A Cardinal's Blog

I was reading another blog which posted this. Most of you may know of it, but I found it very interesting. I hope you will too.
Cardinal Sean O'malley

Hmm...Now, why does that last name sound so familiar? Heh, Heh....you know who you are! *winking*

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

I've come to the conclusion that my life is not my own. It seems that every day I think it's going to be different. I'm going to find time to sit down and read a good book for a few minutes or maybe I'll just sit. WHO KNOWS?
Well, I guess it doesn't happen that way.
Every day this week I have had something to do until 3 p.m. and then I rush home to get a few minutes of prayer and a lunch and maybe a little rest and then pick up where I left off on my house cleaning. I think the worst part of every day is all the unexpected extras that life has been kicking out at me.
Taking my son by the therapists unannounced on Wednesday right after lunch revealed that he will be out for 8 weeks as his knee heals. Of course, that took 2 extra hours out of a day that had primarily up until then been bottle feeding my 2 kittens I'm raising by hand and trying to catch up with the laundry.
After that, we all went and cleaned a home and then we rushed off to town to buy a birthday gift for my sister in law whose birthday is today and get a few groceries and finally, to clean the office. 9 p.m. I'm home! YAY!
Thursday morning I went early to clean a home then I had to run and get distemper shots for all my kittens (6) and have my girlfriend give them the shots because I'm a weenie and can't do it. Running to get shots means a whole hour driving and then getting the kittens gathered and getting their shots was another hour. TADAH! I'm home by 4 p.m. today! There are lots of things to do because we are one vehicle short and I have to clean out my jeep so that Kade can go get photos taken for football.
Friday, I have 2 houses to clean. I get those done and begin working on digging out again at home for the 3rd time this week. I have very little time because my mother in law is calling and requesting that I come get peaches that are getting too ripe and Kade needs to see his boss so he will know what he's found out and I have to stop at the drugstore and get sinus medicine for allergies and...well, you get the picture...then I come home, bathe, and go watch football games! YAY! :| I go because my son's there as you already know...LOL...but I did win a chocolate banana bread last night sitting beautifully upon a plate rimmed with lighthouses! Yeah, I think that was worth it. Got home at 10 p.m. Of course, I am bottle feeding these kittens every 5 hours unless I'm not here and then my son takes over. I get up once in the night and feed them as well... EVERY DAY!

Saturday we awoke to the fact that our refrigerator out in the pump house has quit freezing and cooling and all the strawberries and corn I have put up are melting rapidly. The bread is OK, but needs to be put somewhere so I cleaned out the chest freezer we own and put everything out of the one that doesn't work in with the good stuff. I decided to clean my refrigerator in the house at the same time because I was already in the thick of it.
1 p.m. I made lunch...I just finished it, it was delicious. I had Spanish rice and bbq chicken with green beans.
Now, it's 2:00 p.m. I am doing laundry and I have many things to do like vacuum and take some of my mini blinds down and wash the 1/4 inch thick dust from them. I'm beginning to wonder when life will slow down a bit so I don't feel so overwhelmed!

On that note, I am taking a virtual vacation and am inviting you all along.
Click here for the first vacation.
And here for the next.
And here and here. Be sure to enlarge your picture screen by clicking on the small icon on the bottom right below the movies.
God bless, and I hope you have a wonderful vacation.

The Dash

THE DASH


I'm not sure there is anything else to say to this...just watch it.

Football

Ok, I admit it outright. I am not a football fan. I never have been, I never will be. I have spent the past 3 years of my life putting forth a good effort of looking interested because my sons have been playing, but I detest the sport.
I'm sorry, I know there are those of you out there that love the sport, but I don't find anything about it interesting and it seems to remind me of a bunch of gladiators out there banging into each other and grunting and moaning over the pain they inflict upon one another.
I'm a terrible sports mom. Every year I cringe when the weather turns cold and I think of all the weekends that I spend sitting on the sidelines, sometimes in the snow, other times in the rain and once in a while getting a sunburn to watch my sons play ball. Yes, I will do it for THEM...that's all...nothing else, and when they're through I hope I NEVER EVER have to sit through another football game in my life! (Don't tell the future grand-kids that though and YES, I'd do it for them too...I can't believe I just said that)

Last Friday was the height of football for my son. Kade is starting quarterback this year, and he has been playing quite well. In fact, this is the first time in oh, say...10 years that the scores have actually looked like we were a winning team instead of a bunch of nuts running around the field. The week before last it was the highest score I'd ever seen our small town make at a football game. 80 points on our WINNING team!
Then came the game last Friday. We were already ahead by 3 touchdowns and Kade didn't make it a full quarter through the game when the "big guy" on the other team purposefully smashed his helmet into his knee.....

