All ATwitter!!!!

So, social networking is all aTwitter this week.  Seems the Pope joined Twitter, so he can be part of the new millenium.

Do you Twitter?  I have to admit, I have an account, but don't really use it.  I follow a few people -- I started when the girls were at NCYC a couple of years ago and they were going to update via Twitter.  I didn't really know what it was, or how it worked (not so sure I'm any smarter now!), but I wanted to feel like I was there.

I just signed up to follow the Pope.  We'll see how this goes.  LOL  What I found interesting was how many "fakes" there were!  I "followed" Pope Benedict, only to read some of the things he posted, and quickly realized I didn't follow the right guy!!  LOL

Here's the web address, if you're so inclined:  http://twitter.com/#!/PopeBenedictXIV

So, what do you do on Twitter?  Follow anyone interesting?  I would be interested to hear if you do.  Probably my most interesting person I follow is Kent Boyd.  LOL  Or, maybe Kelly Ripa.  She's always off to somewhere fun!

Hope you are having a great week.  Things seem to have slowed down on the Casey Anthony story, at least until her sentencing (or non-sentencing).  Time will tell.

The Rest is Still Unwritten.....

Sunday's homily, given this week by our Deacon, really hit a note with me.  I keep wondering if I'm in a mid-life crisis or what -- but as I have watched Sarah graduate this spring, and help her prepare to leave this fall, I see my other kids getting older as well -- heck, next week, our twins will be double digits already!!  I will only have one child left in single digits.  I find myself wondering if I'm doing the things I should be doing -- the things that God wants me to be doing.  I pray about it, but often have to figure out if what I'm hearing is what God is telling me, or if it's what I want to hear so I'm making it up in my head!!  LOL

At any rate, he had one line in his homily that really struck a chord with me -- "God writes the book, you just fill in the lines."  I love that.  So often we try to figure out -- if God has a plan for us, why do we have free will?  Do we really have free will?  Well, we do -- and God has a plan for us, we just have to work through it and find our ways.  Will we make mistakes?  Most certainly!  Have I?  Oh, gosh, yes!  But do I think I'm still on "the path"?  I guess I can't know for sure, but I certainly hope so!

I've been struck today by this thought again -- with the verdict in the Casey/Caylee Anthony case.  Honestly, I'm probably one of the few people who really don't know all the details in the case.  I've heard about it -- and I know what supposedly happened, but I don't really know all about it.  I DO know that Facebook is all atwitter about it -- everyone is upset -- she was guilty in everyone's book.  But here's the thing.  None of us know what really went on.  And that jury?  They didn't say she was innocent.  They said she was not guilty.  There is a big difference there.

I keep reflecting on her "book" that she was given at the beginning of her life.  God has a plan for her.  Was this part of it?  Is she just filling in lines?  Or did she start her own chapter? 

In the end, it's not between Casey and Caylee, or Casey and her parents, or anyone at all.  It's between Casey and God.  And, as my friend Jacob so wisely put it:  There's a big difference between what's true and what can be proved in court. Ultimately, we need to realize that only God can provide true judgement.

My guess is that Casey Anthony is not going to be living an easy life, in or out of jail.  Many people have convicted her on their own terms.  And, if I had to guess, I would guess that she would have been safer in jail for a long time. 

But, no matter what happened, there is a precious little body that is no longer with us.  May that little angel watch over all of us and help guide us, and especially her mom.  RIP, Caylee.

And the rest of us?  We still have time to write our books, or change our paragraphs.  After all, the rest is still unwritten!  :)

A remarkable conversion story

I've often wondered what I would say or do if I met Jesus.  Would I know it was Him?  Would he look like I think he looks?  What would he be wearing?

I've spoken here before about the various angels who have come into my life -- and I always do wonder just a little bit if any of them are Jesus.  Just wandering around, living the life.

