Tag: Thankfulness

Falls…

On By runnergirl02In Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

There are many different kinds of falls…

Falls from grace…

Falling off the wagon…

Falling water…

Falling in the literal sense of the word…

On the day of my 50th birthday, I did the latter. My husband and I were training for a half marathon in November and needed to get in a long run, I can’t remember how long now, so even though we had planned a trip out to Monterey for my birthday, on the morning of my birthday, we headed out to complete this run. Less than a mile from our house I tripped on the sidewalk and hit the ground hard, landing with my hand’s outstretched and I heard an ugly pop. It was not good. My hand immediately started swelling twice its size and in that moment I knew two things; first, I wasn’t going to Monterey for my 50th birthday, second, I wasn’t running a half marathon in November. Both were confirmed a few hours later after a visit to urgent care.

However, hand wrapped in a splint and wanting to salvage what I could of my 50th birthday I let my husband and daughter take me out to Casa De Fruta where we enjoyed the fall decorations and ate an early dinner. This was not what I had planned at all and I found myself for the first time that I could ever remember really really wishing I could go back in time and skip the run. That one run altered the plans I had for the next few months and even though it was awhile ago now, my hand still isn’t right. It hurts in cold weather and gets stiff in the morning, tired if I use it too much. My wedding ring didn’t fit for a year and the hand that was injured is still a little bit swollen at times.

When my daughter was little and fell, as little ones do, I’d tell her to get up, she’d be fine and she always was. Her skin tends to scar though so she has little marks here and there from some of her falls over the years. She now runs track and cross country.

In May, at the final track meet of the season, she fell. She fell in the 4X400. She was running as the anchor. She is fun to watch when she’s running well. She actually hadn’t been feeling well earlier that day but when she got that baton, she took off like a firework and was almost home about to give her final kick when she went down, along with a runner who had gotten too close. At first I didn’t know it was her, then I had two thoughts, Was she ok? What happened? My husband was the first to say it looked like the girl behind her clipped her. Mama Bear went into motion trying to get to my daughter but she was on the infield, luckily getting bandaged up with her coach. I asked her teammates whether or not they saw her get pushed, which was my initial concern. Finally, I was reunited with my daughter and asked her if she had been pushed and she said no, she felt her leg get kicked. When she fell, she fell mid-stride, so both her legs we up off the ground and with nothing to catch her she literally collapsed to the ground at near her top speed in a sickening plop. It’s hard to watch on video. She had several injuries, including at least one that wasn’t really apparent until a couple of weeks later when she tried to do a push-up and found she couldn’t. When she puts much pressure on the hand that hit first, the hand immediately is unhappy. She had cuts and an injury to her pelvis that still hurts nearly a month later. It was a hard fall. To add insult to injury the other runner didn’t go to check on her to see if she was ok, nor did she apologize. When mama bear wrote an email asking the principal to tell his coach to talk to his runner about checking on others, the coach apparently mentioned my daughter could have been blocking his runner from passing, like that would be a reason not to check on someone who was injured? The other girl was DQ’d so I doubt even he believed his own suggestion.

School districts are always afraid of law-suits, sadly. We are the farthest from those kind of people you could get. The other coach didn’t ask us about our daughter either, maybe he talked to our coaches? Maybe he didn’t realize the full extent of her injuries? Not sure, but I know one thing, when you cause an injury to another, even if it was an accident, you should always apologize and check on the person who was injured.

When she fell I hoped two things; that she was ok, that it wasn’t her fault. Our daughter is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She is kind and loving. She almost always has a smile or a kind word for others and is genuine, even when others are rude, dismissive or just plain indifferent. Whether she’s singing in the choir or running with joy, or chatting with someone she’s met for the first time, her smile lights up a room. I think about Jesus telling his apostles they are the salt of the earth and light of the world in the gospel of Saint Matthew (5:14), our daughter is light. She has brought so much light to our lives. If the accident had been her fault, she would have had a difficult time with that. As it was she still felt badly that she had somehow let her teammates down. It was a bummer way to end her season.

She still smiled for pictures after. She still laughed and posed with her injuries with her coaches. It wasn’t until a few hours later and the next day that we realized she was a little more hurt than we hoped. She’s had two x-rays now for this injury, the last one just last week, for that hand that keeps hurting, the one she can’t do push-ups on, it’s not broken, worse she’s injured a ligament, those take longer to heal. She will be reminded of this fall every time that hand twinges or tweaks. She’ll recover but in the meantime, my heart hurts for her and my hand does too.

