Marriage

Recently, a situation came about that needed our complimentary personalities to surface and respond for a resolution.

My knight, the gentle spirit that he is, needed my take on a situation. My reaction put a totally different spin on it and it got him to think about it in a new light. He promptly got to work on it and new things are abounding. (Prayers, please!!)

Marriage does that, we are matched for different reasons, all for the good of the team. A friend of mine and I were talking about this and she had a similar situation to share with me about her marriage. One is stronger in one way, the other can handle things the other can't, and vice versa.

Marriage is necessary for so many reasons, not just for child-bearing and rearing, but to grow stronger, working out situations as they come with love, patience, and determination.

We are stronger people for being married, richer, and more powerful in our ability to live together harmoniously, if not all the time, much of the time.

The important thing to remember is this: with every person, you have no control over the other, just oneself. We cannot change what another person thinks or feels, but we can control how we think and feel. With prayer and trust in our Holy Father's providence, we can overcome our own shortcomings, hurt feelings, and idiosyncrasies that prevent or stand in the way of dealing with others' shortcomings, hurt feelings and idiosyncrasies. Progress in our relationship with our spouse, parents, in-laws, and children is nearly impossible without prayer.

A Family Wedding

We came back from being with my family in Alabama for the wedding of our neice. It was an amazing time with my loved ones and to top it off, our daughters played the music for the entire wedding. From Canon in D (as a duet with both girls playing their instruments violin and piano), to Trumpet Tune, "Lover's Waltz" on violin, "Gertrude's Dream Waltz" by Beethovan and "To a Wild Rose" on piano. As the mother of the bride and grandmothers were brought down the girls played their "Canon" duet again, then "Jesu, Man's Desiring" was played on violin for the bridesmaids and flower girls. The piano intro-ed the "Bride's March" and the violin took over for the rest as our neice and my brother proudly took center stage.

At the rehearsal, things were rather hectic, but our violinist knows how to add abit of flare in front of the camera with her unaware serious sister, the pianist.

For their hard work, they were surprised the next day as they reported to their positions for the prelude to find each a fresh cut rose, one on the music stand and the other on the piano keys. Don't they both clean up well? Thanks to their proud and loving grandmother, they fondly call "Grammy" for a morning at the beauty salon and new get-ups.

Everyone kept asking us how old the girls were, and how long have they been playing together.

As soon as I figure out how to download the video of a few of the wedding, I'll post it.

Until then,

The Father Wound

Happy Father's day to all those men who find it important to be there for others. The role of a father in society is so imperative to the health of our young.

Today at Mass, we heard from a priest who was visiting from a nearby Catholic High School. His message was about how divided we are as a people in our society. We are divided by our skin color, the amount of money in our pocket, and our gender. How true that is. He works with our young and has been in Texas working with the inner city gangs for years prior to being Birmingham. He told us about the common thread that ran through every person that was considered an "At risk" person, which means a person that is unable to relate in the adult world appropriately. The common thread is what he called the "Father wound." These are people that had fathers who were abusive, absent, alcoholics, drug addicts, etc. It only shows how important fathers are. Fathers could help with the polarization of our society by their examples and mere presence.

So, thank you for those dads who are there. For those who haven't been there, don't give up, there is forgiveness, and there is a chance to start over. The message today is, start over, begin again, it is a new day. Grab that child, that young adult and love them, hang with them, and don't let another day go by without being the responsible, compassionate, caring, "I'm here for you" person you and they need you to be.

My knight-in-shining-armour is the best father our 3 children could have ever had. We are blessed with his presence because he had an amazing father himself. His father is with Jesus now, but his legacy is felt each and every day in home.

Thank you, Chet, I love and miss you!

Understanding the Revised Mass Texts: to be explained

Dear Readers,

With the revisions of the Mass texts on the way, within the next several months, I will be reading, studying and doing my best to explain the reasons for these revisions.

Please stay tuned!

Blessings,
Ebeth