10 years !

Remembering and Praying

Pilgrimage

Our oldest two are on a month long Pilgrimage to Europe, ending with World Youth Day! We are so excited for them.
We are really proud of them for earning / saving the money for this trip on their own. We are also so thankful for family and friends who helped them with generous donations. Please keep them in prayer.

A map of their travels

Padre Pio

Today is Padre Pio's feast day. The first time I heard of him was back in 2000 when we lived in Turkey. One of the Italian priest we knew in Turkey actually witnessed Padre Pio bi-locate!
He was Canonization June 16, 2002, so his very first feast day was September 23rd 2002. This is was also the day we discovered that Mistical Rose had cancer. We asked Pader Pio to pray for her her. We are very blessed that she is still alive, healthy and strong. Praise GOD!

"Every Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know...It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!" Padre Pio

Sending "U"off

A slideshow by Smilebox

Maya pray for us

I write this with a very heavy heart, my cousin's little baby who was bone five days ago passed away this morning. The doctors had said Maya had a 75% chance to make it, she was born at 25 weeks, just at a one pound.
As parents who were told our baby (Rose) had a 80% chance of survival I was very optimistic. We as a family offered up many prayer, our daily rosary, daily Mass, Holy Hour, several little sacrifices, and prayers through out the day; yet she was called back to be with our Lord. This is not at all easy.

Our jobs as parents is to help our children get to heaven and be with God for eternity. They don't belong to us; He has entrusted them to us for a brief moment on this earth. So we should be happy when our children can go to heaven, yet this not the feeling we experience. The pain one feels at the loss of a child must be indescribable. I can't even imagine the pain Maya's parent, grandparents, uncles and aunts are going through.

I pray they can unite their suffering with our Lord. I pray they find comfort in our Lady, who watched her Son as he was being crucified. I ask for prayers for Maya's parents, family and friends.
We love you, little angel; we will meet you in the Eucharist.

Maya pray for us.

-Mallu

Up Lifting Chat

I have a cousin, (my mom's cousin) in the Missionaries of Charity, I am able to talk with her every first Sunday. I really look forward to to our chats, she is such a joy filled and uplifting person. Her love for Christ is radiating and contagious. Today we were talking about the Litany of Humility and she told me they pray it every Tuesday. I pray it off and on, we are adding it to our before-school prayers. It 's beautiful to meditate on each line.

Litany of Humility

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

* from EWTN
-Mallu

March For Life

We will miss going to the March for Life this year since we are traveling down to SC. We are going to participate in the March virtually, and you can too. Here is how:

We're heading out

My sis and her hubby are having a baby, most of you already know that . She is due on the 25th of Jan. We are traveling down to be with them for support and help out for a little while. It seems the baby may have dropped! We are heading out tomorrow morning. Please keep us in prayer as we make the long drive; especially please pray for my sister and baby.

- Mallu Mom

Pray for Haiti

Please pray for everyone in Haiti. We have family there, they are safe, but their homes are completely destroyed! Thank you for your prayers.

SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

Our Lady of China

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God!

"Marvelous is the mystery proclaimed today: human nature is made new as God becomes man; he remains what he was and becomes what he was not. Yet each nature stays distinct and for ever undivided."
--- Canticle of Zechariah

Walking Rosary

Today is the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary. Our family has been praying a daily rosary together for a little over five years. It has really become an important part of our lives. We know we have and continue to receive many graces from this prayer. Today in honor of this feast we decided to try something different. Our parish has a rosary garden that is really cool. It is a winding path in the shape of a giant rosary, with stepping stones for each of the beads. We pack up every one in the car, even the dog, and said our daily rosary at the rosary garden. It was a very peaceful and beautiful experience.

Crucian Dad

It's a little hard to see but we are on the rosary path

G-MAC thinks that whenever she has a Rosary, she has to kneel

September 23rd, 2002

Rose, just weeks before diagnosis.
We used to play with her tummy and say you are finally gaining weight! little did we know.....

Seven years ago yesterday, we heard the words that no parent wants to hear " Your daughter has a tumor." Rose was under two years old and was diagnosed with cancer in both her kidneys. We had just moved state side from Turkey a month prior to that. We had tried hard to get orders to Italy but those fell through. As disappointed as we were that we didn't get to stay oversees, God had a better place in mind for us. He send us back to the states where there was a top notch children's hospital, He always knows best! After 2 surgeries and 5 months of chemo,we are blessed to say she is in good health. Although I wouldn't wish to go through this again, I am grateful because we grew closer to Our Lord as an outcome. We offered up so much of her suffering for conversion of souls. We are very grateful that God send many people our way to help us in our time of need.

On another note, September 23, 2002 was Padre Pio's first feast day! When we lived in Turkey we meet a priest who witnessed Padre Pio bilocate! It was through him we heard of Padre Pio, so I did ask the good Padre for prayers for Rose. I didn't realize the significance of this date until a couple of years later.
--Mallu Mom

Joyfully serving the Lord

Back in the spring Rose was invited by a friend to go to Oratory with the Sister Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara. Oratory is (In Roses own words) " a place to have fun and hang out with sisters and learn awesome stuff about God!! the sisters play lots of games with us too"

My first time there I recognized one of the sisters from our parish, she was part of what our family called "the pajama crew" We would see her and some of her friends at Mass every Saturday morning, sometimes in their PJs! We thought that it was amazing that a group of teen girls would choose to be at Mass early Saturday morning. Sister Porte Caeli as she is now known professed her first vows yesterday along with 7 other young women. The sisters faces were so filled with radiant joy that it was beautiful to witness. We felt blessed be a part of the celebration.

Rose really liked the fact that the sister received a crown of flowers, along with their new blue veils.


-- Mallu Mom & Mystical Rose

PS another one of the "the pajama crew" recently joined a cloistered Dominican order.
Please keep them in your prayers

Mystical Rose and Sister Porte Caeli after mass

Remembering 9/11

We will be offering our Mass and Rosary today for all the victims of 9/11, and their family and friends.

The pictures below are from our visit to the World Trade Center, back in 2007. It was a very emotional experience.