My Joyful Mysteries, and A Revolution of Real

My prayers are with the Four Marines and the Navy Officer, and their families killed at the hands of terrorist last week whose name is translated to “I’m a horrible evil asshole coward.”

I didn’t have access to a newspaper or TV most of past week and I have been leaving my cell phone and all technology in last place in my life…so I didn’t really hear about this horrific tragedy until yesterday. 

And I’m stunned. Stunned that the national media is more concerned with Donald Trump and things that truly aren’t newsworthy. This should be what everyone is talking about! Are we all so disengaged that we cannot see that our Men are being attacked in our country?!!! 

Today I saw the real heroes as there are local Veterans standing guard in front of our Recruiting Offices in my state. Because they have served. Because they care. Because they believe in America. 

I honestly think you should not  be elected president or even government if you haven’t served in a branch of the Military or haven’t been a civil servant. But because our nation is more focused on the VMA nominations and presidential candidates why don’t we focus on the brave people who serve our nation every day? 

And why don’t these candidates get off their asses and do something for our country rather than just talk? Blah, blah, blah, I’m sick of the talking. Do something! 

I could try to paint a pretty picture right now, and write something eloquent but the truth is there is no eloquence in violence and hatred. None. So I’m just pissed. 

We should all be outraged.

God Bless My America. We should say that with pride and joy, and find our patriotism again, by standing up for our troops and not cowering to political correctness and headlines. 
Thank you for serving your country- 

And May your Parade in Heaven be great… Thomas Sullivan, Squire “skip” Wells, David Wyatt, Carson Holmquist, and Randall Smith who passed earlier today. Thank you for your service and sacrifice- pray for me, and our country. I will pray for you and your families. 

May God have mercy on us all. And protect us. 

Typically today I give you an opportunity to share a little of your real today- but today I asked for something different. I asked for you to share a charity or cause you give to- all of us have things we hold near and dear to our hearts AND often there is a reason we give to those organizations…

Only a couple people shared theirs but I recommend everyone give back. Whether it’s by volunteering your time, or in monetary ways we can all gain so much by giving.
“I give to Candlelighters(which is now called the American Childhood Cancer Association). There are different branches, but the Eastern Washington Branch helped my family during the worst time of all our lives.” -Kristy. 

http://www.forkidswithcancer.org/

 
-Leah 

After writing this challenge I had to think…and pray. We help friends who are missionary’s and we give our time in other ways. But the best thing we can do for each other when the other things are not an option is to pray. Which is why I won’t share my places I donate my time and money- instead I challenge you to find ones that mean something to you. 

And pray.

Really pray for each other. 

We can all use a little extra help in different times of our lives and what a difference it makes to be there for others…when they need us most. 

So today no fluffy stuff. Just prayer.

Happy Wednesday.  

“Behold I am a servant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.” -Luke 1:38

The year I was born a Man in Butte Montana was praying for his wife. She was sick. Really sick. She had a 50/50 chance of living and surviving a surgery. He prayed so hard for her healing. Being raised Catholic, he also asked Mary, Jesus’s Mother to pray as well- and said that if his wife was healed in Thanksgiving for her prayers he would build a statue to honor the Mother of God.

His wife was healed completely. 

At work he told some friends about it, thinking they would make fun, but instead they jumped on it. 

The statue he had planned to weld was 5ft tall, the one they ended up building was 90 feet tall, on the top of the continental divide over Butte. It was a crazy labor of love and answer prayers.

  
They named her Our Lady of the Rockies.

On Sunday we took the hour bus ride up to see her up close. Chris and the boys had already been there a few years ago but Grace and I wanted to go up too. We had offers to go to a Water Park that day, but even when we canceled our spot on the bus felt it was really important for us to go. So we called again and asked for our spot back. 

As we walked out the door we asked my sister Kaitin to go. She didn’t hesitate. She met us there 15 minutes later. 

The ride up was bumpy but entertaining with Kaitlin next to me and Grace sitting on my lap, as the tour guide had an ongoing commentary. It was a sweet moment, as after living with us for a year Katie was away from us for this past year. Having her with our whole little family was incredibly important…

It has been so hard to be away from her. 

When we reached the top, the magnitude of the size of our Lady was powerful and the wind whipped around us. We all stood there in silence looking up at a dream and prayer, that became a real reminder of God listening the prayers of a Man, and his Mother. 

Everything she does points to God, by saying yes to carrying his only Son, by fleeing with Him in the middle of the night after a dream, by presenting Him in the temple to be told her heart would be pierced, by losing Him while traveling only to find Him in the Temple teaching the elders, telling her son to change water into wine at a wedding and therefore “totally Momming” him into his first public miracle, and watching him suffer innocently- piercing her soul forever knowing he is God. 

“For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37

After taking pictures and looking up, and to be honest trying really hard to keep my skirt from flying up over my head, the tour guide opened up the back of statue. 

