My Number One Birthday Wish

No on has crossed this one off the actual list yet...
although Kristen hasn't seen it, and Michael said that he'd follow suit if one of the other Guys took the lead.

The forever gift:

For all of my children and grandchildren
to be faithful servants of God,
praying daily asking forgiveness for failings,
petitioning for special intentions,
and offering honor and
Glory to God in Praise.

Forgiveness, Thanks, Petition and Glory- yep all covered.

Can't wait to open it!

Memorial of St. Monica Patroness of Mothers

Prayer to St. Monica

Holy St. Monica, I know that your life on earth as wife, mother, kind grandmother and wise friend
to many women and men made you a saint when you stood before the Throne of God.

As I pray for your intercession, I pray for the courage to overcome fear and to find the Lord in the face of my friends, my neighbors, and especially in my own family members whom I remember in a special way today.

Saint Monica, help me when I grow discouraged in prayer. For you lived in the knowledge that, even in the darkest moments, Our Lord never leaves us. he knows our needs better than we do, and loves us more than we could ever imagine in this world.

May your example help me to bring my prayers to the Lord, ever confident of His tender love and concern... even as I pray for these special intentions today.
St Monica,
Pray for us.

O Lord, in thanksgiving I pray for the gift if my husband,
My daughter , my three sons, my granddaughter and my two grandsons.
I also give thanks for my son in law and daughter in law.
Please bless and keep them always in your tender care and protection.
Please provide for all of their needs in this world,
Grant them the faith and grace to live lives pleasing to you
that together wwe may spend eternity with you in joy and light.

Bless Your Home

I was quite moved this week by an NPR News interview of a California woman
who escaped a wildfire as it approached her home.
She said:

" I gathered important papers, and I few personal things,
then I paused in the threshold, turned around, and thanked my house for sheltering me."

Giving thanks.
How old, yet prophetic?
Giving thanks amidst escaping a devastating wildfire in 2009,
and facing enormous loss of worldly belongings.
in my humble opinion,
priceless.
My dear friends, under the same sun and moon,
in the place where we dwell,
lives a prophet of the Lord.
May God bless your homes abundantly..

Lord,
We beg you to visit this house
and banish from it
all the deadly powers of the enemy.
May your holy angels dwell here
to keep us in peace,
and may you blessing be upon us always.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
From Christian prayer
Liturgy of the Hours
Night Prayer

So here we are...

I started a new job working 3rd shift 3 weeks ago. Jeff is back to school today, so it's my first day flying solo while working. Not as rough as I had anticipated, but hey, we're at day one. Which will explain my lack of blogging. Too much to think about too little time, but I would like to share a story of prayer.

Our good friend K is sending her son off to the NC School of Science and Math. Her son is 16. On the 9th she had a going away party for him and he was scheduled to move in on the 15th. Except that at 2 am on the 14th he woke up screaming, unable to walk and doubled over in pain. They rushed him to the ER. He had appendicitis and required immediate, emergency surgery. Then, overnight, he spiked a high temp, had a dilated bowel and his lungs collapsed, although with no pnuemonia. I quickly devised a plan that would have one of us at the hospital in Greenville with K and her son while the other had our kids at her house and held down the fort there. But K refused saying she didn't want to risk any of us picking something up in the hospital and bringing it back to the kids, especially the baby. But she just asked that we pray. And pray hard we did. It helped my confidence level to know that when Jeff broke his neck way back in 1980 he was treated at the same hospital. Around noon, a sudden and dramatic turn of events took place. K's son's fever disappeared as did his other symptoms. And by 4 pm, he was sent home. Today, pending a doctor's approval, he is scheduled to join his classmates at NCSSM.

The Word of the Lord...

in any language, is The Word of the Lord.
Last weekend we came home from vacation on Sunday.
We had a Sunday to Sunday rental, so I decided to go to
Mass at 5pm on Sunday, the Spanish Mass.
It's not the first time I've chosen to do this because of weekend scheduling.
I just read the readings of the day as usual before I went.
While talking amongst some Catholic friends, the issue came up.
The consensus was generally:
"If it comes down to the Spanish Mass, we skip because we don't get anything out of it."
I don't judge, because Jesus tells me not to,
but,
whether remembered in Spanish or English,
He suffered, was ridiculed and died on that cross
FOR ME.
FOR MY REDEMPTION.
FOR MY LIFE.
It went down that way because that's what it took to get my attention.
If I could be a daily communicant it would be my joy of joys.
To me, missing an opportunity to attend the sacrifice of the Mass is forsaking grace.
I go to Mass- English or not,
joyfully and with thanksgiving,
to pay homage and offer worship to the
Holy One of Israel.
My Savior.
My Redeemer.
My Lord, My God.
I am always received with love by His faithful ones,
and in spite of any language barriers,
I "get" a lot out of it.
Grace beholds me.

Peace and All Good.

Lynn

Tiny Treasure Tuesday

William--This week we had our first family vacation as a five-some and Will dipped his baby feet in the ocean for the first time and loved it. On our last day (Sunday) I awoke before the rest of the house and fed Will. Since everyone was still asleep I walked down to the beach with him to watch the sunrise. We had an awesome time! We were joined shortly thereafter by my parents, my brother and my brother's girlfriend (oh and my parents' dog). We enjoyed a walk down to the pier and I got some special Mommy and Will time!

Joseph--Joey showed us he does not like sleeping when away from home last week! And he is scared when F-16 fighter planes fly overhead at intervals overnight. On the flip side, Joey loved watching Cars with his uncles and one uncle's girlfriend.

Shelby--Miss Shelby was liking the beach until Daddy dove under a wave with her. Now she doesn't like baths anymore either. Oh well, we're working on that! She and my brother's girlfriend really hit it off at the beach. Uncle Ben's girlfriend is hoping to become a speech-language pathologist/therapist and knows sign language so she was able to communicate with Shelby a bit. Shelby also sought her out and came to her and it was the first time Shelby had seen or met her which is major for a child with Shelby's diagnosis. Especially since Shelby was in a place she had never been before either!