Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You

Thanksgiving Day and oh yes, there was so much to be thankful for. Our house was filled with so much laughter and fun. After the 10 A.M. Mass, I had asked if there were any traditions that our 3 guests had with their own families that we could incorporate into the day. Shannon said that they make place settings for each person with construction paper and cardboard rolls from bathroom/paper towels. Each roll is decorated as an indian or pilgrim. James, Paul, Shannon, Lillian and Joe worked on them while I got the Thanksgiving meal ready. Our '5th' son, Matt Velker came by and joined us for dinner too. It was a perfect day.

Friday morning, Jon, Paul and I went to Hanceville, Alabama to see the nuns at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament. The weather was crisp and beautiful and since most people were at the shopping malls, the traffic was very light. Big bonus for us! We had about 40 minutes to spare when we got there so we sat in front of the Blessed Sacrament for a while to present our intentions to Jesus. We then found a quiet place for Paul to warm up before he played his guitar for the nuns. We waited in the hallway until we were invited into the parlor. A young woman, who is in the novitiate, came to meet us. She told us her name was Isabella. I told her we would definitely remember her name since it is the same one Jon and Marie have chosen if their baby is a girl. She agreed it was a perfect name. Then, she looked at Paul and asked, " Are you Paul Fidero? We have really been looking forward to your coming here to play for us." She then asked us to come into the parlor. There were about 8 young seminarians who were visiting from Ohio and they were still visiting with the nuns. Sr. Marie St. John asked if Paul would mind playing for the seminarians also and Paul said he would not mind at all. Within minutes, the chairs were all filled on the parlor side and also on the other side, where the cloistered nuns sat. I told them that Paul had been practicing for weeks and that he had even memorized his songs for the nuns. This was not as easy as it seemed since Paul struggles with short term memory problems. But with practice, he did it. He played Ode to Joy, then Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring. After these 2 songs, he looked up and with a serious face said, "The next song is one by the Rolling Stones." The whole room erupted into laughter at this and I could tell Paul was really having a wonderful time entertaining. He was enjoying the fact that he had made everyone laugh with his joking. He then finished his 3rd classical piece and he looked up and gave everyone his huge smile as they clapped for him. Later, he told me how awesome it was to look up and see all those nuns looking at him with such wonderful smiles. He was really touched by it. We got to spend an hour with the nuns, priest and seminarians! It was incredible. One of the nuns, Sr. Mary Clare, was not there when Paul played, so when she came in about 25 mintues later, he sat down and played just for her. On our last trip, she had asked us to pray for her baby nephew, who has a very rare disease. She told us Connor was not doing very well at all and asked us to keep up our prayer vigil for him. She was happy to hear that the picture she had given us on our last trip, of Mother Angelica holding Connor, was placed in front of the statue of Blessed Mother. We placed it there so we would remember to keep him in our daily prayers and also as a visible sign that Our Mother in heaven truly looks over us all in our needs. We found out that Sr. Marie St. John keeps a picture of Paul on her desk and she prays for him everyday! We told her that the prayers are surely being heard in heaven, because Paul is doing so much better. She did say that she was totally amazed at the difference in his appearance in only 4 months. We left the Shrine with the promise that when Paul had a lot more songs learned, he would come back and continue to share his gift of music with them.
We were supposed to meet the group of Ave Maria University students, along with the nuns and priests from that school, but they had left the shrine earlier to go to EWTN in Birmingham. We told them we would call them after Paul played for the nuns and would then try to meet them.
I called Anne Shea and found out that they were still at EWTN and so we drove about 40 miles to meet them there. They were at the monastery about 2 miles away from EWTN when we arrived, so we waited in the chapel . I was just overflowing with the joy of the day and it was great to be sitting in front of the Tabernacle, thanking Jesus for all the blessings we have received. I cannot describe the amount of happiness I felt while sitting there.

