Stained Glass - El Salvador Mission Book

You're probably wondering what's up with that title?  You may be asking, does she really not know how to spell?  Well I probably don't, but I did deliberately choose to misspell the word "you".  Did you ever notice that in many of the bible stories people are referred to as sheep?  Now for those of you who know me, you know that I am a lover of sheep.  They are cute, cuddly, and baaaa oh so sweetly.  I even have a small sheep collection, but I never liked how people were likened to sheep in the gospels.  After all, we are intelligent human beings who have great minds to reason and think with, we are supposed to use our intellect and not be led around by a prod or staff, right?   Why then did Jesus say that we are His sheep?  Are we not supposed to think?  Maybe He used sheep because hearding sheep was popular in those days and people could relate to His stories?  Still, it seemed a little degrading to me.  If we are sheep then that it implies that we are not gi

As most of you already know, I was blessed to be able to spend the past year and half at home being a mom to my teenage boys.  My whole life I have worked, and/or worked and gone to school, but the last year and half has been a very different experience for me.  Let me start off by saying that I was lucky to be offered a fantastic job opportunity with CC Hodgson Architectural Group (a partner of Dorsky, Hodgson, and Yue) located in Beachwood, OH.  It is more than I ever expected to get in this crazy economy and I truly feel lucky and super blessed!  My "official" title is, Focus Specialist, but we really don't use titles at our company.  The long and short of this unusual title is that I am basically CC Hodgson right-hand, go-to person.  The position involves wearing many different hats, from marketing, business development, to organizing business processes and Staff parties.  It's perfect!   That being said, I have made some interesting observations about my time

What in the world is going on in this country?  A few days ago my son Nick and I were sitting in the family room when a commercial came on promoting a new reality TV show.  The scenes were atrocious!  It was a show which exposes moms who try to live vicariously through their young daughters.  They apparently sign them up for "exclusive" dance lessons or something and then fight with the other moms who think their daughters are better.  Name calling, fist fights, everything in front of their young children.  After watching the hard-to-take snippet  Nick and I looked at each other and he said, "this is what's wrong with our country."   Who can argue with that?  Other TV shows like "Jerseylicious, Real Housewives, and Toddlers and Tiaras, portraying women like we are animals who can't think or act rationally.  I believe these kinds of shows are setting women back 100 years.  Gloria Steinem is probably drinking herself into a stooper as I type out these

In the summer time I like to participate in a lot of different outdoor activities.  During the winter I usually go to the gym and do pretty much the same routine, but in the summer, well that's when things begin to change!  I will do almost anything outdoors, walk, run, play tennis, swim, boat, hike, bike ride, well, you get the picture...I've really been enjoying this summer, why? The other day I was sitting outside watching my son play soccer in the front yard and it dawned on me.  I have been home for two whole summers!  Wow!  It was amazing to think that, especially since I have worked my whole teen and adult life.  I thought, "who am I that I get to have this incredible luxury?"  That's what it is you know?  Some people would look at being off of work as a punishment or curse from God, but me, I look at it like it is a blessing!  Never in my life have I EVER been able to just sit on the porch and watch my kids play in the yard.  They are teenagers now, but

The other night I was going through some old photos.  Some time ago I compiled a collection of pictures of each of my children.  The hope was that I would be like one of those "good" mothers and put them in a fancy scrapbook with neat little sayings and cute little stickers.  But apparently I'm not one of those "good" moms.  In fact, this morning while we were all out to breakfast after church I picked up this little book to browse through with my family while we were eating.  The title read: "Why I Love My Son".  It had all these really touchy-feely sayings on different pages from various moms to their sons.  At first I thought, "how cute, maybe this will be a good way to tell me sons how I feel about them," then I read the third quote out loud:  "I love you son because I can trust you to always make good choices and the right decisions....." I looked up from the book at my 2 teenage boys and exclaimed, "this is stupid, appare