Yes, we are now the proud parents of an invalid!

His knee isn't broken, thank goodness...
but as far as knowing what the tendons are doing in there, we have yet to find out.
He's not in much pain now, unless he tries to straighten it out... or bend it... or stand on it, but at first he was in intense pain.
I was a good mommy and didn't run madly out onto the field and make a fool out of myself, I waited to do that until they got him back to the bench.

I guess he came through it pretty well though, his best friend, our third son, was not quite so lucky. The same rotten scoundrel on the opposing team grabbed him from behind and spun him round and deposited him neatly upon his head, compacting and cracking 2 vertebrae neatly breaking his neck! He's out for the season and the whole year for that matter and probably won't be back next year. He was THIS CLOSE... *pinching fingers together*... to being paralyzed for the rest of his little hyperactive life! If there is one thing I can't imagine on this earth, it would be Kyle Paralyzed! It was definitely a blessing as he told me the other day..."If I were paralyzed I'd get online and hire a hitman to finish me off!" Great thinking Kyle....now, how were you going to get online in the first place, eh?

I'm hoping that today's Dr. appointment finds my son's knee in just enough trauma to keep him from playing football for the rest of the season...in fact I'm praying that it will. I was telling the nurse in the emergency room that if my son were to go to school with all the knots, bruises, and various abrasions on him and he were not playing football it would be called child abuse, but HECK IT'S FOOTBALL, it's OKAY, you know?
Personally, I don't get it... neither did the nurse....the doctor, being a man who must love football, simply stared blankly at me like he didn't understand what I'd just said. I stared back and didn't repeat myself.

Some of my women friends love it, they look forward to going to games, to watching them on TV...I guess I'm just out of touch with pain and have some sort of aversion to men chasing each other around a field trying to catch a funny shaped ball.

That's another thing I don't understand, why do they call THAT a ball?

Well, the wounds will thankfully mend and football season will soon be over...of course, it's never soon enough for me....

The good news?

Well, I sorta like basketball.

A desire of mine

Have you ever wanted to see something that you know exists but have never seen nor have most people?
That would be the case with me. I have the extreme desire to see an angel or someone from the heavenly realm. Here....in this life....
some people do, I know.
I don't know why my desire is so intense at times. Perhaps this is the case with many people. I just find it fascinating to think that people see Mary, a Saint, an angel, and most importantly, Jesus on occasion.
I have a friend that lives not far away whose wife saw something one day while sitting at her breakfast table.
The sun was streaming in on her back through a window while she sat drinking a cup of coffee and going through the paper. She noticed a shadow across her paper and thought that there was someone coming up her steps to knock on the door so she turned around. To her surprise, a monk with his hood up walked through her wall and across the room, through her piano and out the opposite wall. He was standing on the ground, not on her house floor so he looked like he was sunk into the floor up to his knees.
To her it was so startling that she refused to talk about it for weeks. I suppose if you're not expecting something like that it would be startling. I wonder who it was, whether it was a time warp or a mirage of some sort or if she was allowed to see something from the past or from heaven or somewhere in between? I know she's a very level headed person and she saw something and it wasn't her imagination.
I guess I was meant to rely on my faith in God and what is not seen, but it would be wonderful, I think, to see a holy person from the heavenly realm.
How about you? Who would you like to see? What is your reason? And if you would rather "wing it" and fly alone, why? (sorry, I had to say that)
It'd be interesting to know what your thoughts are, thank you for sharing.

