Everyday Sanctity

I am reading Everyday Sanctity, a book recommended to me by Debbie A. It is very inspiring. The first part is talking about ways to sanctify our morning, as a means to begin a sanctification of the entire day. (Well begun is half done, and all that.)

This is a Schoenstatt book, and I find myself really growing in appreciation of three aspects of Schoenstatt:

1. Its focus on growing in holiness, pouring out my life for God, through my responsibilities as father, husband, worker, and friend;
2. Its practical nature; Not only does the Schoenstoatt movement encourage holiness in general, but provides a number of specific practices geared towards people living in families, in the world.
3. The call to holiness is deep and "radical." This is not just an admonishment to be good or avoid serious sin. It is a call to live every moment with burning love for God, for the Church, for Mary, for our families. This call, if fully answered, can be as heroic and self-sacrificing as any other. More importantly, it is the call of God, and it is what He wants for us.
   

Just the Right Amount of Nerdiness

Thanks to marriage, I am nerdier than 48% of all people. (I'm sure that if I was not married, my score would be much more nerdy.)

She has her father's intelligent expression

 

Father Nathan?

Perhaps Nathan will be a priest when he grows up. He is quite happy to dress up as Fr. Jon for the Feast of All Saints. 

Attractive Nuisance

Wow. It has been incredibly difficult to get back into writing lately. I'?m not quite sure what the problem is. I suppose that fact that we have this wonderful little baby is a little distracting. But there is more to it than that.

I'm continually drawn to the "attractive nuisance." I like to fiddle and tweak my system endlessly. I am working hard to focus (at least at work) on the task at hand, and not optimize, defrag, scan, repair, or fiddle with my perfectly-fine working system.

I am one of these people who will spend hours messing with productivity-enhancing and time management systems (like my favorite these days, Getting Things Done) but will avoid doing the actual work. It has been a great relief and inspiration to find that I'm not the only one.

There is much to write about. Let's see what the next few days actually brings. Some topics to consider:

1. Our lovely new daughter, Kathryn.
2. A really interesting course on Agile Development that I'm taking today and tomorrow.
   
3. Two fascinating articles on differences between races and genders.

For now, I'll take the easy route and post a few pictures.