The chartered bus pulled up outside and Anne came into the chapel to welcome us. In October, it was Anne who asked if we could come to the Shrine during the Thanksgiving weekend, after she read on the blog that we had hoped to bring Paul back to the Shrine once he had learned a few songs. When I told Paul about the idea, he kicked into high gear to learn the songs very quickly so we could time our visit with Ave Maria’s. There were almost 60 people on the bus. Paul was most especially looking forward to seeing Jordan Shea. They had met about 4 years prior, when some of the students at the Ave Maria Michigan campus were traveling to Daytona Beach during Spring break to evangelize to the youth at the beach. Jon was attending Ave Maria at the time, so he asked Paul (who was 18 yrs old) to join them. We drove Paul to Augusta and dropped him off at the Shea's house. From there, the 2 van loads of students traveled to Florida. That is when we all met the Shea family. Jordan was about 12 years old at that time and we later learned that he had really enjoyed being with Paul and had been very sad to see Paul leave. Jordan is not able to hear out of one ear and has very limited hearing in the other. Out of all the people who were at the Shea house, it was with Paul that Jordan felt a connection. In hindsight, it is easy to see God’s hand at work! Paul was really looking forward to seeing Jordan again. He wanted to share the fact that he too suffers with the loss of hearing in one ear. So as we came into the room where everyone was gathered to have dinner, Paul was looking for Jordan. Jon told me later he was keeping an eye out for Jordan too because he wanted to see his face when he saw Paul. He was not disappointed. He said that when Jordan saw Paul, his face lit up into a huge smile and he went quickly to Paul’s side. Paul recognized him instantly and smiled right back. They immediately started talking about having hearing aides and comparing the functions of each set. They shared all the difficulties they endure, but especially the constant ringing in their ears. Both of them agreed that they will listen to music or watch a movie to take their minds off the constant ringing noise they hear 24/7. While we can empathize with Paul, only Jordan would understand what it is like. They talked the whole time during dinner and were really enjoying each other’s company.

Now, along with the Shea's, there were lots of students and their families, nuns and priests and also Fr. Raphael, who is the founder of the religious order of nuns called The Home of the Mother. Anne Shea’s daughter, Katherine, is in the novitiate stage at the convent in Spain. The nuns who were on this trip belong to this order also. After dinner, Fr. Raphael got a microphone and to our surprise, introduced Paul. He speaks Spanish, so he had to use an interpreter. He asked Paul if he would tell everyone about his faith journey. I was a little worried that Paul would become overwhelmed with the request and so I immediately prayed that if God needed someone to hear His words, please send the Holy Spirit to help Paul speak them. Paul started out by telling everyone who he was before the accident. He said he went to church because he was supposed to. He prayed occasionally, but really didn’t have much of a relationship with God. He said that he pretty much lived his life according to his own will. He said he must have had a meeting with God during his coma because when he woke up, he could not stop thinking about God. He thinks about Him almost all the time now. Before he attempts to do most anything, he asks God to help him. He asks God to help heal him every day. He talks to God so much more. He told the young people that they needed to change their lives to be one with God. It was the most important thing they could do. If they weren’t in a close relationship with Jesus, they should change their lives right away. Paul mentioned that they didn’t need to have an accident to learn it. He must have needed to learn it that way, but not everyone has to go through that. He said he never regrets what has happened to him. He said, “Look at me – with all my physical problems and hearing loss and the paralysis, even with that, I don’t regret a thing. God allowed it to happen for a reason. He knows what needs to be done in my life. So I don’t regret anything that has happened.” Fr. Raphael asked Paul a number of questions, as did some of the students. Paul stayed very much at ease and answered them all patiently. Near the end, he started to repeat himself more than before, so I knew he was getting very tired. It was now around 8:30 and we had been away from home since 9:00 A.M. It had been a huge day for Paul. Fr. Raphael then asked Paul if he would play his guitar for the group. Paul got his guitar and they made a space for him in the middle of the room. As he sat down and got situated, Jordan got the portable microphone and ran down to where Paul was and he knelt on the floor in front of Paul and held the microphone in front of the guitar so that everyone could hear him play. I had to work hard to hold back the tears as I watched Jordan kneeling at Paul’s feet, making sure his friend’s music would be heard. The beauty of that act, by this sweet young man who has difficulty hearing – knowing instantly what to do to get the sound of the music out to everyone’s ears. God was speaking volumes in that act of love. I felt very blessed to be a witness to it.