Inside hung prayers written on little strips of paper, memorials of people who have passed, and rosary after rosary. So many prayers said passing over each bead, one by one…prayer by prayer. 

So I wrote a prayer. I thanked God for this moment. I thanked God for the listening to our prayers. And I wrote a special prayer of thanksgiving for a prayer that has happened in the past year. A prayer that I said over and over again for many years. A prayer that I whispered at night, as tears streamed onto my pillow. 

  
Last year after a particularly hard night with my Kaitlin, as she struggled through the fight of her life, I prayed a rosary next to my bed. I had heard of other people I respected saying this prayer, and I was beyond desperate. I was exhausted and worried, and very broken hearted. So at the end of each Hail Mary, I said “Holy Mary Mother of God, please pray for Kaitlin Now…” And at the end of the Rosary I ask God to have his Mother Join me in prayer for these critical intentions. 

On Sunday, it was no coincidence that Kaitlin came. I know that now. It brought the prayer full circle as I bounced over the windy dirt road next to my sister. It was no accident, as I saw my sister whole and healed, and I felt my heart fuller than it has been in a long time. 

I looked across the aisle at my Love, and our eyes locked and I knew he felt it too. 

A few days before when I had finally saw Kaitlin, I had come around the corner of my Grandmother’s kitchen as she hugged each of my kids. Taking time and care she hugged them hard, and after she hugged my husband she saw me…

She ran to me, and we hugged fiercely as we both wept. I wept into her long blonde hair, as her tears fell onto my shoulders. We clung together- and a big huge knot I have been carrying the past year in my heart slowly began to unravel. 

I told her in that moment that she was the strongest person I’ve ever met…because she is. 

She told me I was her hero. No one has ever called me that. I’ve never been anyone’s hero. And while I don’t see anything in me that is heroic I know that I have loved my sister in every season, and I have always prayed for her. I often tell people I don’t have a lot of talents but prayer is something I will always do. 

If you ask me to pray I will pray for you. And my Kaitlin is the same way, she always prays for me. But on that day, I realized that on the days when I couldn’t finish my prayers because I was too heartbroken, someone else finished them. And I believe with all my heart she did. Because when Mary said yes to God, she became a testament that God listens to his people. That God keeps his promises, by picking a young woman to carry His Son, and raise the Savior of the World. 

And I believe in those moments where the chasm between heaven and earth seemed so vast…my prayers were heard. And she joined me. 

The power of prayer is the reason I will never doubt the realness of God. 

Because I saw the miraculous power of a healing God…I saw it in my sister’s face. 

“Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.” Luke 1:45 

She never doubted her Son.

She never doubted her God.

We can all take something from that. 

Everyday I’m grateful for my Kaitlin. And especially today on her birthday. 

Our God is faithful. 

Our God is a great God. 

Miracles happen. 

  
Grace loves her godmother. And I love my sister and goddaughter. 

Happy Birthday to my Kaitlin. 
Ps. Catholics don’t worship Mary, and we all know Salvation comes only from Jesus. We do however believe that Mary should be honored because she was Jesus’s Mama and she’s a crazy good prayer warrior. So there. 

Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD. 

Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people:

You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.  You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds. 

I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply. 

I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD.

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; as king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah shall be saved,

Israel shall dwell in security.

This is the name they give him:

“The LORD our justice.”

Jeremiah 23: 1- 6 

…that was the first reading today. Some seriously real words written thousands of years ago.

I thought about those words all day. 

We are all his flock. Some of us choose to leave. But He still considers us his. But how often do we scatter others away- with our hypocrisy, with our judgementalness, with our ugly? 

We need to Care. We need to show God to others. 

Not just on Sunday, or when it’s convenient…every single day. 

Because if this strikes a cord, any cord, I truly believe God is calling us to search out the missing and love them. Pray for them. Pray with them. 

Faith isn’t supposed to be comfortable, or trendy. Faith isn’t supposed to always have some feel good touchy feely message. Faith is supposed to be real. On the good days, and on the bad days. 

There will be rocky terrain and cliffs and we need to know we will not be deserted. 

And Someday’s we are called to rise up and gather people, but after that…let God be God, and act like someone who loves Him. He is the good sheperd and appoints when He chooses. 

None shall be missing.

A good sheperd…does everything within his flock to do that. Gathering, leading, Finding…

Giving Hope and offering New life. 

Always. 

Faithful.

Selfless.

Unconditional. 

Three words that describe my Grandmother perfectly. 

Today we stood and celebrated someone who encompasses these qualities so naturally and beautifully. 85 years old. 

I have tried all day to think of ways I could describe her and give her justice, and for some reason the words can’t even be formed to made sense. 

But today we celebrated her. 

With a plastic crown on her head and a flowered necklace we celebrated her. 

