All posts by CadyLy

Seven Quick Takes Sunday

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The other Jennie does it on Friday. So I’m a little late. What else is new? 🙂

1. Broken McSickyPants
This is my new name. My medical issues have only gotten worse. I still have the continual chest pain (which has now become more pronounced) and dyspnea on exertion. Lately, we have added to the mix dizziness, incredible fatigue, nausea and that awful feeling like you are about to pass out. My doctors still don’t have a good idea of what is wrong with me, since I have been passing all of my medical tests (I guess I’ve always tested pretty well). At least the infected poison ivy spots are finally clearing up a little and healing! 🙂 I do not feel like myself, and I hate that I can’t really do anything. Praise God, He gave me a good sense of humor and a sunny disposition. I am actually pretty happy overall.

2. On Being a Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist
Today, we had the pleasure of having Fr. Stanley celebrate Mass with us. Since I go to daily Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel, where he currently is at, I have been able to see him upon occasion (although he doesn’t really do the 6:30 a.m. Mass that I typically attend). Having him here at St. Anastasia for Sunday Mass was a real treat. He was my first confessor and he has a very comforting way about him. He joked about the length of his homilies as he began his homily today. I was sitting next to the girl I sponsored into the Church this year, and at one point she commented that the wooden pew was hurting her butt for some reason this week. I laughed, “You probably aren’t used to sitting in one spot for so long!” Again, picking on poor Fr. Stanley’s homily. 🙂 In my defense, he started it! 🙂 God gave me a wonderful gift of joy today, particularly during the Mass. I was happy that Fr. Stanley was there, but this went beyond him. As I went up to the altar and received my paten of consecrated hosts, I remember cradling the paten in my hands. I must have had some big idiotic grin on my face, but I wasn’t really worried about that. I just gazed lovingly at Jesus in my hands and thought to Him, “I love You!” I know, it sounds pretty sappy, right? But that’s okay. I don’t mind being sappy. 🙂 I love Him. 🙂 Sometimes I wonder what people think when they get me in line for Communion. Here I am with a huge smile on my face, handing them our Lord, and nearly petting Him into place in their hands — to make sure He gets there safely. Hopefully, they share in my joy at the presence of our Lord, and aren’t standing there thinking that I’m a little odd or something.

3. The World is Now a Safer Place!
Why? Because I finally got new tires on my car! After 1 year, 7 months, 23 days and nearly 47,000 miles of driving, it was finally time to discard the old and buy some new. Of course, the “red” tire health report card, “Change your tires IMMEDIATELY” postcard, squeaking around off-ramps in dry conditions and, finally, hydroplaning in the rain while driving straight all contributed to this decision. Perhaps that fact that I had racing slicks on my car is the reason why I got that speeding ticket a while back, earning me the name Zoomie Vroom McLawBreaker. I really liked that name, by the way. But I have been good, and have been using my cruise control until I can re-train myself to enjoy lower velocities.

4. iPhone vs. BlackBerry Tour
Ah, just when I thought that I would finally change service providers in order to get the fancy-pants new iPhone (since bundling my home internet, land line, and TV service would save me about $60 a month), I have been given pause to reconsider. On Saturday, after getting my tires changed, I walked into the Sprint store, help up my current BlackBerry and challenged, “Why should I not want to trade this in for an iPhone? Convince me!” Now, mostly, I like the iPhone for all the apps and stuff that you can get with it, and for the larger screen. The touch screen keyboard would be a hindrance to typing as you drive (just for example, not that I do this necessarily . . . . ), but it is fun for scrolling. Being able to sync to my Podcasts and iTunes is also a definite plus. I know that iPhone is compatible with my work e-mail system, so that’s not an issue either. And it can go international, which was the main reason why I picked my BlackBerry 8830 in the first place.

Now, nice things about the BlackBerry Tour include the fact that I can increase the memory by adding a micro SD card, and that they give me a 1 GB out the door. That’s pretty sweet. Then, I found out that the new BlackBerry will also have a similar capacity for apps. As an upgrade to my current phone, this one has all the same capability, but adds on a camera and video feature, which I had been missing. The screen resolution is also pretty sweet. They say it supports AAC encoding, so I shouldn’t have to convert my iTunes library, and that it might soon or already does have an app to help with syncing.