It came time for everyone to leave. We had a 3 hour drive back to Atlanta and they had to get back to the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament. We got to meet so many wonderful people in that short period of time. There was a couple from Connecticut who told us they still read the blog and asked us to pray for them as they had to drive back home from Florida on Sunday. What an awesome thing for us – meeting the people who have helped pray Paul back to good health! You can bet we remembered them in prayer as requested. We got to meet another Sister Isabella. She had come from the convent in Spain. Hmmmm……I wonder if Marie’s baby is a girl………….
It took us a good while to get all the goodbye’s completed, but finally everyone was on the bus and in the vans and ready to leave. As we stood there, a man and woman came up to us and the man introduced himself to Paul. He told Paul that he had been listening to his story and he was going to read through the blog. He said he was the director of programming ( I believe that is what he said………..sorry, I was very tired at this point!) at EWTN. He said he believed that this story was something they would want to tell on EWTN and he asked Paul if he would be interested. Paul told him that he would and asked what he needed to do. He was told that they were going to read about his story on the blog and they would then call to make an appointment to discuss it all. We were asked for our phone numbers and told that they would be in touch with us.

We were stunned. Literally stunned. As we walked back to our van, Paul was laughing joyously about how awesome his day had gone. He could not believe how great it was seeing the nuns smiling at him, and seeing Jordan again and then getting to play his guitar for everyone and then maybe getting to be on EWTN. I can tell you, his joy was being shared by his parents! We could not believe what an awesome day it had been. One blessed moment after another. We talked about it almost all the way back home.

Yes, getting to know our ‘new’ Paul, we are getting to know God more each day.

“Blessed are the ears that heed the inner whisperings of the Lord, and pay no attention to the deceitful murmurings of this world; and blessed indeed are the ears which do not listen to the loud voices from outside, but instead are attentive to Him, Who inwardly teaches the truth.”
Imitation of Christ, 3:1

Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. (1 Sam 3:9)
May you incline your hearts to follow what Jesus speaks to your souls,
Love,
Jon and Rebecca

P.S. Last and certainly not least…….Paul is now completely off his prescriptions for headaches! He uses Advil only once a day, usually in the morning when he wakes up. He uses ice packs and exercises from the chiropractor during the day, when he feels a headache coming on, and it helps him avoid taking medication.He has mild headaches still, but he mostly doesn’t notice it enough to even mention it. He still has loud ringing in his left ear, but we keep praying that it will be healed. All things in God’s time. Praise be to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thanksgiving Weekend Pictures

There is a great story that I will post tonight. Here are a few pictures of our weekend. Let me
tell you, it was a jammed packed, action filled weekend! Check back tonight for a HUGE story. I
will fill you in on the stories behind the pictures.















Jordan and Paul meet again after 4 years!















Stephanie with her parents, Paul and
Sandy. Welcome to the Catholic church
Stephanie!! She was baptized and
confirmed on Saturday night.












Joe, Paul, James, Shannon and Lillian work on the
place markers for our Thanksgiving day table setting.














Our Thanksgiving pilgrims and indians
serving as place
markers - A tradition from the Kilian family!














Lillian, Joe, James and Shannon getting ready to leave
Sunday - we really do miss them all !
















Michael and Lillian raking up the leaves.
Lillian was so happy to
see the Fall leaves - she just had to take a plunge!
She and Joe live in the Midwest and they miss
the cold weather and Fall leaves now that they
are in Florida at Ave Maria University


















Paul at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament -
he was there to play his guitar for the nuns who have
been praying for him. He's a visible sign of prayers
answered.














Paul and Jon approaching the statue of the Child
Jesus at the entrance of the Shrine.

One last picture of our sons with their incredible
friends. It was the end of a most blessed weekend.

Running On Empty

Michael on the far left

Great picture - both
feet off the ground.

Uncle Jim dubbed him
"Mercury Mike"



So, one year later, we again look back at where we were last year at this time and can't believe the long way we've come! Last year, we were driving home from our very first visit with Dr. McLanahan and he had given us so much hope about being able to help Paul. It took us 7 hours to get home from Charlotte that day before Thanksgiving. We were wiped out from it all, but we were so joyous that we had a promise of help on the horizon. We had no idea that it would take 4 surgeries to accomplish the task, but completed it is. Praise God for all the recovery that Paul has gained.

