How Sickness and the Spirit Taught Me Surrender

Being sick is no fun. Being sick all the time is even less fun (that's negative numbers of fun, for all you non-math majors out there!). But that's my life, and that's been my life for four years. I have a rare disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, type 3 hypermobility, which pretty much means that my collagen, which makes up roughly 80 percent of the body's structures, is faulty and fragile. It's not at all pleasant — have you ever sprained your ankle? Imagine that kind of pain, but spread through every part of your body. Even my ribs manage to dislocate sometimes!

Me (in the center with the bad dye job), a month after my diagnosis, at the 2011 Steubenville West Youth Conference

CAPTION THIS: When Pope Met Peek

The Holy Father still hadn't quite figured out the mechanics of hide-and-seek.
(Full story here. Picture c/o: Vatican Radio English)

Happy summer, dear readers! Thanks to all of you who participated in our last caption contest. In the spirit of fraternity and ecumenism, I shan't mock the losers (out loud), but I will heap praise upon the winner, who is...

Love Divine! All Loves Excelling...

"We all sat in a circle right in the middle of the cross, where the two boards would have met, where the heart of Jesus would have been." —From The Fault in our Stars, by John Green

In Which I Clear Up Misconceptions About My Large (but Loving!) Catholic Family

Hello, denizens of the Internet world! I'm Tani, I'm a cradle Catholic, and I'm 18 fabulous years old. I'm new here, and like every great story where there's a new kid butting into an old group, I'm going to desperately try to fit in before eventually realizing that I was perfect the way I was the entire time! *cue end music by Beyoncé*

Anyway, I was asked to write a bit about life in a big family. I am the third of twelve children (eleven on Earth, and one waiting to meet us in Heaven), a fact which makes some people choke, turn purple, and then ask my family absurd questions like, "Don't you know what causes that?" and, "Aren't you tired?" and, "Are you Mormon?" So, I thought I'd address some misconceptions about my type of family and tell you what it's really like growing up in the noisy, busy, and sometimes messy world of the Federoff house.

Big Catholic families: Now with 90 percent less shapeless denim!

Drunken Book Club Presents: Save Send Delete, by Danusha V. Goshka

Welcome to the first episode of Drunken Book Club!

Featuring: