That's funny--I don't *feel* like Saint Joseph.

In fact, the comparison is pretty much Ludicrous City, next stop.

But that didn't stop our DRE from press-ganging Elizabeth, Heather and me to be the Holy Family in our parish's Nativity Play.

Let's see--I have a beard...and far more importantly, an infant.

Dale III heard about the possibility of being one of the angels and wanted to know if he could be in "the sword fight." It took a second, until I confirmed he was referring to the Archangel Michael expelling Satan from heaven.

I mean, Dude. Wrong scene, wrong book, and waaay too Michael Bay-ish for our restrained suburban congregants.

I don't think I'm one of those parents yet.

But my son scored his first youth flag football points ever on a two-point conversion attempt during the 'Skins victory over the Buccaneers. A professional photographer caught the scene, and persuaded me to part with hard earned cash for a permanent keepsake.



Frankly, him doing anything productive in a skill position role is slightly suspicious, given that his paternal genetics would suggest a "Hulk SMASH!" role on the defensive line, perhaps linebacker, at best. The pigskin is to be swatted at or fallen on, not carried.

Must get it from his mom's side.

Thank you for letting me borrow the Sponger for a while.

The Rev. John Shelby Spong simply couldn't care less about the Catholic provision for the Anglicans.

Which is why he wrote 400 words about it and called people who disagree with his secular hard leftist worldview segregationists and whatnot.

Both of these church leaders seem to me to be lost in the fog of antiquity. For that reason it matters little to me or to most of the world that they continue to play their ecclesiastical kindergarten games. I am quite simply not interested in this debate.

Untruer words were never spoken. *Sure* you don't care, John. I mean, *everyone* cranks out 400 words about something they could care less about, flinging the schoolyard insults all the while.

Don't worry, though--I have every confidence you'll be called for comment when the Episcopalians consecrate a Playstation as Bishop. Then you can wax flatulent about how the "truly enlightened" jettisoned such "obsolete" notions as "organicentrism" *ages* ago...

Ten years, far, far more good than bad.

Thanks, sweetheart, for saying "yes," and then "I do."

Was 1999 all that long ago?

Time to find something "tin" that doesn't suggest "foil" in the same breath.

Two barrels, one report.

Fr. Philip Powell, as is his inimitable Dominican habit (rimshot!), notes something significant about the announcement that Anglicans are getting a glidepath to entry into the Church:

That belly churning howl you heard last night in the US was the collective wailing of the English/Welsh Catholic bishops as Papa Benny ground their lib noses under his bright red shoes. What a satisfying crunch that was, is, and will be forever and forever. Amen.

That is the flip side, and strikes me as the unspoken, and deliberate, second impact from this announcement--namely, a boot to the collective backside of the British Catholic episcopate. As bad as things can be in the U.S., they have been immeasurably worse in England and Wales since the closing of the Second Vatican Council. Imagine an episcopate of Mahonys and Weaklands from Land's End to the River Tweed, and that's pretty much Catholic Britain, with a handful of exceptions. It would take decades of patient episcopal replacement to change the conditions on the ground there. Unless, of course, you were able to do something like inject a brand new ecclesial structure into the mix, independent of the local bishops, along with tens of thousands of newly-minted Catholics with zero patience for bureaucratic prog-speak.

That might tilt the playing field in a landslide hurry.

Under the circumstances, it seems likely to have been goal 1b all along.

Just my tuppence.

Anybody want to buy a house?

"The Detroit metro area now has the dubious distinction of having the lowest home prices in the country. Prices have dropped 51.7% to a median of $50,000. They're expected to fall another 9.1% and then stabilize."

A *median* of $50,000.

We should have stayed in that apartment, hon.

Nah, not really. It's nice to say you own a home. We've built something together, have a lot of good memories, and we've met a many good friends and neighbors. Can't put a price tag on that.

But we can put a price tag on the home. And it's a lot smaller than the mortgage statement...

Elizabeth Christina, October 14-15, 2009.

She just keeps getting cuter--watch the transformation over her first two days.

After 12 hours, a not-quite-successful external version, and a misplaced left arm...

Elizabeth Christina Price made her earthly debut at 8:51pm tonight, via c-section. She's 6 lbs, 9 oz and 19 inches long. And beautiful all over.

Pictures later, when the bleary goes away.

Thanks for the prayers and good wishes.

In the immortal words of Bullwinkle...

This time for sure!

We are going in this morning. Elizabeth will be born today, the only question being the same way as her sisters and brothers or via c-section.

If I could trouble you for prayers/thoughts that she has flipped back out of breech...well, we'd appreciate them.

This could be it.

Heather's experiencing a lot of contractions. We're sending the kids over to the neighbors and are high-tailing it to the hospital.

Pansy Moss could use your prayers and financial help.

She has seven children and a husband who is in desperate need of swift, harsh correction.

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