ADV #089: The Dead Milkman

There’s not really a dead milkman, Return of Catholic Family Podcast, Greg’s Coagulated CNMC Talk, Binge Listening, Life Changers Galore, and Teens and the Restored Order. 888-299-8686 to leave feedback and be a part of the show!
Not sure how to listen to, download, or subscribe to a podcast?  Check out this video.

Want to be a part of the show?

Your voice makes the show fun for us to do! Call our feedback line and leave a message of two minutes or less at 888-299-8686 or send MP3 to [email protected].

Click here to get a downloadable version of Greg’s Sacred Heart painting or text SACREDHEART to 33444

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Links and Resources Mentioned

Thanks

Like the music we use in the show?  It’s all courtesy of Popple.  Awesome band.  Check them out and support them.

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ADV #088: When You’re Feeling Lost

Steps to take When You’re Feeling Lost, Denver Comic Con Experiences, Hero Bear, Tiny Titans, and Mouse Guard, Resources for Divorced Catholics, Steps to Save Marriages, and Jennifer Deals with a Cold Sore. 888-299-8686 to leave feedback and be a part of the show!
Not sure how to listen to, download, or subscribe to a podcast?  Check out this video.

Want to be a part of the show?

Your voice makes the show fun for us to do! Call our feedback line and leave a message of two minutes or less at 888-299-8686 or send MP3 to [email protected].

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Links and Resources Mentioned

Thanks

Like the music we use in the show?  It’s all courtesy of Popple.  Awesome band.  Check them out and support them.

Oh, and for those of you who wanted to see it, here’s the picture of Marty that Greg took during the show:
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VIDEO: Saints Among Us – Full Documentary

A few weeks ago I shared a teaser of a video my office produced for Archbishop’s upcoming pastoral letter on the restored order (to be released on May 24, 2015), which we talked about on TCND Episode #062 a few months ago.

Well now I’m proud to share the full documentary for this project. I’m very proud of my team at work, especially Jason Taylor, the creative production specialist I had to go all the way to Canada to find. He’s amazing and did a fantastic job bringing this production to life.

Hope you enjoy this!

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ADV #087: Glopcrylics

Greg’s Bad Mood, Feedback on Quiet Time and When God Says No, Marriage Matters, Painting Surprise, and Glopcyrlics. 888-299-8686 to leave feedback and be a part of the show!
Not sure how to listen to, download, or subscribe to a podcast?  Check out this video.

Want to be a part of the show?

Your voice makes the show fun for us to do! Call our feedback line and leave a message of two minutes or less at 888-299-8686 or send MP3 to [email protected].
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Links and Resources Mentioned

And yes, is you text this week’s show title to 33444 there’ll be a special surprise 🙂

Thanks

Like the music we use in the show?  It’s all courtesy of Popple.  Awesome band.  Check them out and support them.

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ADV #086: Snowy Mother’s Day

Snowy Mother’s Day, Crazy Week of Ailments, Homeless Feedback, Success Tools Blueprint, Overpopulation Myth, and Greg’s New Original Song. 888-299-8686 to leave feedback and be a part of the show!
Not sure how to listen to, download, or subscribe to a podcast?  Check out this video.

Want to be a part of the show?

Your voice makes the show fun for us to do! Call our feedback line and leave a message of two minutes or less at 888-299-8686 or send MP3 to [email protected].

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Check out Greg’s New Song!
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Here’s the blog and Walter’s video we discussed:
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Links and Resources Mentioned

Thanks

Like the music we use in the show?  It’s all courtesy of Popple.  Awesome band.  Check them out and support them.

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Broken Man (Original Song)

When I first learned to play the guitar in the early 90’s (when I was in my early 20’s), I used to write a new song almost every week. Now I write something new only every couple of years. But writing this new song triggered something cathartic in me that I can’t adequately express. I’m hoping maybe there’s a few more songs left in me.

If you liked this, check out my unique cover of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.”

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Confronting the Overpopulation Myth

In our 17 years of parenting, we’ve tried homeschool, private school, and public school.

We desperately (and futilely) attempted on multiple occasions to get our kids into Catholic school, but circumstances (geographical, financial, or flat-out being denied admission) always prevented this. And for multiple reasons we’ve explained in the past in both our book as well as our podcasts here and here (and therefore I won’t repeat here), our attempts at homeschooling were always far less than ideal.

Therefore, our five kids all attend public school.

This week, our 15-year-old freshman son, Walter, was assigned a project for his World Geography class to create a video explaining, “why overpopulation is the worst man-made disaster.”

Here’s the video:

First off, this is one of Walt’s best-produced videos. As his parents, we’re enormously proud of how his skills have increased over the past couple of years, and how he continuously tries to do new and different things using video. Considering he’s just 15, we’re impressed by that alone.

