RIP, Big Dog

RADIATING CHRIST

By Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman

Dear Jesus,

Help me to spread Your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.
Penetrate and possess my being so utterly
That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your Presence in my soul.
Let them look up, and see no longer me but only Jesus.
Stay with me,
And then I will begin to shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from You.
None of it will be mine.
It will be You, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You
In the way in which You love best:
By shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching,
Not by words but by example,
By the catching force,
The sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love
My heart bears for You. Amen.

Isn't this a beautiful prayer? I love how, just when I need comforting, guidance or focus Jesus works through friends. One of my friend's posted this on a yahoo group tonight.

HOT!

I thought that the little bit of rain we had today might have kept us below 100, nope.
While visiting Nana and Poppie this weekend, Nana and I were trying to remember the last heat wave in 1980. I think I have a good excuse for not remembering, I was in middle school. What do middle schoolers do in the summer? Sleep. We will keep praying for rain and praying that our beloved Texas recovers from this summer of 100+'s.

Lord God, in you we live and move and have our being. Help us in our present time of trouble, send us the rain we need, and teach us to seek your lasting help on the way to eternal life. We ask this through Christ our Lord.  St. Isidore the Farmer, pray for us and all who are in need of rain. Amen

A Job!!!

Hubby was laid off from his teaching job in May. He decided that he might need to go back to school and change careers. He was accepted to St. Edward's University, but there was a student-loan snafu, so he continued looking for work. We lost count on how many resume's he sent. He sent 32 in one day alone. The school district was supposed to rehire laid off teachers, but we really don't think they did. Zero of his friends on the RIF (reduction in force, schools LOVE acronyms) list have been rehired.
All of that is in the past. He was hired at The School That Works http://sjdchs.org/ as a part-time technology teacher, but after the first day, he came home with a full-time job as a Theology teacher and he will be getting a Master's Degree in Theology instead of Business.
We all have a overwhelming sense of peace and gratitude. A big hug and thank you to our Jesus, Mary, Joseph, all our Saints in heaven and our friend and family prayer warriors who have stormed heaven with prayers for months and months.

What we learned...

What We Learned in 3rd Grade Religious Education (2010-2011)

Many of my students were learning to speak English as a second language, I just took dictation from what they said.

• How to treat others nicely
• The Divine Mercy Chaplet
• Hail Mary prayers in English
• That being in a Pre-K room, it is very difficult to work
• The Passion of Jesus
• Help my our family and friends
• Say I want to go to church
• How to heal people, about the Samaritan
• Help people you don’t like
• How Jesus is life, how to change Jesus’ life
• All the Rosary
• I learned how to use the beads to keep track when saying prayers
• The Weight of a Mass
• How one person and another look different but they are family
• Our neighbors, don’t walk past people on the side of the road, try and help them
• How to pray when something is like the TAKS test
• Lean about the Stations of the Cross
• Learn how to ignore bullies, say prayers for them
• We learned more about Lent
• When we say the St. Gertrude prayer, 1000 souls go from purgatory to Heaven
• Learned new vocabulary words
• Learned about the 10 Commandments
• Learned you can pray for family so they can be safe or healthy

I certainly learned that if you don't give up there are friuts of your labor. It was such a rough year, I was frustrated and embarassed. The students bullied Number One Son, ran through the church talking and laughing, talked out of turn constantly, and misbehaved in front of our Deacon and Priests. I guess they learned something afterall. All things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26).
We just got out computer fixed and I typed this up for our Pastor and DRE. I think this was God's way of getting my mind ready for the next batch of 3rd graders in a month.

Big Dog

Big Dog is dying. She had a stroke over a year ago and has been three-legged since then, but a month or so back, she took a turn for the worse. She needs help walking and no longer tells us that she needs to go outside. She still eats and drinks and lifts up her head and perks her ears when we talk to her. This is so hard, hard enough that I don't want any more dogs. Hubby and I decided to get a dog to keep Hubby's JRT company. I was pregnant with Number One Son. She was such an energetic puppy. One the way home from Nana and Poppie's the first time, she whimpered and cried unless we had the Tejano radio station on. It was a long two hours for Hubby! When Big Dog was about six months old, we made the trip back to Nana and Poppie's for a family baby shower. When we were packing ip to leave, Big Dog was nowhere to be found. We stayed and looked for her, but had to head home. Poppie knew she would turn up. The next morning, I called and Nana said she hadn't shown up. That night, I shared with me Middle School RE kids that Big Dig was missing and we asked St. Francis to help us find her. Tuesday when I got home from work, I was looking out the window and she was in our backyard! She had come back to Nana and Poppie's and Poppie brought her home. She was injured, it was a bit gory, the Vet thought she might have been mauled by other dogs. She had to have stitches in her mouth, so no chewing hard toys or playing frisbee. This was hard for a teething puppy! The next Monday, I told my RE kids that our dog was found and the look of shock/surprise/joy on their faces is one I will never forget. God does answer our prayers. Big Dog is Hubby and my first "Our" pet. His dog and two of my cats have died since we got married, but this is harder. Big Dog has chosen a long goodbye. We have chosen not to take her to be euthanized. Being at home is the best place for her to die. She really is showing no signs of suffering, she sleeps most of the day. We are the ones suffering, but I believe our earthly suffering is simply kisses and hugs from God.

Footprints

Little Sister's favorite poem is Mary Stevenson's Footprints:

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you."

I know I am being carried right now, thank you all for your prayers!