Chumbawamba in Tubthumping, says, “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down.” Rocky says, “It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.” There are a myriad of quotes about falling and getting back up again. I also think maybe sometimes people forget the other part, when you fall and get back up, you are changed. No one who falls is ever the same again. Whether it’s an injury that lingers or a memory that won’t leave you, you are never the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s a physical fall or a different type. Those clichés are supposed to be inspirational but where do they come from? Who provides the ultimate example of what you do when you fall? You can get back up but who are you now? How exactly do you move forward? No easy answers there, for anyone, I’m afraid and so I ask myself how did Jesus respond when he fell?

In my Catholic faith we have something called the Stations of the Cross. The Stations mark the journey of Jesus to his crucifixion. There are three falls. There are a total of 14 stations, at each station we remember and meditate on the journey of Jesus to the cross. Jesus falls for the first time in the 3rd station. We are encouraged to meditate on how Jesus continues to move forward, determined to carry out God’s plan for the salvation of the world. In the 7th station Jesus falls for the second time and we are encouraged to meditate on the sacrifice he is making for us. Finally, in the 9th station Jesus falls for the third time, weary and near death, our sweet Jesus gets back up and continues the Way of the Cross. We are encouraged to remember that he could have called out to his Father to ask for help but he accepted the Father’s plan. We are encouraged to remember we can’t travel the way forward without Jesus.

Can you be thankful for falls? I’m very thankful for Jesus, for his example of moving forward, even if it was to his death, in order to fulfill the Father’s plan. I mean who does that? Who would do that? Only someone who loved us more than life itself, Jesus. Falls can teach us and sure, most of the time people get back up. I got up and my daughter got back up and she even tried to keep running to the end of her race but when you get back up you aren’t the same as when you fell. You are either stronger and more determined that ever or you can end up regretful, sad and frozen in time. I want to always follow the example of Jesus and he promised that when you fall or when I fall He will always be right there by our side to help us move forward, we don’t have to do it alone and for that I can be grateful.

For the lessons falls teach us…I Give Thanks!

Running update: We have started our half marathon plan. I can’t say I’m 100% confident that we will be able to accomplish this goal but so far we’ve check all our runs off the training list. We are slow but we are moving forward.

Our skinny lazy river that we like to run by when there is water…we were on our way to this trail when I fell.
Our trail …

La Boulangerie…

On By runnergirl02In ThankfulnessLeave a comment

La Boulangerie is a little bistro where I live and I love it! A boulangerie is a bakery that specializes in bread, especially French style breads but from what I can tell they have every kind of bread, even Pan Dulce! My favorite is the Almond Croissant. Yummy!

I had never actually been here until last December 2023. In all my years of living and working here, for whatever reason it never occurred to me to walk in. If I’m totally honest, it looked a little ritzy, don’t know why I thought that, just did. Well I do know, but that’s a different post, maybe later. Anyway, since that day in December of 2023, it has become one of our favorite, lets sit and hang out places. I enjoy sitting outside on the patio or like today, inside by the big windows and starring outside, watching people come and go hearing the door open and close, watching the trees outside, today’s a little windy and so the leaves are rustling around with little drops of sunlight bouncing off them here and there. There’s ivy around the patio posts and all kinds of people to watch come and go and to wonder about. There is a crooked replica of the Eiffel Tower sparkling above one of the bakery cases that kind of makes me laugh and posters and pictures of other French cafes and bread around the walls. There’s old time jazz music playing, doesn’t seem particularly like French music but the kind you hear on period piece shows like When Calls the Heart, coming out of a phonograph while people waltz around. Old people, young people, groups of people and single people, of all races and I assume creeds having conversations or just sitting and enjoying a coffee and a treat. One lady we have seen the past two days sits in a corner with her magnifying glass and her puzzle and dictionary. She’s obviously a regular as every now and again someone will sit and chat with her and then she’ll be alone again and go back to her puzzle. I was thinking yesterday if I was alone but didn’t want to feel alone this café might be a pretty nice place to sit to do my puzzle and chat now and again, it’s that kind of place and today I am actually alone and it has been enjoyable to whittle away the morning here. It’s almost perfect except for the line! Sometimes there is no line but sometimes there is a really long line and if all you want is a coffee or iced tea the only real way to ensure you will get one is to get in the line.

I have actually been here everyday for the last three days counting today. My daughter and I usually need someplace to sit and spend a little time before her track practices on certain days and if she doesn’t have piano you’ll probably find us here, at least this week anyway. Today, this morning, I’m here again because of track, she has a meet. The League championships are today and so I took the day off school so I could go and cheer her and her team on to victory, which is usually measured in PR’s and sometimes a medal here or there.

