Please Pray For Finn

If you would be so kind, would you please please pray for my sister Sandi's little grandson, Finn? He is in the hospital with RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which can be quite serious in young infants.

Sandi was going to Dallas for Christmas, and had time off from work. I'm so glad she is able to be there with them. I know she will do everything she can to help, especially with Jonah (Finn's big brother--2 years old).

Thank you for your prayers!

Elf Child

Reece spent the night last night and brought along an elf child. :o)


















They have played so sweetly together. You can tell that Reece loves his little sister. Yesterday he put his hand gently on her cheek and said, "Pink." She had been playing and her cheeks were a little pink. And of course she is crazy about him. She calls him "Ree" and wants to do whatever he is doing. If he asks for a cookie or a glass of chocolate milk, Aubrey says, "What about meee?"

They got up so early this morning. We are going to see Great Gran a little later, and I hope they won't have a meltdown over there because they're sleepy.


They love the Christmas tree and will just stand or sit in front of it looking at all the ornaments. I told them not to take off the ornaments, but sometimes I'll find one in some strange place in the house. Some of them are nearly irresistible to little kids because they are like little toys.

It's been fun having both of them here. I love them so much!

Rejoice, Rejoice!

It's been such a beautiful Gaudete Sunday. Father wore a gorgeous rose chasuble at Mass. He explained how it was called a "casula" in Latin, which means "little house." His homily tied the eight beatitudes from Matthew chapter 5 to the rejoicing we do as Christians. Gaudete Sunday is a day of rejoicing that the Lord is coming soon. We are indeed blessed to be Christians. (Don't forget to light the rose colored candle on your advent wreath).

After Mass we stopped and got Mom a hamburger and fries, then came on home because Kelly was coming for the afternoon. When she got here, we chatted for a bit, then finished putting the last of the ornaments on the tree. Ron topped it off with the vintage star that belonged to my parents back in the day. Then Kelly and I went over to Bath and Body Works where she bought some things, and then to Lowes to look for poinsettias. She found some pretty white ones she liked and got two of them. They will look beautiful on her table.

After shopping, we came back to the house and had dinner. I put a roast in the crock pot this morning before leaving for Mass, and we had that with boiled red potatoes and some french-cut green beans.

I demonstrated my mandolin playing for Kel (ha!), and then it was time for her to go as it was dark and she was taking Mike a plate of food for dinner. It's always so much fun to spend time with her. We may go to the farmer's market tomorrow afternoon. Yay!

I hope your Sunday has been lovely, too. Rejoice!

Crazy Week

Just a quick note to let you know that all is well here. My doctor called earlier this week to tell me that the PET scan results show no cancer in any of my lymph nodes. Woo Hoo! It did show a tiny spot on my lungs, about 1 centimeter, which is probably a little bit of infection. Dr. B said to continue taking my antibiotics. We'll do another scan in a few weeks to make sure that the spot is gone. I'm feeling good. Hair, eyebrows and eyelashes are coming back--slowly.

Ron was in Colorado all week. The modem went out on our computers, so I've been off-line since Tuesday. He went and got a new modem as soon as he got home, and got it installed and working last night.

Reece spent the night with me Tuesday and again last night. We had Great Gran over yesterday to help decorate the Christmas tree. Reece had a great time looking through all the boxes of ornaments. We also made gingerbread boy cookies. It was fun!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

I Love This!

I've been playing with my mandolin tonight. It's so much fun, but I'll never be a pro. :o) Anyway, I came across the tabs for this song and plucked it out, but wanted to hear how it is really supposed to sound. I found this beautiful video. Oh my goodness, if I could only play my violin like this. (Turn off my playlist in the left hand column to hear the music).

St. Elizabeth, Mother of St. John the Baptist

Each year Angela, at Where Angels Blog, has a patron saints drawing. She prayerfully draws the name of a saint for anyone who requests one. This is the fourth year that I have received the name of my patron saint from Angela.

My patron saint for 2011 is St. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist.

The story of Elizabeth is beautiful. Here's my condensed version of the story from Luke.

Descended from the line of Aaron, Elizabeth was a cousin of Mary, Mother of Jesus. She and her husband Zachary were righteous and just before God, “walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame.” But they had not been granted the desire of their hearts, to have a son, “and they were both well advanced in years.” Barrenness in those days was looked upon as a sign of reproach from God.

Zachary was fulfilling his priestly duties in the temple one day when the angel Gabriel appeared to him. Gabriel told Zachary that he and Elizabeth would have a son, to be named John, who would be great before God, converting many to the Lord and going before Him with the spirit and power of Elias. Zachary told the angel that he and his wife were too old to have a child, and because he did not believe he was struck dumb, unable to speak until after John was born.

After Zachary's time in the temple, Elizabeth did conceive and hid herself away for five months. At the sixth month, Gabriel announced to Mary in Nazareth that she would be the mother of Jesus, and he told her that Elizabeth was also with child. Mary hurried to the hill country of Juda to be with Elizabeth and share the wonderful news.

When Mary arrived at Elizabeth's house and greeted her, the baby John jumped in Elizabeth's womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. She exclaimed in a loud voice, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the lord.”

Mary responded with the beautiful words that we know today as the Magnificat. She stayed with Elizabeth for about three months before returning to Nazareth.

When John was born, all the friends and relatives congratulated Zachary and Elizabeth. On the eighth day when they came to circumcise John, they called him by his father's name, Zachary. And Elizabeth told them no, that his name would be John. They said that no one in the family had ever been called John before, and they went to Zachary and asked him what he wanted the baby boy to be called. Zachary took a tablet and wrote on it, “John is his name.” And immediately he was able to speak again, blessing God. The people wondered about the future of this baby, whose birth was so obviously the work of God. And Zachary was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, speaking the words that we pray each morning in the Divine Office, the Canticle of Zechariah.