Two years ago, Paul was still in his coma and Jon and James were driving home during the night to be with us on Thanksgiving. It was a very strange day for us, but it too ended with much hope. Paul had moved his right arm as his brother Jon played songs that they had recorded. Then, while we were praying the rosary as we all stood around his hospital bed, Paul yawned. We started to believe Paul might be coming out of his coma. It would be around 11 PM on Thanksgiving night that Paul woke from his coma and the nurse who was on duty knew we would learn of it the next morning. Thanksgiving has taken on a much deeper meaning for our family, that is for sure. Not only were we given the gift of Paul's life, we were given a gift of a closer relationship with God. Those gifts brought us to a new pathway - one that continually brings so much hope and trust in God's unconditional love. One that has taught us that God will help us in His way and time, if we allow it.

All of you know our story and have seen that God has worked so many miracles and has shown so many signs of His love. The recovery has been slowly progressing and the outcome is not known, but we are sure that God has been in charge. We are sure that any purpose God has for each of us will come to pass if we stay on this pathway. We are sure that we are each called by name and that we have our own ‘point and purpose’ in the world. We just have to stay in touch with God or we will surely lose our way. In the past few weeks I have really been trying hard to make it to Mass each day, like we used to do before Paul’s accident. Our lives have become so full again with lots of assorted activities outside of our jobs and I have found it very hard to get up so early in the morning. I have also been experiencing more migraine headaches lately. I have tried to remember that Paul would still get up and try to function each day with his constant headaches and that has sometimes been the ‘push’ I needed to get up and get ready. Other times I would ask Jon at night to keep after me until I actually sat up and got going. I have tried the ‘guilt’ tactic on myself, the pep talk, the promise of coming back home and sleeping for a half hour before going to work, the reminder of how Jesus suffered and surely my fatigue did not compare………………sometimes it would help, but lately, I have been so tired from all that is going on in our lives, with the added lack of sleep from my migraines, nothing was getting me out of bed. So, I talked to a priest about it and said that I could not believe my lack of discipline and how I should be the first one showing up each morning. My sons were alive and healthy, I have a grandchild on the way, I have a loving husband, a steady income, a nice home, incredible friends and family. The priest reminded me that I should ask myself how I would like it if God told me that He didn’t have time to take care of my needs today, but would try to get back to me in a couple of days or so. Jesus has invited us to be with Him every day and to receive the gift of His body and blood and the graces that brings. There is no more beautiful gift on earth. Of course, I know this to be true, but hearing this priest talk about it helped me have a true desire to be with Jesus each day. While getting up each morning is a discipline, the desire to be with Jesus was there. Oh what a battle between the flesh and the spirit. I am so weak a person and I cannot believe how easy it is to lose a discipline. For me anyway! So, all this is leading to what happened to me this morning. I had a really bad migraine which had me awake at 4:00 A.M. Jon gets up at 4:00 each morning and says the rosary, reads the news online, brings me a cup of coffee, then gets his shower. His discipline is exemplary. I always try to attain just a little of it, but seem to fail miserably. I am not a 4 A.M. kind of person. Nor a 5, 6 or 7. Eight is good.
Anyway, I was up and asked Jon if he would bring me an aspirin with my cup of coffee. I fell asleep before he came back upstairs and so did not even hear him bring my coffee. He was getting ready to leave and I heard him walk into the room. I looked at the clock and it was 5:50. It was almost too late for me to get to church on time. I asked him why he had not gotten me up and he said that he knew I was feeling poorly and he felt I needed to sleep more than anything since I had a long day ahead of me with everyone coming home for the weekend. I almost stayed in bed, but then I knew I would have so much more peace in my day if I made it to Mass. I sat up in bed to see if I could handle the pain in my head and there was a dried rose petal on the side of my pillow. I picked it up and told Jon that apparently, someone wanted me at Mass that day. I thought to myself that it must be Mary or St. Therese. The rose petal must have fallen out of the book we are using for the devotion of the Consecration to Mary. It is a 30 day novena and we are on day 16. I have been reading this book for 16 days now and I had not ever noticed the rose petal in it. But it finally must have fallen out the night before and landed on my pillow. That is the only way I can think of it being there. (I have saved rose petals from the garden outside the adoration chapel at Corpus Christi and placed them in my Magnificat prayer book, but I haven’t done it in years. At some point, I must have placed one in this devotional book .) So, I got up and raced as fast as I could to get ready in time. Amazingly, the priest had also overslept and so I was not late. The absolutely best part was when I opened my Magnificat book and saw that it was the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I got tears in my eyes from the joy I felt in that moment. Our sweet Blessed Mother had helped me up this morning and I thanked her over and over for her help. I knew instantly that it was her because we are right in the middle of our Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which will be finished on December 8th. That is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Of course it would be Mary who would help me come to be with Her Son, Jesus! Then, in his homily, Father quoted St. Therese! So, it looks like I was tag-teamed!