I have had a thoroughly enjoyable morning with my almond milk cappuccino, breakfast sandwich and a couple of bites of an almond croissant. I am hopeful for the afternoon and eager to cheer for my daughter’s track team. It’s been a good day so far! Thinking on summer plans, writing in this journal, watching the blue sky through the trees, cars driving by and hoping the wind dies down before the track meet. I even got to read a few journals/blogs from other writers and I liked a few of them and a few I didn’t agree with at all but the writing was still good, even if the ideas were foreign to me. I also spent a bit of time missing a colleague from work who I recently found out passed away. His name was Patrick Casey, a wonderful English teacher who frequented this place, he was always kind to me, gave me some great advice on teaching once and I’ll miss running into him now and again. We weren’t particularly close, we talked here and there, but it’s sad to think he’s not here to run into anymore. You just think about things in a café like La Boulangerie because you actually have time to think about things, it’s that kind of place.

Anyway…so far today for La Boulangerie, my daughter having an early track meet, almond croissants and cappuccinos…I Give Thanks!

No running this AM but we ran yesterday AM and did stairs, hard run because I was tired but we got it done. KOR!

View from my window seat….

The crooked sparkly Eiffel Tower….

Records…

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There are different types of records. There are personal records, school records, record albums…

There are different meanings for the word record…The word itself can be used as a noun and a verb. Anything from some type of official document that “records” something, like the deed to a house, the times of a race or the heartfelt lyrics in song of a musical artist…

Seems this week around our house at least, we’ve been talking about a few different types of records.

Our daughter runs track. She runs the 200m, 400m and this year has run an 800m twice. About two weeks ago she ran a local league meet and apparently broke a school record but no one knew about it until the following Monday. There were some inconsistencies in the times of the races and actually at first they had our daughter in 4th place behind one runner who finished after her and another who didn’t even run! When they finally fixed the results for the third time it turned out she had broken her schools record by .01s. A teammate of hers ran the 100m at the same meet and her results later that same night were recognized as having broke the school record in the 100m. Neither athlete was recognized in the moment because immediate times were not given and in the end the athlete who initially broke the 100m record had her record recalled because when they redid the times her time wasn’t fast enough to have really broken the school record. Such a bummer for both athletes. Our daughter who hasn’t really accepted her time is valid and that she really did break the record and her teammate who had her record recalled. It was a disappointment for sure. We told our daughter there was nothing for it, she’d just have to do it again.

There’s another type of record we’ve been talking about in our family and that is Taylor Swifts new album, The Tortured Poets Department. Now if you know me in real life you might find it odd that I do in fact enjoy some music written by Taylor Swift, some…not all…mostly I respect her as a fellow songwriter. I really enjoy reading her lyrics. They tell difficult stories from her life or stories she’s imagined and most of the time they are set to good music and are thoughtful and interesting. On her last album Midnights, she has a song called, Bigger than the Whole Sky, which is beautiful in a fatalistic way. On this new album she has another song called So Long London, put the two songs together and you have a heartbreaking tale of love and loss. Now I don’t know that those songs are even related to the same person or relationship but they are achingly beautiful.

When we were talking to our daughter about her hesitancy to accept her record she said her victory felt hollow because she was sad for her teammate and didn’t quite believe the, as she called them, “sketchy” results. We can’t really blame her for feeling that way. She also expressed regret that she didn’t get to celebrate it in the moment like some of her other teammates have this season. We tried to remind her that records are made to be broken and they pass away and fade with time. She should strive always to be her best and not chase after someone else’s best. She’s a teenager so not sure she heard that part.

This post feels a bit melancholy to me but I guess maybe it is, me and her Dad missed out on being able to celebrate her “record” as well because a race director didn’t have the integrity to make sure the results were right. As of this moment they still have our daughter’s 4X100 team beating a team they clearly came in 2nd to, and despite the fact it’s on video, they have refused to fix it. Not doing your personal best, affects the others around you, sometimes in a negative way. We aren’t happy with the race director at all, she messed up what should have been two possible celebrations all because she was either too afraid to ask for help or to scared to admit that perhaps none of the times are right or that they aren’t sure how to fix them.

Hmm…I am thankful that our daughter wasn’t too upset and that her teammate seems to have rebounded from her disappointment as well. Both these athletes know their worth isn’t found in school records but in the great I AM. They’ll be ok so I can be grateful today for Jesus who loves us so much He gave everything He had. I can be grateful today because I know he holds our daughter and her teammate in His hands and wants good things for them whether that’s a personal record or a school record. I can be thankful for Taylor Swifts sad, heart achingly, melancholy songs, because sometimes it can help to just sit in a sadness or loss for awhile. I can also be hopeful that one day Taylor Swift will meet and know God, could you imagine what lyrics she could come up with then and the stories she could tell through song? I admit to making an assumption there about Taylor that maybe I shouldn’t make but if you’ve read enough of her lyrics I think you too would find a hesitancy of belief in God or at least Jesus.