I used to have a 7 am youth bible study (a long time ago, I think most of them are 28 or so now!) at our local coffee shop, and on more than one occasion, that was a discussion point of the day.  We would watch the door for a few minutes and wonder if each person coming through was Jesus!

I ran across this conversion story a couple of months ago (just before Easter, to be exact), but have never published it.  I love this story.  It tells me that Jesus IS with us, always, and sometimes when we least expect it, he may just show up.  I hope you enjoy it.  It's a little long, but worth it.

“I Just Can’t Make It Alone!” Tom Leopold’s Conversion Story

My name is Tom Leopold and I’m a comedy writer (Seinfeld, Cheers, Will and Grace...). I am a Jewish comedy writer, although I always felt saying that was kind of redundant. So much of my humor — practically all of it I suppose— comes from who my people are, what they’ve been through and how they were able to turn it all on its head and find the funny side, even and especially if there was none to find.

I know it sounds odd, but I always liked Jesus. I was never “deep” enough to wrestle with the concept of his being the son of God. For me he had this James Dean-Bob Dylan-daring rebel-hero “thing” about him. Once in a while, I did wonder, had I been nearby when Jesus walked among us, would I have had seen him for who he said he was? And, if so, would I have had the courage to say “Hey, everybody says we’re waiting on the Messiah. Well, the ‘wait’ is over!” Fast forward two thousand years later and I’d follow Jesus anywhere if he’d have me.

Come Easter I’ll still be a comedy writer, but a Catholic one. I consider my upcoming baptism a blessing. One that ranks right up there with the day I met my wife or the birth of our two daughters, to say nothing of having the good fortune to have made a living in a business that I love.

So here is a flashback of how I became Catholic.

We’re a couple of years into my youngest daughter’s life-threatening eating disorder. It also happens to be Christmas Eve and our girl is under doctors’ care at still another rehab center. This one is in the Arizona desert. By the time we had come to this point our ravaged little fourteen-year-old had been too ill to attend any but three weeks of her 9th grade school year, she had spent days locked in a psych ward, and both she and I were nearly run over by a cab as I tried to catch up to her after she’d bolted from a doctor’s office.

So, we’re in the desert, it’s Christmas Eve and my wife, our oldest girl (17) and I are decorating our hotel room with Christmas stuff from the only store still open in the little desert town, the Dollar Store. We are all Jewish, but for some reason we’ve always celebrated Christmas too. There was something kind of sacred about the silly little tree we bought...It reminded me of the tree Charlie Brown dragged back to his gang.

The doctors would only let us have our daughter for Christmas Day, so the three of us went to bed early, each trying not to let the others know how sad we were that one of us was missing. Lying there in the dark that night was the closest I have ever come to breaking — not breaking down, breaking! It’s a whole lot easier to hold your heart together when it’s you who does the suffering, but when it’s your child and nobody can fix her...Well, it would take more than a comedy writer to say it how it feels.

I was praying before the thought dawned on me that I was praying. Maybe begging is the better word... “Please God, give me even the smallest sign you’re up there, I just can’t make it alone!”

The next morning we’d arranged for our girls to go horseback riding, and my wife and I took a walk in the desert. Out of nowhere this cool old guy drives up in a motorcycle he made himself...It had antlers for handlebars and the guy looked like the old Marine that he turned out to be. He skidded up next to us, practically popping a wheelie, and started talking. I’m a New Yorker, so I just figured he was just one more weirdo...But the guy had this great intensity and a mysterious charisma.

He started a long monologue about how he was once married to a woman named “Shepard” and how his present wife brought him to Christ at the age of 33, and all the while he keeps nodding his head towards me and saying to my wife “This one knows what I’m talking about!”

Here we were, on Christmas morning in the desert, and this odd old character is throwing the word “Shepard” around along with the number 33. “Wasn’t Jesus a ‘Shepard’ to his flock and wasn’t he 33 when he was crucified and isn’t this day, his birthday?!” As I’m thinking of this, the old guy keeps telling my wife that I know what he means! And the weird thing is I do, kind of, know what he means! Not what he’s saying but what he means...