The Change of Seasons

O Master,
holy and incomprehensible God,
You bid light to shine out of darkness.
After giving us rest in the sleep of night,
you have raised us up to glorify You
and petition Your goodness.
Receive us who now worship You
and reneder You what thanks we can.
Grant all our requests
that will advance our salvation.
Make us children of light and day
and heirs of Your eternal good things.

O Lord,
in Your great mercy,
be mindful of all here present
praying with us
as well as all our brothers and sisters
in need of Your love and help
on land,
at sea,
or in any place of Your dominion,
and grant them Your great mercy.
Thus, saved in soul and body,
we may use the free speech of friends
to glorify forever Your wondrous and blessed name.
Byzantine Liturgy


I noticed this morning on the weather map that people all across the nation are feeling the cool of Autumn. It is good after such heat and dryness we have had through the late Summer months to have a change and feel the hope of the next year on the horizon.
Yesterday we recieved our first Autumn rain. I know it isn't Fall yet on the calendar, but you certainly can feel it in the air. We recieved an inch of rain out of the storm yesterday and when you are in an area that normally gets only 11 inches or so a year it seems like a lot of rain. Usually, rainstorms here amount to a few drops that are about 2 inches apart on the ground. We call that a two-inch rain here.
My son Kade has been sick with a sinus infection and he was debating whether to go to football practice or not during the rainstorm. It was quite cool, only 50 degrees and raining hard when we saw a bright flash on the mountainside out the south window. It, of course, was lightning. Soon, there was a deep peal of thunder that rolled for nearly a minute and at the last, one final boom that shook our windows and the dishes in the cupboard. That must have been one mighty bolt of lightning!
Kade, needless to say, went to practice anyhow and the coach was good enough to realize that there were a lot of kids sick with colds and didn't make them practice too hard or get very wet. THANK GOODNESS!
I took the photo above after the storm went through and the sun was setting. It is to the South-East of our home. I loved the way the clouds hung low over the mountain and turned a soft pink in the sky.
The field you see in the foreground is a sileage corn field that has just been chopped. They worked right on through the storm because the corn had dried so much because of the late summer heat that it was short of moisture and won't cook in the pit when they pack it in like it should. The rain helped them out.
It helped me out with my allergies as well.
God, I believe, knew that we all needed a little help right now.

SAD

This time of year, it seems that there are some beautiful sunsets. They are also early enough in the day that it is possible for me to enjoy them much more than I did when it was 10 p.m. and getting dark. Soon, the sun will be setting early enough that I'll have to have the lights in the house on all evening.

I suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Another thing that Fibromyalgia sufferers have to look forward to in their lives...some sort of depression.
Mine seems to begin in about the last weeks of July and proceeds right through until the Christmas season. The doctor says it is because my internal clock sees the days winding down from July and picking up again at the end of December. September and October seem to be the worst months for me with Christmas the light at the end of the tunnel.
I know a lot of people become blue over the holidays, but for me they are a release...a time to look ahead fresh and new. I have been this way since I began my first-grade school year. I feel for anyone that has it and I become frustrated with people who do not understand. Depression's something out of our control, something completely unbidden and unwanted, yet here it is...and it goes away when IT wants to. Heaven forbid that you be a swing-shift worker or a graveyard worker when you have Seasonal Depression (SAD)!
I remember when I was working as a care nurse at night. I got little sleep at night so I was sleeping during the day. All was well and good until one sunny day in July as I was driving home from my job. I literally can tell you what it's like to feel the dark cloud descending and hovering over you that so many people depict in cartoons. I had it for nearly 6 months that time. It went away for a good year then returned again gradually though quite minimally last year.
This year was different. It smashed into me like a freight train. I didn't have the feeling as I did before where I could feel it coming, I just woke up with it and there it was. Some days are better than others and if I don't use my therapy light enough during the week, I awake with this terrible dread over my body.
Meanwhile, I know that there are good things in the world and I look for them daily, like this sunsest that I took a picture of, for example. I know there are more things in this world that are good and worth my time to explore, but I don't have the energy nor the time to want to do the exploring. I feel as if my plate is full or the load on my back is packed and I am about to succumb to the strain. Any type of stress makes it worse. Missing 10 minutes of sleep makes it impossible.
I want to feel joy, I want to feel happiness, I just don't seem to be able to. Things seem distant and unreal when you have this.
All this while, I know and realize that God has not given up on me and I know that He is standing near me helping me through this trial once again. It is something I will probably continue to go through the rest of my life. Why did it appear at the moment it did? Who knows!
I do know and understand that there is little one can do for it as some people respond fairly well to the medication and yet others like myself seem to be immune to the effects. Light therapy seems to be the only thing that helps me. Oh, of course prayer works wonders as well. I sometimes spend great hours in prayer. Recently I have failed in this great work and stand ashamed because of it. I am trying to continue my prayer life and continue it deeply. It seems illusive to me at times like this, but if I can continue through this wave of my life I know it will become better. Sometimes, though, all I can do is say "God help me." And I believe He does.

