Things have been busy in these parts, with John studying for a big exam, me trying to simultaneously finish a novel edit and complete our taxes, Jacob mimicking everything we say, and Henry growing bigger and bigger and bigger.

 

We are exhausted, our backs ache, but man, oh man, is this an exciting season of life.

 

Henry has been sleeping lots today, and Jacob is occupying himself with the baby toys I took out for the little guy today. I just finished a serious spring cleaning session, and the sun is shining through our windows. What wonders a good night of sleep can do. Makes you feel like you can blog again!

 

In other news, and I’m not sure if I mentioned the good news here, I am now officially represented by a literary agent, Alexandra Penfold of Upstart Crow Literary. So that’s kind of mind-blowingly exciting. Start the prayers for the right editor to fall in love with my manuscript right now, please!

 

To close this bit of sunshine-induced rambling—and because my mind is capable of little else today—I wanted to share two of my favorite thoughts on the new pope, from various media outlets.

 

First, an article on CNN.com titled, “Catholics: 5 ways for Francis to move forward” ended with a quote that I just can’t believe they printed:

 

And for Martina Lunardelli in Italy, her message for the new pope was even more succinct: Keep it simple.

“I think that the church needs to go back to a simple message which is to love each other and not care about what religion we are or what we believe in,” she said.

“I hope he can do this.”
(Emphasis is mine.)

 

If the Church didn’t care about our religion or beliefs, what would it care about?

 

And on a more positive note: Simcha Fisher posted this image and note in her article, “Papamoon!” on NCRegister.com:

 

 

(from Catholicmemes.com)

 

Pope Francis, future patron saint of the socially awkward.  Oh, how we’ve needed you!

 

Love it!

 

Happy Spring!