A revolving door of her cousins, neighbors, lifelong friends, grandchildren, great grandchildren, her own children, and her sister came and celebrated her. 

My grandmother believes in Goodness of God, even as life slows her down. She has grieved her husband. She has grieved a child. She worries enough for all of us, and even today when her eye sight has been almost completely stolen she wants to take care of everyone. She wants to make sure that everyone is ok. 

I cry every time I say goodbye to her. Because I love her so much. Because I love being with her.  Because I don’t call her enough and I don’t see her enough. And Because her faith without eyesight, and her joy when she can’t do the things she longs to do is humbling for me- as I take short cuts in my faith at times- or ask God to make my life easier. 

I hope today she realizes how loved she is. I hope she realizes what a gift her life has been. But knowing her she will want to make sure everyone knows how loved they are, how glad she was that they came…she will make it all about everyone else. 

But today she wore her crown. And we celebrated her. ❤️ I love her so, and hope I am even half the person she is someday. 

(Joyful Mysteries Note: I met Emily when Dyp and I were brand new- they lived in the same big Christian Co-Op on campus. What I didn’t know at the time is she knew so much about me, that she was praying for our relationship from those early stages. We really became friends the following year when I moved to Oregon and she was his roommate in a big green house. We took a road trip together on a Friday night in my Toyota Celica to Washington. We were both obsessed with the song “Livin La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin- and it came on multiple times during our trip. That day our friendship was solidified beyond any shadow of a doubt. Em and I have been through…a lot. Personally and together. And even when weeks or even months have gone by and we sit together it’s as if no time has passed. In many ways she and I know Living the Crazy Life better than most. But we also have a fierce faith that has been our saving grace over and over again. I figure that’s what has given us our street cred. She’s come to my house at 1130 to set a mouse trap when Dyp was out of town and the mouse ran out of Graces room and Dyp refused to drive home from Seattle. I love her so much and her real today has wisdom…people are on our heart for a reason, seek them out, and always pray for them. Thank you my dear Emily. 

July 12, 2015 Saturday

Chief Bald Eagle this is Princess Flaming Hair. Do you copy?

Chief Bald Eagle are you out there? Is it true? Are you gone from this earth?

I wish. I wish I would have tried harder to find you when your Christmas card came back a few years ago. Tried harder to track you down. Kept in touch. Let you know how much you mean to me. Did I ever? Did I ever tell you how much you meant to me? Tears today when I saw you in your dress blues on the Obituary page.

You with your big grin and your bag of candy. “Hey little girl, would you like some candy?”… and then that big belly laugh that was just absolutely contagious. The friendship that was kindled in the very dead of night on the graveyard shift at the plywood mill out Prairie Road. I was just hired on after my temp summer position and went straight to the night shift. They put me up on the patch line with you. Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into? More laughter. And the kind of conversations that take place late at night and in the very early morning when the rest of the world is sleeping. Conversations that transcend. Small talk has no place at 4am, only laughter and substance.  

Your bald head and big grin and worn overalls but mostly your conversation. You were a talker. Big Time. If we weren’t separated by forty years I can bet the house we would’ve been the kind of friends who’d have been kicked out of class for talking too much. But some how even four decades made no difference for our friendship. You were inquisitive and interested. Hungry to know about people. Where they came from, who they were. I come from people like that. We were fast friends. You’re a jarhead? No kidding so is my Dad! Passing the time on the patch line talking family history and life stories. You worked so fast. Could do your job with your eyes closed, never missing a patch. I fumbled and struggled to keep up, to catch the rhythm. Was glad when they moved me to the spreader crew. But I never missed a chance to say hello and catch up with you when I could. You loved to hear my antics and all about which trip I was going on next. I took the mill job in hopes to earn a pile of money so I could see the world. I worked for Georgia Pacific for 15 months and in that time I went on two pilgrimages. One to the Holy Land and one to Rome. I also manged to celebrate my 21st birthday in Las Vegas (a stark contrast to my church trips) and also fly back to New York for my uncle’s wedding that summer. Those 15 months were some of the best and most outrageous adventures I’ve had thus far in my life. And the friendship with you, Chief Bald Eagle was a highlight and treasure.

We kept in touch after my life moved on beyond my mill days. I got to know Nancy and meet a couple of your grown kids. In many ways you were like a grandpa that I got to have in my early twenties. Long after my real grandpas were gone. I was so honored when you told me you were inspired to become catholic and you wanted me to be your sponsor. I think Nancy thought you were crazy and really I don’t blame her. After 5 kids and how many decades by your side the woman is a saint and you know it. Well you know it by now anyway! She even decided to become catholic a year later with you by her side. I’ve never stopped praying for you two. I feel a lot of regret that I lost touch and didn’t fight harder to stay connected. I will find Nancy now and I will tell her. But I won’t be able to see that grin or hear that laugh of yours until I join you some day. Semper Fi and Rest Easy Leo and know that I will never ever forget you.  

