The SMASH*aholics PINK Challenge

More pages from Mom’s SMASH* Book.  Nurses school graduation in 1962 and more recent shots from her career as a nurse.  The challenge was just simply USE PINK.  My mom was such a beauty.  She was an awesome nurse and loved her career.  Even when she was retired and went to dialysis 3 x a week, she pretended to be at “work.”  She would say, “Today at work…”  Subconscious slip.  She really meant, “today at dialysis.”  The nurses at the dialysis center knew my mom was special.  They let her into their world, shared things with her and treated her like she was on staff.  They were so wonderful to her!  And my mom never lost her “nursing heart.”  She smiled at everyone, asked how they were and watched over the place many times alerting the nurses that “so and so” needed something, or “so and so” wasn’t feeling good.  Once its in your blood, I guess it never goes away.  She wanted to be the NURSE.  NOT the one being nursed.

I think my most favorite part of this spread is the card I found from Joey.  I love that I could “disassemble” it and preserve it forever instead of it just sitting in a box somewhere.  The huge pink rose is the cover of that special Mother’s day card he gave her.  And the signature says it all.  She was an amazing mother to us.  Miss her so much!

SMASH* Booking

I found the products called SMASH* on Pinterest.  I fell in love with the concept.  Its not about perfection or being artsy (which I am not) its about “SMASHING” stuff into a journal type book and using their clever accessories to create a beautiful “messy” scrapbook.  I decided that it would be perfect for me.  Here is a little video on the product and concept.

My first book is devoted to my mother.  It’s been such fun and therapy for me to start this project!  My mom saved EVERYTHING.  She has over 67 years of every card we’ve ever given to her, momentos, documents, licenses, certificates, newspaper clippings, pictures and drawings tucked away.  Its a SMASHING Gold Mine!  Here’s what I’ve done so far:

A Chance To Do Something GOOD

I have a good friend.

She has a daughter.

Her daughter has a boyfriend. His name is Seth.  Seth is an amazing kid.  He lost his mom to cancer 3 years ago.  Seth has 3 younger brothers that he took care of when his mom passed.  The 3 brothers and the dad now live in TN with their grandmother.  Seth lives here in the Atlanta area.  Seth’s dad and 3 brothers were driving home from a family vacation in North Carolina.  Seth’s dad swerved off the road.  They think he may have had a heart attack.  Seth’s dad Mark died on impact.  The 3 brothers were injured.  Two remain in the hospital.  Corey flew through the windshield 30 feet and has a head injury.  Tucker shattered his pelvis, broke his collar bone, leg and ankle.  Eli made it with only cuts and bruises.

The Manis family is in deep financial need.  They are trying to raise money for a proper burial for Mark.  Should you want to do a good deed for a family who has been through hell, please consider donating to the Mark Manis Memorial Fund.

First National Bank of Oneida   (423) 569-8586

The Mark Manis Memorial Fund/Account #543587

First National Bank of Oneida

PO Box  950

Helenwood, TN  37755

no credit card donations please mail check or use your online bill pay.

Please keep this family in your prayers!  Thank you!

The Holy Innocents

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents.  Who are the “Holy Innocents?” Taken from UCatholic:

Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference. Hence he was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed his wife, his brother and his sister’s two husbands, to name only a few.Matthew 2:1-18 tells this story: Herod was “greatly troubled” when astrologers from the east came asking the whereabouts of “the newborn king of the Jews,” whose star they had seen. They were told that the Jewish Scriptures named Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would be born. Herod cunningly told them to report back to him so that he could also “do him homage.” They found Jesus, offered him their gifts and, warned by an angel, avoided Herod on their way home. Jesus escaped to Egypt.

Herod became furious and “ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under.” The horror of the massacre and the devastation of the mothers and fathers led Matthew to quote Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah,/sobbing and loud lamentation;/Rachel weeping for her children…” (Matthew 2:18). Rachel was the wife of Jacob/Israel. She is pictured as weeping at the place where the Israelites were herded together by the conquering Assyrians for their march into captivity.

