Beauty in Darkness

Although I did not know it at the time, I can see so clearly now why the Lord led me to my Catholic faith two years ago. I did not know how much I would need Him, but He did. He led me right to where I needed to be. And then, when I resisted doing the CRHP retreat and formation, He pushed me several times until I did, and now, I have so many devoted friends helping me through this dark and scary time.

Also, I have found daily Mass to be such a comfort--Holy Communion, the peace of God's house, the words of encouragement from one and all, the dear ladies who pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet after Mass each morning....it's so very needed.

I just got done taking the Ethics and Integrity in Ministry class last weekend, so hopefully now I can soon volunteer in the nursery or preschool or maybe in RE--I need the faces and laughter of little ones right now. How can you resist teaching little faces about Jesus?

My husband is coming home for the weekend from M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston, before going back monday for final treatment recommendations.  He is having a liver biopsy tomorrow to find out what drug would be best to use.  They are not expecting a cure, as there is metastasis, possibly to the T4 vertebra and esophagus, but they will be doing chemo and radiation to control spread and extend life hopefully. Please keep him in your prayers.

MD Anderson

I ask also for prayers for our 13 year old son who has Aspergers (a milder form of autism), ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.  Without going into great detail, this has been a very difficult year for him, at school and at home, and  his symptoms and aggression are very poorly controlled medically. He really needs inpatient treatment right now, and his Dr agrees, but our state is 48th in the nation on spending for mental health care and there isn't a single place that will take him without his being actively suicidal or homicidal unless we have good insurance, which we don't.  Things are rapidly rising to a boiling point and he is failing all his subjects in school, refusing to do anything anyone tells him, stealing from us, etc.  We are at a loss.  Right now, with all the other stress going on, it just is almost more than I can bear.

Thank you for your prayers and love!

7 Quick Takes Friday

1)  What are you doing for Lent? Or NOT doing? I was going to try not raising my voice with my 13 year old but I don't think that's going to work.  So, now I have to come up with something else.  And I'm two days late. So, it would be good if I could think of something I haven't done in two days that I like to do to get a jump on my tardiness.  But what........?

2)  Scorpions--I have to wonder why Jen at Conversion Diary sees scorpions every ten minutes in her house, in the same area as my house, and I have never seen a single scorpion since I moved to Texas in 1978? Why is that?  I have seen rats, flying tree roaches (seriously--FLYING roaches?????), yellowjackets, fire ants, geckos, you name it, but never a single scorpion.  Why is that?

3) Speaking of hideous critter tales--once upon a time about 10 years ago when we lived in a little stone house with crumbling foundations and fireplace holes that could not be plugged up and an attic opening big enough for raccoons, etc, we had the occasional rat scamper merrily across the living room floor as we were watching tv or something.  It sent me into paroxysms of terror as we had a baby in the house, plus I am no friend of rats.  We called the pest control people and they basically said there was nothing they could do.

Then, one horrible night around Halloween, I had a bowl of those small orange mallow Halloween pumpkin candies on a table beside my bed. We were asleep and suddenly, I felt a warm, furry creature nestled in my hair in the crook of my neck.  As we had no small pets, I immediately deduced what it was and threw myself screaming onto my husband, and the critter wisely took off. We turned the lights on, I sat up, and one of those pumpkin candies rolled out of the crook of my neck and onto the bed.  It had teeth marks in it and they weren't mine.  That was not one of my better nights.

A little bit like this

4) As for the flying tree roaches, I was instructed by the wife of the former renters that I should never ever venture outside the house at night--that the backyard was full of all kinds of unsavory flying and swooshing and slithering things, like in a Stephen King novel, and I would regret it bitterly.  She was right.  The tree roaches, however, came right on in when it got too hot outside for them, and I recall vividly lying in bed with my 4 day old baby and watching one emerge from our closet and begin walking slowly around the top of the wall towards where I was ensconced in the bed with my innocent babe. I actually called my husband and made him come home from work to murder said tree roach before it reached us.  I was having enough problems already with mastitis and thrush and giant purple nipples from the gentian violet I was told to use on them without tree roaches trying to carry off my baby.

It is NOT ok for these to fly.

5)  I JUST got this nice picture of Pope Benedict put up and now he's leaving office.   I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I wish him  peace, bless his sweet heart.

6)  My husband is still at MD Anderson in Houston, awaiting test results next monday morning from his PET and MRI scans, to see if and to where the cancer has spread.  I am terrified. I  cannot fathom being without him.  Please keep praying for him.

7) I am so grateful for all the dear friends in my life who have done so much for us these past few weeks of agony--I could never have made it through without them.