Soo…. What can the iPhone do that the Tour cannot also do? And I can still save my $60 a month, by getting rid of my second cell phone. Please discuss benefits of one over the other in the comment box.

5. This Crazy Bipolar Weather
Today it has been alternating between being sunny with puffy white clouds and torrential downpours. Seriously. We left Mass, went to CostCo, came back and it started raining like crazy, just made it in the church before we got completely soaked. Then, we had our 1.5 hour Faith Café meeting, and by the time we got out, everything had dried up! I even managed to mow the lawn when I got home! It wasn’t wet anymore! Then, just now, the rains came again. I raced out, snapped a couple pics, then . . . it was over. Sun’s peeking out again. 🙂 Gotta love Michigan!
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6. Reading Material
I am SO excited, because I have finally finished reading the entire Bible! Okay, okay, so I did this a couple weeks back, but I am still excited! I have bought myself a new Ignatius Bible, RSV translation, the leather one. Yay! Isn’t it gorgeous?! (Humor me)
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My next project is to read the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church! 🙂

7. Blogging and Facebook
Have you guys noticed this phenomenon in your personal life? I have noticed that the more I am on Facebook, the less I blog. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not. I tend to get more feedback from Facebook (I think my “feeds” are more read there), yet I can’t usually go into depth on any topic. I just found out how to link my blog posts to my Notes on Facebook. Let’s see if this helps any, or just confuses the matter. 🙂

Oh. That’s What They Mean.

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Last oil change, guy says, “Your tires are in the red. So, next oil change, you should probably get new ones.”
Okay.
Then, postcard comes in the mail. “Your tires need to be replaced IMMEDIATELY.”
Huh. Well, the guy said, next oil change. I got like 7,500 miles, right?
Stacy comes over, tell her about the tires, she’s skeptical if they really need replacing already. Looks. Says, “Yeah you do!”
Okay.
Time passes.
Figures speeding ticket must be due to the influence of the nice racing slicks I’m developing. 🙂
Except.
Yesterday.
Raining.
Did you know that if your tires have no tread, your car tends to fly off the road?
I found that out.
So….
I guess “red” = “bad”….

It’s supposed to rain the next several days.

— Broken McSickyPants, formerly Zoomie Vroom McLawBreaker

CCC 27

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“The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence….”

Okay, so this is at the very beginning of my Catechism, which I received on January 14, 2007, the very first day I stepped into church. So why is it that I am just reading it now, almost exactly 2 1/2 years later?

LOL, I must have skipped that section by coming late to RCIA. 🙂

I have a difficult time seeing myself as loveable to anyone, much less God, who knows everything about me. But that one phrase, “through love continues to hold him in existence” I have heard mentioned before, but didn’t really understand it, so I just set it aside and didn’t pay much attention to it.

But I think that was perhaps the wrong thing to do. Because that might be one of the most important phrases.

What it means is that we exist because God, at every moment, is actively willing our existence. It is not the case that God just made us and then checks in on us from time to time. Rather, if God for just one instant ever *stopped* thinking of us, we would cease to be. That level of attention, dedication and love is really unfathomable.

At every instant, God is choosing for us to be in the world. He is advocating on behalf of our existence. He is giving us life so that we can choose to share in His divine life.

I — and all of you — are *far* more loved and cared for than we ever dreamed was possible. Would that we come to realize the incredible magnitude of that love — it would change everything.

God bless you; He loves you so very much!

Whoops!

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Leaving Mass this morning, Fr. Anonymous was trying to wish me a good day.

Fr. A: “Hope you have a good day! We just received Jesus, so . . . . Oh . . . . I guess that means it’s all downhill from here.”