So today…for “records”…I give thanks!

Running update…had a really good run Saturday, have a half marathon plan finally and feeling stronger, now if I could only resist sugar, will keep working on that one…KOR

Some beautiful wildflowers we saw on our Saturday and Sunday run:-)

Birthdays

On By runnergirl02In Family, Food, ThankfulnessLeave a comment

I enjoy birthdays! Yesterday was my Mom’s birthday. My Mom has said that birthdays weren’t a big thing when she was growing up. My Mom has 5 sisters and 2 brothers. A brother and one sister have passed on now.

Growing up we celebrated birthdays with parties here and there. Most of the time, since my birthday was near the fair I was able to invite a friend or two and enjoy some time at the Fresno Fair. I can remember doing that at least twice. I had a big party for my 21st birthday. We had a DJ and it was a lot of fun. My Mom and my Nina made my favorite, Chicken Enchiladas, yum!

Today we celebrated my moms birthday with family and friends. I kind of invited more people than I thought, but Jason always says the more the merrier. We had a Berry Chantilly Cake! Have you ever had one? Go to Whole Foods and get a slice or even a whole cake, you won’t be disappointed 😉

My Mom seemed to have a nice time. I know she misses my Dad lots on days like her birthday. God was good to surround her with people who love her and who wanted her to have a nice day.

We celebrate lots of birthdays in my family and I love it. Birthdays mark time and provide a space for family and friends to come together to celebrate. When given the choice between a birthday party or a trip I almost always choose a party. I love my family. I love seeing them and celebrating happy days, like my birthday, with them.

I know not everyone celebrates birthdays with extended family and friends. Some people like to take a trip or enjoy a smaller gathering. I would challenge them/you if to consider what keeps families strong and together. It isn’t seeing each other twice a year, Christmas and Easter. It’s all the “little” opportunities to celebrate one another throughout the year. Birthdays for sure, but also graduations, baptisms, confirmations, First Communions, Weddings, anniversaries, Mothers’s Day, Father’s Day, Labor Day, 4th of July, so many excuses as the year ticks by to spend time with family and friends. Why wouldn’t anyone grab it?

It’s not guaranteed. Days aren’t guaranteed. No guarantee I’ll get another birthday or that my Mom will get another birthday or that anyone will get any other type of celebration. It could all be gone tomorrow, or the next day or in an hour. Birthdays are precious reminders of how short life is and that it should be celebrated!

So today for my Mom’s birthday…I give thanks!

We finally have picked a half marathon plan, for better or worse, just need to figure out when to start it…hoping my mile time will start dropping when we become more consistent…it takes grit to work your way back…I think we have it in us…I know we have it in us, hopefully God will grant us the gift of health so we can…Keep On Running….

My Mom’s Birthday Cake
Berry Chantilly …Yum!

Griffith Observatory

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Have you ever been here?

I’m not real sure why but until today, we never had…

Our daughter really enjoyed the movie La La Land and we were trying to figure out someplace to go for spring break we hadn’t been to before…as we were looking at a list of places teens might enjoy, the Griffith Observatory popped up and I thought, she’ll love seeing the place she saw in the movie…

and she did! and we did too because it’s filled with amazing views and some really cool science stuff!!

So today for the Griffith Observatory…I give thanks!

Beware if you go…we had to park half a mile away and there are lots of stairs and if you venture out onto the trails…it’s a lot of hill! I didn’t run today but I definitely got in a hill workout!

KOR!

Griffith Observatory
From one of the trails below the observatory…
Hollywood sign…
City views…

Breaks…

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So…Thanksgiving Break has begun! I guess technically it doesn’t really start until tomorrow because I would usually have to get up and get to school but tomorrow I don’t! I told my students I would miss them but I was also looking forward to a break! Breaks are a much needed slow down or can be if you are intentional. Sometimes I am, sometimes I’m not. I’m trying really hard during this break to be intentional, no checking work email, moving slower than usual and being ok if something doesn’t get done right when I think it should. I’m hopeful this will keep us in the present moment more spending time with the people in front of us, enjoying their company or helping where and when we can.

Today is Sunday and we usually meet together after church as a family with my brother and sister and their kids and my Mom. It’s nice to spend time together, visit with our nieces and nephews who are also our God-Children. I love my brother and sister and I love that, for the most part, I see them every Sunday, and sometimes more than once a week, depending on what’s happening that week.

