The Daily Prompt and The Short Story – My Dream Man (When I Had Given Up On Dreaming...... IV)

I met my dear husband IV in 2000, in the fall.

I was exploring the option of attending graduate school, and he was one of the graduate students chosen to lead me around.

He must have liked me too (I hope) because after the full day of scheduled activities he came back to my hotel room and picked me up like a gentleman (he's from Texas, after all.)

He brought me to a bar in the downtown area where he and some of his friends (pretty much male in my memory) all liked to drink.  Ha, ha.... if you know any chemists at all, either they drink after work or they don't drink at all.  There is no middle ground.  LOL

Anyway, this particular bar was actually a lawyer type bar.... meant not for graduate students (but they were humored because they were polite and paid for their drinks.)

So, since I was a very cheap date (always have been, actually) I had one drink.... I believe I let him choose, when I did drink, I didn't much care what.  As an undergraduate I would drink one vodka & cranberry all night and the nice bartenders would add soda to it for me.  I always left a good tip at the end of the night.

What I remember most about that night is that all the other guys (and they were IV's good friends) were having a grand time flirting with a new girl.  I, however, was not very comfortable.  IV, himself being shy, somehow recognized that I was shy and saved me from them.... and walked me back to my hotel early in the night.

And, he stayed up, very appropriately with me in the lobby into the very early hours of the morning.... talking and drinking coffee which I much preferred.  Now, the next day I had a very important interview with the professor I would go on to work for (my PhD mentor) with whom I still maintain a professional and personal relationship.

But, in my heart, I knew- this was it.  I fell.

I went home SO sad.  Because IV?  I was sure, he didn't know that I had fallen for him but I had.  For me since that evening there has never been another man in my life to take his place.

That is the meaning to me of love- and soul mates- and also, I had given up at that point in my life on looking for that.  I was all of 21.

Jennie

This was inspired by http://jitterygt.wordpress.com/2014/04/26/the-lonely-dream-maker/ Thank you, Jittery Goat for reminding me of why I love IV and why I love to write. :)

Enjoy the photo of IV and I below at a St. Valentine's dinner and dance at our Church that I helped plan and organize.... so I was quite tired, and I believe instrumental in building the arch we are standing under.  We also renewed our vows there.

Holy Saturday

Today is Holy Saturday.

A day of waiting.

A day of reflection.

The day that Jesus is dead... to us on Earth.... but not in the tomb either as we know now.

Tradition says that on Holy Saturday:

"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son."

This quote is from a reflection by Father Robert Barron at Word on Fire.  The more I look into Father Barron's page the more I get out of it personally.

But, what I wanted to say today is simple- it is HOLY SATURDAY.

Tomorrow is EASTER SUNDAY.

Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday make up the most holy time of the entire year!!!!

And, we as a people have forgotten.  We are asleep.  Wake up!  He is coming!  He is here!  Jesus is in your Church, in your brothers and sisters, in the sick, the poor, the forgotten, the children, please..... don't forget.

Especially today.

I would love to make a rosary today... even a simple one.  Every year I want to, and every year for one reason or another I cannot.  Again, it is not my year.

Is it yours?  If so.... here is a video of one way,  this one takes about 20 feet (I think) of twine and some knot tying.  That's it.

Jennie

PS- The video below was freely available on you tube and I am sure there are many more, but I watched this one and it looked great.  I once owned a rosary just like this, and recently gave it away.  I was looking for just the right home. ;)

Holy Thursday & Judas & Forgiveness

The tragedy of Judas is that he despaired of the forgiveness that Christ had promised he had come into this world to give. Bereft of faith in this promise, he remained lost. What "saved" the other apostles from this fate was that they believed that if the Lord truly passed from death to life as he promised he would, he would also be true to his promise regarding the reason he had come: "For the Son of Man did not come into this world to condemn the world, but to save it and to offer his life as a ransom for the many."

This quote is from the Word on Fire Blog.

Today is Holy Thursday.  This is a very important Holy Day in many Christian faiths, and especially in the Catholic faith.

I attended the Holy Thursday Mass tonight at my Church, and I had my feet washed by our parish pastor.  Why do holy priests stoop to wash feet?

