Homeschool Goodies

Here’s what we’ve got in ours:
Tomatoes, cayenne peppers, & okra. Not pictured: pumpkins, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, & lettuce.

The very first sunflower and a couple of other works of art:

All the fireworks exploding on high,
Celebrating the Fourth of July,
Symbolize how we fought
For that world-changing thought:
If we cannot live free, we shall die.
– frd

by F.R. Duplantier

Do you know what’s wrong with America? Ask that question of a hundred different Americans and you’ll get a hundred different answers – and that’s what’s right with America! We’re free to criticize our government, our churches, and all our social institutions. Most of the foreigners who seem to hate America so much would never dare to express disapproval of their own governments. It’s not allowed where they live. But we have a Constitution and a legal system that protect our freedom.

We’re free to speak our minds, and we’re free to travel too – to go where we please, when we please. We don’t have to ask permission or explain the purpose for our trips or carry identification cards.

We’re free to choose our own religions, and to convert from one to another without fear of reprisal. Our services don’t have to be sanctioned and our sermons aren’t censored.

We’re free to choose any career we like, to work as much or as little as we want, to keep our earnings, to pass our wealth on to our children, and to contribute to any charity we favor. We’re not coerced or compelled into approved occupations, with the fruits of our labor withheld or “donations” forcibly extracted from us.

We’re free to raise our children the way we see fit, in our own faiths and with our own values. Our children are not wards of the state, spying on us and turning us in for ideological error.

We’re free to own and use firearms to protect our families and possessions. We’re not serfs and slaves dependent on masters to take care of us.

What’s wrong with America? The only thing really wrong with America is that we all spend too much time harping on what’s wrong. We spend too much time complaining about the few minuscule things that are wrong and too little time rejoicing in the many grand and marvelous things that are right. America is a great country, the greatest country on earth, the greatest country in the history of the world. Why shouldn’t we be proud of her? Why shouldn’t we be proud to be Americans? God has blessed this nation like no other. We should pray that He always will. This should be our daily invocation: God bless America!

It’s up to you to teach your children all the things that are right with America. Tell them the story of our war for independence. Recite “Paul Revere’s Ride” for them. Teach them the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” to “America the Beautiful,” and to “God Bless America.” Read our Declaration out loud and discuss with them the “self-evident” truths that are catalogued there, along with the list of grievances against the king. Tell them what happened to the men who dared to sign that document, how they gave everything they had for a cause they believed in. Watch “The Patriot” together, at least once a year. Review our Constitution and our Bill of Rights with your children. Make sure they understand and appreciate their liberty. That’s the only way they’ll keep it.

This week’s Catholic Carnival is hosted by Jane at Building the Ark.

Swimming Lessons for all ages. Come on in, the water’s fine!

General: That there may be an increase in the number of those who volunteer to serve the Christian community with generous and prompt availability
Mission: That World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, may kindle the fire of divine love in numerous young people and render them sowers of hope for a new humanity

What a very cool idea, iRosary for your iPhone.

This seminarian is incredibly creative! Thanks, Jeff!

Prayer to St. Paul

Glorious St Paul,
Most zealous Apostle,
Martyr for the love of Christ,
Give us a deep faith,
A steadfast hope,
A burning love for our Lord

So that we can proclaim with you
‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.’

Help us to become apostles
Serving the Church with a pure heart
Witnesses to her truth and beauty
Amidst the darkness of our days.

With you we praise God our Father
‘To Him be the glory, in the Church and in Christ
Now and for ever.’
Amen.

From the Archdiocese of Saint Louis website:
The following is the text of Archbishop Raymond L. Burke’s statment regarding his appointment as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. The appointment was announed at the Vatican on Friday, June 27, 2008.

Today, at noon in Rome (5 a.m. CDT), it was announced that His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has named me prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, effective immediately. With the announcement, I ceased to be the Archbishop of St. Louis.

I am deeply humbled by the trust which His Holiness has placed in me, and, in priestly obedience, I have pledged to serve our Holy Father to the best of my abilities. Although you will no longer pray for me as your archbishop, especially during the celebration of the Holy Mass, I ask your prayers for me, that I may faithfully and generously cooperate with God’s grace in fulfilling my new responsibilities.

Leaving the service of the Church in the Archdiocese of St. Louis is most sad for me. It has been an honor and gift for me to serve the archdiocese over the past four years and five months. It had been my hope to serve here for a long time, but, as the bishop who called me to priestly ordination often remarked, “Man proposes, but God disposes.” I trust that doing what our Holy Father has asked me to do will bring blessings to the Archdiocese of St. Louis and to me. St. Louis is a great archdiocese which will always have a treasured place in my heart.

In a particular way, I am saddened to leave my fellow priests, whom I have so much grown to esteem and love. Often, I have spoken about the remarkable unity and loyalty of our presbyterate. For me, it has been a special grace to work with them in the service of God’s flock in the archdiocese. I thank them for the priestly fraternity which they have always shown me, and for the generous obedience with which they have responded to my pastoral care and governance of our beloved archdiocese.

With regard to the governance of the archdiocese, the College of Consultors will meet to elect an archdiocesan administrator who, with the help of the consultors, will govern the archdiocese, until the new archbishop is appointed and installed. Please pray for the College of Consultors and for the archdiocesan administrator whom they will elect.

Again, I ask your prayers. You can count upon my daily prayers for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, always.

Don’t miss this week’s Catholic Carnival!

Well, it pays to get going early, especially when there is a book giveaway involved. This morning, Seminarian Matthew at A Catholic Life hosted a book giveaway of Greater Than You Think by Fr. Thomas D. Williams. With five books to give away, I was recipient number four. Thanks, Matthew, I am looking forward to reading this book.