The readings this week have been from the Book of Wisdom but today’s first reading was from Proverbs, 2nd reading was from the Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians and the Gospel was from Matthew, though during week it was from the Gospel of Luke.

So kind of strange…I was working out this morning with one of my favorite people, Michelle from Faithful Workouts, http://www.faithfulworkouts.com and she said something that made me think about the story in the Bible about the talents and how the Master gave the talents to his workers and then waited to see what they would do with them. Two of the guys get back double for the Master and one of them buries his talent because he was afraid. I was wondering if I’ve buried my talent out of fear, it was a passing thought while meditating during this workout.

Fast forward to Mass…the Gospel reading was about…the talents!! Hmm…I thought, I’m probably supposed to be hearing something from this. Father Carlos talked about not being afraid to use our talents/gifts/treasures. He reminded us that everything we have belongs to God and we just get to use it for awhile. He told us we should be wise about how we choose to use our talents. I’m still pondering exactly what Jesus wanted me to hear but I think it’s the being afraid part. I’m going to think and pray on it some more.

I bought a book about grief that a friend of ours wrote. We read the first few pages today and there was an exercise about breathing in prayer. I was thinking about it and adapted it later today to use with The Jesus Prayer, do you know The Jesus Prayer? Here’s a link to the book, in case your looking for something to help you during a season of grief: Breathing Through Grief …

Lord Jesus Christ, (breathe in)

Son of the Living God, (breathe out)

Have mercy on me, (breathe in)

a sinner. (breathe out)

I liked how that worked out. It is helpful to bring your focus back to the present moment. I appreciated the reminder.

For dinner tonight I made, Pesto Chicken Pizza, yum! I don’t get a lot of time to just kind of stand in the kitchen and cook during the week so I enjoyed putting our pizza together for our dinner tonight.

Time to get somethings done for Thanksgiving….

Today for promptings, for family, for prayers, for Chicken Pesto Pizza…

I Give Thanks!

I did run a little over 3 miles yesterday. I was aiming for 5 but I wasn’t feeling all that great, but our daughter guided us through the “middle mile” of the CIF State XC championship course…it’s very hilly…and I enjoy and appreciate that she still wants to spend time with her parents, she’s a sweet girl and God has blessed up greatly by allowing us to be a part of her life…she is a gift, everyday.

KOR

Here is the Chicken Pesto Pizza Before…I forgot the tomato, but it was still tasty!

Chicken Pesto Pizza after…Yummy! 🙂

October 23rd…

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Dates can be significant for good reasons, sad reasons and everything in between…

There’s a song by a favorite singer of ours called February 20th. It’s about the day the singers daughter asked Jesus to live in her heart. Three months later his little girl would be killed in a tragic accident caused by his own son. When I heard the news I left school early and went home to hug my little daughter who was 5 at the time. My daughter, like his, was adopted from China. The singer Steven Curtis Chapman had a small role in why we adopted from China and so I was so very sad for him and his family. It was a sad day, May 21st, 2008.

About a year later the artist released an album called, Beauty Will Rise. Early on I wondered if this loss would crush him and his family or if we’d even ever hear him sing again. The album answered that question. One of the songs is called Beauty will Rise, a lyric “out of these ashes Beauty will Rise.” The whole album spoke to me, helped me and it still does.

October 23rd, 2003, 20 years ago on this day, we lost our baby girl. Her name was Lauren Rose Penland. October is a hard month, so is September now, but October has always been an especially difficult month. Twenty years is a long time and at the same time not. The sadness is still there. The memories, terrible and vivid. It’s not a place to dwell for long, it’s a sad place, a dark place, a place void of hope or happiness, just dark. October 23rd, all the things I had planned were gone, just gone. No milestones, no graduations, holidays, no dancing with her Dad at her wedding, all gone, no hugs or kisses, an empty room, quiet, the door stayed closed for awhile.

I couldn’t sleep last night, some years are easier than others, this year not so easy. I see our daughter, her sister, celebrating all the milestones, navigating high school, sports, choir, driving, and I can’t help but wonder and wish that her sister was here to help her through these teenage years, or maybe they would be at odds, who knows? I’ll never know and that’s the hard part.

At first we took this day off but over the years it seemed harder to do, obligations, work usually or just wanting to stay busy, so today I went to school and taught and chatted with a couple of students who needed extra encouragement, called home to a few parents whose kids need to be talked to, went to a meeting that didn’t seem to have a point. I did all these things even though I really just wanted to stay home. I did them because I decided to ask God how he wanted to use me today, instead of living in my sadness and that is hard, living in my sadness is sometimes easier.

