Babies

       I love babies, they're amazing. My favorite activity is babysitting. It's so fun to watch them grow up. My first younger sibling is Elise, who is four years younger than I am. I  don't really remember when she was a baby, but I have some memories of when she was one and two. After Elise, came Sarah, who was born with strawberry-blonde hair. I remember when Sarah was just learning to crawl. I was so excited for when she could learn to walk. I wanted her to be able to walk up the stairs and see the house, because at that time, she was just scooting around downstairs. But when the walking time finally came, she started getting into my stuff and messing up the house. That's when I realized that I actually liked it better when she couldn't walk. :) After Sarah came Michael, my only little brother. He came six weeks "early" as they call it, but I like to say he arrived exactly when God wanted him to. Since he wasn't necessarily due till the next six weeks, though, he was very small and only about four pounds. I used to put him in the doll cradle because he fit perfectly. :) After Michael came Anne, who was born about a week after her due date. She was the biggest baby my mom had, being nine pounds, ten ounces. She broke the record which was set by me, actually, being nine pounds even. I love having baby siblings. Now Anne is four, and we don't think any more will come, but you never know. ;)
       I want to share a video that my older brother Brandon put on youtube of my sister Anne when she was about one and a half. She is saying her night-time prayers with my mom. I think it's adorable, so I have to show you. She repeats after my mom for the "Now I lay me Down to Sleep" prayer, and then they do "God bless" our family. My mom goes down the list: Brandon, Leah, Abby, Elise, Sarah, Michael, Anne. You just have to watch it. :) Click here

     

Mary of Nazareth

     

           In the book Mary of Nazareth by Federico Suarez, the author states, “Every life becomes a great and passionate adventure when God takes possession of a soul and when a soul is willing to cooperate fully with God…When we make our will one with the will of God, when we let God take  possession of us, life gains a purpose and is worth living.” This book is about Mary, the most perfect saint, and how we, ordinary sin-stained souls, can imitate her by being silent and still so we can hear God’s calling for our lives. Although Mary was conceived without sin, there is still hope for sinners like us.

            In the first chapter, Suarez talks about the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said that she would become the Mother of God. At first, Mary had doubts, for she was not married, and therefore could not conceive. But Gabriel said that with God, nothing is impossible. Mary’s reply was, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1: 38) As soon as Mary accepted her vocation to be the Mother of God, “the Word was made Flesh.” (John 1:14) Just as God had plans for her, He has unique plans for everyone else. We need to listen to Him and accept that vocation. Just think, what if Mary refused this vocation? Or what if she was too busy to stop and pray? Then Jesus would not have been born. All the miracles Jesus worked would never have happened, and all the lives He changed would never have changed. He would never have been crucified and never would have resurrected, and the gates of Heaven would never have been opened, all because of Mary’s ignorance. So since Mary did accept this vocation, all these wondrous things did happen.

            Great things are destined for everyone, which is why it is important for us to accept our vocation. However, before we can accept our vocation, we need to know what that vocation is. This is why it is important for us to listen to God: pray and meditate, stay silent and calm, and open our ears for Him. We need not only to hear Him, but we must also listen and understand what He says. Then we can accept and follow through.

            Part of God’s plan for us might be confusing and not make sense, but this is where we need to just obey without question, because God knows what is best for us. In the middle of chapter four, Suarez talks about how Mary obeyed without hesitation, so she is the perfect role model for us. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph took Him to the temple and since we do not know how long they stayed in Bethlehem, but maybe they got a house there, and maybe that is when the magi came. Mary must have been quite surprised when she heard their story and saw the gifts they brought for the Child. Suarez mentions that Mary probably went to sleep thinking of all these excitements and surprises of that day. Then she was awakened by Joseph, who told her they must flee into Egypt to get away from Herod, who desired the death of Jesus. How surprising this must have been to Mary! First she hears that Herod wants to come and kneel before her Son, and now he wants to kill Him. But Mary does not question. She gets up and follows Joseph into Egypt. This is just one of many examples of Mary’s humble and obedient self. 

Here is a really good song that I love: Click here

A Special Love

        In one of my Religion classes I learned about the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We know that God is the Father, and Jesus, the Son. Who is the Holy Spirit? A dove? No. The Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son. And later, I realized, it's similar in a family! What I mean is, the husband and the wife love each other so they get married. Later, they start having children. Well, they could not have children if they did not love each other. So the child is the conclusion of the parents' love for each other. Which means that every child is the love between the mother and the father!
       We all need love. Without love, there would be no life. If we are the result of our parents' love, then without that love, we are nothing, we do not exist. Now, since we know we need love to exist, and we know that God, (as the Holy Spirit) is Love. Then the conclusion is that we need God to exist. It all comes down to that!
       We all need God. We do! People who think they can live without God are lying. "I don't need a God," one might say. Uh, yeah you do! Look, without God, there would be no world because He made it. There would be no people, no you, no food, no animals, no water, there would be nothing. Here is a clip from the movie "God's not Dead" that I would like to share with you about the existence of God: Click here

                                               We need love. God is love. We need God.

Here is a song that I really like about how we need God: Click here

God is Amazing

Consider life in the early 1700's...colonial days. No electricity: no sewing machines, no washing machines, no electric stoves/ovens, no microwave ovens, no refrigerators, no dishwashers, no cars, no lightbulbs, no computers/TV's/iPods (etc.)

