pull it back out this year. There's the actual book from Ignatius Press or a Kindle version. It could be argued that I have an addiction to the Kindle app on my iPad mini but for this I like the actual book...enjoying seeing my highlights from last year. Full of profoundly challenging, achingly beautiful words: "Advent is a time of being deeply shaken, so that man will wake up to himself." If this book doesn't get you in the Advent spirit...I...can't even talk to you.

3. 2013 Magnificat Advent Companion

Back to my arguable addiction to the Kindle app on the iPad mini. This one is short and sweet and doled out in daily doses. Also $0.99. There are paper versions of this too, if you must.

4. Advent wreath

This might seem obvious, but, apparently there are some questions about how one goes about such an enterprise. I've been running across these questions lately. I shall therefore address them forthwith: at my house, we kick it like as follows.

We have a very simple ring for the 4 candles, kinda like this:

Mom circles the frame in faux greenery, we get three violets and a rose (candles) from Hobby Lobby, and then set La Virgen de Buena Esperanza in the center. Like so:

Yes, those are guns in the background. Peace on Earth, yo. Texas Style.

And please keep in mind for your candles that it's three violets and a rose, not three purples and a pink. There are pink candles and rose candles. Get rose. When you see them you'll know of what I speak.

Or Google it and order a set from someone. Whatever.

5. Mass. Not only for Sundays.

Daily Mass is amazing. I particularly love it during November and December. November is pretty much my favorite month for liturgical readings. (Maccabees, anyone? Every year, you guys. It never gets old.) But Advent is also really beautiful. No Maccabees, but there's plenty of excitement to go around. Yesterday was the Centurion soldier, which took on some fresh interest after reading Dear and Glorious Physician, which we should discuss sometime. Plus at Mass there's the Eucharist, and Who is better for getting you ready for Jesus than...Jesus? Nobody, that's who. If you can make it, you won't be sorry you went.

6. Mary

Say some Memorares. Or decades. Or Rosaries. Or check out the Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. Or renew your Consecration. (There's actually a free podcast on iTunes which I love to use from Rosary Army - they even have a priest who helps lead the prayers for the different days. Makes it much easier to keep up.) You could even take some flowers to a church and set them next to one of her pictures, like you would your mom's picture at home. Something. Because the other person who's really good at getting you ready for Jesus is His Mother. If you want to live Advent powerfully, live it the way the original Advent was done: with Mary.

7. ST. JOSEPH

I love St. Joseph. I love him, just, so much. One of my friends once told me, "You want to pray the Joyful Mysteries in a whole new way? Meditate with St. Joseph." Boom. Or the Litany to St. Joseph...Check it out, you guys. And please do not even get started with thinking he's some old man. The Pillar of Families an old cripple leaning on a twisted staff? The Guardian of the Virgin stumbling around in infirmity? God sending His Son and His Son's Mother across the desert into Egypt with an elderly gent on death's doorstep? Do you really think we call him "Joseph most Chaste" because he was just too old to care that Mary was the most radiant woman ever to walk the earth? Uhhh...NO. Big fat no. As in no way. I imagine there is an incredibly good reason the Church calls him the Terror of Demons, and I highly doubt it was because he was a sweet-faced old man.

This is more like it.

Somebody guided the God-Man's hands in His first carpentry work, and that somebody was our very own Model of Artisans. Think about that.

Glory of the Domestic Life and Solace of the Wretched - pray for us.

 

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I'm not suggesting you do all of these, but I am suggesting them in hopes you'll be inspired to look around and CHOOSE something, and then DO it. Take up a devotion. Fast from something. Pray a little more than you were. Instead of complaining about Christmas being turned into a booming business, let's live this Advent season with good penitential Catholic joy. That joy and peace will be the beginning of helping the world understand the real, deep hunger that it has, and of leading all to the One who alone can satisfy.

7 Quick Takes - Dos Shot

Joining the big link up!