When I woke up this morning it was cloudy and gray. After school I ran around and did a few errands, nothing that really needed to be done, picked up my daughter, and headed to dinner with my Mom.

On our way home I remarked to my husband that the sun had come out, maybe I just noticed it and it had been out for awhile?

We saw a beautiful Sunset.

After dinner we helped a friend connect with another friend to pass along some treasured mementos that belonged to her Dad.

“This is not how is should be, this is not how it could be, but this is how it is, And Our God is in control…and we’ll sing Holy, Holy, Holy is our God..”

Today for beautiful Sunsets and songs that remind me…”Spring is Coming…” I Give Thanks!

No running today, back at it tomorrow…KOR

Guardian Angels and Baptisms!

On By runnergirl02In Biblical Reflections, Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today is the feast day of our Guardian Angels. Angel means messenger.

If you grew up Catholic then chances are you learned this prayer growing up:

“Angel of God, My Guardian dear, To Whom God’s love entrust me here, Ever this day be at my side, To light, to guard, to rule and guide. Amen. “

Most Catholic kids learn this prayer by first grade. I went to a Catholic elementary school so I think I learned it in Kindergarten. The first prayer I ever learned was the Our Father and my Mom taught it to me. I remember I was kind of goofing around and she said in no uncertain terms that we do not goof around when we pray. I understood in that moment with my Mom all those years ago, prayer was important. I don’t think she actually knows that.

Angels are all throughout the bible. In Genesis 3:24, God placed an Angel with a flaming sword to guard the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life. In Genesis 19, two Angels rescue Lot from Sodom. In Numbers 22:22-33 an Angel of the Lord blocks Balaam’s way. In the book of Judges the Angel of the Lord shows up and talks to Gideon and inspires him to battle to free Israel. In Daniel 6:22, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions mouth.” We meet Raphael in the book of Tobit, he helps Tobit’s son Tobiah on his quest to help his father. (If you aren’t Catholic you might not have this book in your bible, it got taken out after the reformation, it’s a good book, if you get a chance, you should definitely read it.) We meet Michael in Daniel, Jude and Revelation. We pray the St. Michaels prayer every Sunday before Mass.

“St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast out Satan and all evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

We meet Gabriel in Daniel and later in Luke, he speaks to Mary and Zechariah. An angel rolls back the stone at the resurrection. There were angels in the tomb who told Mary Magdalene that Jesus was gone. (John 20:12) When Jesus ascends into heaven two angels ask the apostles what they are looking at in the sky. Acts1:11. There are many more examples but I think you get the idea. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church sections 325-349 cover angels. This is from section 336 “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.” But don’t take my word or the word of the Catholic church, Jesus himself says there are angels and that he can summon them if he wants to, in Mathew 26:53. In Mathew 18:10 he says “see that you do not despise one of these little ones for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

When I was 18 I was in a really bad roll over accident on the freeway. I hit a concrete barrier and flipped my car three times and it landed on its side. A truck driver from the opposite side of the freeway ran over and pulled me out of my wrecked car. I had one scratch. I should have died. Let me explain. Back in the 80’s there was no seat belt law and so when I learned to drive when I was 16, sometimes I wore my seatbelt and sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes to help my parents out I would take one of my siblings to school. The morning of the accident I took my little brother to school. We got in the car, a little Dodge Omni and I got ready to take off but before I put the car into gear I heard, “Debbie, put on your seatbelt.” It was odd but I listened and I put on my seatbelt. Twenty minutes later I was hanging by it on the side of the freeway. When the car first hit the barrier I thought a few things, first I thought, “Wow, so this is how it ends, so fast”, then I thought, “My Mom will be so sad,”, then I thought, ” I need to say the Our Father, if I make it to the part about forgiveness I’ll get to heaven,” then everything was black. I could feel glass and dirt hitting my face as I prayed and rolled. A lady pulled over and she was from my church and she hugged me and stayed with me and a man, I think a policemen, called my Mom at work and she came. If I didn’t put my seatbelt on I would have flown through the window of my car and I would have died or at least been severely injured. I was traveling at 65 miles an hour, just over the speed limit when it all happened. I went to work the next day and my co-worker found out that I was the one in the car she saw flipped over in the center divide of the freeway and she said, “I thought for sure whoever was in that car was dead.” I know God was with me for sure. I know the Holy Spirit told me to put on my seatbelt. I think my guardian angel covered me and held me in that car when I hit a cement barrier at 65 miles a hour, flipped three times and landed on the side, hanging from my seat belt. God sends his angels to guide and guard us. I was taught this from the time I was a little girl. I remember being afraid actually of sitting on mine somehow. Makes me laugh to think of that.

