Mary

• Several years ago I attended a youth ministry workshop that really made me stop and think. The guest speaker, Jesse Manebusen started talking about Mary. Talking about Mary and how she chose to be the mother of Christ and what a powerful choice it was. Now I don't know if you're like me but I always sort of had a sort of wishywashy Mary pictured in my head. She was never really much in my mind except at Christmas. Just sort of a minor character in the Christmas pageant. Until Jesse spoke, I had never pictured her as strong. I never though about her making that difficult choice. There she was....A nice, quiet Jewish girl, engaged, probably worrying about where to seat the great aunts at the wedding feast when this Angel shows up and says hey... Your going to have a baby. No date, no dinner first. Just the Good News . Now remember, this was BC. The law was very specific if she had a baby with no ring, Joe could send her away and she would probably be killed. Tough choice huh. I'm not sure my faith would be strong enough to say yes to that. Strong lady that Mary... I think that it was after that workshop that I began to really be conscious of the choices I a was making in my life. Sometimes we forget that we have a choice. Where to live, what to eat, what to wear, what to say. Sometimes we get so caught up in our lives that we begin to feel like victims rather than participants. Well anyway we always have a choice. As a Catholic mom I need to remember that. Everyday I get to choose and the choices are important. As a woman of this generation being a mom first is defiantly a choice. It is not a automatic thing like it was for our moms and grandmothers..... I like to remind the youth I work with that we are all kind of like Indiana Jones, we must choose and choose wisely. So on the eat and drink part . That will definitely be part of this blog because , well I love food. Here is an easy recipe for no cook candy that my grandma used to let us make with her. No Cook Candy 1 cup honey or corn syrup 1 cup dry powdered milk 1 cup peanut butter Mix all ingredients and shape in as desired Roll in chocolate supremely, cookie crumbs, chopped nuts or coconut for variety