1. You may or may not have noticed (hopefully you may) but...*drumroll please*...the blog got a makeover! I think it's pretty epic looking now and you can let me know how much you absolutely love it and, OOPS, I mean, *ahem* you can let me know what you think.

2. But what does it mean?!? I mean the makeover, what does the makeover mean. Wellllp, I'm glad you asked! The background is a picture of part of the cathedral in Compostella, where the Camino ends. Coming to that cathedral at the end of my five days on the Camino was a profound moment for me, and I don't think I'll ever forget it. Hopefully someday I'll be able to go back and do the whole thing. The header at the top has pictures of three gentlemen, at least two of whom you are familiar with if you actually read this blog everatall: Blessed Miguel Pro (the one being shot with his arms extended) and my Pier Giorgio (the one grinning his handsome face off). The other and less familiar tiny one up in the top right corner is a picture of St. Edmund Campion's martyrdom, which is the picture they put next to the word "stalwart" in the dictionary.

Well, not really, but they should.

3. I forget how I stumbled across Cassie Pease Designs, but they are a real treat and I love when she posts her new work on Facebook. She does everything with pictures and quotes of saints, and releases them in formats for cover photos, wallpapers, and so on. She released this one on Tuesday to celebrate Blessed-soon-to-be-Saint John Paul II's feast day, reminding me why I follow her on Faceook:

I know you love it. Go check her out.

4. Advent. Is. Coming!!!! Ok, ok, I mean, for me, Advent is pretty much coming as soon as Christmas is over, since Advent is myveryfavoriteEVER. And once October rolls around I get fairly excited fairly regularly. This particular time it was because I realized Advent approaching meant I could soon pull out my Fr. Alfred Delp book, which I gushed over quite a bit last Advent, as you can see here. And/or here. Anyway, soon I can get it out and fall in love with it all over again. Last year I didn't quite finish it, maybe this year I'll make it all the way through. I'm sure you'll be hearing about it either way. Be excited.

5. This song makes me smile. Every. Single. Time. So, now here, you can too.

You're welcome.

6. My friend Lauren Enriquez, pro-life writer extraordinaire, did a piece the other day which I got a big kick out of, so I'm linking in order for you to enjoy as well. I like following her anyways but when I saw the title, "USA Today op-ed: Stop scaring women who want to have kids", I knew I was going to enjoy it. A post after my own heart.

7. I found this and I super-love St. Josemaria Escriva always always, we're totes BFFs.

Seriously though, most likely you've heard me lament at some point that he has a knack for saying things that make me go, "Ouch. Thank you. And...Ouch." Anyway, I love his words a lot and also his face, so this is perfect. :)

Happy Friday! :)

Closer Than Ever

As soon as I resolve to be a more consistent writer, I go out of town for four days and forget my computer's power cord, without which it is useless, since it has a battery with the lifespan of...oh, I dunno, a chocolate cupcake at a 1-year-old's birthday party. Possibly less. But the wedding was tremendously wondrous, in fact the most beautiful I have ever been to. (This is not a slight to the other weddings I've seen, merely a reflection of the fact that my tastes happen to be much more similar to this particular bride than any of the other brides whose weddings I have attended. So, don't be jelz.)

I finished "Come Rack! Come Rope!" and I...*sigh*...I don't know. It was beautiful. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

I want to read it again already.

So I'm doing the next best thing, going back and reading all my highlights.