I’m sure many people have stories of angels. When my Dad died I could feel someone holding my hand during the Our Father and I thought it was my Dad, then I thought it was my Guardian Angel, later I decided it was Jesus, because he promised he was close to the broken-hearted. In the end, I don’t spend too much time wondering any more because whoever it is that holds my hand is either God or from God and I’m ok with that.

The beginning of our Creed goes like this, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible…” it continues on from there, the point being there’s a whole invisible world we can’t see and that world includes angels and my Dad. When Father John came out from the hospital after giving my Dad his last rites, he told me that my Dad was part of the invisible not the absent. When Jason’s Dad died, Jason told me it gave him comfort to repeat the end of our Creed, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” I wonder at the things we can’t see and I’m glad God has sent each one of us our own angel to watch over us.

Another great thing that happened today is that one of my students got baptized yesterday! He attends a church called Foundation 365 and I wanted to go support him, but it didn’t work out. This morning, however, he was so excited and he gave me a hug because he knows I’m a Christian and I got to congratulate him and give him a card I had written for him. I got to see pictures of his baptism and was just so excited for him. I promised to pray for him so if you are reading this please pray for him too! Our youth have so much against them. I watch my own beautiful daughter struggle with thoughts that are not from God. Thoughts that tell her she is unworthy, un-liked, unloved, even though there is ample evidence that this is not true. I tell her we have to train our minds to trust in and hope in God’s words and its not easy so I’m glad my student will be able to recall his baptism when life gets difficult and remember whose he is. I hope he will continue to learn about all the love God has for him. I can only answer questions about God when the kids ask me directly. I’m glad he asked if I was a Christian and I’m happy he shared his baptism with me.

For today for Guardian Angels and Baptisms…I Give Thanks!

We ran only 2miles today but we managed to keep with our 30/30 and 1/30 run/walk intervals so that was good…doing better everyday!

KOR

This is the neighbors cat…he likes to join us on our runs…he’s really a tripping hazard but so cute!

Braces…

On By runnergirl02In Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I haven’t written here in a long time and so many many things good, sad and bad have happened….

Today is a busy day. My daughter is getting her braces off! She is super excited. It’s been a long process exacerbated by this thing we call the Pandemic (bad thing, very bad) but today off they come.

After a little conversation about whether or not a small space between her bottom teeth matters, we determined it should be ok. I hope it will be. Actually, I’m a little concerned about whether or not we made the right choice. I wish Jason was here so he could share the blame if it was the wrong choice. Here’s where I would insert a crying laughing emoji if I knew how…

So here we are in May, 2021 and we seem to be at the tail end of a Pandemic that has upended everyone’s daily life. Those words aren’t even a good description of what this thing has done to most people. I don’t really want to write about the Pandemic. I don’t want to write about how we lost my Dad during it, how I cry and miss him everyday since he’s been gone, how I feel a huge responsibility for my Mom now and how I feel I’m failing most days. I don’t want to write about how the Pandemic messed up schools, made kids even more unsocial and more doubting of the wonderful people they were created to be. I don’t want to write about how it upended church, how with no science that made any sense my daughter was not allowed to attend her Grandpa’s funeral service because we could only have ten people in a church that normally fits 900, an arbitrary number set by the God-less state I live in. I started going to daily Mass when my dad first ended up in the hospital, it was outside, and I haven’t stopped since, it’s inside now. I would be an even bigger mess without Jesus. I don’t feel like writing about all the sleepless nights and restless days. I don’t want to write about the anxiety we had as we celebrated the holidays with a small subset of family because I needed things to feel a little bit normal as I mourned my beloved Daddy and missed him and wanted him to not be gone but to be here with us to celebrate so many good things. There were still good things and blessings happening during this Pandemic. We still celebrated with our family, Thanksgiving (outside), Christmas with testing and masks, and New Years all against the local health departments “orders”. If I had listened to the health department I would have missed a lot more than seven days with my dad. I would have missed his last Easter, birthday, Father’s Day, etc… If I had listened to our over-zealous divisive media I wouldn’t have seen my parents for months all for no good reason because none of us were sick. I don’t want to write about or argue about the governments over step and over reach into the lives of its citizens in the name of protecting us from that which is inevitable for every single soul. Last time I checked the mortality rate for a human was 100%. I don’t want to write about how we were kept from our Dad for the last seven days of his life because the hospital was worried we would either give him Covid or get Covid, that was until they needed a signature to make someone financially responsible for the autopsy bill, then they let me into the hospital and all the way up to the floor he was on to sign the paper but didn’t let me see him to say good-bye. I don’t want to write about how my Dad was so afraid of going to the hospital or to any doctor for that matter that I believe if they (the media) hadn’t terrified everyone he might have gone in to get care sooner. I don’t want to write about the fact that they tested my Dad three times for Covid, once after he had passed. They seemed to really want him to have it instead of the heart attack he died from while they were busy making sure he didn’t have Covid. I don’t want to write about how angry or sad I get when I think about how we lost my Dad.