I have been running on empty, but with God’s grace, will get back on track.

That brings me to some very exciting news. Last Saturday, we went to Michael’s end of the season Sports Award Banquet. He has been running cross country at college. He joined the team because he had started running last Summer and wanted to continue running. He was not expected to be much of a runner because he had had no prior experience or training. It turns out that after all those years of being chased by James and staying out of reach of the ‘strike zone’, Michael is a decent runner. He has been the #2 man on the team. Last Saturday, the team came back from their last run of the season and Michael greeted us with the statement, “Your boy is going to Kansas City.” He then told us that he had just finished running the qualifying race to the National Junior Olympics! He was the 20th runner to finish, which was the cut off. He had fallen too! His coaches told us that they were so happy with his ability and said that we should be so proud of him since he had no prior experiences. They are going to be working with him to help him do his best at the final meet. He will need to be in the top 25 to be recognized on the national level. While he may not make that goal, he may now be eligible to receive an athletic scholarship next year. I cannot tell you who was more excited about all this – Michael or his parents. We were so shocked. As we were saying goodbye to him to come back home, we were talking about our faith and how many blessings we have received. I told Michael to be sure to pray and thank God for all He has done for him. He told us that he says his rosary every day and then said, “I was on my knees praying the rosary this morning before I ran.” I hugged him so hard and told him I was more happy to hear that than hearing about his going to the National Junior Olympics. It will be his praying the rosary that will keep him from ‘Running on Empty.”

On Friday, we will be driving to the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament so Paul can play his guitar for the nuns. They asked us to be there at 2:30. Paul has been practicing a lot and today called me to tell me some really good news. He said he all of a sudden remembered some of the training he had received a couple of years ago, and it has helped him play with a more fluid movement. He immediately showed Jon and me as soon as we got home from work. It was really neat to see him so enthused about it. There was a lot of chaos when we got home because James had just pulled into the driveway also, and there was a lot of hugging going on. James brought home 3 students from Ave Maria – his girlfriend Shannon, and Joe and Lillian (brother and sister). Right after we all walked inside, Paul pulled out his guitar to show Jon and me what he remembered. He played the songs really well. He truly is ready to play his songs for the nuns.

He continually is improving in the level of headache pain and the frequency. We have dropped one prescription drug that he took twice a day and have dropped a dose of the other prescription pain medication. He occasionally will take an Advil to get him over the pain of a headache and the headache levels are no higher than 5. He is also not wearing his sunglasses as much. Each day he wears them less and less. On Sunday, Jon and I were asked to bring up the gifts at the Offertory. After the gifts were taken from us, Father Paddy took our hands and blessed us, then said, “I saw Paul at the 5 o’clock Mass last night and his eye looks grand. He is looking so much better, praise be to God.” We have had so many people tell us how wonderful he is looking. When I think back to July and our first visit to the Shrine, Paul has improved a great deal. I am sure the nuns will be so pleased to see how far he has recovered since that time. A visible sign of prayers being answered.

We wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving day. May you feel His love pouring out from heaven, bringing you peace and joy.

Love,
The Fidero Family

11 / 11 /05 - 11 / 11 / 07

With grateful hearts we celebrated the 2nd year anniversary date of Paul's accident. There was a blessed peacefulness throughout the day.

Thanks be to God, His angels and saints, and to you, all our brothers and sisters in Christ for the prayers that have kept Paul alive and moving toward more recovery each day.