LOL! 🙂

Major Christopher Galloway – In Memoriam

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Major Galloway
Major Christopher Galloway
02/12/1973 – 06/30/2009

GALLOWAY, Major Chrisopher T. “Chris”. Age 36. Suddenly on June 30, 2009. Beloved husband of Shannon (née Campanelli) for 7 years. Proud and loving father of Nathan, Benjamin, and Lillian. Dear son of Sara and the late Lawrence, and brother of Erin Galloway. Also survived by his grandfather Don Azallion, and many loving cousins, friends, and all of his US Army brothers and sisters. Major Galloway heroically and proudly served his country in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and had just recently returned home in April. Visitation Monday 3-9pm at Wujek-Calcaterra & Sons, Inc., 36900 Schoenherr at Metro Parkway (16 Mile). Instate Tuesday 10am until time of 11am service at Grace Christian Church, 33801 Van Dyke (just N. of 14 Mile Rd.). Interment with full military honors Wednesday 11am at Eastlawn Cemetery, Lake Orion. Memorial contributions are appreciated and will be used to establisih a trust fund for Major Galloway’s children. Please share memories with the family at their “On-Line Guestbook” at WujekCalcaterra.com

Visitations:
Wujek-Calcaterra & Sons at 3 pm – 9 pm on Monday, July 6th

Services:
Instate: Grace Christian Church at 10am on Tuesday, July 7th
Grace Christian Church at 11am on Tuesday, July 7th

Memorials:
To the family to establish a trust fund for the children

Cemetery:
Eastlawn Cemetery
1060 Orion Rd.
Lake Orion , MI 48360

Church:
Grace Christian Church
33801 Van Dyke
Sterling Heights , MI 48312

Location:
Sterling Heights Location
36900 Schoenherr, Sterling Heights
(586) 826-8550

Please pray for Chris, his family and his friends.

Frozen Embryos

Bioethics, Critical Mass, , , , , ,

To give you some “headline news” this Monday morning on embryos — just to keep you thinking…. 🙂 Please, pray for them!

What Should We Do with the Frozen Embryos?
Fr. Tad Pacholczyk wrote this great article in The Boston Pilot. In summary, he states that there is not a clear moral resolution to this issue. He offers suggestions on how to reduce the number of embryos which are frozen. He states that while embryo adoption has not been morally condemned, it is still morally problematic and could contribute to the expansion of IVF/fertility clinic’s immoral practices. He makes the point that sustaining these embryos may not be extraordinary means, although unusual, and we may be morally obligated to sustain them in this way until they die of natural means. As always, Fr. Tad gives a well-reasoned, thought-provoking article which is well worth your time to read.

Dignitas Personae
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued this instruction on the dignity of human persons, commenting particularly on certain bioethical issues. The three main sections are:
1. Anthropological, Theological and Ethical Aspects of Human Life and Procreation
2. New Problems Concerning Procreation
3. New Treatments which Involve the Manipulation of the Embryo or the Human Genetic Patrimony

If I Am

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So, you may know, I have been having medical problems lately. I’ve been to the ER twice, been admitted once, going through tons of outpatient testing. While they haven’t “officially” found anything, they are thinking that it is a cardiac issue, and one which is not so great to have (as if any are great, really). Lately, I’ve been upset because I am so incredibly fatigued. I mean, ridiculously fatigued. Like, I can’t be awake more than 30 minutes without feeling like I need to lie back down for a nap, and then actually napping for 4 hours straight. It has been beyond irritating for me. I hate being idle. I feel like I’m wasting my day.

Today, I woke up, went to Mass, went out with some friends to lunch, came home and anticipated tossing a load of laundry in the washer and uploading some pictures. Nope. Way too tired. Decided that I’d read a book in bed. Nope. Nap time. Now, it’s like 1:30 pm or so? Yeah. Woke up at 5:30 pm. Where has my weekend gone?? 😦

As soon as I woke up, these lyrics were playing in my head, particularly the highlighted phrases:

“If I Am” by Nine Days

So your standing on a ledge,
It looks like you might fall.
So far down,
Or maybe you were thinking about jumping.
Now you could have it all,
If you learned a little patience!
For though I cannot fly,
I’m not content to crawl!…
So give me a little credit,
Have in me a little faith!
I want to be with you forever,
If tomorrow’s not too late!…

And it’s always too late when you’ve got nothing
So you say!…
But you should never let the sun set on tomorrow,
Before the sun rises today…

IF I AM!
Another waste of everything you dreamed of,
I will let you down…
IF I AM!
Only here to watch you as you suffer,
I will let you down…

