Wecome Arianna! I was present for her birth! What an miracle!

Happy Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe! Pray for the babies!!!

Blessed

I wanted to take the time to reflect on the beauty of life and friends. God has graced me with countless blessings surrounding me. This morning I awoke to see a poster, sent by mail, hanging at my bedside wishing my happy birthday.

After preparing for the day, I headed off to Mass, sent off by well-wishings of a few early-bird moms. Hope! This morning the homily was about hope! What better homily to have starting off another year of my life! To live with hope! Amen!

When I returned to the house, I was kept out of the kitchen until I was able to be greeted by warm cinnamon buns ablaze with candles! How fantastic! We sang and ate then decorated for the holidays. We now have a giant Nativity scene on our kitchen wall.

Thank you to all who have sent me birthday greetings and thank you God for giving me life!

God bless!

Another blog

I have been a bit lax in my update of this blog. I must apologize and have a feeling I may only add thoughts or ideas at random. I am trying to be more active on another blog, which is the primary reason for my neglect of this one. If you are interested, there are a few very interesting stories on that site. It is loveserves.blogspot.com

Thanks!

I borrowed this image from the Little Sister's blog, but I think it is fantastic! So I hope you don't mind that I post it on this blog as well.

Together in Spirit

My dearest friends, today I ask once more for your prayers. This morning I awoke early and loaded the van with three 50 lb bags, myself and two close friends, and our purses. We drive out to the airport to see our dear Peggy off. She is headed home to be with her family as her gandson is near death and they need her. It will be a challenge for the whole community to fill the void left by this wonderful women. She truly has a gift for touching people's souls.

We are now a bit short-staffed but know that God can and will provide. Please keep Peggy and her family in your prayers as they struggle through this difficult time. Thank you!

Welcome Home

Last night our dear Renice came home! She is looking so good! We are all very proud of how strong she has been through all this and thank you for your prayers. Keep them up for her little guy, he's doing well but will remain in critical condition for a while still.

Baptism

Our little Oshea had heart surgery today and is still such a fighter and doing so well! He is getting so big!! (well still very tiny and less than 2 pounds, but we think he is bigger) His mom is up and walking around and was well enough to go see her little guy today! With this improvement in her health, there was a baptism for her little angel! Due to restrictions on visitors in the NICU, I was unable to be present, but we are all so relieved and excited that he is now baptised! Thanks for the prayers and please keep them coming!

Renice

Out of the ICU and doing much better. Turns out she had a blood clot! Good thing they caught it! Thanks for the prayers... keep up the good work

Our dear mama

Renice is doing better! Still in ICU, but her fever is decreasing! Keep praying please. Little Oshea is still fighting hard and doing well also. Thanks for the prayers!

When it rains, It pours!

So, the latest news seems a bit complicated so I will do my best to share it all so that I can ask for prayers for our situation.

Renice, mother of baby Oshea, is in critical care and had a blood transfusion. She is really struggling with a uterine infection and her birthday is Nov. 1st!

Oshea is still in critical care but remains stable, so he is still fighting hard and hanging in there

Other moms:
One is now under twice a week stress test monitoring as well as bi-weekly ultrasounds and goes for a cardiology exam tomorrow for her irregular heart beat. Her baby is due in December but is quite small due to the fact that her umbilical cord has only 2 of the 3 vessels.
Another is struggling with slight depression as she tries to gain custody of her baby.
Our moms are very strong women and have dealt with many challenged. They have each other for support, but the more prayers that are there to back them, the better!

Staff:
We have 4 permanent staff in our house and this keeps things running smoothly. One of our staff and her family need prayers as her grandson has stopped responding to treatment for brain cancer and she will be leaving us to be with him and the rest of her family during this difficult time. We will be a bit short-staffed, but God will provide

We leave it in God's hands as He knows best and sometimes a hard rain is needed to make the garden more beautiful!

