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Finally the race got going and Carl Edwards won.  It was a very exciting race.  Kasey Kahne finished 8th and moved up to 11th in the points.  It was definitely worth waiting for the rain to pass.  

Well seems that it is raining in Bristol Tenn.  After an hour and a half rain delay to the start of the race, 124 laps were run.  Then the dreaded red flag came out.  Another rain delay.  As entertaining as the delay interviews are, I’d much rather be watching Kasey Kahne drive to Victory Lane. Good news is the dryers are on the track now and the car covers are going to come off soon.  

According to the USCCB website:  “The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on ‘re-proposing’ the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith.Pope Benedict XVI called for the re-proposing of the Gospel “to those regions awaiting the first evangelization and to those regions where the roots of Christianity are deep but who have experienced a serious crisis of faith due to secularization.”1 The New Evangelization invites each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.”

When I think of evangelization I picture those people on TV preaching in front of hundreds of people and asking for money.  My palms get sweaty, my heart beats faster and my mind goes blank just like when I was in school.  I have never been good at speaking in public.  I in no way am putting down those dedicated people who use the TV for their churches.  It’s just that it’s a foreign concept for me.

I suppose I could talk about my faith on a one to one basis, but I am not sure that I would be prepared for the types of questions or arguments that would more than likely come about.  I have been thinking about this call to evangelize quite a bit lately.  I have been reading, listening to Catholic radio, and studying my Bible.  So I am being evangelized.  I am learning everything I can about the Catholic Faith. I have been praying for a way for me to do my evangelizing.   I think that this blog is the avenue I am suppose to take.  At least for now.

I am striving to live my faith by being charitable in thought,word and deed and loving my neighbor as myself.  I am learning there is a difference between the sinner and the sin.  And I am becoming schooled in the dogma of the Catholic Church.

It is my sincere hope that this blog will help someone find their way to the fullness of the Catholic Church.  

Yesterday was my quilting guild day.  We had a great meeting that ended in a batik fabric swap.  I didn’t take part as I am not a big fan of batiks.  But the girls had a great time and everyone loved the fabrics they each received.

One of the girls also had fabric that a friend of hers had left from her quilt shop.  She was retiring. There was beautiful fabric for $4.00 a yard.  Quite the bargain for quilt shop quality fabric. Unfortunately I am on a budget right now and just looked.

I never understood the attraction to fabric until I began quilting.  When I was a young girl, my mom did a lot of sewing for me.  She sewed beautifully.  But she could spend FOREVER in Yards.  Yards was a fabric shop at the Levittown Shopping Center near where we lived.  She would show me fabric and ask me if I liked it or not.  I would say yes hoping that we could move on.  Never worked though.  She would move on to another bolt of fabric.  Now that I quilt I understand.  Mom would be very happy that I sew now.  I make clothes for my granddaughter, quilts, curtains and lots of other things. My mom tried to get me to sew for years. I almost flunked Home Economics my freshman year because we had to make a jumper. Mine was terrible.  I was told to take it home over the weekend and bring it back fixed or else. Mom fixed it for me and I passed.  She gave up on my sewing.  I had my first daughter in 1972.  Mom was delighted. She started back on my sewing again and  made me feel guilty by telling me every little girl should have a dress made for her by her mother.  I bought into it and finally made her one.   I still have the dress.  That was back in 1974.  I actually made an Easter outfit for the same daughter in 1978.  I made that outfit in my mom’s honor with the help of my neighbor Sue who was just as talented as my mom.   Mom died in 1977. After that I only mended and made curtains.

I did a lot of knitting and crocheting taught to me by my mom.  I then added cross stitch, crewel, embroidery all kinds of needle work.  I liked doing that a lot.  I still do all of it from time to time.  I always wanted to learn how to quilt.  My husband was from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and the Amish quilts I used to see when we visited there made me drool.  His grandmother was going to teach me to quilt, but before she could she became ill and died.

So, after we moved to North Carolina I finally got my chance.  In 2005 I joined Brunswick Quilters and was lucky enough to find a very talented mentor who shared her love for quilting with me.  The rest so they say is history.  🙂

“It is a lesson we all need – to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path.” (St. Katharine Drexel)

Lent begins this week on March 5th, which is Ash Wednesday in Western Christianity.  This is the day Catholics go to church and have ashes put on their foreheads.  Blessed palms from the previous year are burned to obtain the ashes.  It is a sign that from dust we were made and to dust we will return.

Lent is a period of forty days of preparation to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Fasting, abstinence, and alms giving, are the main tenets.  Following the example of Jesus in the desert., giving up luxuries, practicing self discipline, and spending more time in prayer provide for a closer relationship with God.

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday the faithful fast having only one meal in the evening and abstain from meat.   The other Fridays in Lent the faithful abstain from meat.  Sundays are not included in Lenten fasts because they are celebrations in reminiscence of Easter.  Giving alms or performing works of mercy can be both corporal or spiritual.  We are always called to help our neighbor but during Lent, we are called to do more than what we usually do.

The final week of Lent begins with Palm Sunday.  This day celebrates the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem and the people lay palms down before him.  Lent ends on Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday with the beginning of the Mass of the Lord’s supper.

Well, the race is over.  I can’t say it was especially exciting.  Kasey had a really bad car, went a lap down but fought back to his starting position at 11th.  

Yesterday was very busy.  I had a doctor appointment, then Gary and I had run around doing errands.  The time got away from us so we stopped to grab something to eat.  I was sitting across the table from Gary when I noticed this sign above his head.

If you can’t read it, it says, “We will serve each other and out guests with enthusiasm.”  Serve – Enthusiastically meet the needs of others before your own needs are met.

I was very impressed by this and indeed our server was very pleasant and enthusiastic.  I realized that this vision statement comes from the words of Jesus. Love thy neighbor as thy self.   It doesn’t matter in what situation you find yourself we are called to love and serve each other joyfully.  Even if that service is picking up the mail for your neighbor, working as a waitress in a restaurant, or working in a community outreach program.  It’s realizing that our neighbor doesn’t mean the neighbor that looks and acts like us, but also the ones who look different, or travel in different social circles.  Just think how nice our world would be if we would all adopt this Vision Statement.

Daytona is still in a rain delay!