Then: 1752: the lightning rod, 1794: the cotton gin, 1833: the sewing machine, 1844: the telegraph, 1858: the burglar alarm, 1873: the typewriter, 1876: the telephone, 1879: the incandescent lightbulb, 1880: the hearing aid, 1888: the Kodak camera, 1889: the diswasher, 1892: gas-powered car, 1902: air conditioning, 1903: airplane, 1926: the rocket, 1927: the television, 1932: defribrillator, 1965: the minicomputer, 1972: the video game, 1983: the PC, 1999: the Apple iMac (slot loading), 2001: Apple iPod (1st generation)

Then come more generations of iPods and iMacs, then come the iPads and the iPod touchs and the iPhones and the iMac laptops and the tablets and the kindles and the cameras and the phones and the flat sceen TVs and the solar-powered stuff (etc.)

It started off slow, the inventing process did, then the 21st century BAM: in just a few short years, we have everything we have today. Every day, something new is invented. We already got to the iPhone 6 and the Tesla electric cars!

Technology is amazing and ever-growing. Just think: newspapers are so old-fashioned, we have news channels now. Dictionaries are no longer needed with Google and online Dictionaries. The internet is where most people get stuff from. If you want to learn something, look it up on the internet. Just imagine, the people who set up websites and such, someone somewhere learned that information without the internet. What I mean is, the internet didn't just up and know everything. People have made websites and things of what they learned and put it on the internet for everyone to know. So, just think, the internet tells us, but who tells the internet? That's what I mean. History from before the Native Americans can be found online! The internet is amazing, isn't it?

God is like the internet. He is all-knowing. Only, He knows much more. He knows of not only the days of millions of years ago, He also knows of the days of millions of years to come! (The internet can not yet do that, now, can it?)

The internet is a great way to "advertise," because everyone sees it. That is why we need to advertise only good things, and stay away from bad advertisements. God has plan for everyone.

He has a certain mission for each person. That mission is found in the Bible. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says, "Go therefore, into all nations, and make disciples of men." Our mission is to make disciples of men. Get everyone to follow Jesus. Evangelizing souls.

We can use the internet to do this. Actually, the reason for this blog is such. Many Catholic websites are available to access, for example: Catholic Online. Let's help to set the world on fire for Jesus and the Catholic Church. That reminds me of my favorite song by Britt Nicole: Set the World on Fire. What Britt says in this song is exactly what I am talking about now. Click here

Sources I used in coming up with the timeline of invention: 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/timeline/timeline_text.html
http://www.theappletimeline.com/

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers who gave us life! I would like to fill up this post with all good things about mothers. I love you Mom!

TV can be Convincing

       I am in North Carolina this week. I flew here on April 21st and I'm flying back home on May 9th. I'm visiting my aunt and two cousins, Tommy (2) and Penny (9mo.) I love being here, but what I want to mention is something about TV. My aunt and I watch Hallmark channel: movies, mysteries, and such. But on live shows (meaning not recorded) we get stuck listening to commercials. Commercials commercials. It's amazing how much people can believe what they see. Medications, weight loss programs, food, cosmetics, cars, etc.
       You know I'll bet that half of all the commercials I've ever seen were either about medicines or weight loss programs! A long time ago (Renaissance period specifically) people who were "plump" were admired, it meant that they had enough money to feed themselves. Skinny people were looked on as poor. Now it's upside-down.
       Well anyway, that's not even what I wanted to talk about today. (I'm a writer, sometimes my fingers take over and start typing on their own. :) What I wanted to talk about is a certain commercial that really bothers me. It is about an IUD. I do not know what that means, but I do know that whatever it is, it is something that women can get inserted to prevent pregnancy. Birth control. I feel bad for those who believe in it. I pray for those who use it.

Dear Lord, everyone has a light in their hearts. Some use it, some hide it, some don't even know it's there, and some don't even want to find out. Tell them of Your path, O God, and show them the Way. Please let Your Light shine through people so that they can see the Truth. Please also, let everyone see that life is beautiful. Because You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen.

Here is a song by Britt Nicole:Click here

Death is the Beginning of a new Life

          Recently, there have been a lot of deaths in the family. My grandfather (my mom’s dad) was on a fishing trip. He was walking around in the halls at night and slipped and fell. Hit his head and had a seizure. The boat took three hours to get back to land and to a hospital. The thing is he was on a blood thinning medication, so he lost a lot of blood. This was far from home. The hospital flew him to a hospital in Los Angeles California, where he lived. He was unconscious. We drove down there from Northern California. During our visit, he passed away in my Grandma Becker’s arms. She was, and still is, devastated. He died on November 27, 2010.

            About half a year later, my great grandfather (the father of my Grandma Becker) suddenly passed away of old age in his sleep. The following year, his wife, my great grandmother died also of old age. This was hard for my Grandma Becker, having lost her husband and parents in two years.

            On Thanksgiving Day last year (November 27 2014, the death anniversary of Grandpa Becker, my great grandma on my dad’s side passed away. (my Grandpa Kalinowski’s mom) Her funeral was recently.

            The next month, my aunt died suddenly. (my mom’s older sister, and Grandma Becker’s oldest daughter) This was probably the most devastating for my Grandma Becker, having lost her husband and mother and father and now her daughter. My Aunt Amy apparently had a brain tumor that no one knew about, and she suddenly died on December 11, 2014. Everybody quickly flew out to Tennessee, where she lived with her husband and three children. Her poor children and husband. I can’t imagine what they must feel like. 

     Even though He may take some people, God is not doing this as a punishment. He loves us and the ones He brings into His Kingdom. Those of us on Earth are just not ready yet. This song, by Chris Tomlin is about following Jesus to Heaven. click here