From a young age, Kimberly wanted to be a minister. When her study of the Bible convinced her that the ordination of women as pastors was unbiblical, she deicded that she would do the next best thing and be a pastor's wife. Enter Scott, a fellow student at Grove City College whose plans for the future focussed on preaching and teaching. This book tells the story of their journey from anti-Catholic to Rome Sweet Home. Along the way, we see God working in their lives in events large and small. Interestingly, the Hahns abandoned contraception long before either began to seriously consider the claims of the Catholic Church. Kimberly's personal study of the historical Christian teaching on this topic is what convinced them to give it up, and their reaction at the time was more along the lines of "even a broken clock is right twice a day." Yet, it is obvious in retrospect that this discovery played a role in opening their hearts to the Truth that subsists in the Catholic Church. The story is told by Scott and Kimberly in alternation, a device that is very effective in conveying the discoveries, trials, conflicts, and joys of their journeys as they follow their different paths. As Scott observes in the introduction, his conversion moves from a detective story in which he unearths evidence pointing to the truth, to a horror story when he realizes that the Truth points to the Catholic Church, to a romance as he falls in love with the Church that Jesus Himself founded. Along the way, he has to learn to restrain himself and not push his wife before she is ready. Meanwhile, Kimberly's story is largely one of great pain and suffering as she sees the death of all her hopes and plans of ministering together. She truly experiences a "dark night of the soul" -- feeling abandoned and alone. A beautiful moment is when her father, a Presbyterian minister, urges her to pray to yield her will to God. As she observes, he took a great risk in thus advising her, for he knew it might lead her into the Catholic Church -- as in fact it did. This is a great story of a wonderful Christian couple who had it all planned out how they were going to serve Jesus, and then thought they would lose it all for His sake, only to get back something even more precious. Their passion for the Truth is inspiring. See sample pages at the Book preview though Google books, by permission of Ignatius Press. The Spanish version of this book is entitled El Regreso a Casa El Regreso a Roma; preview here.

Last night during family rosary, I gave my 7 year old son and 5 year old daughter one sheet each from the Rosary Reflections drawing pad, and the ziplock bag of colored pencils. The children immediately and enthusiastically began drawing the mysteries while we prayed the rosary. This instantly solved a problem for us: How to keep the little ones engaged and close to the rest of the family (mom, dad and two older daughters) while we pray together, instead of watching them dramatically flop over on the floor or wander off to find a toy.

The second, and unexpected, result was that as we older ones watched the little ones grab their colored pencils and sketch out, say, a glowing Jesus next to stick figures of Moses and Elijah, or a smiling John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus in the river, we all reflected more deeply on the mysteries as we prayed.

In addition, the children asked a few questions, so they could get their sketches right. For example, "Who was with Jesus at the Transfiguration?" "How old was Jesus when He was baptized?" The drawing tablet provided several "teachable moments" which made the prayer time richer for all of us.

Each sheet has drawing space for five Mysteries; a printed Rosary in the center helps children keep track of their progress. The sheets are sturdy, high quality paper, which would stand up to crayons, markers, or even paint. The finished works are suitable for hanging on a bedroom wall, as my children requested, or for keeping in a portfolio of their art projects.

This short, and fairly easy to read biography chronicles the life of Saint Athanasius (early 300s) - Patriarch/bishop of Alexandria and Doctor of the Church (and model of perserverance). Athanasius was a defender of the faith in a very critical time in the early Church's history. Even before the Edict of Milan which allowed Christians to practice their faith freely (at least for a time), the heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ, was beginning its attack on the Church. Although the heresy was firmly rejected at the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.), the heretics were very powerful and continued to attack the Church - even winning the Emperor Constantine to their side. While the heresy was never embraced by the Pope, the heretics used the Emperor to banish orthodox bishops from their diocese, replacing them with those sympathetic to their rebellious ideas. All through this difficult time, Athanasius led his people (sometimes while in hiding with the desert monks for years at a time) by his writings.