My cell phone rings. It’s our kids. They’re through with their ride. Without even knowing who’s on the other end of the phone our desert prophet says “Hang up, they’re fine!” I hung up. After the exhaustion of all we’d been through, it felt nice to be, well, led!

He finally stops talking, guns his engine and peels off only to stop a few yards away, turn back to me and say in a voice somewhere below a whisper and above mental telepathy that “God is watching you!” It wasn’t a threat, it was a reassurance.

There were more things like that. Coincidences? I no longer think so. But the biggest and most rewarding was the day I ran into Father Jonathan Morris.

Thirty-eight years ago I went to a psychic down in Nolita (North Of Little Italy) who pretty much predicted my entire career path...I wasn’t even a writer at the time. Out of the blue I had this idea to reconnect with him and, to my amazement, he remembered me right away. Our daughter had gotten a little better after her last treatment but was falling back again even though she was now strong enough to attend school. I thought I’d go visit Frank (my old psychic) just to check in and tell him how right he had been about all that’s happened to me and to ask if he saw a recovery for our daughter. Frank told me to bring her to him. A few days later we did. Walking up the steps to Frank’s townhouse, a car pulls up right in front of us and out steps Father Jonathan Morris. I recognized him from a picture in his book, “The Promise.” The book dealt with grief and I was getting a great deal of comfort from it. Suddenly the very same, kind, face was right before me.

“Are you Father Morris?”
He nodded.
“Your book is on my bed stand.”
He had already started towards me. He had his hand out.
Why I said what I said next I will never know.
“ Father, do you think you might have a few minutes to talk to me sometime?”

I had seen and admired Father Morris many times on television but thought he lived in Rome. He smiled, holding on to my hand and said: “You can find me right here.” He turned and pointed to Old Saint Patrick’s Church. It was as if I hadn’t even seen the church until he pointed to it. He had just started as parochial vicar there...True to his word he found time for me and room for my family in his prayers. He even met with our daughter.

I don’t think there’s room now to describe all I found “right here” at Old Saint Pat’s. The minute Father Morris took my hand I knew I’d be a follower of Christ. Does my daughter still suffer? She does, we all still do, but now I feel the Lord’s grace. We are not alone.

Happy Easter!

-Tom Leopold

If you wish to read comments, etc. here is the link to the article:


http://usccbmedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-just-cant-make-it-alone-tom-leopolds.html

Have a great weekend, all!  Stay safe!!!  Thank you to our military for always giving of themselves and keeping us safe.  We appreciate you much more than you will ever know!

.....and not a Little Debbie in sight!!

I found this article the other day.  I've been working on eating a little healthier (updates will come if there is serious success!) and was really trying to figure out and wrap my head around concepts like why we should eat more fiber when trying to lose weight.  What are the health benefits?  (I actually found some neat answers to this and other questions at a neat site called www.caloriesperhour.com) -- will help you figure your BMI, and also help you plan your weight loss strategies.  I love it!  :)

At any rate, while searching, somehow this site came up.  It's very interesting -- what Jesus likely ate.  According to this list, there is no chocolate (which should be further proof that Jesus was NOT a woman!), but really a lot of the foods that we are told to eat and drink when being healthy.  He was skinny (I think!), so this makes sense.

At any rate, I thought it was a neat site, so here you go:

http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/Healthy-Living/10-Foods-and-Drinks-Jesus-Likely-Consumed.aspx

If anyone has any ideas, please share.  In the meantime, I'll go back to drinking my water and eating my fiber (I read what happens when you eat too much fiber and don't drink enough water -- no thanks!).

Have a great day, everyone!  If you're travelling for the holiday, please stay safe and drive safe.  I'd rather you get somewhere late than not at all.  :)

Happy Independence Day!!  God bless!

F.A.M.I.L.Y.

