Eucharist/ Evening prayer with John and Bobbi/Ruth and Joy with candy/much better day after a rough one!

They aren't pills they are pumpkin cookie toppers!

These two stopped in to cheer me up a lot!  Joy as usual lives up to her name.  Ruth was thoughtful of her fellow nurses, remembering her days of having thoughtful chocolates to eat while charting... making me look really good complete with a Thanksgiving thank you note.  Joy has a peanut butter cookie her great aunt Rita baked for the visiting kids, and a shaker of pumpkin candies from her great Aunt Raterra, who stopped in yesterday!  Thank you all!!!

John and Bobbi brought supper last night and we shared the JOY of doing the Breviery on our phones as we shared Evening prayer complete with the Magnficat of Mary... so beautiful to say each evening!

 In the single digits today with snow out the window.  The beautiful flowers from the "Verly girls" to cheer me up!  I have to say that yesterday was a very difficult one with pain and the resulting disposition.  Some pointed out that it is hard to be chipper and cheerful when you are dealing with so much pain.  Truth!  My world looked pretty dark and gloomy yesterday, but today even with only a so so night... the sun seemed to come out and HOPE shown all around me!

Such beautiful lacy leaves to decorate, but with the snow outside they just don't seem to fit anymore!  What happened to our fall?  It is wintry out there.

Joy didn't seem too put off by grandma being in a hospital room with all my stuff... she just smiled and was her usual sweet self.

My day started with wonderful Eucharist once again with a wonderful prayer after Communion personalized just for me... what stuck with me... "when I kneel before you at the end of the day.  All the good comes from you and all my failures are from me."  Yes, Lord, I need you and I am eternally grateful for this encouraging happy day after such a dark and difficult day.

 Red and swollen is normal... Going home tomorrow and talking to Ruth about how this seems to be good timing between farm work and Christmas.

 My best helper and her assistant will be helping me out as needed, and hopefully that will be less and less.  I am filled with hope today...

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? for the temple of God, which you are, is holy."  I Cor 3
Yes, I am reminded of that when I see this old mess of a body getting better with each new day, O Lord!

 Stocking cap weather!

A sweet smile for grandma from my youngest grandchild for the time being... soon to change with 3 due in March!

Feast of the Pope's Church today...Unlike the commemorations of other Roman churches (St. Mary Major, Aug 5; Sts. Peter and Paul, Nov 18), this anniversary is a FEAST. The dedication of a church is a feast for all its parishioners. St. John Lateran Basilica is, in a sense, the parish church of all Catholics, for it is the pope's parish, the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome. On the façade of the basilica there is an inscription in Latin which reads, “the mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world.”The Lateran’s towering façade is crowned with 15 colossal statues of: Christ, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist and 12 doctors of the Church. Beneath its high altar rest the remains of the small wooden table on which tradition holds St. Peter himself celebrated Mass.

CELEBRATE Mass today and consider the UNITY and JOY that it bears  -

one baptism, one bread, one body, one heart.

It is indeed a FEAST- not to be missed!

It was a wonderful gift to receive you this day, O Lord.  I need you and long to serve you without counting the cost. "Wounded, I will not cease to love."