How's this for New Evangelization?

A popular quarterback paints a Bible verse on his face for a nationally televised game.

Faith and answered prayers

A touching post from the husband of Anissa Mayhew, a popular blogger who recently suffered a serious stroke. An excerpt:

The thing about faith is it's not about what you want. It's a confidence that God won't give you any challenge you can't handle….you just don't know what that limit is. 'Nissa and I talked about this when Peyton [their daughter] was first diagnosed [with cancer]. For the first time, there was a very real possibility of a poor outcome for one of our kids.

There is, however, a certain calm that overtakes you when you take your hands off the wheel of life and let God do the driving.

Read the rest here.

Thanksgiving leftover recipe ideas

Yummy!

World's smallest mom about to have third baby

Despite the risks to her health from being only 2' 4" tall, Stacey Herald says of having kids:

We didn't plan to have more than two kids, we just think that they're a great gift to the world, and when I look at them I see Will and I feel so full of love, it's tough not to want more.

Read the rest here.

"He heard every word!"

An amazing story of a man who was thought to be in a coma but was conscious the whole time.

How to keep kids awake in the car

Hilarious/genius/so true:

One woman's story of God intervening when she hit rock bottom

A powerful, inspiring story.

Woman leaves $40,000 at shrine for safekeeping

Great story.

"Why I love liturgy"

An interesting post from a former fundamentalist who discovered the beauty of liturgical worship.

Water boiled in a microwave can suddenly "explode"

It sounds like an urban legend, but this can actually happen! (Snopes notes that it's very rare -- still interesting to read about, though.)

"My Diet Coke conversion story"

Rachel Balducci talks about the huge changes she saw in her life after giving up Diet Coke.

In search of Shackleton's Scotch

The coolest archeological dig ever?

A saint and mother of eight

I enjoyed reading the biography of St. Margaret of Scotland, whose feast day is today. More on Wikipedia.

Beautiful Universe Astronomy Quiz

Fun for astronomy buffs.

Famous world sites done in Legos

Wow, cool!

What to do if you find that you don't enjoy playing with your children

Author Holly Pierlot offers some good advice to a mom who writes in to say that she feels guilty because she doesn't honestly enjoy spending lots of time playing games with her young children. (Scroll down to the comments below the part that says "Struggling with the 4th P." The 4th P refers to Pierlot's recommendation of prioritizing life according to the "5 P's: Prayer, Person, Partner, Parenthood, Providing.)

Grief and joy after the loss of a son

A beautiful column from Mary Ellen Barrett, talking about grief and joy after the loss of her 14-year-old son.

"There was no fast in Advent, so it follows that there can be no feast"

Some interesting thoughts on preparing ourselves for Christmas.

High-tech holy water dispensers

Some Italian Catholic churches now have high-tech holy water dispensers because of swine flu fears.

Two interesting archeological stories

Archeologists may have found an ancient army that was rumored to have been lost in a sandstorm, and the discovery of a sixth-century church and its cemetery gives interesting insights into early Christian culture.

"Where I write"

Pictures of famous sci-fi authors in their creative spaces.

Where did the Japanese come from?

A fascinating article for historical anthropology buffs. An excerpt:

These facts seem to suggest that the Japanese reached Japan only recently from the Asian mainland...But if that were true, you might expect the Japanese language to show close affinities to some mainland language, just as English is obviously closely related to other Germanic languages...How can we resolve this contradiction between Japan's presumably ancient language and the evidence for recent origins?

During the Ice Ages, land bridges connected Japan's main islands to one another and to the mainland, allowing mammals -- including humans -- to arrive on foot. Archeologists have proposed four conflicting theories. Most popular in Japan is the view that the Japanese gradually evolved from ancient Ice Age people who occupied Japan long before 20,000 B.C. Also widespread in Japan is a theory that the Japanese descended from horse-riding Asian nomads who passed through Korea to conquer Japan in the fourth century, but who were themselves -- emphatically -- not Koreans. A theory favored by many Western archeologists and Koreans, and unpopular in some circles in Japan, is that the Japanese are descendants of immigrants from Korea who arrived with rice-paddy agriculture around 400 B.C.

Read the rest here.

via Darwin Catholic

African Desert Rift Confirmed As New Ocean In The Making

Cool geology news.

via Jason Signalness (Twitter)

A silver lining to the American vocations crisis?

Interesting thoughts!

Newborns Cry in Their Native Tongue

Interesting: Newborns cry differently depending on the language their parents speak, indicating that they hear more in the womb than previously thought.

How to Stop a Cold in Just 12 Hours

Some good tips. I thought this part was interesting:

In one lab study from the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, researcher Stephen Rennard, M.D., discovered that his grandmother-in-law's chicken soup recipe might help relieve some of the inflammation behind cold symptoms. In the test tube, the soup inhibited movement of white blood cells called neutrophils by 75 percent; researchers suspect that in your upper respiratory tract, this curtailed movement could translate into a reduction in cold symptoms.

Read the rest here.

Spiritual housekeeping

I like Tienne's analogy of sins being like dirt and clutter in a house.

Feeling beautiful

A touching post by Stephanie Nielson, who is recovering from being badly burned in a plane crash.

Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids

Some amusing and interesting thoughts. An excerpt:

How Many Kids Will You Want When You’re 60?

A. Due to basic biology, human beings usually have all the kids they will ever have during a span of a few years. Also due to basic biology, those are also the years when kids are the most work.

B. My casual observation: People usually stop having children when they feel exhausted. Smart, right?

C. Not really. Your workload will fall as your kids grow up. Eventually, you’ll be bugging them to spend time with you.

D. If you look far enough into the future, every child you have is a chance to have some grandchildren. And people really love grandchildren – after all, as soon as they cease to be fun, you send them home.

E. None of these means that we should ignore the exhaustion we feel as young parents. But basic economics does tell us that when we make a decision that lasts a lifetime, we should balance our interests over the course of our lives – not do whatever feels best at the time.

F. In short, I’m not asking anyone to stop being selfish. I’m asking people to get better at being selfish.

Read the rest here.

Information is beautiful

A blog all about presenting information graphically. Cool.

Amazing paper crafts

Beautiful!

via Faith and Family Live

A great interview about Anne Rice's "reversion" to faith

Anne Rice tells how her evolution of writing about vampires to angels reflected her spiritual journey from atheism to the Catholic faith.

10 easy arithmetic tips

Kinda cool.