Here is an image of the future Pope Francis washing the feet on an unidentified woman in a maternity hospital in 2005.

Forgiveness is not something that any of us should ever presume.  No one is obligated to forgive.  It remains a gift of undeserved compassion.  The startling surprise in Christ's revelation that he is willing to forgive us even when, as the circumstances of his death clearly demonstrate, he doesn't have to and in fact shouldn't.  He does forgive us, and if we are not surprised by this, we really aren't paying attention to what it meant to die as he did.  The problem for Judas, it seems to me, is that he despaired of this possibility of forgiveness for himself.  It is this despair that makes the outcome of his decision not just sad, but tragic.

Honesty demands that we admit that our own betrayals of Christ place us in the same spiritual space that Judas inhabited.  We may not be, as Judas was, thieves and liars, but we all have had the occasion to say "no" to Christ, and most of us if pressed would have to admit that we did precisely that- and more than once.  We have all in the course of our lives had the opportunity to stand up and be counted as Christ's followers and then slinked away, preferring as Judas did, the cover of night to the Light of the World.  How many of us have, through the free assent of our own will, delivered our faith in Christ into the hands of his enemies, allowing those enemies to use us against him, and letting them, through us, kill Christ's life in this world?

There is much in us that is like Judas.  What can only differentiate us from Judas is our willingness to accept what he could not- that Christ knows us from the inside, understands our predicament and is willing to set right what we have made wrong.  Christ is willing to not only call us out of darkness into light, but go into that darkness to find us.  That is, after all, what he did in his cross.  He went into the dark to find us and to forgive us.

We must believe that Christ is willing to forgive and this must be our act of faith, or the tragedy of Judas can be our own.
Father Steve Grunow is the CEO of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

Above is a continuation of the first quote from the blog.  To read the whole entry please click on the link above titled "Word on Fire Blog."

My pastor's homily tonight was about forgiveness- about forgiving others- washing their feet- as Christ washed the feet of the broken in the Gospels.

I truly believe the first step in forgiving others is being able to forgive our own failings, to truly understand:

The startling surprise in Christ's revelation that he is willing to forgive us even when, as the circumstances of his death clearly demonstrate, he doesn't have to and in fact shouldn't.

God is bigger than we can imagine.  Christ is bigger than we can imagine.  The Holy Spirit is bigger than we can imagine.  And together, in the Holy Trinity, and in the sacraments, that is where peace can be found.

Jennie

Appearances are not the end or St. Francis of Assisi

And this is why Francis loved the poor so much. It was in embracing the poor that he embraced Jesus. It was in serving the poor that he served Jesus. It was in loving the poor that he loved Jesus. All because Jesus first embraced, served and loved him. 

At the heart of Francis is the heart of Jesus. There’s nothing cute about that. 

This is a quote directly from a very insightful blog entry by Father Damian J. Ference.

The blog starts out talking about how everyone knows St. Francis- he is recognizable, he is a "comfortable" saint.  He loved animals.  This is true.

However, it is just one dimension of St. Francis.  I have read several biographies of this great Saint of our Church.

If you would like to know more about St. Francis in particular send me a message and I can recommend a book or check out the blog entry above, it is wonderful!

I wanted to reflect today on outward appearances- they can be deceiving.

Statues of St. Francis show him in general, holding a bird in his hand, sometimes with a bird feeder on his head.  As you can see from the photo above I own a statue of St. Francis- it belonged to my grandmother, who had a great devotion to St. Francis and knew his story.  That statue is a cement garden statute but has never been kept in the garden.

Our respect for St. Francis is too great. He is holy.  He is a Saint.  He is not in the statue, no.  But, he is somewhere better- he is in heaven! With God! And, because he is a great Saint those of us here on earth can pray for his intercession (we can ask for him to pray for us) as we would with a friend here on earth.

And because St. Francis is a great Saint, we hope that he is close to God in heaven, we hope that he hears our requests for intercession.  We hope that as we pray to God ourselves, and light candles, and say the rosary, St. Francis will also pray for us.

But, St. Francis is a Saint- he is in heaven, with God.  So he can more easily speak to God, because of his physical location.  It is always better to have more prayers in my opinion.  Prayers are so powerful.

In the end, what do we have?  Prayer, friends, God and family.