I could write posts and posts about this book. We'll start with this one. First, let me set the stage a little, while trying not to give anything major away (since I really hope at least one or two somebodys are reading it now):

Remember, Elizabethan England, Catholics are underground, priests are being banished the first time they're caught and killed the second. One of the main characters, a woman who organizes a great part of the underground, receives a letter summoning a priest to an extremely dangerous place to bring the Last Rites to a Catholic who's been condemned to death. The priest being summoned is one who is particularly close to her, one she has gone to great lengths to protect, and when she receives the letter, she considers for a moment destroying it and not telling the priest he's being called to a deathbed that will almost certainly end in death for him as well. As she considers this, she remembers how her own mother died without a priest:

"Then, in a great surge, her own heart rose up, and she understood what she was doing. As in a vision, she saw her own mother crying out for the priest that never came; and she understood that horror of darkness that falls on one who, knowing what the priest can do, knowing the infinite consolations which Christ gives, is deprived, when physical death approaches, of that tremendous strength and comfort. Indeed, she recognized to the full that when a priest cannot be had, God will save and forgive without him; yet what would be the heartlessness , to say nothing of the guilt, of one that would keep him away? For what, except that this strength and comfort might be at the service of Christ's flock, had her own life been spent? It was expressly for this that she had lived on in England when peace might be hers elsewhere; and now that her own life was touched, should she fail?...The blindness passed like a dream, and her soul rose up again on a wave of pain and exultation....
'Wait,' she said. 'I will go and awaken him, and bid him come down.'"

I know, I have goosebumps too.

Okay, first - this makes me want to pray even more than I already have for "a happy death." Or, in other words, a provided death - one where we are able to receive the Last Rites, one where we do not die alone in sin.

We ask for it in every Hail Mary, "Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death..."

St. Joseph, who died in the arms of Our Lord and Our Lady, is the patron of a happy death.

One of the promises of Our Lady to those who wear the Scapular is that they will not die an unprovided death.

It's the intention of the 4th Glorious Mystery, the Assumption of Our Lady, to ask for a holy death.

And believe me, when I read this part, I thought, I really need to pay more attention to this asking for a holy death.

Next, this entire book really increased my love and enthusiasm for the saints. If you knew me before, you might be wondering how that is EVEN possible, but trust me, it is. When I was between 7 and 9 years old, I think I read our little Ignatius Press St. Edmund Campion book about five times. At least. And when he turned up in this book, I felt like I was running into an old friend.

It reminded me of a conversation I had once with one of my dearest friends, Gina. (Actually, the one whose wedding I was just at!)

Gina and I were reflecting on the fact that I tend to be drawn towards saints who are not like me: pranking, joking, smoking male saints. Check it out:

Blessed Miguel Pro in disguise. Smoking.

Blessed Pier Giorgio, skiing. And smoking. 

They actually airbrushed the pipe out for his beautification picture. No, really, they did.

P.S. I hate pranks, I'm frequently accused of being too serious, I loathe smoking and I am definitely not male.

Gina herself has a special love for the Blessed Mother and St. Therese of Lisieux, among others, but personally I don't think they're very different from her at all. Then we realized: we don't have any siblings like the saints we are most drawn to.

I have lots of sisters, and only one younger brother, who neither pranks very often (smart move on his part) nor smokes. And he is definitely my younger brother and not my elder, as I have always felt my Pier Giorgio to be.

Gina has one older brother, and no sisters.

Our conclusion: God completes our families with His saints, showing us that His Body, His Family extend past the walls of our own homes or our own blood relations. In His saints we find those who faced the struggles we have, fought the battles we have, felt the sting of defeat in certain moments and yet won the final triumph. As I read earlier today, "A saint is a sinner who did not give up." Once when I was discussing why I'm Catholic with someone, a small part of my answer was that without the Church, I would lose my dearest friends. The saints are the friends who are with me always. Which reminds me of another part of the book I've been obsessing over here:

"He was nearer to her heart, in one manner, though utterly removed, in another. It was as when a friend was dead: his familiar presence is gone; but now that one physical barrier is vanished, his presence is there, closer than ever, though in another fashion..."

That is the saints. Closer now to Christ than they were in this life, and so closer to us, though in another fashion.