Peace to all of you and your families,
With great love,
Jon and Rebecca

Makes Me Want to Shout

In the days following Paul's accident, Jon and James had to go back to school and they asked me to keep the blog going so they would know what was going on. So when I started to write the information, I was doing it with the thought that my family and a few close friends were reading it. Once I learned so many others were reading it, I told Jon I wasn't sure I could continue it because it made me nervous to know it was being read by complete strangers. He told me to just write what was in my heart and thoughts and God would take care of the rest. I immediately thought that I should temper the statements about our Catholic faith and make it more generic so that I would not offend anyone. I mean, complete strangers were reading and I didn't want to 'hit them over the head' with our faith and values. But what kept coming to mind was that it wasn't so much our story anymore, it was God's story. Plain and simple. The way this story spread and with hundreds of people praying for our family - that became the next miracle after God spared Paul's life. We got personal emails from young people who were thanking us for helping them in their search for faith, or just restoring their faith. We had strangers come up and introduce themselves and they would let us know how wonderful it was to read the blog and it filled them with renewed hope in their own lives. So often, I found myself sitting in front of my computer without a clue of what I would write down. I learned to pray to the Holy Spirit to help my words be what God wanted people to know. It WAS HIS STORY and I would type, He would provide. Because it was His story, I decided that I would not make it a crowd pleaser. I would write God's story in its fullest and with the truths we have learned in Scripture and God's word to His people. I wanted everyone to know the everlasting love of God for his children and how we are all connected as one body in Christ. It was a truth we were learning day after day. So often, the words of John Paul II have helped me get through the days and months of Paul's slow recovery process. BE NOT AFRAID. I would repeat them and follow them with JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU. I continue to work hard to live by those words and yes, I fail often. But I will continue to persevere in my attempt because I have been changed.

I have asked myself, "Why would anyone continue to read this blog? Why do they hang on to this slow moving story?" Maybe, it is because Paul's recovery is something tangible and real. It is measurable. With the onslaught of attacks against Christianity in our world today, stories like this help keep us renewed in hope and trust. Ours is only one of many. It is one that has shown how much love people possess and are capable of sharing. It has been a story of incredible charitable acts. We have been made aware of other people's struggles and we consider ourselves so blessed that God has personally invited us to help others make it through struggles with more prayers and loving actions. So often, we keep our religious lives quietly tucked away and separate from our secular life. We keep our love of God confined to our faith communities and then stay quiet when we are out in the world. We hear so much in the media that ridicules those who are trying to share the truth and enormity of God's love for us. Christianity is being attacked from so many directions and there does not seem to be a loud response in defense of God's love and truth. I found myself guilty of this too. I tempered all the love , the joy, the hope and trust I was experiencing, with guarded conversation. Why do we do that? When we have been a witness to so many miracles, why are we guarded in our interactions with the secular world? Be Not Afraid comes to my mind again. God graced us with a very full knowledge that He would not abandon us in the days following Paul's accident. We actually were able to feel His peace and love surrounding us, even though we were told Paul had no chance of living. We felt so blessed that God took our family by the hand and asked us to keep a prayerful vigil with Jesus at Gethsemane, asked us to walk side by side with Jesus at Calvary. He asked us to trust in His everlasting love and gave us the joy of knowing we would not be abandoned. In the darkest hours, we felt His presence. Those who have been graced with intense suffering, prayerfully will have knowledge of the joy that will follow. So I ask myself, "Why would we not share that joy, that incredible and immense joy of God's love, with everyone we encounter?" Why do we not come right out and say that if it were not for God, we are nothing.? I know who I was before this accident and I know I would not have chosen me to be the one to write about God’s love. What I now know is that God will take a ‘weak link’ and will use it for His purpose. That way, everyone will know it was His might and power that accomplished the task at hand. The key is, all I had to do was say yes. I saw Blessed Mary’s example of “Yes” to God and tried, in my humble way, to follow that example. And God has not abandoned me. I am not always strong and I sometimes still cry out “Why have you left me alone to handle this?” I sometimes feel real sadness when I think about how Paul will never return to exactly the person he was. I feel real sadness when I think that he may never reach full independence and no parent wants to see that for their children. In these times of despair or fear, His word comes to me and I am renewed in hope and trust.

In answer to my previous questions of why do we stay silent about what we know to be true about God, I read something on Sunday at Mass. I had started this posting on Saturday and then decided to take time to think about whether I should be shouting out at everyone.