So your walking on the edge,
And you wait your turn to fall.
But you’re so far gone,
That you don’t see the hands upheld to catch you.
And you could find the fault,
In the heart that you’ve been handed!
For though you cannot fly,
You’re not content to crawl!…

And it’s always too late when you’ve got nothing
So you say!…
But you should never let the sun set on tomorrow,
Before the sun rises…

IF I AM!
Another waste of everything you hoped for,
I will let you down…
IF I AM!
Only here to watch you as you suffer,
I will let you down…

So you’re standing on a ledge,
It looks like you might fall…

IF I AM!
Another waste of everything you dreamed of,
I will let you down…
IF I AM!
Only here to watch you as you suffer,
I will let you down…

The answers we find,
Are never what we had in mind.
So we make it up as we go along…
You don’t talk of dreams
I won’t mention tomorrow.
And we won’t make those promises that we can’t keep…

I will never leave you!
I will not let you down!
I will never leave you!
I will not let you down!

While I might be frustrated, I need to remember that God is always with me. That He is not here to watch me as I suffer. And that even crawling, we are still making progress, and the only progress worth making is that which draws us closer to being with Him forever.

Happy Independence Day!

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There are so many people to thank for this day! First, the men who fought those 233 years ago and won our independence. Then, the men and women who have kept our freedom to the present day.

Here’s a picture of some of the girls in the wardroom of the USS Mount Whitney, CORTRAMID 1997, Norfolk, Virginia (I’m at the far right):
Girls in USS Mount Whitney's Wardroom
For all my fellow military members, police forces, and government agents — thank you for fighting for and upholding our freedom and our laws.

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For God, who gives us true freedom and independence.
And for all the clergy and holy men and women who teach us of our amazing inheritance, freedom, love and gifts given to each of us, personally, by the Lord. They teach us not only of the many ways in which God saves us from our slavery, but also of the ways in which we enslave ourselves. With His help, we can be truly free and live with a rightly ordered independence in His love and mercy.

Tennis

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After Mass, Lindsay and I went to the Troy Civic Center and played tennis for a little while. It was so much fun! We haven’t played in quite a while. The courts were completely empty, unlike the completely full ones at Athens we had first looked at. Good thing they were, because our game . . . wasn’t all that great. We ended up using all 3 courts and spent probably more time chasing the balls than actually playing. I got so out of breath so quickly, but ignored it, because I was having fun. That, and I’m too stubborn for my own good. I started to get increasingly dizzy, but I ignored this as well. After a little while, Lindsay said that she was getting tired, and that she wanted to stop for the day so that she would still have energy to do some things around her house that she wanted to get done. I was sad to stop playing, but agreed. She said that we should break me in slowly. I think we’ve already been over the fact that I’m not very good with doing things moderately. 🙂

I was really tired driving her back to her car and started to get very sick. I was feeling entirely awful by time I got home. I did just a couple things, then lied down for a nap. It was just before 1 pm. I woke up again sometime after 4 pm, and after doing a few light things in the bedroom to get ready to move back into my own bed — perhaps tonight — I was ready for another nap. And it had only been 30-45 minutes! This is truly getting ridiculous!

I got up again, and shortly thereafter, maybe about 5:30 pm or so, I got a phone call from Lindsay. She had cut herself with her electric hedger while trimming up some bushes and needed me to take her to the ER. You’ve probably never seen me grab my things and leave my house so quick! 🙂 It was better than I had anticipated — thanks be to God! We went to the ER, where she got 3 stitches. We had some very yummy Chinese food for dinner, and returned to her house. I was exhausted, again. So, when Erwin showed up after karate, I left fairly soon afterward. I hate to say it, but I am probably going to go to bed again very, very shortly. 😦

Looking forward to the fireworks tomorrow!!!! 🙂

Oh, and a quick note about the photo. Yes, it was taken after our tennis game, but no, my hair doesn’t look like that because I’m that sweaty. My hair looks like that because of the COPIOUS amounts of Oil of the Sick which Fr. Mark used on me! 🙂

Have a good night!

