Happy Easter!

I'm so proud that we've been able to successfully celebrate each holiday /holy day as if we would when Mom was alive.

We have not skipped a beat!

Holy Saturday played out flawlessly with last minute baking, cooking and then the blessing of the food! I took the liberty to toss in a few family pictures and a few other important mementos with the wine, cheese, butter, salt, meats, eggs, candy, breads, horseradish, and so much more!

Then taking the baskets to church with candy-filled plastic eggs for all the kids attending all of the Easter services. I'm sure their parents will be so thrilled!

You walk into church and immediately are overcome with the beautiful scent of all the lovely flowers. Every Mass was delightful. And it's always nice to see people who may not come to Mass that often, or attend other churches but love OLP and come home for the really special occasions.

Easter Sunday just a beautiful day!

The only flaw is that Uncle Bill is in the hospital. My Aunt and I visited with him for a while before we headed to our big family dinner. It's hard to see someone you love sick, with really no chance of ever getting better.

Unfortunately, my family has seen this too often. I know, when you begin getting older and everyone around you is even older, it's a way of life. I'm glad I've been able to visit with my Uncle regularly! Uncle Bill is our 'father figure.' He always has been and will always be. It's very hard seeing our 'father figure' dying so soon after Mom passed away.

It was nice spending the day with the family again out at the farm. There were even more chickens this year than at Thanksgiving. And little Sereta.

It was a very late night. Later than I expected. Too much food, as usual.

Most of the stuff I made DID taste like Mom's --except the bread which did not rise quite as much but everyone was very nice pretending to like it! Aw, just toss it in the toaster with some butter, and it'll be fine!

Trust me, even with all the adversity over the last 15 months, I know how lucky and blessed I am....and thank God every single day.

Christmas Eve traditions

I'm proud of how I keep plugging along knowing what I want to accomplish this holiday season but not being too hard on myself if it does not get done in a timely fashion.

I've already established that I WILL send out our annual Christmas letter. As of this writing, the letter is not quite finished but the holiday season goes on for me until at least the Feast of the Three Kings!

I've also decided that I will continue making all of our Christmas cookies, even if I have to make some of them around and in the New Year.

This is my favorite time of the year. I know we've lost a great lady, but I will not let her down and stray from both of our most Sacred Holy Time and favorite holiday.

So today, I had more errands to run than anticipated but did get them all done. There's always one thing I forget that I can not find at the last minute. Happened again this year unfortunately.

An emotional day. I ran into Mom's old physical therapist who had no clue she had passed. And then as I shared the "Mom rainbow" story with the owner of The Dancing Sheep, I made her cry which in turn made me cry. I'm telling you, Mom is physically gone, but she and her amazing persona and the stories of how she is STILL with us continue affecting our lives and others.

We decided that everyone would go to Mass together, as always, but changed which Mass. Does not matter for me. I sing them all!

However, it was nice because after Mass, I had a bigger stretch of time before I had to go back over to Church.

I firmly believe we have the prettiest church in the Diocese. And our Pastor is a gem. It's a win-win situation! Then factor in the holiday music and you have a wonderful night.

I absolutely adore the music we sing each Christmas Season. The Bells usually play a few of the Masses and our Choir Director David gets his friend who plays the violin to accompany us.

By the time I went over to Church, I had laid out all of our hor'doerves for after Mass. The house smelled so wonderful. AAAH! It must be Christmas!

I like seeing so many old friends who don't come to Church the rest of the year or they come back to Cleveland to visit family at Christmastime. And, no snow. It's a beautiful Christmas Eve.

Father Gary personalizes so many of his sermons. He brought a tear (OK, many tears) to my eyes at the Mass my entire family attended. He saw everyone sitting out in the congregation and threw in a line saying 'he sees those in the pews who may be having a harder time this year because they've lost a family member this year...' I lost it. I had to mask it being in front with the choir, but it was very hard. Finally, by the end of the Mass, I had to bail out before the end of the closing song because it was just too hard.

We had a good night.

We ate, spent time together, laughed, the girls did some fast hand moves trying to teach the boys, and the boys taught everyone how to tie a tie!

I could not have asked for a better Christmas Eve --except to have Mom here with me. But then I get a smile on my face because Mom is spending Christmas Eve with Baby Jesus this year.

Is it being rude or just protecting yourself?

I'm quite conflicted with what I am about to say.

I was always taught to be nice to your fellow brothers and sisters....for you never know when the person you are helping, consoling, or feeding is really Jesus Christ.

Over the last few weeks I've run into a few overbearing, prying, intrusive people.

At first, I really tried being nice but it appears they are heading toward the label of being 'stalkers.' And now, though I still want to be Christian, I am going to put up a wall, be aloof, and downright rude if necessary. It looks like this 'new attitude' is the only way to protect myself and retain my sanity.

You will never guess where I've come across these people? CHURCH! That's right, CHURCH!


And unfortunately, I think I've said too much to them already.


These encounters were quite uncomfortable.


After morning Mass one day for Mom, one of the men proceeded to berate me about my future, my beliefs on marriage, and anything else he could say to upset me--all of this standing in the middle of the Church right before God. His African background and accompanying beliefs apparently differ from mine and the way I was raised. But what really gets me is two-fold: apparently, the meaning of that morning's Mass went right over his head and he does not respect other's opinions.


Then a few days later, the same man walked up to me, asked me where I worked --unfortunately I told him and he just walked away. He did not say, 'Oh, that's interesting!' He said nothing to further the conversation. He just walked away. What is up with that?!?!?!


The other man said he enjoys listening to the choir sing, especially me, and even moved up right next to us. Tho at first glance, that sounds flattering, the questions he asked at Church this weekend outright frightened me. Fortunately, another lady in choir was a witness, saw how upset I was getting and hopefully will back me up if she ever sees him again or report this to others.


It's really an awful feeling.


One place where I used to feel so safe, so secure, and in my element singing and praising God with the gift He gave me has been stolen away from me as I dread seeing these two rude men at Church now. They make me feel like I don't want to share my talents to the fullest because I feel the need to avoid them.


Quite a predicament. I know my family and friends will help protect & guide me in these situations, but hopefully, God, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Mom will also help me and watch over me acting as my guardian angels.

God is good

Mom has this saying she uses often, but does not overuse. When times are tough yet situations seem to work out, she says 'God is good.'

When a friend or stranger goes above and beyond, she says 'God is good.'

When parishioners come up to her amazed at how far she has come back, she says 'God is good.'

This weekend our church held their annual Chinese auction and picnic.....this year's festivities echoed the Olympic theme in honor of the recent Beijing Olympics because it was a 'Chinese' auction. Parishioners were urged to wear garb from their country or 'olympics-oriented' attire as well as bring a dish from around the world! There were games for the children....a fun time for all involved!

Parishioners and businesses donated some wonderful auction gifts. We bought a number of tickets for the auction, not necessarily to get a gift, but to support the church we love!

On a whim, we put a ticket in almost every little auction baggie and more than one in those that we actually would not mind winning!

When they got to one of the auction items and called Mom's name, I realized that God IS good and he has total control over what we do down here.

I also realized that God knows, at times, I need a 'sign' in this crazy world that he is still there.

Mom won 2 hats which say 'God is good all the time.' She also won a t-shirt which tells you who to call when you get into the top 10 binds and trouble spots --like Matthew, Mark, Jude, etc....just one of the most imaginative shirts I've seen!

God IS good!