Struggles

Face to Face

My mom made it back to exercise class after 4 weeks recovering from painful sciatica and bursitis. When we arrived, there were some noticeable changes. One of the college students is pregnant and due to give birth in about 2 weeks. I think her baby doubled in size while we were away as her tiny […]

Four Years

Today a picture popped up that I shared 4 years ago. It was of me, my parents, my friend who drove here with me, and my dog. It is hard to believe it has been 4 years since I moved here. I still miss my dog who lived only a few months after we arrived. […]

Struggle From the Beginning

A few weeks ago, I began attending a Bible class and we started at the beginning in the book of Genesis. Tonight in my small group, we discussed the basic human nature of good and evil, faith and sin. One person noticed that God promises redemption from the beginning and gives us (people) the opportunity […]

Many Care

I took my mom to have her hair cut today. The parking lot is very tight and as I pulled into a parking spot, I realized there was a woman slowly making her way down the curb to get into the car next to me. I pulled back out and moved the car over, leaving […]

Meeting Maria – Again

It was an unusually cool and cloudy day today, but perfect weather for taking a long walk. I made my way up one of the busier streets and came to a set of stairs that led down to the neighborhood. As I reached them, an older woman had just climbed them and we met at […]

Caring Connection and Commitment

Tonight I had dinner with a young woman I met when I worked at a church many years ago. She moved away and got married a year ago. We stayed in touch via texting and social media. She and her husband came to my area for vacation, and I was so happy that we were […]

Do Something

Sometimes I can feel overwhelmed trying to care for my parents. The daily attention that needs to be paid to trying to keep everyone safe and healthy, not to mention appointments, and issues that pop up. I often feel like there is no way I can do everything, every day. Today’s reflection from Dynamic Catholic […]

Blessings Reminder

At church today there was a visiting priest from a mission called Cross Catholic Outreach. He talked about the plight of many different people in many different parts of the world and how the ministry helps them. His plea for support went right along with the Gospel of the day, which was the story of the […]

Short One Hand

My mom has been having trouble recently with arthritis in her thumb. It hurts to put any kind of pressure on it and she has not played the piano in a couple of weeks. Yesterday she decided that she would just play with the right hand, so she practiced a duet that her and her […]

Support and Empathy

I went to an event this afternoon with kids who are in foster care. I met one girl for the first time and we enjoyed cutting up vegetables for the meal we were preparing. We sat down to eat at a table with a couple other kids and adults and started chatting. In a few […]