7 Quick Takes - Take 1

Trying something new here today - that is, new to me, old hat to the real bloggers out there. I'm linking up with Jennifer at Conversion Diary for this supah-FUN thing they call 7 Quick Takes, to give you a little window into whatev's going on this week. So...feel free to let me know what you think of the experiment.

#1. This:

So. I was browsing for a new book and thought Robert Hugh Benson sounded both familiar and trustworthy, and I love historical fiction, and the Kindle edition was to be all mine for the low low price of $0.00, so I thought awwww, heck, why not? But then it was a sloooow starter. I thought the beginning was cute and sweet, but I wasn't really getting into it. I mentioned the cute sweet beginning to Alex and he got really excited that I was reading it. He said something to the effect of, "Oh! That's a great book! What did you think of ________..." Fill in the blank with a Big Fat Spoiler. I was totally shocked and at first had NO intention of finishing but he talked me into it. Within about another chapter I encountered the Big Fat Spoiler for myself and was hooked on the book. Now I can barely put it down. ( I say barely because it MUST be put down for stuff like, oh, I dunno, WORK, otherwise I certainly would not. Put it down, that is.) Not only is it a really great book but it's also a very beautiful one. It's about the Catholic persecution under Queen Elizabeth, and let me tell you, when I walked boldly through the bright daylight to daily Mass yesterday without the smallest idea of my life being in danger because of it, I had a lot more gratitude than usual. Plus, the description of Mary Queen of Scots feels decidedly Chestertonian to me, and when I announced that to Alex he responded with the belief that they most likely knew each other. I therefore feel super validated in my opinion on that point. Y'all should read it, especially if you have a Kindle (or iPad with a Kindle app, like me). Like I said before, all yours for the low low price of $0.00. Just do it. I even put a link there. And here again. I'm serious. Just click it already. STAT.

P.S. I want to be Marjorie Manners when I grow up. Read the book, you'll see why.

#2. I read a lot of LifeSiteNews articles because that's Thee Best way to stay updated on the pro-life awesomeness people always expect me to know, as if I did it for a living or something. But this one was beyond incredible. I keep going back to it, I just love it. The Onufers are Beautiful People.

#3. I may not like Austin (I do not) but I do love me some Austen. Jane Austen, that is. And of all the Austen I love, I love Persuasion the most. Besides being Marjorie Manners (see #1) I want to be Anne Elliot when I grow up:

“When the evening was over, Anne could not but be amused at the idea of her coming to Lyme, to preach patience and resignation to a young man whom she had never seen before; nor could she help fearing, on more serious reflection, that, like many other great moralists and preachers, she had been eloquent on a point in which her own conduct would ill bear examination.” 

And the movies never do her justice. I have lost count of my re-readings of the book and I'm on either the 4th or 5th listen to my favorite version of the audiobook, the Audible Audio version done by Juliet Stevenson. Austen junkies: Juliet Stevenson plays Mrs. Elton in the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma and she is a BRILLIANT character actress, even if all you're getting is her voice. She has done several Austen books for Audible and they are all more than completely delightful. 

#4. So we have the mobile crisis pregnancy center at work, or, as we call it, the big blue bus. Our bus driver, Leo, is pretty much the unsung hero of the whole operation. Since I only occasionally work on the bus, I don't see him very often. I've been out there so much for 40 Days for Life though, we've had some quality time lately. He's a hoot, y'all. A real hoot. He's my Grandaddy's age, a hard working man if ever there was one, and the absolute salt of the earth. Not only does he drive the 40-foot-long-bus back and forth every day, but today he parallel parked it. Seriously. Like a boss. I asked him later if it was a 3-point-parking job and he said with his gravelly, Tex-Mex voice: "3-point? What's that?" I explained and he smirked. "Oh, yeah. I did that." He also builds benches out of PVC pipe, splices wires between generators and buses, and built the drawbridge of the bus. (It's really a ramp, but the little machine-y thing he built to raise and lower it makes me think of a drawbridge everysingletime sooo that's what I call it.) Today after the parallel parking epic-ness I also saw him moving this tremendous water barrel. As in, he picked it up out of the bed of his big ol' honkin' diesel truck, carried it over to a pile of other water barrels and set it down. I asked him how heavy it was and he shrugged. 