Wow -- what a weekend!!!  We had a crazy, busy weekend.....and I loved every minute of it.  By busy, I don't mean that I ran a marathon -- I would probably have other words for the weekend then.  But by busy, I mean we had a lot of things to do and a lot of fun to have.

I often look back on our weekends, and our time in general, and realize that my favorite times in my life is when I am spending time with my family (both my kids and hubby, and also extended family).  This weekend was an "extended family" weekend.  We spent Saturday helping my brother Duane in his bid to stay as the Municipal Court Judge in Sidney/Shelby County.  Parades, candy, and fun!  I love to be in parades -- you see so many people!!  Of course, there is limited time to talk, but there is time to say hey and perhaps see people you wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Last  year, we were in the Oktoberfest parade.  I asked my dad if he'd like to ride in the parade with me -- he always loved that parade.  "Of course!" he said, without any hesitation.  So, we set him up in the convertible with the heat on his feet, and blankets on his legs, and he waved all the way through.  He had a blast.  Later, he told me that was the first time he'd ever been in a parade.  Although that didn't surprise me, it struck me that I've been in lots of parades in my life -- when I was in high school, we went to every area festival and marched in the band.  I didn't always love it, but I went.  LOL  At any rate, he was able to see lots of people that day, and, in hindsight, say goodbye and go out in style.  Little did we know at that time that that would not only be his first parade, but his last as well.  It's those times that I call my God Moments.  As I think back on that day, he was waving goodbye to many people he'd known his whole life.  The Oktoberfest parade won't be the same without him.

Sunday, we spent at a family reunion on my mom's side.  As we arrived and I looked around, it made me sad to realize that we were there with 3 less people than we had last year this time.  Out of 10 siblings, only 3 were present.  I made sure to give my aunts a kiss and a hug when I left, for we never know if we will see them again!  It was a great reunion -- of course, not everyone was there, but there was (in my opinion) a great turnout, and the weather was so nice that most people hung out most of the afternoon.  It was truly a great way to catch up with many folks!

After the reunion, we stopped at my brother John's house for a while, with the rest of my siblings and their families.  What a gift that afternoon was!!  I remember after Dad died, one of the kids asked if we would stop getting together, because that would make them sad and they would miss their cousins.  The answer was no.....we're entirely too close for that to ever happen!  Father Craig (our cousin) stopped out and ate dinner with us, and it was nice to spend a little quality time with him.

As we try to reorganize our lives without Mom and Dad around, I find myself often wondering what Mom or Dad would say or do in a certain situation.  How would they handle it?  I notice often when I'm with my siblings that they do it, too.  I've been amazed at how far and wide we have heard from people after the loss of my dad -- they knew him, or worked with him, or met him at a tractor show, but all wanted to share their condolences.  We miss him a lot, but it's interesting to hear how others miss him as well.

Are you wondering about the title of this post?  I learned it from a priest at a conference I once went to.  F.A.M.I.L.Y. = Forget About Me, I Love You!!!!!!

Feast of Corpus Christi

Well, Sunday is the Feast of Corpus Christi.  Are you ready to celebrate?  Do you have your cake baked?  Your candles ready??

You don't?  Why not?  It's a great day!!!  :)

I have to admit, that I need to work on my solemnity days.  I know the biggies -- Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, etc., but some of these other days I am learning about. 

We went to a different church than normal tonight -- with a different priest, and a different deacon.  I love to switch it up sometimes -- it's like anything, you get out of your normal habit and things appear differently. 

After I stopped smiling watching the dad in front of us teach his son not to do the sign of the cross before the Gospel, but rather bless his forehead, lips, and heart (Jesus, be always on my mind, my lips, and in my heart) -- which made me smile -- I listened to the Gospel, and then the homily.

Now, I have to admit that I LOVE the priest at the church we were at -- so, I was a bit disappointed when he didn't preach tonight.  It seems that almost every time we go there, the deacon is preaching!  I always find it interesting, though, that the deacon always touches my heart in some way.

