The Homecoming

This weekend my first born and only daughter is coming home!  She moved out on her own at 18 and has lived a little over an hour away.  I know that is not very far, but that was 12 years ago and she has had a rough couple of years.  It is hard watching a loved one go through life’s trials and not be there physically for them to hug and wipe a tear.

With my daughter moving back closer to us, I get the extra bonus of spending more time with my grandson and granddaughter.  They have spent a lot of time with Grams and Pop, but it will be so much easier to be able to drive a few minutes and pick them up for an all day adventure or for just a couple of hours of fun.

This special homecoming has brought up memories of all the other special homecomings in my life.

Bringing new babies home was a very special homecoming.  I can remember each of my three sisters coming home from the hospital and my own three children. Any time leaving the hospital was a great homecoming!

For a time, my husband was in the US Navy.  Those six month deployments were months of loneliness and hard work for both of us.  A Navy wife is essentially a single parent much of the time.  I can still remember how excited the kids and I would be when it was time for Daddy to come home.  We made a “Welcome Home” poster.  We stood at the dock and watched the ship gradually roll in.  We could not climb the endless steps to the deck fast enough!  Our first time, I had to carry my son who was just two.  His big sister (two years older) was in front of us.  She made it about a quarter of the way up – then bam! fear of heights sets in!  She froze!  With so many families impatiently waiting to see their loved ones, it was an awkward moment.  I really did not know what I would do!  Fortunately a kind man in front of her scooped her up and carried her up the steps!  Reunions could be made after all…

We lived in Virginia while in the Navy.  It was the only time we did not live in Louisiana.  We missed our family back home.  My parents, God bless them, made the long trip to Virginia several times, pulling their camper.  They were at our door just four months after we left.  They were also the ones who drove over when my husband was in the Gulf War and was about to be discharged.  They came collect me and the kids so that I could get a job and place to live for our new start back home.  My parents must have been so happy! Their daughter was coming home!

I suppose there are many homecomings in one’s life time.  Some are literal homecomings, others are on an emotional or spiritual level.   The Lord rejoices at all of our “spiritual” homecomings.  At baptism we become a member of God’s family. He welcomes us with open arms.   Once we are old enough to understand the teachings of the Church and make that leap of faith to follow Jesus, I am sure Our Lord is again rejoicing and  leading us to our true home.  Our Lord knows that the most important homecoming occurs at our death.

Because I know my happiness in my daughter’s homecoming, I can only imagine our Father’s happiness when we move over from this earthly life to our spiritual life in His Presence.   In heaven we are reunited with Our Father and our loved ones who have gone before us.  What a homecoming that must be!

1 Thessalonians 5:9 “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with Him.”

In the midst of the big move this weekend, my family and I will stop and take time to thank our Heavenly Father, who makes all these homecomings possible.

My Elizabeths and Luke,

WELCOME HOME!

C’est Bon,

Love,

Sherry (Mom and Grams)

 

 

 

 

 

Nurses Heal the Soul

Friday is my mother’s birthday.  She is in her seventies and a retired nurse.  Nursing is in her blood, heart, and soul.

My mother left nursing to be a stay at home mom with her first born, which was me.  Although she was not at a hospital or in a nurse’s uniform, she had plenty of opportunities over the next eighteen years with her four daughters to put her nursing experience into practice, until the day when she would return to the career she loved.

I loved being sick!  Upon being diagnosed with an ailment, we girls would be ordered by our very own “nurse” to put on our pajamas and go straight to bed.  The pampering would begin.  Our mother brought us soup and crackers on a bed tray.  She took our temperature every hour and poured our baths for us.  She brought us our medicine and changed our bed sheets.  At the time I thought every sick child in the world received the same treatment I received from my mother.  She never complained.  She was patient, gentle, and kind.  Whatever we asked for while sick; she was happy to accommodate.  What a gift!