I would like to ask anyone who reads my post today to say a simple prayer for those that suffer with depression. I would also ask that those of you who do not suffer from depression thank God like you have never thanked Him in your life for the lack of knowledge you have toward depression in your own life. It is the nearest thing to hell on earth as far as I'm concerned.

I wonder if the stresses in the life we lead in the US post 9/11 for the lack of a better way of putting it is some of the reason it's gotten worse? Oh, I realize that I need to "Let go and let God" but it seems to be beyond my ability with this illness. I wonder how many others feel the same?
Anyhow, I believe that it's time to find joy in life. I will be looking and trying to laugh again.
Thank you so much for your prayers.

Age

I'm not sure how old I'll live to be if I'm lucky enough to live to old-age, but it seems that according to this map, I have a good chance of living to a very ripe old age. (By that time, I think I probably will SMELL ripe too!)
I know that it's probably right in a degree, as I know some of the old-folk around me and they are healthier than their horses. One of my friends' grandmothers died at 103 and another was nearly 100. My husband's grandparents were somewhere around 97 or 98 when they passed away.
I do believe there are 2 reasons they lived so long and no others...faith in God and being tough!
Some of these elderly citizens can outrun me through a mountain pass at any given moment. One lady makes it a habit of living in the Silver City ghost town all summer in the family home and when we go up to visit the town, she marches over the mountains and hills in the town like she was walking on flat ground. I, on the other hand, am doing better than I used to but I still have a terribly tough time keeping up with her. The first year we went up to visit she would race back and forth the 1/2 mile wide town's trails like they were nothing. I, on the other hand had to stop in to get a drink of water at the hotel before continuing.
Another friend's grandmother lived by herself until she was 93 or so and did all her own canning and gardening and housework. The elevation is high where she lived so she always put her tomatoes and corn on a wagon and pulled the wagon in the shed at night and out during the day so it wouldn't frost.
Maybe it's the fresh air and the high altitude that makes them so healthy?
Nah, I think it's because they all cowboyed up!
It's time I get some riding lessons!

How does it seem to you?

To me, it seems as if life has, all of a sudden, sped up. There is not much time to do the things I enjoy anymore, and I seem to be away from home way too much for my liking. On top of all that, I have seasonal allergies that could knock a horse flat on his back. I think the kicker to my weekend was Friday. I went to work, cleaned 2 houses, then went to my son's football game and ran the bbq for consessions. Out of 2 games, I was there watching long enough to see my son play 3 plays. Then it was off to home to clean and cook supper. Saturday wasn't much better and I was feeling really ill that day. Sunday I was still sick and then Monday I ended up leaving at 10 a.m. and didn't get home until 8 p.m. ...Again. And it 's not just me...everyone I talk to is the same way. It seems that people just don't have the time they used to and when they have a bit of time they end up resting to restore themselves for the next run.
Is it me, or does it seem that since 9/11 life has gotten much more hectic? Are we looking at life differently than we used to? Is it just coincidence or is it an act of God? It's hard for me to find the time to meditate on Him solely, although I meditate constantly while I'm working.
Anyhow, I was just curious if anyone else has noticed that we are all like a bunch of worker bees trying to store our honey up for winter?
Ok, now I'm off again. I suppose that soon there will be a few days of rest coming, I hope.
I'll write more soon. God bless you all and I am praying that you will have some rest in your own lives.