Grief
Waiting and Preparing
After my dad’s death, there was almost 2 weeks before his funeral. During that time, my brothers, sister, nephew and his wife spent the majority of time at the house with me and my mom. My sons, daughter in law and grandkids stopped by from time to time, and we video chatted with my sister […]
RAWtools
I turned the news on briefly tonight to see if they were showing the local annual Parade of Lights. While it was on, they highlighted an organization called RAWtools. They take donated and surrendered guns and make garden tools out of them. As I listened, I thought of the scripture in Isaiah 2:4, ““They will […]
The Coffee Tree
When my sister was a child, she seemed pretty interested in plants. So, my mom bought her a plant cart and accessories for her birthday one year. Little did she realize that she would one day have her own large garden that she cultivates and sells the produce. My sister also worked for Starbucks for […]
New Face
Tonight I watched the repeat of a story about a young man who received a face transplant. I had heard bits and pieces of the story that came to light in November. But tonight I learned and saw much of the story. The young man got a second chance at life after years of dealing […]
Loving Tribute
A certain priest and friend has been instrumental in my life and that of my boys. He helped me to discern about moving to help my parents. He traveled a lot and ended up moving to be closer to his parents as well. His mother passed away a few days ago. Today I came across […]
Pope and the Boy
I saw a video today of Pope Francis who was taking questions from children. A boy came to the microphone but was too upset to ask the question. Pope Francis had the boy come right up to him, gave him a big hug, and consoled him as he wept. The boy and the pope had […]
From Pain to Blessing
This morning at church, the deacon told a touching story of a young woman. When she was a young teen, she was raped and became pregnant. Her parents made her get an abortion. When she was in college, she found herself pregnant again from her boyfriend. This time, she chose to get an abortion. As […]
Praying With the Saints
Today I went to the caregivers group that I have been attending. When I first met the people there, one gentleman told us that he was caring for his wife who had a stroke that left her in a bad way. He said he was used to her taking care of him and now it […]
Faith Through Grief
One of the first people I met when I moved a year and a half ago was an elderly man who got a little white poodle. We would meet when I walked my dog. My parents told me that he had stage 4 cancer and he was not receiving any more treatments. I was in […]
Mother’s Faith in Divine Mercy
Today my mom read a heart wrenching, yet faith filled, story. It was written by a mother who was praying one year on Divine Mercy Sunday especially for her son in college. She said she left the church filled with profound peace even as the events of the next day followed. The next day was […]