Claire has Summer Swim League Success

Claire was not able to swim at summer champs because of the work trip, but she earned her team so many points during the season that she was the high point 13 to 14 year old girl for the Wild Orcas this year. Her team one every dual meet and this was the first win at champs in 11 years. Her teammates missed her in the freestyle relay, they came in a close second but felt they would have had a good chance at first if she could have been there. She had much fun this summer season!!

Kids on Horseback

John and Katherine are at their second day of horse camp. They are at Phoenix Rising horse farm and having a great time. So far their favorite activities are grooming the ponies (especially Emma, a shetland who I understand is engaged to another shetland named Roni . . .), riding, and eating lunch on the hay bales. The sun finally came out here, and now they won't have to ride in the rain!

Jim's New Book

Jim Keating has edited a book, Divine Impassibility and the Mystery of Human Suffering.


The question of whether or not God suffers — whether his very deity places him beyond the reach of suffering and evil — has serious implications for how we can correctly perceive human suffering. Though classical doctrine long held that God is impassible — that is, he does not suffer — most twentieth-century theologians have asserted just the opposite, declaring that God does indeed suffer and in so doing shows true solidarity with the suffering of human beings. Some contemporary theologians, however, have begun to argue forcefully once again in favor of divine impassibility.
James F. Keating and Thomas Joseph White have gathered here a selection of essays that consider how God's suffering or lack thereof can relate to our redemption from and through human suffering. The contributors — Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox — tread carefully but surely over this thorny ground, defending diverse and often opposing perspectives. Divine Impassibility and the Mystery of Human Suffering is an excellent contribution to the latest stage in this difficult and important theological controversy.

Check out the link to see where to buy it: Jim's Book.

Claire and Frank Hard at Work in Louisville

Claire and Frank are both at Catholic Heart Work Camp in Louisville! Mom and Dad have been able to help with serving meals so have had the opportunity to visit with them. Claire is painting at a maternity home in New Albany. Frank is working on clothing distribution and park maintance. There are about 40 youths on the trip and they are traveling by bus. They will go to Six Flags on Friday and that night get back on the bus and drive all night and arrive sometime on Saturday.

two 100 degree rides this weekend

I rode twice this weekend even know we have had temperatures over 100. Saturday Bridget and I rode her 10 mile ride on Saturday. This is a ride from the house that takes us around the neighborhood without ever going up or down any steep hills. You can see this ride from the following link. Bridget's 10 Mile Ride.

On Sunday morning I did my Andice ride. Andice is a town just north of Austin. It has two churches, about 5 houses and a small general store, which makes it a great place to get a cold drink before turning around and riding home. This time at the Andice General Store, I met a man that had grownup in Andice. I spent about twenty minutes hearing about all the changes Andice had gone through in the last 85 years since he was born. Except for paving the roads and getting school buses, I realized not much has changed in this farming community. At 85 years old he was heading out in the 100 degree weather to pump water for his cows. You can see this ride from the following link.

Check out this Garmin Connect activity: Andice
Andice
If you are experiencing problems with the link, copy and paste the following URL directly into your Internet browser
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/773569

PJ update!

Hello everyone! On Saturday PJ climbed a 6 foot wooden fence - not once but three times. I was able to catch her on two of the climbs. I'm going to change her name to something related to kangaroos -- any suggestion? Or maybe in just Point "Jumper"!

Caterpillar Infestation

Here are the caterpillars I took off of our dill plant on Thursday. They will become Black Swallowtail Butterflies. There are 16 of them living in this mason jar. After this picture was taken, I separated some of the larger ones into another jar, because they seem close to creating cocoons. We tried to feed them carrot greens, but they definitely prefer the dill. They are getting fat really fast. I will put another picture up soon. My only worry is that they will be emerging while we are in Block Island. We will have to let Marie take them.

Victory Garden

The Austin Keatings have built an herb garden by their pool. Laura designed it on her computer. Then John and Laura built it. And Bridget and Kellie did the planting. It's built out of Cedar boards and lined with plastic sheeting. We planted banana peppers, chile peppers, bell peppers, serrano peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cilantro, dill, parsley, basil, sage, lavender, mint, oregano, and thyme.

It has been a challenge keeping them watered in the Texas heat, however, we have lots of peppers and tomatoes blossoming. We hope to see some eggplants; the plants have many flowers on them. We also had a caterpillar infestation on the dill, but have moved the caterpillars into a jar to watch them develop. Aunt Sandra tells us they are going to become Black Swallowtail Butterflies. I will write more about them in the future.

Welcome to the Keating Family Blog

Hi Everyone! We have decided to create this online family journal as a way of keeping in touch. Since our TasteBook was such a success, I thought it would be fun to try a new family project. I hope that everyone in the family writes and posts pictures often. With all of us taking lots of trips and working on so many projects, I know there will be plenty of material.

Not only is this a good way for us to keep in touch, but it will also create an online record of our family activities. If we all keep up with our postings, we can look back at our archives and see what everyone was working on and doing at different times of the year.

I know it is simple now. As we experiment with our options, we can make The Speakin' Keatin' more personalized and unique to our family. Get to posting.


"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."

- Pope John Paul II