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Prayer Request

by Filed Under: Dad, Praise and Thanksgiving Leave a Comment

UPDATE
Thank you for your prayers! The surgeon was able to fix some of Gary’s damage. I think he’ll have more good years ahead assuming that he relinquishes his title of Camp Sacred Heart Dodgeball King. 😂

May the Good Lord bless you for your charity! ❤️

Sts. Rosalia and Rose of Viterbo, orate pro nobis. 🙏🏼

In your charity, please offer a prayer for my beloved husband who is going in for shoulder surgery this morning.

O Jesus Christ, Messiah and Lord, grant Gary joyful acceptance of the surgery which awaits him, and let this be the relief and cure which he seeks. Make skilled the work of the surgeon and that of his team. I pray You, O Lord, that this procedure will be without complication, and that his recovery will be speedy and complete so he can return to full play with his family (especially the boys). Amen

Our Plans Are NOT His

by Filed Under: Faith, Praise and Thanksgiving

We are far from perfect.  This day served as a reminder for us all.  It definitely did not go as planned.   Dad arrived home at 7am from his 2pm-9m clinical and his 10pm – 6:30 am evening shift.

Rose was on the ball as usual, dressed and starting to get the littles prepped.  I on the other had was not.  I had a surprise visitor the night before.  Papi joined me in bed around 3am and I didn’t get back to sleep until 5:45am.  Needless to say, I was in no way ready to face what we had planned for the day, May Procession & Mass.

We had 30 min. to get to our destination, the Cathedral which is 60min. away.  Dad and I were optimistic that it would work……we were wrong! 

My body was barley able to role out of bed.  I could see the exhaustion in dad’s eyes and could hear the unraveling from our GFG begin. 

This was my queue for an ejaculation, “Jesus, answer my door.”  He did so promptly, giving me the strength to set my pious plans aside and attend to those in need before me – including myself and precious load.  (This is not an easy act for me and has been an area that I’ve been trying to grow in.  I’ll leave that for another time and post.) This decision did not sit well with the girls who had their hearts set on walking for Mary. 

Thus, the morning served as an opportunity for training hearts and family devotion.  Yes, restrictions were also implemented after apologies were made.

He continues to refine us toward His will.  His mercy is endless and His blessings are plentiful. 

Father, ruin any plans of ours that are not Yours.

Some of the blessings that were bestowed upon us today:

opportunity to train hearts

meditated on our Family’s Yearly Spiritual Focus – to become servants to one another

patience!!!!

cooked meal for breakfast v.s. the bagel and juice on-the-go

GFG had some great quality dad time

completed some of the baby prep

rested!

dad finished baking home made bread with our GFG

GFG found two puppies that they cared for until their owners were found.  This was a big treat since they do not have warm-blooded pets and may never again while in our home due to allergies and other circumstances.

celebrated the Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker

baked a cake

visited with Nana

had car cleaned and serviced

Lastly, were are all blessed with faithful priest and a parish that offers the Sacrament of Penance* before Mass.  Sparkles is especially thankful for this blessing which is new to her. 

DEO GRATIAS

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*  "SPURRING THE FAITHFUL"   The sacrament of Penance contains in itself, precisely because it imparts or increases supernatural grace, the power of spurring the faithful to practice fervent charity, to perform the resulting good works and to accept devoutly the sorrows of life which also merit the remission of temporal punishment. ~ Pope John Paul II

The Mother of All Mothers…………

by Filed Under: Mother's Day, Praise and Thanksgiving, Spiritual Reflections

The Kind Of Mother All Mothers Should Aspire To Be
“Our Heavenly Father wants us to imitate the way Mary lowered Herself before Him, especially the way that She continually maintained the posture of servant and slave. Mary assumes this posture because She knows that Her humility and childlike manner lead Her to abandon Herself to God’s love – a love that is constantly knocking on the door of the human heart.”
(Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock, pg. 90)

 

As my family honored me yesterday on Mother’s Day, I began to ponder my role as a mother. Yes, I had plenty of time to ponder…..my DH and GFG gave me the gift of a nap, a very looong nap. The last time I remember taking such a nap is when we brought Papi home from the NICU, 20 months ago. It was some gift/nap. Ok, enough about my nap (that I will remember for who knows how long), let me continue with my role as mother. I’ve been feeling some what inadequate lately due to many circumstances that we have been facing. My loving husband has been more than supportive and continues to lead me spiritually towards God’s call for us but I can’t help but to hold myself back with so many ideas of what I should be doing and NOT doing as a mother. Many of which are worldly pulls.

 

I found peace in the words, “Our Heavenly Father wants us to imitate how Mary lowered herself before Him.” I mediated on these words and gave thanks to Our Lord for reminding me of the simplicity of His call — complete surrender. I am to serve Christ always; in everything I do, say and pray! I must remember that the He does not call me to perfect an academic lesson or maintain a pristine home or even cook a meal that will have a line out the door (edible will do). However, He does call me to:
serve my family as though they were Christ – Mt 25:40
be faithful always – Rm 4:16
glorify Him with all that I have been given, no matter what – Jn 15:8
remain humble – 2 Chronicles 7:14
radiate His love and share His JOY – Gal 5:22

 

“Keep the JOY of loving God in your heart and share this JOY with all you meet especially your family. Be holy – let us pray.” – Bl. Mother Teresa

An Evening of Blessings

by Filed Under: Praise and Thanksgiving

Rose and I went to the Ballet to see Romeo & Juliet. Rose’s Confirmation Sponsor was in the production. The evening was full of blessings.

We initially planned to attend at a discounted rate (that would fit into our budget) but we were running late and thought we would miss the rush ticket sales. We arrived and hurried through the rain to the ticket sales office. We waited and waited and……waited in line. I became a little anxious (patience is one of my many crosses). As I continued to wait, I was tapped on the shoulder and before I could turn around I heard, “Have you already purchased your tickets?” As I turned and began to inform this lady that I had not purchased my tickets, she handed me an envelope with two tickets. I couldn’t thank her enough. God is good!

We headed for our seats. I opened the envelope to see where we needed to enter. The tickets read, level 1 row 3 and had a $30 ticket price. God is very good!

Once we were seated Rose and I took a moment of silence to give praise and thanksgiving to Our Lord.


The ballet was splendid and enchanted Rose. After the ballet we visited with Rose’s sponsor/friend and family. We were glowing with JOY! Praise be to God for giving us this opportunity to be together for a JOYfilled evening.

On our 45min drive home Rose shared her most memorable event of the evening and began to analyze the story of Romeo and Juliet. After about 10 min on the highway we were interrupted by a beeping and flashing red light coming from the dashboard. It indicated that the car was overheating. We pulled over to the shoulder and gave a call home. Rose was a tad nervous since we were out so late with car troubles and no dad. This was my first time handling car troubles on my own without my DH or father available. Not to worry, God was with us. After all, he had given us a clear indication earlier in the evening that proved to offer us enough graces to sustain us through this minimal but real trial. After 1.5 hours, several failed attempts to open the car hood, and 3 different stops, we purchased the correct anti-freeze. The car became stable and we made it safely home. God is most graciously gooooooood!

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