Also, I would like to say this- because I forget all the time 1. Love God  2. Love yourself  3. Love your neighbor as yourself

It is a very simple formula but actually very difficult to accomplish.  So I pray.  And I ask Saints to pray for me.  And I find Saints all the time that I personally admire and I ask them to pray also.

So if there is something about St. Francis that you like- the birds- the animals- whatever :)

Ask him to pray for you- he is a Saint.

For me this is the St. Francis I know- here he is, but there is no statue of this St. Francis only paintings.  This  St. Francis is embracing Jesus, loving our crucified Savior.   That is why I love and ask St. Francis to pray for me- because I would also like to embrace the crucified One.

Making mistakes... and being a good parent along the way :)

Another way to say the quote above is, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.  Ha, ha.

My last post didn't have much about chickens- so I thought I would write another one on this beautiful spring day.

My son, DV, came home from school yesterday with a note from his teacher stating that he was unprepared for class.  It was pretty serious to him- you know, one of those papers that they used to call carbon paper with triplicate copies :)  And, he's in 3rd grade- this was his first one EVER.

He forgot to bring his binder to school! He left it sitting in the living room.  On a recliner.  I told him twice to check his backpack.  He is 8 going on 9..... time to break a few eggs to make an omelet (or a responsible teen/adult.)

Someday, children have to accept responsibility for their own actions.  And I do believe that my job as a mother, although it can be unpleasant is to give him just enough rope to "swing for a while but not hang."  Ha, ha I think I made that one up.

I love my son, unconditionally.  And, sometimes in loving someone we have to let them make their own mistakes so that he/she can learn from their mistakes.  Without ever making a mistake (which I admit would be more pleasant) I think I would be pretty stupid.

Uh, oh.  I meant this post to be about chickens! And, it was about DV and raising kids.... guess I am in a deep thinking mood today.  I am going to call one of my girlfriends and see if she'd like to paint nails or something on this lovely day.

If you want to read about chickens check out this Freedom to Fail in a nice blog which actually IS about chickens!

Jennie

Spring vegetables the easy way.... from your local CSA!!!!

I found this great photo today in my facebook feed- you just have to LOVE facebook! My husband swears if you look long enough you can find anything on there.  

It comes from this GREAT CSA located here where I live in Southwest Alabama, Seasons In The Sun.  Actually, I haven't had the pleasure of visiting their farm yet- but I hope to do so soon.  They have a really nice facebook page and are very friendly on the phone.  They also have classes for children (which I like since I have DV) and all levels of adults.

I hope to get out there and visit them soon- they have a working farm with livestock and organically grown vegetables and flowers.  They also deliver CSA baskets to our area- so if you are local check out this website: http://www.seasonsinthesun.biz/.

Anyone interested in sustainable agriculture on a small or larger scale might like their facebook page which is linked above- and they run contests periodically (which I enter faithfully!)

Enjoy the spring weather friends! And, if you are local and like me avoid the yellow pollen or take an allergy pill- it is THAT time of year :)

Jennie

Plans and dreams (of chickens?)

Hello friends,

I will start with this- it is the 3rd Friday during Lent and I attended Mass at our local Catholic Church- and was really, really touched.  My heart was healed today by the readings, the homily, the hymns, and the people.  It's so nice to be able to go to Church and have what you need given to you freely.  I LOVE our community.

But, that is not really what I wanted to share today.  I am planning to start a new hobby.  Or, I am hoping to anyway.  Around here, in southwest Alabama, backyard chickens have become very popular.  I have heard this is true in many parts of the country- and we have a nice large, fenced yard.

I am looking into getting a chicken coop, and run.  We have a medium size dog who mostly lives in the house but also runs in the yard- and does love to chase birds. :)

I have been reading books and joining groups and surfing the internet, in general researching.  Plus, I love birds of all types. And, I did raise chicks ONCE as a child in science class.

So... I checked out a book on gardening and chickens from the library:

And, I have two more coming today from Amazon.  Maybe I'll have some chicks for Easter!!!

Jennie

PS- If you like chickens, and are interested here is a cool link to a recipe for homemade chicken feed, organic and soy-free.

Homemade Chicken Feed. Organic and soy-free!