Leo: "Oh, maybe 55 gallons." 

Me: "Dang it, Leo! You should go to CrossFit, you'd put them to shame. 'Oh, 55 gallons, no big deal.'"

Leo, chortling: "Yeah. No biggie."

People like that, they keep the pro-life world going 'round.

#5. Moooovin' right along - here's your "Cultures of the World" class for today: I informed Alex once that the Texas flag was the best flag in the world, and my well-traveled sweetheart said slyly that he thought the Chilean flag must be equally good. Thanks to the extravagant amount of flag exposure I received at World Youth Day in Madrid, I was on to that nonsense like white on rice. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, let's play that "Spot the 6 Differences" game, except, you only have to spot one:

    

If you're Texan, and you don't know which is ours, I....can't even talk to you. 

Anyway, today he (Alex) brought me a gift that should give you a little hint about what YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW:

And the Texas/Chile jokes continue in the 

Hanson-pursues-Richardson courtship arena.

#6. This is brilliant: a liturgical year binder, which I am going to start putting together ASAP so it's ready to go when I actually (God willing) have kids someday. I am super psyched about it. I found the idea when it was posted by a guest blogger on my favorite blog EVER, Carrots for Michaelmas. Speaking of which, I really, really love Carrots for Michaelmas - the Amazing Haley is sweet, smart, and wildly funny. Also awesome. Go check it out.

#7. In case you missed the second point of #6: go check out Carrots for Michaelmas so you can fall in love too. They're putting out an eBook in November and I cannot WAIT to buy it because...it's a recipe book that uses real food and seasonal eating to celebrate the liturgical year (!!!!) aaand it will be awesome. I just know.

So, there it is, my first stab at 7 Quick Takes. Let me know what you think, and if I'm not feeling too redheaded I'll take it into consideration, *wink wink*.

I'm ba-a-ack. And, Introducing...

So. Been a while.

Okay, okay - I'm a terrible blogger. I'm trying to reform. Again. Maybe this time it will shhtick.

Anyhoo.

40 Days for Life is happening. Churches like to sponsor time at the end of 40 Days, so they have more time to get people signed up. And this is the beginning of 40 Days. So...been spending a lot of time on the sidewalk. Monday was about six hours on the sidewalk. Wednesday I was there from 7AM-2:30PM.

I wouldn't say I look forward to those kinds of days, but I appreciate them. They're really a profound experience: an entire day to pray. Exhausting, but definitely profound. One of my friends suggested I say Rosaries while meditating on different Scriptures instead of doing the original 20 Mysteries over and over (been there, done that), so I was trying the suggestion out. On Monday I ended up saying two entire Rosaries on Philippians 4:19. It was one of the most incredible prayer experiences of my life. Major spiritual high Monday evening.

But Wednesday night, I was Cranky. With a capital C.

Even after CrossFit.

Cranky that CrossFit can't fix is oh, So Cranky.

And the cranky was pointed at, unfortunately, my dear sweetheart.

I have mentioned him once or twice in the past. I'm not a big "mention"-er. I'm not what you'd call, *ahem*, sentimental.

I hear my family chuckling as they read this.

I'm so Not Sentimental, I'm one of those people who gets irritated with girls listening to sad break-up songs after a sad break-up. I get like this:

Not sentimental, that is, until I met Alex.

*sigh*...Alex.

Here, look:

One of my friends calls this: "The Ronald & Nancy Reagan picture." 

I kind of flipped over that.

Alex is...Alex. Everybody just loves him. If you don't love him, there's somethin' wrong wit yo head. I mean, I was kinda determined not to love him Ever EVER but...yeah. That did not work. I mean, how do you not fall in love with a guy who informs you at the beginning of a road trip that you will be praying 20 decades and then wants to sing the Salve Regina at the end. And then introduces you to Jeeves & Wooster.

