Catholic Hearts Domestic Church

After a black-out a bit over a month ago, with much information lost on our blog, we are just now pulling the pieces back together. We’ll be back with updated blog posts soon.

At long last, and very much delayed, we are finally planted! We are SO excited!

First we had to get approval from our apartment complex to have a garden on the balcony.

………….

Then we had to make the gardening plans – ok, we faked this step We rarely plan anything except on the fly.

………….

We did pick up this book which was promptly plowed through by the voracious new reader in the house – now the in-house expert on gardening of course:
Onions in My Boots – Catholic Heritage Curricula

………….

We got our bins set up and ordered our seeds… We kept forgetting to get some rocks to use as drainage. Finally managed that one, 3 days *after* the seeds arrived and on our return trip from purchasing soil (purchasing soil??? Yep. When you live in an apartment complex; not many people appreciate you digging holes in their yards so you can have some free soil…. $1.50 for a 40 lb pound isn’t bad – and I didn’t have to dig it up myself – just carry it upstairs and out to our balcony!).

………….

Our seeds came from St. Clare Seeds who specialize in non-GMO, non-hybrid, non-treated heirloom and open-pollinated vegetable garden seeds…. and worm poop!

………….

I’m NOT kidding. My son LOVES the worm poop. We use it in our compost bin now and it is just the coolest thing ever for him!

………….

Ok, ok, ok, so it’s actually called worm castings. But when you’re a 6 year old boy, what is cooler than worm poop in a bin of rotting food that will become soil and compost to make the food that you will be eating, some of which will be turned into…. well, I won’t go there. I’m not a 6 year old boy.

………….

We wanted <a href=”http://www.outdora.com/lawn—garden-composters.html”>these compost bins from Outdora.com</a>, but money being what it is, we’ll have to wait. So our makeshift compost bins are thriving (one is full and sealed up to finish up its business; just got the second started yesterday).

………….

And our other bins are full of rocks, soil and seeds.

Oh… did someone ask,

So, what did you plant in each of them?

Oops.

We’ll get back with you in about 2-3 months.

*****Seeking Garden of Francis website reviews*****

Anyone interested in reviewing the e site and e-mailing it to me, please leave a comment here expressing interest. This will not be a public review; and I want brutally honest truth

Anyone completing this request, sending a thoughtful e-mailed review may choose any one of the following products (with free shipping!) as compensation:
*10 oz bar soap of choice
*2 cups of all-natural powdered laundry soap (16 loads)
*Any 2 St. Joseph picture books
*Any one cotton or mesh produce bag
*Dirty diaper bag (small)
*1 Scripture booklet download
(or another suggested item of equivalent value)

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atriums use 2-D wooden figures to portray parable figures. Why not 3-dimensional? Because 3-dimensional figures represent real people who lived in a real time in a real place – parables represent many situations, while describing one particular situation, they actually have many levels of truth and can be universally applied; so we leave them 2-dimensional without facial details to leave room open for those other layers of reality to shine through.

And we never reveal to the child what those truths are – we may guide them along a path towards proper doctrine, but the child almost always come to a deeper truth than we could have told him or explained to him.

For a limited time only, the 2-dimensional wooden figures of the atrium will be available at 2-Dimensional Wooden Figures. Available additional items include the liturgical calendar, the Cosmic Cross puzzle and more. If you don’t see something you’d like to order, send a request and it can be probably be done! Figures will need to be painted by you and inserted into their (included) bases.

I watched this movie once (well, I’ve seen it several times). A man is leaning against a wall at a school. He hears this bell ringing and he’s wondering why the children aren’t coming out if the bell is ringing – he’s looking around. The fact is that while he is “just leaning against the wall” – that is *all* he is doing – the result is that by leaning on that exact spot, he is actually leaning on the school bell. But he’s not *ringing* the bell, he’s leaning against the wall.

Many people can be doing a particular thing, but the outcome can still have unintended results. Good and bad. And we must be responsible for those results, because we are the ones who committed the initial action.

I might just be working on the computer or sewing all day, but the result, if I’m not totally careful, is that my housekeeping falls apart and my children get no time with me.

I might just be driving totally legally but if I’m not watching for the sides of the road too, I might hit a deer. Unintended result – even when watching for the things.

If I were married and I spent a few hours with a man who was not my husband, perhaps someone from church who doesn’t have a car or can’t drive and needs help with errands or getting to/from work, my husband might not be happy with that and other people in the community may have other thoughts about the situation. Regardless of community opinion, I wouldn’t be meeting the needs of my husband and children.

If I have a beautiful gift from God before me and I choose to act as if it doesn’t matter, or act as though it will always be there, or act as though I’m not focused on it out of fear that the gift might distract me from God, or treat that gift poorly because it’s just a material thing, if that gift can provide me with something that God wants me to have and I choose to look elsewhere for what that gift was intended to give – well, I’m not honoring God, though my intention *is* only to honor God.

I might just be swinging my arms around and spinning around – and then the vase of flowers falls over and shatters with flowers, water and glass everywhere. I didn’t intend for that result, but it happened, and I am the responsible party.

Every action has consequences. Good and bad. We are responsible for them.

Think before you act.

The Israelites were just walking around the walls – while they intended to defeat Jericho, they had no way of knowing that *just* walking would knock those walls! They still take full responsibility for knocking down those walls, although *all* they were doing was obeying God's command to "Keep Walking!"”