As our nurse, she tended to our physical needs.  As our mother, she tended to our souls.  She made sure we attended mass every Sunday.  We witnessed how important prayer, the rosary and Bible were to her daily life.  She shared stories from the Bible about Jesus and our mother Mary as well as bearing witness to the Saints and their intercession for us.

Once I was married with my own children, I realized the sacrifice my mother made to leave the job she loved and to care for us so tenderly when we were at our worst!    I am so happy that she did return as a labor and delivery nurse when her children were all of school age.  She made quite a difference in the lives of many patients and their little ones.  Good mothers must make the best nurses!

Nurses, however, do not make the best patients!

We had a scare this past week when mom had to be admitted to the local hospital for tests on her heart.  She had not been feeling well for a long time.  It was a bit of a struggle to get her to admit she needed to be admitted to the hospital.  Once a care-giver, always a care-giver.  She is not comfortable with receiving care and being the patient.  The Lord gave her plenty of warning signs and she finally listened.  She now has been diagnosed and is receiving the correct treatment.

Having been in the company of plenty of doctors over the years, my mother understands that the one True Great Physician and Healer is the Lord.  Our God does use people and situations to have His Will known.  We are all His creations and He has a plan for each of us.  It is a blessing when we are given the insight into what our Lord has planned for us.

We all have God-given gifts.  My mother was given the gift of lovingly being able to take care of the sick. That was her calling and she obeyed.   My earliest memories are of my mother daily making trips to her mother’s house where she would give her insulin and check on her health.  I can always remember her caring for elderly neighbors and family members.    She has taken the gift God gave her and given it to others.  Even though she is now retired, she is always there for a sick friend or family member.

Mom,

Thank you  for your loving care.  You have been  a great role model for your girls.  We are all better mothers because of you!  It must make you very proud that one of your daughters has followed in your footsteps and is following God’s call to also be a nurse – to help heal souls!

Enjoy your birthday.  Take it easy and rest.  If you need some loving care, I’ve been taught by the best!  I will be there, as will all your daughters.  You’ve had fifty years of caring for your family – it’s time you were treated to some pampering!

C’est Bon

Love,

Sherry

 

 

 

 

 

Land of the Free….Birth Control

George Washington, June 29, 1788:

“No one can rejoice more than I do at every step the people of this great country take to preserve the Union, establish GOOD ORDER and government, and to render the nation HAPPY at home and respectable abroad.  No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these BLESSINGS than United America.  Wondrously strange then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to NEGLECT the MEANS, and to DEPART from the road which PROVIDENCE has pointed us so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass.  The Great Governor of the Universe has led us too long and too far on the road to happiness and glory, to forsake us in the midst of it.  By FOLLY and IMPROPER CONDUCT, proceeding from a variety of causes, we may now and then get bewildered; but I hope and trust that there is a GOOD SENSE and VIRTUE enough left to recover the RIGHT PATH before we shall be ENTIRELY LOST”.

Since when does birth control trump our right to Freedom of Religion?

It is natural and beautiful for a woman to carry a child full term and give birth.  We women are blessed with having the ability to carry two souls in our one God-given body.  Why is pregnancy looked upon as a disease?

This country was founded on the premise that certain rights are God-given. I am thoroughly convinced that our forefathers would have never expected the rights of the innocent unborn to be stripped away; they would have fought passionately to protect those lives.

Why is this government so passionate about giving women free birth control?  Is there some type of crisis with woman obtaining these pills that I don’t know about?  Why birth control?  Why not give free cancer treatments or free blood pressure medicine?

Why?

On this week of our nation’s birthday, I have alot of questions.  I have many concerns of where we are headed as a nation, as a people.

We used to be ONE NATION UNDER GOD.  Now we aspire to be ONE NATION ABOVE GOD.

WHY?

Happy Birthday America.

I pray and “trust that there is good sense and virtue enough left to recover the right path before we shall be entirely lost”.

C’est Bon

Love,

Sherry