Katie and I travelled with my mom to visit our Aunt and Uncle in the Texas Panhandle again.

We tried to get close to their cows, but they were skittish and kept their distance from us; then we went out hunting for rattlesnakes to kill because my uncle spotted some recently.

The rattlesnakes, in addition to being dangerous to people, also can bite the cows and make them very sick, and they eat the quail eggs.  There are pheasants and quail up here at the farm, and my uncle wants to continue to foster their habitats for hunting and what-not.

The wind farms are moving in all over the place up here from Abilene to where we are in the northwest corner of Texas.  I can imagine in ten to twenty years seeing the landscape covered in the huge windmills, which I don’t think is a bad thing; animals can continue to graze under them and crops can be grown around them, too, I believe.

I joined the “Green team” at my work last week, which is a group that is going to encourage good stewardship of the environment at our company, which just announced that we have joined the Austin clean energy program, where we will get 10% of our total electricity usage from West Texas wind farms over the next 15 years.

International adoptions, especially from Guatemala and Vietnam, are under scrutiny for horrible practices where people take others’ babies and put them up for adoption (to make money, I assume).

Surely there must be a easier, better way to make adoption possible?

I am so relaxed this morning. That’s the beauty of long weekends–so much time to slow down and simply enjoy the company of my wonderful husband.

We had a great weekend. Devin invited me on a wonderful date Saturday evening at the Austin Wine Festival. It was the perfect date. A gorgeous sunset, cool breeze, live music (mellow country), and my sweetheart holding my hand. Plus, the wine, of course. And, on Memorial Day (yesterday), we had a great time kayaking with Devin’s father on Lake Georgetown. Devin was the perfect companion, splashing me just enough to be cute but not too much to be annoying. We went to Mass yesterday evening to pray especially for the repose of the souls of all those who have died defending our country.

It’s back to the grind today but not for very long, in view of the fact that we’ll hit the road Friday for a weekend trip to the Texas Panhandle, to visit Devin’s Uncle Rusty and Aunt Naomi on their ranch.

We harvested our 5 garlic bulbs last week and hung them up to dry, then we cleaned them up and they are presumably ready to eat.

Well, I remember reading about all the great benefits of eating raw garlic, and I had a hankering, so I peeled one small clove and popped it in my mouth; “hmmm, good garlic flavor,” I thought at first blush. But then the little garlic spice grenades starting going off in my mouth, and the garlic acid was burning my tongue, more and more with every bite.

Finally, I spat it out, fearing that if I swallowed it I would have a very unhappy tummy, washed my mouth out with water and brushed my teeth, but even now, hours later, the garlic taste remains.

Katie and I are now debating whether our home-grown garlic is really that much more potent, or whether it is supposed to “age” more before we eat it. Any ideas?

I received an this week e-mail from Regnum Christi, asking for prayers today for China, in answer to the Holy Father’s request. Pope Benedict XVI has asked that Catholics worldwide unite in a day of prayer for Catholics in China this May 24, in the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Father Alvaro Corcuera, general director of the Legion of Christ and of Regnum Christi, has asked all of the Legionary communities and teams of consecrated women to offer their Mass, rosary, and Eucharistic adoration for this intention.

In response to the Pope’s exhortation, we are also invited to join in prayer on this day by going to Mass at our parishes, by praying a rosary, or perhaps by making a visit to Christ in the Eucharist or to an image of Our Lady.

The Pope has also written the following text for the occasion: a Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan.

Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan

Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother,
venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”,
the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.
We come before you today to implore your protection.
Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them
along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be
a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.

When you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth,
you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb
and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.
You willingly and generously cooperated in that work,
allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul,
until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,
standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.

From that moment, you became, in a new way,
the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith
and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.
Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed
with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.
Grant that your children may discern at all times,
even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.

Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China,
who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.
May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world,
and of the world to Jesus.
In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high,
offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.
Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,
ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!

I remember going to elementary school with my older sister, and she told us one day that one of her classmates had sickle cell anemia, a genetic disorder that causes severe pain and shortens the person’s life by decades.  There was no cure for it at that time.

Today, things are changing; just last week, the Texas legislature, which is not in session currently, held a special hearing to learn more about adult stem cell successes, including one boy born with sickle cell anemia who was cured by the adult stem cells from his little brother’s umbilical cord!

“It was told to me that point blank that this disease is not curable. There’s nothing you can do but give him medication every day for the rest of his life,” his mother Darlene Davis said.

But when Joseph was 2 years old, his little brother, Isaac, was born. And, along with a new playmate came a new hope.

The blood inside Isaac’s umbilical cord had adult stem cells that doctors transplanted to Joseph.

Only weeks later, Joseph was healed.

Researchers call it a miracle cure with no controversy involved.

Texas Alliance for Life (including my wonderful wife) lobbied hard last session for Texas to fund an umbilical cord blood bank, and they succeeded convincing the legislators, who earmarked $5 million to the program.  However, much, much more can be done:

Texas already funds research for the cells. Just last year, it approved the creation of the Texas Cord Blood Bank that accepts donations, but survivors of transplants say more could be done. Experts say many hospitals do not collect the donations yet. Fewer than 10 actually participate.

On Wednesday speaker, Tom Craddick ordered an Interim Charge hearing. The hearing began for the Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Adult Stem Cell Research at 10 a.m. It is the first hearing to call for a House Interim report on the support of adult stem cell research and treatments.

