7-Quick takes- the Very, very late edition

Join Jen and the other Quicktakers over at the Conversion Diary.>

1. A sigh of relief fell upon my household – my two speeches/meetings for our local homeschool group are over and were well received. We gained three new members and lots of positive feedback. This did reaffirm for me how much I enjoy preparing and giving these types of talks and I think this is the direction I would like to head for my years after homeschooling – although that is at least 10 years away for me.

2. Since my guys were away this weekend, I was looking for some ways to fill up the time.  So I went to the craft store and came back with the stuff for Izzy to make this lovely wreath for the Feast of the Sacred Heart! I think it turned out nicely.

3. Pete is a chaperon for the parish youth trip to Franciscan University. They had  a great time. The theme for this weekend is The Eighth Day!

I think it is quite a brave thing for Mr. Pete to go to these retreats.  I understand that it requires one person to sleep on the floor and I KNOW I would not be able to move the next day.  I know this because some mornings I can barely move from sleeping on the super stiff mattress Mr. Pete bought a few years back.  The floor would probably do me in.  But come to think of it, since Mr. Pete likes the mattress, he probably doesn’t mind the floor to much.  I do note that he took the air mattress this year so that’s something.   Next year I get to go for the very first time.  Not quite sure how I feel about that, but I do know that it will be Izzy’s first year and I want to be there with her.

4. My holy rollers.

5. At the same time, I shared with Mr. Pete that I have some doubts about the effectiveness of these retreats. I know quite a handful of the young men and women who have gone to these conferences all though high school and who are not exactly living chastely or avoiding scandal – my own kids included. And it’s like they don’t even know any any better – i.e. pregnant bride-to-be’s posting belly shots of their naked pregnant abdomens on facebook and getting many likes from their friends – who also are supposed to be better. I dunno… they come back from the conferences good as gold, but that fades fast.

and now I have officially become an old fuddy duddy.

6. Still I want them to have this type of experience. I had it once when I attended the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia back in 1976. There was just something about a stadium full of people attending mass that just has an inspirational and exhilarating effect. I’ll never forget that! That was also the year Legionnaire’s disease was attacking the city- we almost weren’t allowed to go!

7. Some Izzy Art