“It is perfectly obvious that if I am so blessed by the gifts of the Spirit, that I find my reason, will and emotions made increasingly perceptive of divine currents previously lost to me, I can hardly help acting in a new way. I now discover the view about me and consequently, my manner of life must in some ways be different from before. The vision has come; it cannot simply open my eyes to new things in life without thereby altering that very life itself. Not only shall I find that what seemed to me before to be evil now appears to me to be a blessing; but on that very account, what before I tried to avoid, or having got, tried to be rid of, I shall now accept, perhaps even seek. Similarly, whereas then I was weak, now I am strong; and increase of strength means new activities, new energy put into the old work and finding its way into works altogether new. My emotions, finally, which imperiled and dominated my life, slip now into a subordinate position and while thereby as actively employed as before, are held under discipline. It is clear that the gifts will not leave me where I was before, but will influence my actions as well as alter my vision. This means that I have a new idea as to the means of achieving the full happiness of life. Once upon a time I thought happiness meant comfort; now I see that it means something quite different. I am therefore obliged to change also my idea as to the means and conditions whereby, and in which, happiness can be found.”
Father Bede Jarrett

Can I stay quiet about the everlasting love of God and the joy that it promises?
Not ever. This world has so much suffering and darkness and if we are not the voices in the wilderness, the gift of God’s joy will not be shared. It is too awesome a gift for us to keep to ourselves.

I gladly share my email address with anyone who needs our prayers and love. We have reaped the bounty of the power of your prayers. We joyfully want to share God’s love with you.

God loves all his creation with a passionate love. It is our task to love and cherish creation as God does.

And now about Paul………………smile.
He continues to use his eyes together all day long. He is learning to remember to keep fluid in his left eye so it does not dry out. We are seeing marked improvement, but have noticed the movement up and down are very limited for his left eye. We may need to have an MRI done to see if there is a blockage caused either in the accident, or in one of the reconstructive surgeries. I think that possibly, the doctors never did give much thought to the eye, since most considered it blind or almost. Forge ahead, we will. Paul seems happier about leaving his sunglasses off and we definitely have to get him a pair of regular glasses to protect the left eye at all times, since there is very little movement in the eyelid. The bottom lid is showing a lot more movement than the top lid.

He is still very forgetful. It seems almost as if it is worse. I was able to enjoy a dinner out with Dee Huggins last week and she said that we should not despair, as Chip also went through periods that she felt he had regressed. Then he would come back a little stronger. It is our hope that this is not ‘as good as it gets’ for Paul in that area. It is a real problem for him and is the huge block to his being independent. When I start to get overly concerned about what this will all mean for Paul and the family, I remember that God took over almost 2 years ago. I have to sometimes say this out loud to make it happen – “Rebecca, let go of the steering wheel.” All things in God’s time, with His love. It always brings me peace.

He seems more in tune with his appearance. He actually turned down something sweet last week because he said he needed to watch his weight! He takes time to check out how his hair looks and asked to get a haircut, with very specific ideas about how he wanted it done. He no longer asks for those ugly brown velour pants either! Of course it could be because he has FORGOTTEN about them………..whatever. It works for me……………….smile.

He has about 3 more weeks at Shepherd Pathways. He meets with the vocational director this week to help guide him in choosing his career pathway. We will be following up with his eye doctor for reading glasses. Paul said his left eye doesn’t see as well as his right when he is reading.

His headaches are coming way down and staying there. We rarely see a level 6 or 7 headache anymore. He uses ice packs and exercises his chiropractor taught him to keep an oncoming headache away. If necessary, he will use Tylenol / Advil. He also has been given a new prescription to help the headache and Paul said it worked really well. It is for migraines specifically and it worked well the day Paul had a bad headache. So, through a combination of methods, Paul is doing well. He has been going strong for weeks. Jerry was commenting on how we could never plan anything fun for Paul for the next day because we never knew how he would feel. Now, we plan away and 99% of the time, the events are enjoyed. We are seeing more freedom in many ways. Thanks be to God for that.

With great love, and a loud voice we say,
May God bless you in this day!
Be Not Afraid to be His voice, His hands, His love.
They will know we are Christians by our love.

rafidero@bellsouth.net
fideroj@bellsouth.net


Love,
Jon and Rebecca