I want to back up a bit.  Earlier this week, Harry and I went to a weekday mass.  We primarily went because it was for my mom and dad, but I really do like to go to weekday mass whenever I can (and I actually can more than I do.....).  We had a different priest, there, too, because our priest is travelling.  I love Father Hoying -- he does his job with such joy and always with a smile on his face.  A few years ago, when Sarah was doing her Girl Scout Gold Award, he donated a vestment to the people of Grenada.  We had Harry try it on and take pictures so that Sarah could show it in her project.  We often show him the picture of him being a "priest".....with the hopes that one day it could come true!  He has spoken of it on more than one occasion.  :)  We'll see where the Holy Spirit leads him, but we keep him in our prayers as well!

But I digress.  I had no idea that this weekend was Corpus Christi when we were at mass this week.  Of this you can be sure.  However, I had a really interesting thing happen to me during mass.  When I took the Eucharist, and then the Blood of Jesus, I felt as if I was taking it for the first time all over again.  I don't really know how to explain it other than it was as if I had never had them before.  I do try to appreciate my time when I know that the Body of our Lord is physically in my body, but this was different.  It was appreciating the texture of the Eucharist all over.  And the flavor of the Blood.  It was a really neat experience.

Tonight, the Deacon was speaking of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (which is, if you aren't familiar, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ).  It's a time for us to reflect on the fact that each and every time we receive the Eucharist at mass, we are truly receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  How easy that is for us to overlook.  I always lick my lips when I am done receiving, to be sure to get every drop that I have received.  How awesome of a gift is it that we are able to receive this gift each time we attend mass (and even at some prayer services!).  I think I've mentioned before, but sometimes I worry when I am distributing that people don't realize (I'm sure they don't) the beautiful gift they are being given.  I see hands just thrown out, or people grab the host, etc.  I just pray for them and hope that their heart will realize over time what a gift they are being given!

As the Deacon mentioned tonight -- have you ever wondered what it is like to experience heaven?  Because you do each and every time you receive the Eucharist.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  God bless!

Hi everyone!

Hi all ~

No, I haven't forgotten about you -- just have been trying to enjoy life with our newly graduated girl, and enjoy our family as a whole. 

We made it!!  Unscathed!!  We made it through 12 graduation parties, one graduation ceremony, a baccalaureate, and the end of the school year!!  We did it!!!

We had a ton of fun -- why didn't anyone tell me how fun graduation parties are when you host them???  :)  We knew EVERYONE there!  What I wasn't prepared for was that I knew everyone there -- and didn't get to chat with everyone as much as I would have liked.  :(

Sarah will be off in August to the University of Dayton, where she will study Dietetics and Human Nutrition.  She went to work with Jim last week and spent the day with a couple of dieticians at the hospital -- and she loved it.  I hope her dreams (whatever they are!) come true!

We had another big moment in our house this past week.  Emily got her Driver's License!  I'm not quite sure which worries me more -- sending a child to college, or putting a new driver on the road.  I don't do well when they are gone in the early days.  It has nothing to do with trusting Emily -- it's just what can happen when you are on the roads.

I've been following the progress of a little boy from Coldwater, who was in an auto accident last Friday night.  Basically, his skull was crushed and his brain swelled.  At this point, little is known about what, if any, long-term effects he may have.  Please keep him and his family in your prayers.  I do not know them, but have been touched greatly by their faith, and the faith shown on their Facebook page.  If you have not seen this page yet, simply type in "Pray 4 Trey" in the searchbar on Facebook, and you will be at his page.  If you click "like" you will receive updates from the family as they are posted.  For all it's faults, Facebook has some really wonderful opportunities, like this, to support people you may not even know.

I'm going to work really hard at getting back on track with this blog.  I know that many of you enjoyed it, and frankly, I enjoy doing it.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend with those you love!

I'm off to la la land!  Good night!