Image via Wikipedia " There's a small place inside of us they can never lock away, and that place is called hope."  Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption I n the very popular movie Shawshank Redemption , there is a scene in which Andy is sitting in the courtyard with his buddy Red talking about being locked up for the rest of his life.  Instead of despair, Andy tells Red that there is something more powerful, something that not even bars or guards can take from you.  He is talking about HOPE.  He says,  “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing, and no good thing ever dies”. "  But isn't hope just a word?  Does it really have any practical meaning, or is it just another one of those fluffy, feel good words people throw around so they don't seem so darn depressed? Sometimes people use hope and faith interchangeably, but they are not the same.  How are they different? faith /fāTH/ Noun 1. Complete trust or confidence in someone or something. 2. S

I have a friend who is very sick.  She is a great example of Catholic faith and love but she is suffering.  I ask myself why?  I'm sure many of us have asked ourselves this question one time or another.  So I pondered on this for some time and while I was taking a shower this morning, it hit me!  I believe when we are alone and still God can speak to our hearts, and this is what was on mine this morning. There are 3 types of people in the world, the disbeliever (atheist), the mediocre, and the passionate.  The disbeliever is one who has completely given up hope. They go through life repressing their feelings to their creator, they live normal lives, have normal jobs, live in normal homes, but when you are suffering they can not offer you any comfort or hope...they only have knowledge of tangible, wordly things.   Then there is the mediocre person.  This is the most popular kind of person.  We find them in Atheists, the righteous, religious, and spiritual forms.  Everyone fro

I have made a very disturbing observation.  It just hit me (probably because it is Lent and God wants to open our eyes to truths during this time), but I just realized that "I'm not in Kansas anymore."  What do I mean?  Well, I was having a very bad day today, among other things, my Mom called me to take her to get her hair done in Twinsburg, I live in Twinsburg but she lives in Macedonia.  Not that that was such a big deal, but my son John is starting school late this week so I had to drive him to school, then my sister called and asked if I could take her shift and pick my mom up from dialysis. Again, no biggie, but I was already scheduled to take her.  Dialysis is in Garfield, and again, I live in Twinsburg, them my husband called and said he had to go to the hospital because his Dad was having surgery, yada, yada...it was shaping up to be a really bad day. But in the midst of this running around I noticed how ungrateful people were.  No one said thank you, or can I

As many of you already know, I am the youngest of 8 children, which means my parents are more like Grandparents than parents to me.  By the time I was in high school my father had already suffered a series of heart attacks, which caused me to be nervous every single day of my life.  I would wonder if he'd make to my graduation, wonder if he would be there to walk me down the isle, wonder if he would be there to see my children being born....he was, my father was there for all of those things except the birth of my younger child, Johnny.  My son Nick was 6 months old when my father died at the Cleveland Clinic due to complications of the heart. During those last few months of my father's life my life became very complicated.  I remember coming home from work and wanting to be with my new little bundle of joy but also wanting to go and visit my dying father.  Each day was like torture for me.  Not having a better plan, I used to come home from work, take Nicholas in my arms and

As Valentine's Day approaches I wanted to write to you about what I believe love truly means.  There is love here on earth but then there is perfect love.   I remember growing up in a very small house with 7 brothers and sisters and having no one to talk to.  We can be surrounded by folks 24/7 and still feel isolated.  Why?  Because we have not loved.  I have always believed that I was a little bit different, even as a kid I would rather spend my playtime in church after school praying while all the other kids were on the playground.  I went there to find peace and feel loved.  My home was always buzzing with people and arguements and work of some kind, so I relished the peacefulness of my prayer life.  I believe that sometimes when we feel isolated it is because God is inviting us to seek Him.  For most of us, we don't feel alive unless we are out with our friends or being thought of by someone. One of the nicest gifts I have been given is the peace I receive from spendi

So, my 16 year old son, Nicholas, finally earned his driver's license!  Believe me when I tell you he "earned" it.  I have always felt a little bit sorry for my kids because they have me for their mother, and here is a good example of why..... Six months ago my son wanted me to take to him to get his driving temps.  Since I have a more flexible schedule I told him when I got back from my trip to Florida that I would take him.  So the very next day after I got home Nick came home from school and said, "ok, let's go!"  So without further ado we jumped into the car, drove out to Mayfield, and went after a temporary license.  Nick had studied hard and was anxious to take the written test but when we got up to the counter to pay, etc. the clerk asked me for my driver's...uh, MY license, um, let's see, I know it's here somewhere...just give me a minute.  Needless to say, I remembered that I had left it in my purse I took to Florida!  Smoke was coming