And Elizabeth's baby boy, John “... grew, and was strengthened in spirit, and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel.”

I am delighted to have St. Elizabeth as my patron saint for next year. I have a very special intention that I will ask her to pray for every day. Thank you, Angela!

Friday Chatter

Yesterday we had to have our water heater replaced. Just how we wanted to spend our money a few weeks before Christmas, right? :o\ One of the young plumbers commented to Ron that ours was the oldest hot water heater he had ever seen. It was installed in 1984, probably when this house was built. Oh well, the new one makes the water nice and hot.

This morning I had my PET/CT scan done. It was a weird experience. They are installing a new scanner at BAMC, so I went to a trailer on Ft. Sam for the scan. Very weird. Anyway, they said my doctor should have the results within two working days, so probably Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Dr. B said that he would call me when he got them. I'm praying they show no cancer.

This evening Josh brought us some grilled salmon he made for dinner. It was yummy. I made some rice and broccoli to go with it. Easy and delicious.

I've been trying to come up with ideas for Christmas gifts for my family, but my mind is blank on that subject. I have a few clothing items for some of the grands, but we like to give them something besides clothes. Oh well, I'll think about it tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

Gramma Time

It was so nice to have Reece with us last night and this morning. He just gets sweeter and funnier all the time.

I got out some Advent items before he came, and he was so delighted with them--a simple little Advent calendar (pictured with the first two windows opened), the Advent wreath, and the nativity sets. He played with the little Fisher Price nativity all evening.

There were some strings of lights in the closet and I took them out to see if they worked. Reece saw them and immediately wanted to plug them in. Only one string worked, but he loved playing with them. They have a little button you can push to change the way the lights come on. Sometimes they would come on slowly, then change colors. Then he would push the button to make them flash like crazy, or to make just the green ones come on, or just the blue ones.

He's still fascinated with the furnace and likes to open the door and look at the fire whenever he hears it getting ready to come on. It is pretty interesting to have fire in a closet, I guess. :o)

He and Papa made their usual trip to HEB. This time he came home with a little set of 3 airplanes and a helicopter, but he really didn't play with them much. He was more interested in the nativity set and the lights.

Oh, and he has discovered the old fashioned cartoons called Silly Symphonies and loves to watch them on YouTube. We watched The Three Little Pigs, The Wise Little Hen, Father Noah and the Ark, and one about a little elephant. Some of them we watched several times. :o) These are cartoons I remember from when I was a little girl. They are so much better than the ones they show now--the artwork, the music, the classic stories.

The little nativity set plays Away In A Manger, and I was singing the song to him. He kept pushing the button to play the music, wanting me to sing. After awhile, he began to sing it too. I love to hear him sing. It just melts my heart.

He wanted chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. I threw away my little griddle because it was worn out, but I remembered that I had a big flat griddle that never worked very well on my electric cooktop. I hadn't tried it on the gas one, so I got it out and used it. It works great! Now when our other grands come, I'll be able to cook lots of pancakes at once for them. :o)

Reece and Papa bought some Campbells Cars soup (the noodles were shaped like the characters from the Cars movie) and some Christmas tree cookies frosted with green frosting at HEB. We took those to Gran's this morning because Reece wanted to have lunch with her. She liked the Cars soup and the cookies. :o)

Reece was enchanted with Gran's Christmas decorations. He walked in and said to her, "How did you do all this?" It was so cute. He played with her nativity set and touched all the ornaments on her little tree. He loved the lights outside on her patio (she turned the lights on for him). He was all smiles the whole time we were there.

When I took him home, he was excited to show me his Christmas tree. His daddy has also put up lights on the house. Cyrise said the little girls have already been taking the ornaments off the tree. She very wisely used only the plastic ornaments on the tree this year.

It was fun to see the girls, and hold baby Gina. She is growing, but still such a little peanut. She felt heavier, and her hair seems to have grown longer. She's very alert, and was looking all around. She is absolutely beautiful.

Life is sweet.

The Lamb by William Blake

Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,

By the stream and o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, woolly, bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice?

Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee.

He is called by thy name,

For He calls Himself a Lamb.

He is meek, and He is mild;

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb,

We are called by His name.

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Daybook

A picture to share...
A shaft of late afternoon sunlight was hitting the cross in my hallway a couple of days ago and I tried to get a picture of it, even though it was getting dark.

Outside my window...

The sun is shining and the sky is blue, but it is cold and windy outside.

I am thankful...

I have so much to be thankful for.

All of you who have prayed for me during my cancer journey. I am certain that it is because of your prayers that I've done so well.

My doctors, nurses and medical techs who took excellent care of me during the treatments and hospital stays. They've been incredible!

My loving and supportive family and friends, who have made the journey easier.

Medical breakthroughs that make it possible to cure cancer and give a person a whole new immune system and a whole new life.

My life. I'm so thankful for every single day, every minute, every second of life--time to be with my family and see my grandchildren grow.

I'm even thankful for the cancer, which has brought me closer to God and given me the opportunity to offer up my suffering for the atonement of sin. Perhaps my time in purgatory will be a bit shorter because of it.

I am wearing...
Black yoga pants, blue tee shirt.

On my mind...

My sister's father-in-law, who was moved to the hospital by hospice yesterday. He is near the end of his life. Please pray for Jim and his family. Thank you!

I am going...

I'm staying home today.

I am reading...

A new Birds and Blooms magazine, online blogs.

Remembering...

Living in Japan.

Pondering these words...

It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world. -- St. Aloysius Gonzaga

From the kitchen....

Spaghetti for dinner tonight.

Around the house...
Laundry today.

One of my favorite things...
Cuddling a tiny baby.