Happy Birthday, Zachary Doherty - March 27, 2007

Hi Zachary,

Today you are seven years old. You have grown into such a wonderful little boy, so loving and so very kind. I pray that God will bless you in many ways on this very special day!! I know that I am so truly blessed to have you for my grandson. Happy Birthday!!

Love you lots!!

Mimi

Transparency

In the latest Lenten meditation it talks about transparency - being open with one another, no secrets. In the 12-step programs they say that "You are as sick as your sickest secret." What secrets do we need to open up and share with another? We are never truly free until we do. When we keep secrets we always have to be on guard and protective of our secrets. Constantly worrying that we will be found out. An ancient philosopher once said "Know thyself" and "An unexamined life is not worth living." To be rid of secrets and truly free we need to examine ourselves, go deep within and see all the good and all the bad. Truly know ourselves and never have anymore secrets - not from others and most especially not from ourselves. Confession is a great place to be relieved of all of our secrets. Once shared with another person we will know the peace that surpasses understanding.
God bless!!

Our weaknesses

I read a very good meditation this morning by Fr. Ron Rolheiser. It gave me hope for my weaknesses. That good can come from them since I have so many and they never seem to go away. He speaks of James Hillman whose "view is that it is not our strengths that give us depth and character, but our weaknesses. More of us are rendered superficial by our successes than by our failures; more of us are torn apart by our strengths than by our weaknesses." Who of us doesn't have weaknesses? But who of us want to admit or even look at our weaknesses? We might have to do something about them and that doing is what strengthens us. Polish Psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski says "Almost always deep growth takes place through the opposite - our death, our losses, our dark nights of the soul." Ron Rolheiser says "Inferiorities and failures are not things to be buried as private and past shames. They are to be listened to. They are entries into the depth of our souls." Rejoice!! For we are all human and we all have weaknesses and through those weaknesses we can look deeply at ourselves and seek to know how God works within each one of us.
God bless!!

Self-Awareness

"Know thyself" said an ancient philosopher which holds true today as of old. How many take time in silence and prayer to truly know themselves, to go into the depths of our souls. A recent article in The Pilot suggests asking ourselves certain questions:
1. What am I thinking about most often?
2. What is the state of my emotions?
3. What do my feelings tell me?
4. Can I detect the movement of divine grace within?
5. Has grace come to me in conversation with others?
Each question will give us a view from within and help us to grow into the person God created us to be. It's always so much easier to look at the other, but we could all challenge ourselves to first look within and then we would be empowered to change.

TV & Children

The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's Catholic newspaper, had an article recently about children and TV. There's a new program from satellite television called BabyFirstTV that is aimed at the younger children, below age 2. And yet most psychologists agree that children under the age of 2 should not be exposed to TV. And those over the age of 2 could have exposure but with a parent present. What are your children watching on TV? Are they watching violence, death, loud noise, sexually implicit shows, etc? Do you know? It seems that TV is getting more graphic and showing information of an adult nature to younger and younger children and parents who often tend to use the TV as a babysitter do not know how badly their children are being infected by these programs. The next time your children turn on the TV, watch the program with them, and ask yourself if the characters on the TV portray the kind of person you want your child to become.

Be Wary of your local public school system!

In the March 2nd, 2007 edition of the Boston Archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot, there is an interesting article about reading material that is finding its way into our public schools. A book titled "King & King" is the story of a marriage between two men and this story was used in a first grade classroom. Is this what you want your six-year old children to read? Parents need to be on guard in what their children are exposed to and parents should have the right to refuse to allow such wrongful exposure. The parents of this school system were denied that right by a judge. This is only the beginning!

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth

Elizabeth Doherty celebrated her 28th birthday on February 4, 2007. Another milestone that I forgot to put into my blog. Hopefully I will do better with each new coming event!! Happy Birthday, Elizabeth, and many more!!! Love you!!

Karen and Bonnie away in Pennsylvania!!

Here are the sisters enjoying our last day in the Pocono Mountains at Shawnee Village. We had a wonderful time that was interrupted on Wednesday by a trip to the emergency room so Bonnie could get medicine for a sinus infection and then leaving on Thursday due to a Friday snowstorm! We beat it home and had a relaxing day at my house. Now I miss my sister and look forward to her return in May!! Love you, Karen!!

Zachary lost his first tooth!!

Zachary Doherty, age 6, lost his first tooth on March 14, 2007. I'll have a picture of this fabulous event as soon as I take one!! He is so excited!!

Tea with my girls!!

Here we are, missing Betty!! Amy and her mom Teresa on the left. Leah and her mom Karen on the right. And my two other daughters, Elizabeth and Renee holding up the rear. Wish Betty, Renee's mom, could have been with us. We must do this again!!! Tea and lunch was GREAT!!

Birthday party for MOM Mulligan!!

We gathered in San Diego on February 16, 2007 to celebrate Mom Mulligan's 84th birthday. We were all thrilled to be there but missed brother Dan who was snowbound in Massachusetts!! We did manage to gather Bonnie, Karen, Kevin and Tim. Next year we'll get Dan to fly Southwest!! There's Dan with wife Maggie and son Danny in the upper right picture!! You were there in spirit, Dan!!

Calvin lost his first tooth!!

Calvin Harrington, age 7, lost his first tooth on December 7, 2006. I have just realized that there have been important events that have not been noted in this log and should have been and so rather belatedly are being done now! Calvin's new tooth is growing in quite well and we'll have to take another picture once it is completely in. Calvin was so thrilled at the loss of this first tooth!!