Today I just want to write about my daughter because she is so happy to be getting her braces off. Such a simple normal thing to be happy about. I like that and I am grateful for that. My beautiful daughter is graduating from 8th grade in a couple of weeks. How did we get here? She is such a blessing. Even if I wasn’t her mom I would think she was a kind loving young lady with a good moral character and understanding of right and wrong. Does she like to clean her room? No, she’s not a saint…yet…and she’s pretty messy in general but in all the ways that matter, I see a soul always looking to God for guidance and trusting in His love for her and that makes me so very happy. I am praying daily that as she navigates these teen years she will continue to seek His face and know and understand her value and worth is found in Jesus. This little gal of ours continues to be a reminder to me of God’s endearing love for us and so for that I am also grateful…

So kind of a weird journal entry…it’s all I have for now as I really should be grading papers, well not papers but digital assignments and I’m trying to plan a fun taco party for my department, they were all so helpful and lovely when my Dad passed away I want to do something for them…I can hear my daughter in the other room…the braces are off, can’t wait to see her beautiful smile!!

So today for the removal of braces, God’s enduring love…and tacos!! I Give Thanks!!

KOR

Free Solo…

On By runnergirl02In Biblical Reflections, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I was watching this movie called Free Solo about this guy named Alex Honnold.  He is the first and only person to Free Solo El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.  It was a really good movie.  I always find stories about overcoming the odds inspiring, even if they are slightly crazy things like climbing El Capitan without any safety ropes or protection of any kind.  Crazy.  Cool.  Crazy.  Amazing.

We were just there yesterday, Yosemite.  It is one of my favorite places in the world.  Alex called El Capitan the greatest piece of granite in the world.  That’s saying a lot coming from a man who has literally climbed massive granite cliffs all over the world.  Even cooler that it is only about 2 and a half hours from us!

We love to go to Yosemite every year about this time.  We enjoy the waterfalls and the beautiful views.  It can be crowded in summer but the key is getting there before 8:00AM, parking the car and then hiking everywhere you want to go or taking the shuttle around the valley.  Do not attempt to re-park, once parked and take food with you!

So back to this Alex guy.  I was thinking how we are all Free Solo-ing every day in this thing we call life.  In many ways its more scary than climbing El Cap.  Alex prepared.  He practiced every pitch on his chosen route over and over until he had every move memorized and it was just automatic.  He had specific notes about when to do what move, how to move his body, his hands, his feet, where to put them.  The consequence of making a wrong move was death.

We don’t really have that luxury.  We can’t practice for what’s to come because we don’t what is coming, in most cases.  We have to just go out there everyday and Free Solo our way around whatever the mountain throws at us.  There are sections of granite in Yosemite on big slabs like El Cap called flake.  Granite can flake unexpectedly and break away, leading a climber to an early death or injury.  The same thing often happens in life.  Something we thought was steady and true and never changing all of a sudden changes without warning and we have two choices, let it kill us or adjust, grab our rope and find another way up.

Today is Pentecost.  Today we celebrate the rope that God sent us, the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I forget that rope is there.  Sometimes I want to do it all by myself and I forget to reach out for the rope and then smack, down I go.

It’s pretty cool that Alex climbed this massive piece of granite without a rope.  He considers himself a militant atheist.  I’m not sure what that means actually, to be honest.  I read it here...

I’m just glad that as I do my own Free Solo in life I have a rope ready and waiting for me any time I want it.  I notice, for me, its when I forget about my rope,  that I get the most worried and anxious.   When I start to think I need to do it all by myself that I get the most frustrated and tired.

In reality, Alex didn’t climb El Cap with a rope but he had one.  He had his friends who worked with him daily during the climbing season to help him train.  He had an awesome crew of camera men and fellow climbers cheering him on. He had his girlfriend supporting him in his dream.  He had many ropes.  He just didn’t see them or at least in the movie acknowledge them.

If you watch the movie you’ll see he’s a rather self-centered man.  I guess in some ways you need to be to accomplish amazing things.  Maybe he’s changed by now.  I hope one day he will also find the only rope that really matters.

For Today…For Yosemite, God’s beautiful creation, and ropes! I Give Thanks!

KOR

Here’s a picture of a meadow we love! DSC06826.JPG