The Holy Innocents are few, in comparison to the genocide and abortion of our day. But even if there had been only one, we recognize the greatest treasure God put on the earth—a human person, destined for eternity and graced by Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Let us remember all the unborn, the children who’ve died, the HOLY INNOCENTS.  Holy Innocents, pray for us!

Lynn and a conversation with the Holy Spirit

I have a very dear “old” friend that I have reunited with about 6 yrs ago. We went to high school together. We sang in the choir together. We had some classes together. Even though we really didn’t hang out a lot in high school, I have always considered her my friend. I saw her and her awesome husband at our 20th reunion and recently at our 25th. We’ve been chatting and Facebooking ever since. She is an amazing woman, a devout Catholic and a mom of 7. In all honesty, I am kind of jealous of her. She has a way about her that makes you feel so special. She radiates holiness. Her family prays the rosary every day and she is a daily mass attendee.

She called me the other night. When the phone rang I was tempted to put the call into voice mail because I was tired. I didn’t feel like talking. I talk constantly every day for my job. I just wanted to vegetate. (Like my brutal honesty?) I picked up the phone and I’m so glad I did.

Background: I have been sort of suffering from a spiritual dryness as of late. I pray, don’t get me wrong, I pray a lot. I pray constantly through my day and I pray before I go to sleep. However, I am not being the Catholic I aspire to be. The daily mass attending Catholic, the weekly confession kind of Catholic, the daily rosary saying Catholic, the novena saying Catholic, the visiting the Blessed Sacrament, the Adoration attending Catholic. My life circumstances have changed a lot. I used to be a better Catholic. I used to be the Catholic that Lynne is.

Our conversation had been a long time in coming. She’s so busy with her big family and I am so busy with my life – Just picking up the phone to connect with my friends is so hard for me and sometimes exhausting to me. I hate to say that. But Lynne blessed me by picking up the phone for the both of us.

She had a lot of miraculous things to tell me – things happening in her life and in the lives of those she knows that truly touched me. People going to confession for the first time in years, people who are in the final stages of life accepting Jesus and their long rejected Catholicism, people going through conversion. I thought to myself, “Lord, I want to witness those things happening in the lives of the people I know!” Again, I was jealous. My life has been dry. As I was listening to her, a conviction came over me. A conviction that I needed to “step it up and get back to how I was meant to live and act.” I audibly heard “Get off of Facebook in the morning, instead, say your rosary, pray, read good Catholic books.” “Pray without ceasing and you too will see miracles.” It was so awesome…It was like a release. A warm Holy Spirit breath coming through my blackberry. Thank you Lynn for being such a wonderful influence in my life!

I’m Back!

So much time has passed since I posted anything. I thought about shutting down this blog but logged in recently to a comment asking me to continue blogging as we need more positive stuff out there. I agree! So, my prayer again for the future is to write entries of my own and not just repost videos or material from other people. To get creative like so many other bloggers do. It amazes me to read what others write. I wonder if blogging is a talent. If so, do I have it? Will anyone want to read what I write? Do these amazing bloggers just have this natural ability to write or can anyone do it? I think it might be a talent. But I also think that others can obtain that talent, even though it may not come naturally to them. I am going to try to nurture and cultivate this talent in myself. I have a lot to say, I just need to get it down on “paper.”

Recently I have been following a blog written by a woman who goes to our church.
http://trisomyjourney.blogspot.com/

I do not personally know her or her family but it is a raw and amazingly honest journey. Their 7th child, a boy, was diagnosed at 20 weeks gestation with Trisomy 13. They named him Jedidiah Joseph. Please do yourself a favor and read her blog. You will see why I love Catholicism so much and why I believe what I believe – the beauty of Catholicism is captured in her entries. She lays it all out there. It is a heart wrenching and joyful story of life and love. All life is precious, all life deserves a chance to be born and all life is a blessing and miracle from God! Jedi blessed me in the 13 days he was on this earth, and he will bless you too. St. Jedi, pray for us! My heart goes out to this family. I cannot imagine.