Happy Birthday Paula... sweet and amazing younger sister of mine! The third girl... dad was fine with it and then next came the twin boys... only one survived, and mom and dad suffered their one and only loss! Paula was beautiful girl number 3, and I being the oldest, was in awe of a new baby in the house. Marty... the second daughter... had gotten me used to the fact that the world would not revolve around me alone as the apple of my parent's eye... I would have to learn to share the love and attention with one after another... adding up to a grand total of 11 when it was all said and done! I did learn from my parents how wonderful family is, and it is something special to welcome and to be open to LIFE! Something must have been instilled in me, because I cherish FAMILY and have always wanted to welcome many children! Now with the grandchildren stage of our lives here... that is just as wonderful, and there are as many prayers needed for them and so the prayer needs and petitions and powerful times continue to grow and grow!
Sisters are wonderful and as it continued in our family... it just seemed natural to have girl after girl after girl after girl! It was a wonderful way to grow up and to see the closeness carried over to our family of 4 girls and then that boy.... well, it was a total gift and answers to many prayers! I know with confidence that my parents gather every morning and pray for each of those they have been given with the pricetag attached to pray for them, and to instill in them the faith! That includes us 11 kids, almost 40 grandkids and probably getting close to that in great grandkids! Our prayers increase and the blessings and graces increase along with them!
Here is the first 5.... yes, my parents started the family with 4 girls and a boy... just in a bit different order! My dad now being a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church says the "office" both morning and night along with all priests and religious! So my parents come together to recite this, and then my dad goes down the list of family... he not only says our first names but also our middle and saints name for all of us... it is getting close to 75-100 by now! He takes his family and his prayers for them very seriously! You can only imagine how comforting and supported we feel knowing that we are prayed for like that daily! If ever there is a need the prayer intention is gotten to them so... that the prayers can be prayed for specifically, and also that more of them can be said throughout the day! Prayer has been huge in our family, and continues!
This is Paula with our next sister,Mary... Mary has been gone now for 14 years as she died from cancer shortly after she had married a dairy farmer and had a daughter... How we all miss her!
Prayer continues to be so much a part of our family and each day! The kids all are having that feeling of trust and hope and comfort knowing not only that their grandfather and grandmother are praying for them but also their father and I! We speak aloud the petitions together each morning and night, and they all know that I have a decade of the rosary that I say for them each day... If there is any kind of an issue or a bump in the road they are quick to call and let me know about it... asking to deal with it in prayer!
Now 7 of us... A few years later we adopted 4 from one family, whose parents had been killed in a car accident... then we reached the 11!
Fr Paul today spoke the words - "Graced Life" - in his homily. I thought that this was certainly something to hope for in our lives, and to as Fr said to strive for in the frequent partaking of the sacraments and all the Church has in place to fill us with the graces necessary to live a good and holy and truly happy life! I just came across a spiritual journal that Susan had kept on and off while studying in Rome in 2006. In a way I felt a bit funny starting to read it, but then I realized that St Therese was asked to write her diary as did ST Faustina so that others could benefit from her journey and wisdom! One thing that is striking me about what Susan writes is her totaly dedication to Mary as she calls herself a "slave to Mary." She is also now on a retreat that she took to France... following the lives of St Bernedette and St Therese and then coming to the devotion of the Sacred Heart. Her simple words of love for her Saviour and His heart that burns with love for her! Too wonderful for a mother to get inside of her deep sense of LOVE for her Church, and everything about it! Her HUNGER for the Eucharist, and time for adoration of Him in the form of bread in Holy Hour! That is amazing and powerful and REAL!
My dad and mom when we moved to Flint, Michigan so that dad could be one of the associate ministers at the Presbyterian church there... My dad always loved and listened to the Lord in his life, and eventually heard him tell him, while on retreat himself,that we should all 13 of us join the Catholic Church! It has been an absolutely amazing journey, and I am forever grateful and changed! I praise you God... all the Hallel psalms put together are still not enough of the praise and joy and LOVE I feel!
Paula for your birthday today, dear sister of mine... St Paul, your namesake, speaks to us in the second reading - II Thessalonians 2:16- 3:5
"Brothers and Sisters: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word."
Jesus, we thank you for the wonder of family and faith and how they come together in our lives to bring us joy and fulfillment! We get a foretaste of the beautiful family we will embrace with all of our hearts burning with LOVE when we reach heaven and our home with you and your Church and saints and Blessed Mother and ST Joseph! We are grateful for the graced life we have here and all the graces we find to guide us as we follow the path you have laid out for each one of us! Jesus, we love you and trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb "Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified... May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ." II Thes 3:5
Happy 56th and many more! WE love you!
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