Snails

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This morning I went with Lindsay to St. A’s for the rosary and 9:30 am Mass, which was to be a healing Mass. I was looking forward to getting anointed, since I have had all these medical things going on and figured that God can heal me better than the doctors, who have yet to figure out what’s going on. 🙂

Since it’s Friday, we prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries. These are my favorite mysteries, I think because they are the only ones I have memorized. 🙂 I offered my rosary for the intention of a few people, one in particular, and as I was praying it, I pictured them in Jesus’ place: in the garden, being scourged, being crowned with thorns, carrying the cross, being crucified. I saw myself kind of in the picture too. My heart was breaking, going out to them. It made me sad to see them suffer like that, so I was trying to take the burden from them, although I knew that it was something that they had to do and didn’t want to interfere with God’s plan. I know, kind of a weird thing to be thinking of during a rosary, right?

After the rosary, I wanted to sit next to Lynn for Mass, so we moved. As we were waiting for Mass to start, Lynn shared with me the hymn from today’s Magnificat morning prayer:

O Love of God incarnate,
our flesh, our blood, our bone,
where sin has torn and marred us,
You make our wounds your own.
You take our guilt upon you,
our burdened spirits bear;
in death you go before us,
and you await us there.
You rise, our wounds upon You,
the nail prints clearly seen,
Your ravaged side still open –
but love has washed them clean.
the pow’r that conquers evil
in You now stands revealed.
We touch You, unbelieving,
and find that we are healed.

For some reason, this really disturbed me. I didn’t want to hurt Him any more. I didn’t want Him to have to suffer for my wounds. I was horrified. I wanted to protect Him. I handed the Magnificat back to Lynn. She asked what I thought. I said something like it was scary, because I couldn’t quite articulate what I thought about it.

I sat there praying, my heart saddened at the thought of causing the Lord more pain. Mass began. It wasn’t that long into Mass that a thought or image or something popped into my head, and but the whole thing into perspective for me. Then, I was so full of joy that I was actually giggling. In the middle of Mass. It was great. I mean, I don’t want to be disruptive and stuff to people around me, but I love when God interacts with me like that. See, because it wasn’t just a random thought popping into my head, it was Him trying to teach me something. Here, I’ll share it with you:

The image which came to mind was me, as a tiny snail. I was suffering because I had a toothpick stuck in me and had this marble squishing down on me. Jesus came over to me, and asked me if I would give him my toothpick and marble. He was the size of a normal-big human person, and I was this little 1 cm or so snail. My little snail-self took a big sigh and said, no, that I didn’t want Him to hurt and that I would keep my toothpick and marble. He laughed, lovingly, at me and made a beckoning motion with his right hand, saying, “Come now, give Me them. I can take it. I am strong. They are not going to hurt Me.”

I thought of my dad, and how he would want us to work through our own issues, and would be disappointed in us if we had to come to him for help. My snail-self wavered.

I saw things from Jesus’ perspective. Here was this tiny, little snail, with a little toothpick and a little marble. Insignificant little things, really, but they were hurting the little snail. He was looking on with love, and wanted to take them away from the little snail, but he wasn’t going to take them — he wanted the snail to ask for them to be taken away. He said again, “They are not going to hurt Me. I am God. Don’t you think that I can take it? That is not what hurts me, these things. What hurts is when people turn away from Me. Please give them to Me.”

Then, I understood.

Then, my little snail-self was joyful and saying, “TAKE IT! TAKE IT! TAKE IT! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” and offering to him gleefully my toothpick and marble. And I was washed in joy and His love. I wasn’t hurting Him, I was letting Him in — and that’s what He wants.

As an aside, at the end of Mass, Fr. Mark said that they weren’t going to be doing the Anointing at that Mass, but next Friday — which I wouldn’t be able to attend. I was disappointed, since I hadn’t been anointed for these medical things and really wanted to be. Lynn suggested that I ask him after Mass if he would anoint me, but I was hesitant — I don’t like to infringe on people’s time like that, asking for favors. Then, Lindsay said that she was going to ask him if he would hear her confession. So, she actually asked for me, by asking him if he had time to do 2 more sacraments. And so, the little snail got to give away her toothpick and her marble. 🙂 Thanks be to God for Lynn and Lindsay. And praise God for the unimaginable love that He gives to us all, for no reason whatsoever.