Love,

Emily

a.k.a. Princess Flaming Hair

Emily is a Wife and a Mother and…she is also a kick ass friend. She will always pray for you, and hopes this will inspire people to reach out to those on their hearts and in their mind. Because it’s never ever to late to pray for each other. 

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is Gods handwriting.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

I’m pretty sure Old Ralph was talking about Montana. 

Today as I was talking texting the title “Walk like an Egyptian” and it auto corrected to “Walk like an erection.” I couldn’t stop laughing in the Safeway parking lot. It was 630 in the morning, and maybe it’s because I only slept 5 hours or that I had just worked out but it was funny…really funny. 

So my question for you today was what is something recently that has made you really made you laugh.

  
“When my son heard the theme song for Sofia the First on Disney and said “this song is just hateful.” -Nicole

“Reconnecting with some old high school friends- we had an Unbreakable bond. We laughed until we cried. Dorkie selfies, old pictures, funny stories. My heart is full.” -Amanda 

“A tortoise named Voldetort. Silly, but I still chuckle thinking about it.” -Dan 

“Playing catch phrase with Curly,l was the funniest thing I’ve done in a long time.” -Dyp (ps I totally agree, it was hilarious) 

  
“Climbing this slide was the funniest thing this week. Both doing it AND ridiculous I looked doing it.”  – Barbara

“My kids put the vine “I want a nap” as my ringtone. I get a giant smile and laugh every time they call.” -Mary 

“Myself, I am always laughing at the ridiculous things I think and do. This week has been quite the giggle fest.” -April 

  
“This Ride!!!!!” -Carol

“I saw a lady run into a curb at the drive through at Starbucks and I was like LOLOLOLOLOL!” Nate (joyful mysteries note: for the record it was barely a curb and it wasn’t THAT funny. Whatever.) 

  
“Watching my son…watch his son…sniffing a broom handle magical act…you have to see it to believe it.” -Joan 

  
“The cutest kid in the world- doing this and laughing hysterically for the past 20 minutes.” Kari
Someday’s it’s hard to find joy in the nitty gritty routine of life, but if we look up and look around there are so many hilarious things that are right there. Sometimes that’s what we need to remember that life may not be easy, but laughter helps. A lot. Sometimes we have to try something new, or do something we wouldn’t have hesitated to do when we were kids. Maybe that means we laugh at ourselves, and maybe it’s the kind of joy that jumps in and surprises us- as we laugh out loud and slump against our car in a parking lot laughing like a 12 year old kid- who doesn’t care what the joke was, they just knows it is damn funny. 

Joy is a gift. It’s Wednesday…go find some. 

I used to try to impress my siblings. I’d swing as high as I could, I’d learn all the harmonies so my sister would let me be in her basement production of Annie. She always starred in it…as Annie. I came to every rehearsal. And my brother playing “Daddy Warbucks” never ever showed when my parents came to watch. 

When school started I would try to impress my friends. Since I never had the right jelly shoes, and no one cared to know how well I could sing- I would tell outlandish tales…In hopes to impress anyone. That didn’t work. I would make neighborhood plays and write them. And to this day I still remember my “Straight Up” Paula Abdul dance routine. 

I was never good at impressing boys. I’m too much of a dork, I was never pretty enough- but I tried for way too long. Some of my best friends were boys and I know still to this day they’d drop things to help me, and one day I realized they liked the real me. So I cut off all my hair and dyed it red from a box, and wore my bag first jeans and vans, with my AC/DC shirt…and met the man of my dreams. 

I tried to impress the “Holy” People, but found out they were normal people, so they became my friends.  Then I tried to impress the preschool moms and realized the ones worth talking too were just like me and were trying to drop off quickly so they could shower by themselves, or finish their coffee. There was always one of two “complaining Moms” and I still avoid them and don’t care what they think of me. 

Then I was a Mom of two, then three, then four and I didn’t have time to impress. 

But then I had Grace. And she has always thought everything about me is fabulous but I know, because she tells me, that I should dress more “fancily” and always wear heels and way more glitter. 

But today I impressed her…I got a little pink streak in my hair…something she’s been asking me for years to do. And while I didn’t got totally pink like she asked- I did a little, and she screamed a lot, and giggled, and asked if she could call her friend Georgia and tell her. 

It may be silly, but my Grace is my favorite person to impress. Because she’s not  a critic- she’s a liver. She lives big and Loves when others do too. And as much as she loves the stage when she believes in you, she’s your biggest fan. 

She makes me sparkle brighter…and she makes life sparkle.  What a gift to be that sort of person. 

What a gift my Grace is.  My little pink firecracker.

Yesterday was Annie’s 4th birthday…she is the best dog ever! And apparently wanted to smile for this picture.