So, as I was saying way up there, on Wednesday night I was cranky and stuff. He very cheerily chatted away on the phone (he's working in a different city) and after a while he says, "So, you have that tone..."

He listened to the snippy gripe with which I (am embarrassed to admit) I replied, apologized for the world in general and tried to cheer me up.

I didn't cooperate.

So, he went to Mass the next morning before work and prayed for me. And then sent me cutesy texts about how he loves me. In Norwegian. And Italian.

(Disclaimer, I don't speak Norwegian. Or Italian. But he does. Norwegian and Italian. And I speak Alex, which means I can piece together a cutesy-loves-me text even if it is partially Norwegian and kind of Italian.)

So, I defrosted a little bit and texted him that I was sorry for being cranky. I mean, really, how can you stay cranky with someone who goes to Mass for you at 6AM and then texts: "I love you...Jeg elsker deg...Te amo!"

I mean, really. Y'all.

SO I said sorry. And then he says he barely noticed, (riiiight) and went on to say he'd be offering all the day's annoyances so that Mary would send me a special spiritual grace.

Uhm...Did you hear that? Total defrost. My heart pretty much turned into a puddle.

(You too? I know, right?)

So then I headed to Planned Parenthood for today's 2 1/2 hour stint.

I was running late to replace the Lutheran church that was leaving at noon. I was worried about the sidewalk being empty, but when I arrived there was a couple - praying the Rosary - already standing there. They had arrived right when the Lutherans were leaving, and stayed until just after I came. They didn't even know they were coming, they said, but they dropped their son off nearby for an event and then decided at the last minute to come.

Well, I thought, I guess that was my special grace.

Not hardly.

Just after they left, another lady came, Rosary in hand. She hadn't planned on coming either, and then suddenly, there she was.

Wow. That was some prayer he said, I thought.

THEN, another car pulled up. Two men got out. Two young men. Two well-dressed young men.

Huh, that's funny. They sure look like they must be seminarians. But seminarians don't exactly "drop by" abortion facilities to pray around here.

They don't, y'all. Getting seminarians is practically like finding the gold at the end of a rainbow.

They walked up and introduced themselves. The taller of the two had a little pouch in his hand and started out with, "I don't want to disrupt your prayers..."

Funny again, they even talk like seminarians.

Guess what?

Seminarians.

And, big surprise but, they hadn't planned on coming until the last minute.

They came to say the Rosary.

And at the end, they sang the Salve Regina.

At that moment, I felt like someone was standing behind them holding a sign over their heads that said: "TODAY'S SPECIAL MARIAN GRACE, BROUGHT TO YOU BYYYYY: ALEX. "

No. Kidding.

Why am I telling you this?

(No, really, my family might be all like, uhh, why is she telling everybody this? Who is this person and where is not-sentimental Dorothy?)

First of all: we could use some help with 40 Days. No, seriously.

Secondly, because, if you're feeling cranky about something, call Alex.

Seriously: because he's wonderful, and I'm grateful for him, and I thought hey, what better way to get back into blogging than to talk about Alex? Mostly I don't blog anymore because of him anyway - I spend my former blogging time on the phone with him.

I'm kidding.

Sort of.

Finally, I know it's a privilege to be out on the sidewalk. I know people who wish they could go and can't. And I want you to know that even if you can't go, your prayers are invaluable. Come if you can. Please. But if you can't, then don't just do nothing. Pray for us. Pray hard.

And, all my single ladies - hold out for one of these (Irish ballad singing, Jeeves & Wooster reading, pipe-smoking, Norwegian-Italian-Spanish-Latin speaking) guys. Or one that seems equally epic to your own unique personality:

Because I really do not think that God meant for people to have less fun together than this.