But we’re also impressed with the fact that Walter immediately took issue with the topic. As one of five kids here on earth and several more in heaven, Walter has been raised understanding the value and sanctity of human life and the fact that every person has an innate dignity that must be respected from the moment of conception until natural death.

So to somehow suggest, as Walter’s classroom assignment has, that the existence of people themselves is somehow “the worst man-made disaster” is just absurd.

But Walter, knowing a grade was at stake, did the project, with a caveat. In the description for his video he wrote, “FYI I don’t agree with what a lot of what I said in this video. I only did this and said the things I said for the sake of getting a good grade.”

When Walt and his brother Sam were younger, there were multiple occasions when we had them pulled from their classroom for presentations that we found counter to our Catholic faith or simply just against our core beliefs. In countless situations, we’ve sent emails to teachers letting them know when topics, discussions, and assignments were in opposition to what was happening in our home. We still do that for our other three kids still in elementary and middle school.

But it’s an interesting thing to have kids (who you’ve tried your best to raise in the Catholic faith) attending public high school where their daily existences include having to continually be on the defensive in support of traditional marriage between one man and one woman, to explain to their peers why contraception is contrary to God’s plan, to justify why they struggle (or try to struggle) against pornography and why they attempt to remain chaste. These are things that both our high schoolers, Sam and Walter, have had to encounter time and again.

After watching Walter’s video this morning, both my wife and I encouraged him and congratulated him for being willing to publicly share his personal belief that contraception is wrong. He states this himself near the video’s end.

We then pointed out one of the other detrimental effects of the overpopulation myth can be seen in forced abortions and sterilizations in parts of the world. I encouraged him to visit the website of the Population Research Institute, whose executive director had been a guest on our radio show years ago. While some of the information there has been debated for years, it offers many strong oppositional studies that rally against the myth of overpopulation.

Would I have preferred for him to not have to do this assignment? Yes. But God can bring good out of any bad. And in this case, a 15-year-old posted a YouTube video stating he thinks contraception is wrong. There’s a good chance one or more of his classmates will take notice.

Walter took a stand and became a witness for the faith in which he has been raised.

But the thought came to me: does Walter actually understand what he believes, or does he just believe it because that’s what his mom and dad believe?

After pondering that, I sent Walter this text to encourage him:

“Stand firm in your beliefs. And here’s something else I’ll challenge you with (and this will surprise you): don’t believe stuff just because your mom and dad believe it. But we believe what we believe because of tremendous research and discernment throughout our lives. We trust the Catholic Church’s teachings on things like no contraception because the Church is also the original Church, and the only place where you can receive the Eucharist and the other sacraments. We’re proud of you for sticking to your guns. I wish you didn’t have to make a video espousing something you don’t believe in, though. That’s tough.”

Interestingly, the fact Walter had to make a video in opposition to one of our family’s core beliefs that all life is sacred lead to a follow up text conversation. I encouraged him to take the awesome production quality he brought to this video and start creating videos explaining Catholic stuff for teens from another teenager’s perspective.

The idea seemed to resonate with this 15-year-old trying to figure out the world, trying to understand why we believe what we believe, trying to comprehend the contradictions in this world created by God and inhabited by so many people who don’t want to live for God.

I told him the entire Catholic blogosphere would cheer him on. I hope you’d encourage him to do so, and maybe say a prayer for our teens Walter, Sam, and Ben, as well as all the other teens who are indeed trying to find their place in this world by putting Jesus at the center of their lives.

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VIDEO: Saints Among Us

Very proud of this new video my office produced for an upcoming initiative for the Archdiocese of Denver. I wrote and narrated it, but Jason on my team deserves the credit for the amazing animation and bringing it all together. Stay tuned in 3 weeks for a full-length documentary!

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ADV #085: When God Says No

When God Says No to Prayer, Jennifer’s Homeless Encounter, Amazon Gift Card Winner, Greg’s Health Update, Why You Should Attend CNMC. 888-299-8686 to leave feedback and be a part of the show!
Not sure how to listen to, download, or subscribe to a podcast?  Check out this video.

Want to be a part of the show?

Your voice makes the show fun for us to do! Call our feedback line and leave a message of two minutes or less at 888-299-8686 or send MP3 to [email protected].

Links and Resources Mentioned

Thanks

Like the music we use in the show?  It’s all courtesy of Popple.  Awesome band.  Check them out and support them.

Read More
Adventures in Imperfect Living Catholic Podcast with Rosary Army founders Greg and Jennifer Willits

How Old Do I Look?

There’s a goofy trend going around in social media this week called “How Old Do I Look,” which is basically a website that runs an algorithm based on a photo you upload of yourself, and based on data extracted from other photos, the website guesses your age and gender.

Consider it a modern day internet-based carnival act.

Except obviously from the picture below, it doesn’t work! 😉

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Click on the image to try it yourself. What age did you get? How close did the program get to reality?

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