Some background

As I published the last post I realized that not all of you are "up to speed" with our adoption situation. My husband and I are planning on adopting two children from Russia. If everything happens according to the current plan we will be the parents of a three-year-old boy and one-year old girl by fall.

If you want a blow-by-blow account of one family's experience with adopting from Russia, check out the Stratton's Adoption Journey. Our experience has been much like theirs, except that we've been at it longer (we signed with our agency in January 2004; they in August 2004), and they are farther along in the process (they already travelled on trip one).

This process has taken a lot more time, effort, and psychic energy than I could ever have imagined. There have been some serious lowpoints, but I am continually bouyed by the image of these two children in our arms.

The power of the spirit

Michael Novak explains the role of the Holy Spirit in the conclave: [via Open Book]

And so, when Catholics speak of the "Holy Spirit" playing a role in the conclave, don't try to imagine a puppeteer pulling strings. The better image is that of the novelist, creating free, living, breathing, conflicted characters who make choices, and in doing so tell with these choices a magnificent story of liberty. The novelist who plays puppeteer convinces few readers that his characters are real. Real artistry lies in creating characters who are free, and who act from within the depths of their own liberty. So it is with the Artistry of the Holy Spirit in the theater of the conclaves down the centuries — a free God, Who chooses to be honored by the flawed efforts of free humans to respond to Him in their own liberty.

I addition, check out the comments on the Open Book post. In particlar, see Neil's comment (also posted at Catholic Sensibility [sorry no permalinks -- scroll to April 16]). When we pray that the Cardinals receive the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, we ask

"that they share in nothing less than the fellowship in love of the Holy Trinity even as they deliberate in the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. We ask God that this happens as they receive the “fullness” of the Spirit through deciding to lead lives marked by a Christlike purity and generosity. We ask that, “led by the Spirit,” their vote proclaims good news to the poor and oppressed and that it expresses a hope for redemption with all of creation. We ask that they experience intense joy through the stirrings of the Spirit. This is more than praying for a magical force or for simple sincerity. But nothing is impossible for God."

As you can probably tell, I am fascinated by the interplay between the Holy Spirit and free will. The papal selection process has brought this dichotomy to our collective attention, but it is evident in our daily lives. In particular I think about our path to parenthood and wonder if all of the delays are some sort of message. Is God telling us that this is not what we should be doing?

For now, I am confident that we are doing the right thing. The right thing for us, the right thing for the children, and the right thing morally. We have thought about it, prayed about it, and talked to others about it. We have done our due diligence, now it is time to trust God. Right?

Spring!

garden
Originally uploaded by Reprehriestless.

Not only are my daffodils and tulips in bloom, but I have spent the morning putting winter clothes away.

I'll miss my flower garden, but am excited to start in on a new one. What are your favorite spring flowers?

Housecleaning

My eyes are bigger than my keyboard.

I have sixty-two blog posts and news articles bookmarked in my Bloglines account. This is not healthy for me or for anyone who bothers to read this drivel. I will link to a few, then clean my plate for new stuff as it comes up.

• Don't blink!
• There are blogs for dogs at Dogster. I can't find any blog services for cats. (Yes, I looked)
• Some reasons not to blog.
• 125-step battery changing device designed by Purdue students [via Boing Boing]
• Some ND bloggers picture Coach Weis' conception.
  
• The Happy Catholic and Curt Jester think that St. Jerome should be the patron saint of bloggers
• Space Station K9 worries about the people that will lose their jobs with the pope dead.
• Thason Jweatt goes house shopping.
• Professor Bainbridge wonders what your car says about you.
• Tips on blogging anonymously. [via Volokh Conspiracy]
• The Massachusetts vs. New Hampshire debate [via Joe's Dartblog]
• A cute article about the Pope's tailor.
• NetDisaster [via Librarian in Black]

That feels so much better! With that done, I should be able to comment thoughtfully on a few issues in the near future.

On Ebay

A Paperclip shaped like the Pope's hat is for sale at Ebay. The Eucharist blessed by the Pope has thankfully been removed.

There are just so many

reprehriestless warillever -- Your source for papal humor.

Mcgeheezone is begging for links, and he deserves a million for the "Secret Vatican Document #221,653,478,095,748,968:

"In order that the number of Cardinal electors be not more than 120, the following Cardinals shall be excluded:

1. Bernard Cardinal Law and Roger Cardinal Mahoney. [missed it by that much! --ed.]
2. .........
   
11. Whichever one of you geeks has been going around saying, “I love the smell of white smoke in the morning—it smells like ... victory.”
12. All Cardinals who have let their eyebrows grow so long that they can tie them up in ribbons, which they shouldn’t do because it’s undignified.
13. The entire Vatican City Olympic rhythmic gymnastics team."

HT: Wizbang

Bring out the brooms....

...I think we call that a sweep.

The Red Sox record improves to 7-5, and only 1 game out of the AL East lead.

Wow this is strange! Messages in the folder

Another dorky librarian-link. Google Talk searches for the words you enter, adds the next word, prints that, then searches for the full string minus the first word. It continues like that until you tell it to stop. The title of the post comes from my first try at it.



Google talk a
Google Hack by
Douwe Osinga

An Office With a View

view
Originally uploaded by Reprehriestless.

