Prayers | A Thankfully Imperfect Woman

Oct 4

Prayers for Our Children

I pray…I praise…and I live a Christian life, or should I say I attempt to. Strength in my Christianity is something I struggle with at times, and yet at the same time, my faith in prayer is always strong.

Today I want to ask you to join me in prayer for two very special children who are going through challenges. One of these young people has become special to me even though we’ve never met, and the second is one who desperately needs the world’s prayers now, even though we haven’t even seen her face.

The first is a sweet little man whom I’ve only met through a video and yet I love him already. For those of you who read my blog post “Red Fred Project – Join Me”, you’ve met him too. This is the quote from Dallas Graham’s Facebook page today: (Dallas is the creative genius behind the Red Fred Project)… Guys: Our Nathan, from Red Fred Project, broke his back coming home from school today. His mom, Rachel Glad, says he seems in less pain as long as he’s on his back. Please send love, thoughts and prayers to our incredible little man, Nathan. We love you, Nathan. He has a Facebook page: Nathan Ryan Glad Foundation. Drop him a message! … Let’s all say a prayer for this little man and his family. And if you haven’t yet, join his foundation, and join the Red Fred Project so we can meet more young people like Nathan and can give them a voice too.

The second is a little girl who desperately needs our prayers at this very moment in time. She’s a little one year old who saw her Mom being killed by police officers in Washington D.C. yesterday. A little girl, innocent to this world’s troubles, innocent to her Mom’s troubles that caused this horrible situation…a little girl innocent. I pray that she be surrounded with love, I pray that she be safe, I pray that she have no memory of what happened yesterday, and I pray for her Momma…may God take her to Heaven and lay peace in her troubled heart and mind. And may she now be a special angel for her little girl.

Amen.

Patty O

Picture credit: Pinterest, Teresa Kogul

Sep 23

11 Comments

A Bad Day and a Wake Up Call

It was a day.

A day like no other.

Where so many major things that could go wrong, did go wrong. Or so I thought.

First a neighbor hit my parked car which was parked along the side of our house (not my normal spot) and about 4 inches into the alley. Accidents happen, I get it, I gave him a hug.

Then the police officer stopped by and gave me a ticket for “parking in the alley”. Seriously. And indicated it was my fault that the accident happened. And he proceeded to hand me a ticket, tell me I could pick up the accident report later today, and apologized, while frustrated tears rolled down my cheeks. I hate crying when I’m frustrated, but sometimes it just happens anyway.

I then dropped my car off at the dealership for an estimate and borrowed my mother-in-law (and her car) to drive two hours to a dr appt.

On the way to the appt, a young boy crossed the road running after his Momma. She was about 40 feet ahead of him, plugged into her earphones. I hit the brakes, which thankfully prevented me from hitting him as he proceeded to run ahead of me (ps, I was driving through a green light). As I laid on my horn, in an attempt to alert the Mom, she decided to scream at me. Seriously.

The Dr. appt brought news I didn’t expect, but I guess I’m glad he wants to be so thorough. An MRI is scheduled for next week to see if there’s a reason for the piriformis syndrome/sciatic pain. He’s leaning towards surgery, but I don’t want to go that route yet.

An attempt to get the youngest child a cell phone at AT&T was thwarted as my husband is the primary account holder…even though he doesn’t even use a cell phone. ‘Oh whatever, I’ll do it online’…was my thought. Her birthday isn’t until Oct 7 anyway.

A few stops and we came home. Enough is enough, I’m done.

The car had been delivered with a repair estimate of $4,000.

I’m on my second glass of wine.

And then I see a FB post saying prayers are requested for a friend of mine.

And then I get the message that her son was in a terrible ATV accident on Friday night and she didn’t even know about it until Saturday, after he’d had brain surgery. He’ll be having his jaw wired shut tomorrow for about a month, and his eye socket is fractured. He is doing well now, thank God.

And that’s when I realized that all the crap and frustrations I went through today are nothing.

My babies are healthy. I’m home. I’m safe. My car is just a thing. I can pay the stupid ticket. The little boy is safe. I pray that his Mom will keep him safe from now on. And Gab’s cell phone is just a thing. I have just little things to complain about.

And now I turn my attention to praying for Nate and his Mom and Dad. Lord, please give them all the chance to complain about the little things that can go wrong in their lives.

Amen.

Patty O

Sep 16

3 Comments

The Red Fred Project…Join Me

Have you heard of this project yet?

If you’re like me, you haven’t. It was just introduced to me by my good friend Karen, who knows the creator.

I don’t think there’s much I need to say beyond…please, please take a moment to click on the link and watch the video, then read what this project is all about. You may want to grab a kleenex…

The Red Fred Project: 50 Books by 50 Critically ill Children

My heart is filled with love for this project, from the beginning of working with a critically ill young person and their family, to the end result of the book and book sales, which The Red Fred Project gives to the family to help with their medical costs. This truly is an incredible project. It’s not just about life or death…it’s about giving a child who is chronically ill a chance to be creative, a feeling of purpose, about leaving a legacy and an incredible memory for that child’s family to cherish.

Loving & empowering children, and helping families in need. This is what life is about.

I’m going to send in a donation…do you want to join me?

They need $75,000 by Sunday, October 13th to move this project forward – so please – donate soon! If they are short of their goal, by a penny, none of the funding happens for the project — no one’s donation goes through. Even now, the people who have pledged will not see their money leave their account UNLESS The Red Fred Project hits its goal in October. Give now, give generously, give what you can…every little bit helps!

And then share their link on your facebook page, twitter account, and every other account you’re on…copy it and hand it out at work, church, the dog park, the laundromat, local restaurants, on the bus, in the subway, to your mother, to your brother, to your sister, to your mother’s brother’s sister-in-law…just share it with everyone!

Patty O

Aug 4

5 Comments

Drumroll Please!

Conversation, discussions and finally a plea brought us all to the big decision…

We have a puppy!

We’d like you to meet Castle, our new 9 week old English Setter.

His former owners were able to place all of his brothers and sisters, but he was the last of the litter. They moved into a new place and could only keep two dogs (they already had his Mom and an English Bulldog). So he had to go and go quickly.

Sooo…

They placed the Facebook ad…I happened to be looking through the ads…and the stars aligned and WHALAA! Here we are with a sweet little puppy.

Here he is sleeping on Gabi’s lap/hand on the way home.

Now I have a companion for when Tim and Gabi head back to school and all their sports. And Castle (formerly known as Bruiser) has a new home where he can play, sleep, bark, and snuggle. Along with…eat, drink, pee, poop, nap, eat, drink, pee, poop, nap…and on and on…

We’ve already had a few adventures including a first morning of multiple accidents in the house and a Gabi saying “Stupid Dog!” To which Timothy responded “You weren’t very smart either when you were 9 weeks old”. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more adventures…

Trust me…I’ll keep you posted.

Tomorrow the babies are coming over…now that should be fun!

Have a good evening all! May you be as blessed as we are!

Patty O

Jul 20

Top 10 Things I Look Forward To…

So here it is…

My list.

The list of things I look forward to. This list is a combination of “bucket list” items and everyday items and “someday dreams” items. It’s not put into order by my most important item as #1, it’s more in timeline order.

As I sat down to write this list I realized there are so many more things I could put on here. The “little things”…like watching Gabi run cross-country races this fall, or her basketball games. Or seeing Sam off to her 2nd year at college…and the daily phone calls when she’s gone. Or the chances I get to see Alex, Tom and my adorable grandpuppy Louis (snorts and all). Read more