7-in-7, Day 2 - So Much Internet Goodness

My, oh my! This post is late today (see #4 for the reason why)

There is SO MUCH internet goodness today. Friends are posting stuff left and right on fb that has me happy, thoughtful and saying, "coooool"!

1) First up - this cool blog from Hannah at The Art in Life, "My Husband is not my soul mate". We hear lots of things about God and marriage, one of them being, "God has someone out there for you". The truth is, there are probably lots of someones out there for you. God gave us free will and we use it. Every choice we make takes us a different direction (just like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, which I LOVE... I mean, LOVED!). Marriage is a choice - one person, for life. And that gets made day after day after day. Love in marriage cannot rest on a feeling, because when the feeling goes, what is the point of the marriage? But when love is a choice - a choice of an exercise of our free will, then love becomes a daily offering.
Ursula Le Guin, a great science fiction writer, said this: "Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new."
Not that God does not care who we marry. It just is not written in permanent ink from the day of our birth. 

2) Numero dos - this very cool poem called "We Need Saints". On fb today, it is making the rounds as something said by Pope Francis at World Youth Day, and maybe he quoted it. However, it is a poem, apparently inspired by JPII. I am really not sure of the exact origin, but I love the poem. Thanks to Mario St. Francis for this translation from the Portuguese on his site.

                                    

We Need Saints
We need saints without veil or cassock.
We need saints who wear jeans and sneakers.
We need saints who go to the movies,
listen to music and hang out with friends.

We need saints who put God in first place,
but who let go of their power.

We need saints who have time everyday to pray
and who know how to date in purity and chastity,
or who consecrate their chastity.

We need modern saints, Saints of the 21st century
with a spirituality that is part of our time.

We need saints committed to the poor
and the necessary social changes.

We need saints who live in the world and who are sanctified in the world,
who are not afraid to live in the world.

We need saints who drink Coke and eat hot dogs, who wear jeans,
who are Internet-savvy, who listen to CDs.

We need saints who passionately love the Eucharist
and who are not ashamed to drink a soda or eat pizza on weekends with friends.

We need saints who like movies, the theater, music, dance, sports.

We need saints who are social, open, normal,
friendly, happy and who are good companions.

We need saints who are in the world
and know how to taste the pure and nice things of the world
but who aren’t of the world.

3. A really cool video celebrating geeky girls! I did not ever think of myself as a geek when I was younger. But now I realize, it was there all along. I have always loved Star Trek NG and I got my first gaming system when I was 9. I learned computer programming on an old TI. As a Big Girl now, I love Avengers, comic books, sci fi movies, video games and I coach robotics and engineering team. I am PROUD to be a geeky girl!

4.  Our first official off-season First Lego League meeting today. This is the 4th season for Storm System, and the boys are super excited over the theme for this year, Nature's Fury. We have the game mat and the pieces, but we do not have building instructions yet. 

Our new parent banner!

The challenge release date is August 27, which seems a long, long time away. However, I know it will get here much faster than I imagine, and before I know it, I will be howling about competition time!

I made them play Pictionary to begin the meeting. That announcement was met with howls of dismay and protest. Sigh. Some had never played it, some did not know how to play it, and some were "really horrible at it - I can't do it - I will really stink at it". Just like a real FLL meeting!
Cruel coach that I am, I made them play anyway. And - gasp! - they had fun. Imagine that! They were much better at it than they thought. Plus, there is teamwork, cooperation and lots of opportunities for encouragement (hence the coach in me went, "Hmmmm, perfect! They will have fun AND learn at the same time. Mwah haaah haaaah haaah!").

"Log Cabin"

"Rain Forest"

The figure in the middle clearly demonstrates that this is a drawing of a pirate! Not sure if he has devil horns or huge ears or what is on his head!

The game came down to the last draw. It was a close one! Good thing we are a robotics and engineering team, and not a fine arts team!