Catholic Exchange

He Restoreth My Soul

• Archives
• Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
• Mary Biever

Breakfast means Bible and history time in the Biever family.  On good days, the breakfast is balanced and we begin our day together.  On bad days, breakfast is whatever we can grab.  Every day starts with a Bible reading —… Read More

What Can I Do?

• Archives
• Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
• Mary Biever

Beware the morale sucker, otherwise known as media reports on this election.  As soon as I see or read one story, I read another and another until my hope for my children is utterly extinguished.  It’s just under two weeks… Read More

Stop, Drop, and Pray

• Archives
• Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
• Mary Biever

The world seems like it’s on fire.  Markets collapse.  That which we thought was secure is gone.  It must have been what it felt like when Rome was burning.  We don’t yet know whether the fire will stop today or… Read More

Sometimes God Sends Us Lilies

• Archives
• Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
• Mary Biever

Zucchini is the gold standard of my summer garden.  I can eat a zucchini, by myself, every meal, every day, for a month and enjoy every squash.  This spring, as we began to plan our garden, the best squash took… Read More

The Hurricane’s Eye

• Archives
• Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
• Mary Biever

Cable news crews race to hurricanes. They show live updates: water  swirling, trees bent, and wind knocking loose items behind the reporter, who is trying not to fall on his backside.
The hurricane floods coastal cities. Buildings collapse. Some residents… Read More

When the Wind Blows and the Ground Rolls

• Archives
• Monday, April 28th, 2008
• Mary Biever

Last December, two weeks before Christmas, I started to leave home one evening to teach a computer class.  Decorations moved gently in the breeze, and I was opening my car door when the weather siren sounded.  It was a tornado… Read More

Chats with God

• Archives
• Monday, April 21st, 2008
• Mary Biever

You may homeschool, but I couldn’t,” a mom a year tells me.  Today was this year’s day.”That’s what I said.  If I hadn’t been called by God, I wouldn’t homeschool.”
The mother on the other side of this conversation stared… Read More

Old Woman Blues

• Archives
• Saturday, April 12th, 2008
• Mary Biever

The morning I woke up, looked in the mirror, and howled, "The horror!  The horror!"  should have been my first clue.  As I stared into the mirror, the face looking back at me had crows' feet, puffy bags, extra neck tissue, and grey straggles in the hair.

I have become an old woman.  Or at least a middle-aged mother.

When I sat with my friends, before we went in to hear a comedian the most important thing was a pitstop to avoid embarrassment mid-joke in a belly laugh.

Then my teen-aged daughter told me someone had – like – an old hairstyle that dated all the way back to the nineties.   Ten years ago is no longer a long time.  Twenty years cannot be a long time either.

I Said I Would Bring Them Home

• Archives
• Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
• Mary Biever

Gas prices change our habits.  Friends who live half an hour from us were heading on a vacation trip yesterday.  They happened to have both vans near our home but were leaving in the opposite direction.  To save an hour's time and gas, they called us yesterday, "Can we park our 2^nd van at your house for the week?"

We said yes.  No one has asked us something like that before.  But I think we will all grow more accustomed to such calls.  They dropped off the van and commented if we needed to borrow it for an emergency, no problem.

This morning, I was heading out of state to teach for the morning.  Our kids had early swimming, and I took them on my way out of town.  Our plan was for my husband to pick them up when they were finished to get them home.  

Fast Times in Tornado Alley

• Archives
• Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
• Mary Biever

My son, only 3 at the time, peered out the storm door as dark clouds approached from the west. Welcome to springtime in Tornado Alley. I had just cleaned the door and didn't want to clean it again. "Don't even… Read More