Prayers

So it has been a long day and I thought I would write a little note before I head off to bed. I know I have yet to write about any of my adventures, but right now my life seems to be one big adventure. I am currently living and working at Maggie's Place, which is a home for pregnant, homeless women. We have a mom right now who just had an emergency C-section at 24 weeks to deliver baby Oshea because she was going into pre-term labor and he was breach.

I had the chance to go and visit him and his mom today and she is struggling with some infections and really seems very tired from the surgery and the complications. Our little Oshea is doing well so far and he is truly a fighter, but at such an early stage of life, things can change daily. When I looked down at him in his little incubator.. he is barely bigger than my hand! And I have small hands! He is pretty amazing as he already is opening his eyes and is awake much more than expected!

Please keep him and his mother in your prayers as they struggle through this difficult time and we as a community struggle to support her and engage in this endeavor with her.

Thanks!

Little Sisters in CA!

So I have great plans of posting all sorts of adventures and exciting times on this blog, but I figure I will start with what's on my mind and then go from there. This past weekend, I drove to California so I could think. With many new experiences in my life, I am continually asking God questions, but sometimes it is hard to take the time to listen for answers.

I traveled to San Pedro, CA for a retreat with the Little Sisters of the Poor. It was a discernment retreat with 8 other women interesting in finding out if God was calling them to Himself to be His bride!

As I drove through the desert, I kept thinking and wondering if this was really what I was supposed to do. Was I just avoiding life? Did I really need to keep discerning? Oh well.. no matter what the answers were, I was going!

I arrived at their home and was shown in by Mother Marguerite. As we walked into the retreat house, I passed Sr. Maria. She turned and smiled, "We were wondering when you would come back", inviting me to join them for singing practice before the rest of the retreatants arrived. I did not know she would be here as I had met her in Palatine, IL about two and a half years ago! She remembered me and seemed convinced that I had a wonderful voice! What a blessed greeting!

I had my own room and was supplied with plenty to read on Jeanne Jugan (foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor) and the community). The weekend started with supper and was followed by silence! How glorious! It was exactly what I needed. We engaged in the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (a way in which you can listen and speak to God with the Scriptures). Adoration and Mass filled my time in between trips to the garden to watch small armies of ants on a mission to provide for their family.

In the silence, my heart rejoiced! How wonderful it is to be able to sit with God and not worry about any other commitments; your commitment is doing exactly this... simply being with God. I had a chance to speak with Mother Provincial, Sr. Maria, and Fr. Michael. Our silence had ended and we enjoyed a meal in conversation with one another, learning more about each other and the community.

On Sunday morning, I had the privilege of accompanying Mother Marguerite to help Mary, one of the residents, get up and ready for the day. What a sweet, elderly woman! We helped her get dressed and I remember standing there as Mother Marguerite washed her back, this gentle woman embraced me for both physical and emotional support, laying her head on my shoulder and we stood together. We took her to breakfast, returned to eat our own, and then headed off to the beach for the last bit of the retreat. Most of the girls left, and there were only three of us remaining.

The last of us wandered through the home talking with residents, spent extra time in the chapel, watched the sunset, and enjoyed the extra time to bond with the sisters. The time went by quickly and I did not want to leave. The next morning, after breakfast with the sisters, I was supposed to leave, but found myself in the chapel begging for the courage to leave, then procrastinating and helping the sisters strip the beds and tidy the refectory (dining area) instead. Finally it was almost lunch time and I had already packed a lunch, so I had to depart.. plus I had a 7 hour drive ahead of me.

I am glad I went on the retreat and I learn a lot from it. I had time to just sit and be with God without any worries that I might be in the wrong place at an improper time or neglecting my duties by being in the chapel. Glory be to God!

Welcome to my blog. I am new to blogging and I ask your pardon as I try to develop these skills. I am devoting this blog to my retreats and travels. I have a lived an extremely blessed life, traveling to a few other countries, walking across my own, and retreat-hopping with various religious communities. I hope to share some of my insights and experiences, both the interior and the exterior!