blogging101 – Page 10 – hugsnblessings

Respite.

Published on January 14, 2016May 12, 2016 by Dawn Marie10 Comments

“Ahhhh!” deep exhale. It’s 3hugs&blessings Thursday!

Papa exchanges a warm gesture with one of his Swiss guards. How thankful he must be for their care of him.

And just like Pope Francis in the photo above (courtesy of Pinterest,) I am lifting up thanks for the special care I have been receiving these past several weeks!

Some have inquired why my blogging habits have changed…“Why so few posts as of late?” one asked. “I miss you. Will I be hearing from you more regularly soon?” asked another. Sweet, dear gestures reaching out to touch my heart.

And the answer to both is: “Yes. By the grace of God I hope to get back to my normal publishing calendar.” said I.

Jared catches Helen & I working on a Christmas post!

But for right now I’ve had to put my feet up to care for myself body, mind, and Spirit. Mostly body; however, the mind and Spirit are grateful for the extra time being provided to them as well!

And so it is that today I seek to give thanks in those 3 very categories, as each of them have received warm gestures reaching out to touch my very whole (self) and I am so thankity-thankful for their care!

Body:

My therapy continues & I am so thankful for the wonderful PT’s at Hertel & Brown who are helping me get ready to snow-shoe again! Everyone is wonderful there from the greeting at the door to the “see ya’ next time.” A few I’ve had the pleasure to work with like Michael, Jeremy, Matt & Lori always kindly remind me to at least “try” and ice 3 x’s a day and are always polite enough to agree…I am NOT a baby.

Lori is the sweetest!

Peddling…because I am not a baby!

Stim work!

Mind:

I am counting my blessings for the DECISION to commit to ‘clean eating’ once again. I cannot tell you how much clearer my focus is. My thoughts are crisper and I can concentrate with less effort, which restores my peace of mind.

You would never know today but in the early 2000’s I struggled just getting out of bed. I would often fall, my hands would lose their grip and sometimes, especially following exertion, go so deeply asleep they’d curl & palsy. But the worst was the terrible brain fog! A once fully organized person I’d somedays have no memory of where I’d parked the car and was always opening/reopening the calendar because I just could not focus long enough to remember where I needed to be next. It took over a year for the final diagnosis, with everything from lupus to Parkinson’s being considered, but finally fibromyalgia was the diagnosis.

Close to two years we experimented with medications, which greatly helped to get me back on track, but through my own research I began exploring more holistic ways to treat the illness. I have been med free for close to 12 years, yippee! Part of my holistic management; however, is key to what I do & do not chose to eat. Carbohydrates (especially the processed ones) are my worst enemy!! As well as white flours and processed sugars. So when the brain-fog begins to seep back in I need only look to two different triggers: the cupboard or the pillow! (Because restorative sleep is also vital at keeping fibro-flares at bay.) The holidays & my injury took big hits in both those areas but today I am counting my blessings at having each back on track!

Plus it is good to remember where I parked the car again! Now if I could only remember to fill it up with gas…giggles!

Spirit:

I am especially blessed to have the most wonderful Spiritual Director, Fr. Dan, who though I do not deserve it…keeps my Spirit fit as a fiddle!

He guides me, challenges me, and always makes certain I am staying Spiritually Fit! At our last gathering he instructed me to begin a Do-It Yourself Retreat using Fr. Michael E. Gaitley’s book, Consoling the Heart of Jesus , as my guide. Opening the book today during my time in the adoration chapel I was so grateful that Fr. Dan knew, just as he always does, exactly what was needed to refresh my Spirit.

Maybe you will join me to0? Which will it be?

Snow-shoeing? Better eating? Or Retreat?

Hey, how ’bout all three????

AND please be sure to let me know if you’ll be joining me…

for I will be sure to count my blessings for thee!!

may these hugs n’ 3 refreshed blessings go out & touch you by the hand!

take a chance on me!

Published on January 9, 2016January 10, 2016 by Dawn Marie6 Comments

“What would you do if you won?”

That seems to be the 900+ million dollar question around our local town today.

“I wouldn’t show up for work on Monday, that’s for sure!” we overheard one man say at the corner convenience store, where long-lines of people stood prepared to make their Pennsylvania Power-Ball purchase.

Tonight’s drawing is a record breaking 900 million dollars and climbing! Leaving suspicion that it may reach One Billion dollars before the drawing actually occurs this evening at 11:28 pm EST. No one has won the Powerball jackpot since early November, which is why the prize has grown so large.

Cuppycake & I have had this conversation once before when this same Pennsylvania State game-of-chance was creeping toward a previous record winnings. Thankfully we both had very similar desires on how the over-sized prize would be distributed. Our first distribution of funds, said almost simultaneously to one another, would be:

“That the first 10% of the total winnings goes back to God!” we proclaimed.

Today, with my potential winning ticket in the pocket of my gray cardigan sweater, I’ve flit-fluttered through the afternoon imagining what that could truly mean. What would I want this gift for God to look like? What good works could I do for Him?

I know our local Catholic Charities office would benefit greatly, as would our Diocesan Bishop’s Breakfast Program! Our parish of course, the Seminarian program and most assuredly the retired priest program (Methuselah Ministry) we established a few years back…all of these would receive the reward of these winnings.

And then there’s the dream I’ve had for establishing a restaurant which serves as a beacon of hope for those looking to rebuild their lives…

Eve’s Garden!

The model for Eve’s Garden is to offer a training opportunity for those seeking to re-enter/enter the work force after a particular difficulty in their personal life. There would be training opportunities in all aspects of culinary service, revolving around all aspects of food preparation. There would be training opportunities for hospitality service and management training for those seeking to progress further.

