Diseny Merida Makeover

In case any of you don't frequent The Sounding or haven't already heard through other venues, I wanted to share with you this great post by Mat. Donna Farley.

I loved Brave when I saw, and it was the first Disney Princess movie that actually made me cry.  I think I was even as excited as my girls about how "cool" Merida is.  I guess I don't keep up with pop culture well enough, and I don't buy much of the Princess merchandise for the girls, so the new look of the princesses truly surprised me, and not in a pleasant way.

I highly recommend reading Mat. Donna's post and following the link at the bottom of her article to sign a petition to Disney.

Child Nutrition and Cooking (Updated)

I'm a bit disappointed in this class after the second week.  I had expected the second week of lectures to be more in depth, to teach me something new.  Sadly for me, the class is really just skimming the surface, touching on things that have been brought up by the "Food Movement" without even going as deep as some of its proponents.

If you have never cooked or paid attention to all the news about food -- slow food, whole food, real food, edible food substances -- then you may learn something new in this class and find further resources to learn more.  If you generally keep up on all of this stuff, which I do, then you might get a few good recipes and a review outline.

On the other hand, it is free so it doesn't hurt to check it out still...

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Six months ago or so, I discovered the wonderful world of online education.  Several of the large and prestigious universities in the US are offering free courses online for everyone.  I've been enjoying this new venue for "life-long learning." And yesterday was the beginning of a new Coursera class on child nutrition and cooking.

Childhood nutrition is at the front of my mind, and I am usually racking my brain for new ideas to get the kids, especially Hummingbird, to eat healthier foods.  Needless to say, I am very excited about this class.  The short lectures this week have already offered a couple of quick ideas to try at home.  Additionally, there are several optional lectures that look at everything from the big bad boogie man, "Big Agriculture" to breastfeeding and their effects on childhood obesity and malnutrition.  There are also weekly cooking assignments.  This first week's is to create a colorful vegetable feature dish with at least three vegetables.  I can't wait to try this.  I'll probably be thinking of ideas as I fall asleep tonight...

This is a free class and you need not invest a ton of time to get some benefits from it, only commit what you can.  So, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in childhood nutrition in general or specifically for your own kids.

Pascha Silhouettes

Christ is Risen!

This is turning out to be the best Pascha since 2004.  We had a small, but large miracle on Great and Holy Friday, which led to the most joyous Pascha we've had in years.  Plus, the liturgy last night proceeded nearly flawlessly, unlike last year's which was a tragedy of errors and storms.  Joy is in the air!  Christ has, indeed, risen victoriously!

Yesterday afternoon and today the girls and I worked on some Pascha silhouettes.  These were quite simple and fun to do.  (Later I'll post a template for the silhouette shapes).

Bumble Bee's rainbow watercolor

My monochrome watercolor

Hummingbird's Oil Pastel

Homeschool Resource

I don't actually homeschool my kids, but I do work with them a bunch at home, especially when trying to prepare them for testing to get into one of Chicago's excellent schools.

Last night I was looking for reading worksheets to use with Bumble Bee, and I found a website that promises to be an excellent resource.  There are worksheet and activities for use from pre-K through high school.  With the basic free membership you can download 9 worksheets a month at no cost.  There is also a pay option if you want unlimited worksheets.  I probably don't need that, but for anyone who does homeschooling that may be useful.

*I am in no way being compensated for this blog post.  I'm just excited about the resource.  Bumble Bee and our neighbor just made cute little mini-book.  They colored and then read them out loud and they were excited to do it.  This is great because I sometimes struggle with her not being willing to read with me.

Another Thought on Forgiveness This Lent

I just finished reading The Illumined Heart by Frederica Mathewes-Green.  I won't do an elaborate review because the book is an easy read that you could practically finish just as quickly as reading about it.  It is worth reading, too.  In particular there are some very apt sayings that we should all remember in our struggles to be good Christians.

I'll quote one of these.  In speaking about forgiveness she says, "We release the one who hurt us from his debt, seeing what a greater debt God has already given us.  To the best of our ability, we should try to resume a relationship and behave toward the person with love, since that is the kind of forgiveness God models toward us." (94)

How often people say, "I'll forgive you, but I can't forget," meaning we'll never actually be friends again.  Is this actually forgiveness?  I've always felt it isn't.  Indeed, when we pray the Lord's Prayer and say, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," I always felt that there was something to this not only of forgiving, but the way in which we forgive.  If we forgive fully so God will forgive us.  If we merely say the words without feeling the forgiveness in our hearts, will we still be forgiven?

As I think of the struggles in my own life and those within my diocese these words from The Illumined Heart really strike home.  I think there is a lot of talk and a whole lot less actual forgiveness going on...  May God grant us all the strength to truly forgive as He does.