Adult stem cells are often seen as a safer alternative to embryonic stem cells because the cells are taken from the blood of a living person. The cells have also shown to be more effective in medical research.

The last sentence is a big understatement, to say the least: Adult stem cells are being used in over 70 different treatments, of which sickle cell anemia is just one, and this is with still a small number of hospitals participating!  Embryonic stem cells, on the other hand, in addition to killing an innocent human being, have resulted in zero treatments, as in none, nowhere, helping not even one person.

The little boy and his parents speak:

“I was born with sickle cell anemia, but now I’m cured because my younger brother Isaac saved my life with his cord blood. I don’t have to go to the hospital or take shots. I can do what any other 8-year-old can do, and I’m very happy about that,” said Joseph Davis, II.

Davis’ donation came from his younger brother’s umbilical cord.

“Today, my son is standing here, standing here today, healed from sickle cell disease. I can’t tell everybody to get on this behind me right now but I know from last year to looking at this year, it’s happening. People are getting to know about adult stem cell, umbilical cord blood. This is why I love what I do, I don’t want to see this blessing for myself, I want to see the blessing for everybody,” said Darlene Davis, mother of adult stem cell recipient.

KVUE news has the video of the family talking about being cured.

Those words are part of the Creed, but both Catholics and (some) Protestants speak them and profess them to be true.  They are called the four marks of the Church.  So what do they mean then to each group?

That is the question that Bryan Cross just posted about on his blog, and he answered it much better than I could have!

Excerpt (on the Holy mark):

Sanctum:
The Catholic understanding of the holiness of the Church is that the Church is actually holy. This does not mean that her members on earth have perfect holiness, or that they all have the same degree of holiness, or even that the majority are exceptionally holy; in fact we are all still sinners. Nor does it mean that in their good deeds pagans and heretics can never outshine Catholics. But it does mean that the Church stands apart from the world in her godly practice and sanctification; she testifies by the manner of her life and witness to the righteousness of God, the dignity of human life, the goodness of creation, the future judgment and the life of the world to come. Her members on earth have a “real though imperfect” holiness (CCC 825), especially insofar as they receive the life of Christ through the means of grace in the sacraments. Moreover, the canonized saints are examples to us of the sanctifying transformative power of the Holy Spirit working in and through the Church. Through the continuous use of the sacraments and prayer, we are truly and actually transformed into virtuous people.

The common Reformed conception of holiness by contrast, is formalized and de-materialized. According to this conception, our holiness is essentially something imputed to us, a legal declaration in which Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account, covering us from God’s wrath, but not transforming us into persons to whom God could honestly say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” All our deeds are as filthy rags. So the Church and the believer are treated by God *as if* holy, as if as holy as Christ, but not transformed so as to be actually holy. (I have explained all this in more detail here. To qualify, I’m speaking of the common contemporary Reformed conception of the gospel, not Calvin’s own position.)

I remember one service (when I went to the Southern Baptist Convention community where I was baptized) and the pastor described our holiness in almost these exact words, the key ones being “imputed” or “declared”.

Everyone in the congregation had their bibles open and were taking notes, as is normal, and all of them listened and took that in, but at this time I had begun considering whether the church I was at was the closest to “true Christianity”, and I thought, “how do I know that what he is saying is really true?” because I had learned by this time that “infused” versus “imputed” righteousness was something debated between Catholics and Protestants and was a key difference.

The entire post is well-worth reading; in short, the Reformed (Protestant) understanding of the four marks of the Church is formalized and de-materialized while the Catholic understanding of the marks is sacramental and visible.  For example, Catholics claim that there really are successors of the apostles, the Bishops, and that their succession can be really traced through all the beautiful and ugly history of the world and of the Church to Christ himself and the 12 he chose.

I currently have 3 blog posts crowding in my head and want to comment on all of Devin’s posts–isn’t he wonderful? But, I’ve had such a hard time keeping up lately. I know that’s no excuse, however. Steven Covey says that the phrase “I don’t have time” is not entirely correct. Of course, I have time. I just haven’t scheduled it to include blogging. So, dear readers, wait for me. I’m coming. I promise.

The chickens have been doing well; Gertrude, the less social one, has taken on the bad habit of sleeping in the nest box, which means she poops in it and unless we clean it out early in the morning, they lay their eggs there (quite gross).

We received good news recently, however: A friend of mine at work (who I grew up with and played soccer with in high school) and his wife have bought chickens for their backyard, and they bought too many, and they bought the exact kind I originally wanted, the much-coveted Buff Orpington!

So they kindly and providentially told us they needed to give away two of them, which are about 3 weeks old currently, so we are going to take them.

Hopefully we can get them to “play well” with Lobelia and Gertrude, who have had the run of the roost for a long time now.

The Buff Orpington:

I would have posted this last week but was annoyed by our bees.

The Augustine saga has been:

1. Bee hive cut out of mom’s house and put in our backyard, no queen

2. We give them frame of brood from Ambrose and they raise their own queen (probably a mean one)

3. We buy $30 queen and re-queen them with her by killing the other queen

4. They toss the $30 queen out of the hive, we put her back in the hive

5. They kill her or toss her out again and she dies; now they’re queenless

6. (As of last week) We give them one more frame of brood from Ambrose to let them raise their own queen and hopefully survive.

Also in this time, they got infested by wax worms twice, which are about the nastiest things you have ever seen.

Unless the queen they raise is the Wicked Witch of the West, we plan to let them do their own thing and not waste any more money on expensive queens they reject!