The Godfather

Paul is having a good visit in Virginia with Jon and Marie. They sent a movie clip of Paul riding his horse and actually trotting. He has moved up from just having the horse walking! If anyone knows how to post a movie clip, please let me know so that I can share this with you. It was fun to see Paul sitting so straight and very much in control. Marie definitely looked like the expert though! It made me smile to think how awesome she will be as a mother - guiding her children along with love and gentleness.

Needless to say, we are so very happy and excited about the arrival of our grandchild. I know that God has blessed us with the greatest gift and His timing is terrific. For the past 21 months, Paul has been our focus and the main topic of all conversations. Yes Paul, it was all about you dear son! But you are going to have to share the limelight now. I was surprised one day when I realized I had been talking with a friend and I had not mentioned Paul, but talked with great joy about our plans for Christmas and how we hope to be in Virginia with Jon and Marie and BFiddy (Baby Fiddy). We have reserved a cabin on a hill in the Shenendoah region so we can be together on Christmas day. The home is only about 6 minutes from their house, so we will be very close and yet, provide them their space, not to mention some peace and quiet!

Their child is due on December 18th. We will be there right after the birth, or possibly FOR the birth. The timing is God's! But the joy I am so thankful for is that Jon and Marie have asked Paul to be the baby's Godfather. They asked him while they were at Topsail. When they told me, I (you guessed it) cried. I will not be able to describe in words how much joy filled me at that moment. I have so much to be thankful for and this was just the icing on the cake. There are so many awesome and holy people in Jon and Marie's life and we feel so honored they chose Paul. I asked Paul if he knew the responsibility that he would have as Godfather and he said he sure did. I know he will take it very seriously and I have great trust that his prayers will always be with his Godchild. I know my prayers are already constant for this little soul God is sending! I almost always start to tear up as I mention my grandchild while I am in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. How happy I feel because I was blessed with the grace to know the magnitude of the gift of Adoration and then to have this new little child, this wonderful gift from God, to add to my prayer list. Our God's love is too abundant for me to capture on this page! I have posted 298 times and I know I will never be able to convey how much Love I have received or how much love I have for our Almighty God. If you have been touched only a little by our story (which is truly God's love working through our experience) then Praise be to God.
My sister Mary Beth sent this to me today - how true!

"To possess God we must allow him
to possess our souls. How poor we would be
if God had not given us the power of giving
ourselves to him; how rich we are now!"

Blessed Mother Teresa -- August 14

Today is the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who offered up his life by taking the place of another prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He asked the guards if he could trade places with another man who was condemned to death and it was allowed. The man whose life was spared, was in attendance at the Canonization of St. Maximilian by John Paul II and he told the story of how this young priest offered up his own life so a family would have their husband/father back.

"Come, you whom my Father blessed, says the Lord: I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers or sisters, you did for me." (Mt 25: 34,40)

As I sat in Mass this morning I was filled with a great sense of love and thankfulness for all the graces received and I asked God to bless those whose prayers continue to lift our family's needs up to Him. My joy is certainly a direct result of someone's prayer for me. I know our prayers are answered in ways unimaginable and I derive great joy when I say prayers for others, wondering how God will answer them! To know that my prayers have that much power with God. I mean, how awesome that He would lend his ear to my voice, I who am so sinful. Yet with great love and mercy He listens and answers me. That my friends is too awesome to ever put into words.
My own Godfather is a priest in St. Louis, Missouri. Fr. Gene Sinz is my mother's cousin and I know his prayers for me have helped deliver me from many a wrong path in my life. How grateful I am to have this awesome priest as my earthly guardian! May God bless all of you who are Godparents and grace you with perseverance in your prayerfulness for your Godchildren.

"Take up thy cross and follow Christ,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wear the glorious crown."

May you be graced with everything that is needed to take up your cross this day, and with great joy follow our Lord Jesus.

Love,
Jon and Rebecca