Thankful Thursday

It is a beautius day in the Midwest, which is unusual for Chicago…I’m not a huge fan of March, but I’ll take it. It ususally is, “Gluggaveour” which is an Icelandic word (n.) lit. “Window-Weather” ; a weather that looks so nice and picturesque through the window, until you’re actually outside in it; a weather best enjoyed only behind the window…” Too chilly for me today and I think it’s going to snow tomorrow. So I’m not going to venture out to far. No I mean serious snow, 5″ inches or so…

This word made it into my own personal thersaurus, the one I have made of words that I want to keep for my writing’s. Future references for me. Just through this little bit in to get my blog post going.

This Blog was really about things I’m thankful for. As I lay in bed last night, I was thinking about how grateful I am for being Catholic. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. I went and got ashes. This now starts the season of Lent. The Catholic Religion is so rich in tradition I always get a bit choked up when I’m in church. I thought about my mom and my grandmama. They set such a great example of what it was to be Catholic. Mom use to talk about a happy death, which is also a promise of the Rosary. I never really understood that, I mean it’s death. What could be happy about that.

I’m going to put a song here b/c I absolutely love this prayer and would love to share this with you…Andrea Bocelli, “The Lord’s Prayer”

For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever. Amen

When mom died, she showed me exactly what a happy death was. She was absolutely angelic at her furneral. I understood what she was talking about. I will be eternally grateful for the gift she and my grandmama of being Catholic. They lived there life exactly how I can only hope to live mine. I thank her and my dear sweet grandmama for showing me how to live my Catholic religion.

Being Catholic is the best gift to have been given by my mom and for that I say, “Thank you, Mom. I hope I make you proud of my life as a Catholic.” I love my religion and I can only hope that I have passed that gift of being Catholic to my kids…

Happy Sunday…

It was an eleven hour house wake-up, but we got up at 9:30 am which is really late for us, but it felt really good to sleep in. Definitely in the throws of January in Chicago and I’m pretty sure I’m not going out til it’s warm. But we got to church last night and that was a good thing. Definitely our place to find peace.

That is definitely one of the gift’s that my mom gave me, being Catholic. She was a great role model for which I will be eternally grateful for. I love my religion and I have many stories of what I think are God’s grace he has blessed me with. I just have to put up this song w/this post b/c I love, love, love it and I know so would my mom !!!

One of the gifts that really gets me through just about anything is the Rosary. It is a truly wonderful prayer. I have even had my own little miracles with my Rosary. I have read a couple of books on the Rosary and it is extremely powerful when you are in need of just about anything.

In the books that I have read about the Rosary, people would say that the chains linking together the beads somehow would change color. Mine never did, but I guess I didn’t need to have that happen for me to believe in the power of the Rosary.

Of course then there are the Miracles of Mary which I have always loved and found fascinating St. Bernadette, who was born in Lourdes and the 3 children with Our Lady of Fatima just to name a few. I’m just going to end with the fact that the Rosary is my go to prayer when I need one.

When we were raising our kids, we use to go to our church on Tuesday night and say the Rosary w/a group of parishioners. I really loved that b/c it was good for my soul and I think it taught my kids. They didn’t have the benefit of going to a Catholic grade school as I did so they missed out on a lot of being Catholic.

Sorry I digress, but my miracle w/the Rosary came from my son Matthew and his bride-to-be on the day of their wedding. They presented me with a beautiful Rosary that now sits on my dresser. I’ve had it blessed and it is just one of the most special gifts I have ever received. I have pictures of that day which I will share with you below. Yes I was crying b/c it was just such an emotional time and I was so touched by the gift. I realized that they were really paying attention when we would go to say the Rosary on Tuesday night…(it wasn’t just the ice cream afterwards 😉 ). My birthday is on the Feast of the Assumption which is when Mary went up to Heaven (A holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church) Just a little factoid. Thank you again Matthew & Hannah for the wonderful memory of that time. I love you to the moon !!!

Merry Christmas…

It’s hard to believe Christmas is 3 days away…I still love this holiday for so many reasons !!! Great memories of Christmas Past !!!! They weren’t all perfect but they all were memorable.  Christmas is a very hopeful holiday. So much to look forward too. I love the songs, midnight mass, family & food. Friends are so important to the Celebration of Christmas.

I think I’ll add some music for this post. This is probably my favorite song at Christmas time…

Mary Did You Know

This year has been so great !!! We added to our family. Down below is our 3rd son, Matthew with his beautiful bride Mz. Hannah. This is a picture from the wedding. Connie and Missy (carrying our 8th grand baby in April) they’re 2nd in from the left. Mz. Valerie and Kirk are next to them. Maggie is laughing at something, (she is so adorable). Fernando is next to Connie. Lauren is next to Missy. 

We are just blessed to be included in this group of people. We had so much fun at the wedding and added to our memories with our, “Dancing Family”. Thank you all so much for being a part of our world.

Their wedding was absolutely stunning !!!! The venue, the stairs OMG (Can’t believe I forgot to get a picture on the stairs) right out of my movie “Gone With the Wind”. 

I was going to go to Alaska for our 45th (coming up next August) but I’m pretty sure I’m going to spend it out in Virginia. Such a beautiful place !!!!

I almost forgot one of the most amazing parts of this day…The gift the Bride & Groom got for the us. Matthew gave this to me at the start of the wedding. Well there are just no words for this present and it will be forever a memory imprinted on my heart. Thank you so much for this treasure Matthew & Hannah…

The rosary has a picture of us in the medal. It was my favorite wedding picture from our wedding. Thank you so much Hannah & Matthew for all the great memories of your Wedding !!!! I absolutely loved everything about being the mother of the groom. The Mother/Son dance was my moment. That was just the best and I’ll have that memory for a lifetime !!!! I must post the video again, I love watching this. Y’all made it so very special. I love you to the moon and am so grateful for you Hannah being a part of this family…Welcome