A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression,

and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who

suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
so that you may reach out your hand

to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in the world,
so that you can do

what others claim cannot be done
to bring justice and kindness

to all our children and the poor.

Amen and amen. Yeah, I am foolish enough to believe our family can impact those less fortunate than us. I am currently working on a great opportunity to do just this for someone very important to our family. I'll share more in the next post.

Summertime baking

The littles wanted to cook. They wanted to make some brownies and cupcakes. Observing the egg cracking alone would have been worth the price of admission to this show! Ana Lucia claimed the mixer made her arm shake like crazy.

As we were preparing to get everything in the oven Marco asked for a clipboard. Huh? He went around to several neighbors and took their order. He came back with a page for each family and their request for cupcakes, brownies, or some of both. Too funny.

The boys just finished their deliveries much to the delight of the kids in the cul-de-sac..and a few parents as well.

There is nothing like chilling out and participating in a baking project with little kids to remind one of what is important in life.