The entire operation from menu planning to food ordering would offer the opportunity to re-build themselves not only financially but more importantly emotionally & spiritually. Always keeping in mind that this place…Eve’s Garden…is a safe, supportive, stepping stone for them to use as they build toward a renewed life for themselves. The goal would not be to solely train individuals in food service but rather to help help them to believe in themselves again. To assit them in setting goals for their future and see the potential in what they have the power to create this New Life to be.

Why will it be called Eve’s Garden? Because in my dreamity-dream I have always seen us located right next door to our local Fuhrman’s Apple Cider Store! The menu would showcase their famous Cider and lots of apple-icious food dishes to boot! And of course the most famous apple orchard of all comes from the Garden of Eden…where Eve often could be found picking the apples I am sure. But it’s not this Eve the restaurant will be named for.

Rather the New Eve, Mother Mary.

Eve Becomes the “Mother of All the Living”
New Eve Becomes the “Mother of All Who Live in Christ”

Eve – a female – sinned and brought about the Fall; thus, there is a certain justice in God’s providence allowing someone of the same sex – Mary – usher in the salvation of humanity. In a full understanding of her biblical roles in salvation history – the New Eve, the New Ark of the Covenant, and the Queen of the Eternal Davidic Kingdom – Mary is seen as the highest created being. She was the pure and perfect vessel for Christ’s Incarnation, i.e., the Theotokos, the Mother of God. No other created human being will ever have such an elevated role.

The New Eve, Mother Mary undoer of the sin of the original Eve, would be the Mother to those seeking to rebuild their lives as they sought safety, support and understanding under employment at Eve’s Garden.

I am certain there are other opportunities to gift God through our potential winnings too, but these are the quick dreams that I would proclaim if I were to be asked,

“What would you do?”

And predictably, if you knew my Cuppycake, he WOULD still show up for work on Monday! (But if there is a lottery-angel out there somewhere, perhaps he may consider at least leaving early that day.)

hugs n’ dreamy blessings to all the lottery-winning angels who may be out there!

Singer-sew me some love!

Published on December 10, 2015January 31, 2020 by Dawn Marie19 Comments

Yippee!

Today is a 3hugs&blessings Thursday!

And I am especially excited to be counting my 3 blessings today – while celebrating the feast of St. John Roberts, a Benedictine Monk from the 1600’s.

Father John often spoke how his love of God was deepened by an elderly priest who taught him many things which deepened his own faith.

Father John was inspired to help thousands of people who fell victim to the plague and he worked tirelessly to keep the faith alive, during a time when Catholics were persecuted mercilessly.

Captured himself he explained, “Were I to live longer, I would continue to do what I have been doing.”

The night before he was to be hanged he was brought into the company of eighteen other prisoners, who were also suffering for their faith. During their supper together, St. John was full of joy! “Do you think I may be giving a bad example by my joy?” he asked the others with him. “No, certainly not,” one of them replied. “You could not do anything better than to let everyone see the cheerful courage you have as you are about to die for Christ.”

Just like the elderly Priest who mentored St. John, my grandmother taught me many important things, while I was a little girl.

Such as: how to garden, how to home-can our freshly grown produce, how to bake an awesome banana bread and also how to sew! I still vividly remember sitting at her old Singer Sewing Machine – where she would lay out stacks of old scrap material just so I could practice the fundamentals like sewing straight lines.

Gram would lounge on her green velvet couch, watching her favorite Soap Opera The Young & The Restless with a package of black licorice in her hand; while I sat in the adjacent room close enough to hear her verbal instructions, “Your pushing the presser foot too fast!” Or “Don’t forget to backstitch!”

My grandmother was never a worldly woman. She enjoyed her small comfortable surroundings and she humbly cleaned the homes of a few prominent families in our hometown. She was not necessarily a “huggin’ & kissin” kind of grandmother but, she always managed to show you, in her own unique way, just how much she loved you – by making certain your needs were always met!

I remember the time she cheerfully brought home, from one of her cleaning families, a bag of outgrown clothing for my sister & I to look through. There was a green-plaid winter coat that she had in mind specifically for me – because she knew I was about the size of the young girl who’d outgrown it. There was a little mending to do but Gram fixed it up quite easily!

I loved that green plaid coat with the matching green faux fur around the hood & cuffed sleeves! I use to think it was because this was such a fancy high-quality coat, better than any I’d ever worn…but as I grew older & wiser I recognized it was the extra love my Gram used to mend it with, stitch by straight stitch, that made it so magically special.

More than the coat itself – it was the joy expressed & the lessons I learned – that made it so VERILY beautiful…all under the guise of love.

Tonight, a special broadcast of Dolly Parton’s famous song Coat of Many Colors will air on NBC. My daughter & I have been ending our (almost) daily phone conversations reminding the other how many days remain until its airing! This song – which was much later adapted into a children’s book – has a special place in our hearts.

The first time I heard Dolly’s beautiful song, telling of her own childhood experience of having received a Coat of Many Colors from her Mama, the memories of my beloved green plaid coat came flooding back!

Inspired by nostalgia and the desire to wrap my own daughter in a similar coat of love…I set to sewing!

So just like St. John’s joy, Dolly’s mama’s box of rags and my own Gram’s mending – this too would be stitched together with love!

For love is not a feeling…it is an action.

So it is -on this particular 3hugs&blessings Thursday- that I give thanks for:

my faith – which offers me the finest example of what it means to live out the action of love, as the Saints have done before me.
my Gram and all the domestic skills she passed down to me through her own lived-out example – especially her talented sewing skills!
my darling daughter who daily shows -in big & small ways – how much she loves her very special students.