This picture was taken from the study in our house. There is a whole lotta roof going on out our back window.

When bloggers give too much information

One of the things that I like about reading blogs is that they are personal. Even the most serious of bloggers give little snippets of information that make us remember that these are, in fact, humans writing these posts. Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit did some "hospiblogging" while his wife was hospitalized; Ann Althouse posts pictures of her strolls and simulblogs American Idol.

There is a line, however. I did not need to know how Andrew Sullivan spends his mornings, or what Michael Stephens wears at the gym. I promise not to do that to you unless I really feel the need to gross you out that day.

Wrong Again

I posted earlier that the selection of the next pope is "not for me or any other human to make," implying that the Holy Spirit would do the selecting.

I stand corrected. When asked about this in 1997, Cardinal Ratzinger responded:

“I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the pope. ... I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.”

To say that the Holy Spirit elects would be to deny the cardinals' free will. As I have already acknowledged, I don't quite understand free will. I do, however, have faith that the Church will survive. As one of Amy Welborn's reader's noted,

"even during the reigns of the worst popes, the Faith was always preserved, and my understanding is that the preservation of the Faith is the protection to us offered by the Holy Spirit. I assume that's what Cdl Ratzinger means when he says the thing cannot be totally ruined."

Let us pray for the cardinals on the eve of this conclave.

Protecting the Cat's Honor

My cat is in love. Well, not in love, but in heat. She has been jumping from window to window screaming bloody murder for the past five days. This is typical behavior for her, except in this case, one of the boy-cats in the neighborhood has been reciprocating. Julio (the boy-cat) has been following her from window to window. Staring. And staring. And staring. I am starting to have nightmares about his eyes.

Janice is an indoor cat. Other than when "in the mood," she has no interest in going outside. Her favorite pasttimes are chasing milk-jug rings and lounging on her wool blanket. When Julio is around, however, she turns into a rolling, screaming hormone-driven machine.


Late Thursday night, there was a break in the screaming. "Hmmm... Janice must be catnapping," we thought. We should have known better. When we went to the basement to close the window that was open for ventilation, we found that the screen had been pryed open. There were clawmarks on both sides, so they used teamwork to open it.

Now some of you may now be thinking "awww.....such a cute romantic story!" Then you don't know cats. It seems that they were looking for different things in a relationship. When I got outside, Julio was chasing Janice. Janice was hissing and clawing to get him away.

The second picture is my husband screwing the screen into place. Unless that %^&* cat has opposible thumbs and a screwdriver, he is not getting back into our house.

God bless us when we have a teenage daughter!

Fun With Stylesheets

I am done playing with the template (for now).

Leave me a comment if you love it, hate it, or have any suggestions for cleaning it up. In particular, I am wondering how to minimize the space between posts.

UPDATE (4/17): D'oh! I apologize for not checking in Firefox/Netscape. Changing from an absolute position to "float" solved that issue. I also changed the link colors in the sidebar to make it easier on Kevin's eyes. But,sorry Ruth, the color scheme is staying.

We win!

We have a losing record (4-5), but we beat the Yankees again!!

I Heart the Wall Street Journal

In a review of The Cube and the Cathedral, Brian Carney discusses declining church attendance in Europe:

"Practicing Christianity in Europe today enjoys a status not dissimilar to smoking marijuana or engaging in unorthodox sexual activities--few people mind if you do so in private, but you are expected not to talk about it or ask others whether they do it too."

Heh

On the Same Theme

The silliest computer animation ever -- Chicago's NBC5 shows us what it will be like as the cardinals choose the next pope. Description here.

Peggy Noonan also imagines what it will be like for the Cardinals to decide. Despite the lack of graphics, I think that her article is more illuminating. An unnamed cardinal tries to make some sense of the public outpouring at Pope John Paul II's death. He thinks, "Maybe God was telling us something." The crux of her argument (put into the words of an imaginary elderly cardinal) is

"the new pontiff must have a holy soul. He must be a man who prays to God, is led by God, loves God above all. And here's the great problem for us: this person may not be the most charming or accessible person in the world."

I think she may have it there. There are no character, personality, or intellectual criteria. There is no polictical or geographic balance needed. We need a pope with a holy soul. And only the Holy Spirit knows who that is.

In this blog have given links to Papal Brackets, betting parlors, and guessing games. You will not hear any guesses or preferences from me, though. That decision is not for me or any other human to make. I just pray that the cardinals will be able to discern what the Holy Spirit is telling them.

Another Papal Link

Since I have posted two irreverant Pope-picking links (this and this), I should offer some balance and tell you about the Pope-U-Lator. Though tongue-in-cheek, it is informative, respectful, and very funny.

Pope-U-Lator | Name-U-Lator | Select-A-Pope | Select-A-Name | Papal Facts

My excuse

Blogging has been slow the last few days because I have been working on more technical issues. I thought about moving to WordPress for the added features, but am not yet sure whether it is worth the effort. For now, please bear with me while I make aesthetic changes.

I know that the current colors are obnoxious, but it fits this blog better than brown did.

Cat Blogging

Heh

I took a survey which says that my "Linguistic profile is:

• 40% General American English
• 40% Yankee
• 15% Dixie
• 5% Upper Midwestern
• 0% Midwestern

Hmmmmm.... I guess I really must stick out.