Psalmody
Lord. I love Your Psalms
Which in my darkness, become
A light to my path.
Ps 119
Friday, September 19, 2008
Dozier Family Update from St. Eva the Good
We have had a very busy month:
Dyda came home after several months in a nursing home for rehab from his stroke. He is doing well although he is totally bedridden and total care. We are adjusting and he is too. Such a great man. No complaints as we learn how to use all his equipment to take care of him.
Gordon and I have moved to a retirement community and we now have a new address and only cell phones.
Gordon cleaned the house yesterday and when I got home from work he shared with me how happy he was over how little time and energy it took to get it done (we have downsized about 1300 sq feet)
I continue to work with every Friday off to play with Angel's kids.
Gordon, III and his family are settling into our other house. It is great to have them here with us. Our Carolina Room there is now a beautiful chapel and he has a communion service there every Sunday at 3pm. Most of you know he was ordained a Deacon this summer. Karen is teaching at our local Catholic school, where Katie attends, Alex is adjusting very well to public school and Daniel is still home schooled and preparing for Eagle Scout. Gordon just got a promotion at Hartford Life: Program Manager for enterprise professional development.
Kristi and her family, in Dallas, are preparing for Eva's chemo treatments. Kristi keeps us all update on her blog: goodnightmom.blogspot.com Kristi is doing very well at Dallas YMCA, having coordinated a major fundraising event this week Jon just got back from Asia for American Airlines. Jack is doing well with his schooling and taking care of Eva. Angel is heading out to be with them as Eva goes into the hospital on this Sunday to begin her first round. Thank you all for your prayer support
Jay is waiting to hear about getting his own store for Chick-fil-a and doing a great job of marketing at our store in SP. Boo will be finishing her nursing bachelors degree from UNC this December and continues to work in the ICU at Duke. Jay's boys are doing well in school this year.
Angel and her family stay busy with school and sports for the kids,: soccer, swimming, tennis and golf.
Angel serves on her kids school PTA as one of those 25% who do everything. Graham and Angel continue to do the marathon runs and Graham will be in one this weekend ( I get to keep the kids)
Ben lives with us so his address has changed as well. He is in school in the nursing program and works part time at Chili's. He has been a great help in caring for Dyda. He calls Loralei every day and looks forward to his next visit.
Nathaniel and Vanessa are living in Greensboro. Nathaniel is working at the Double Tree as their night auditor and Vanessa has interviewed for a great job at the O'Henry Hotel. They are expecting their first born in January.
JPD is back to school at UNC Asheville. He continues to participate on the school's team for war games battle reenactments. They do really well. It must have come from all the paint ball games he enjoyed. He has a part time job on campus.
Mary is back at UNC Greensboro. She is on the school's swim team and we look forward to seeing her in some of the meets. Her latest job is as a photographer for a promotional web site. Her Air Force career is postponed to continue her education.
Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family,
Eva and Gordon
Dyda came home after several months in a nursing home for rehab from his stroke. He is doing well although he is totally bedridden and total care. We are adjusting and he is too. Such a great man. No complaints as we learn how to use all his equipment to take care of him.
Gordon and I have moved to a retirement community and we now have a new address and only cell phones.
Gordon cleaned the house yesterday and when I got home from work he shared with me how happy he was over how little time and energy it took to get it done (we have downsized about 1300 sq feet)
I continue to work with every Friday off to play with Angel's kids.
Gordon, III and his family are settling into our other house. It is great to have them here with us. Our Carolina Room there is now a beautiful chapel and he has a communion service there every Sunday at 3pm. Most of you know he was ordained a Deacon this summer. Karen is teaching at our local Catholic school, where Katie attends, Alex is adjusting very well to public school and Daniel is still home schooled and preparing for Eagle Scout. Gordon just got a promotion at Hartford Life: Program Manager for enterprise professional development.
Kristi and her family, in Dallas, are preparing for Eva's chemo treatments. Kristi keeps us all update on her blog: goodnightmom.blogspot.com Kristi is doing very well at Dallas YMCA, having coordinated a major fundraising event this week Jon just got back from Asia for American Airlines. Jack is doing well with his schooling and taking care of Eva. Angel is heading out to be with them as Eva goes into the hospital on this Sunday to begin her first round. Thank you all for your prayer support
Jay is waiting to hear about getting his own store for Chick-fil-a and doing a great job of marketing at our store in SP. Boo will be finishing her nursing bachelors degree from UNC this December and continues to work in the ICU at Duke. Jay's boys are doing well in school this year.
Angel and her family stay busy with school and sports for the kids,: soccer, swimming, tennis and golf.
Angel serves on her kids school PTA as one of those 25% who do everything. Graham and Angel continue to do the marathon runs and Graham will be in one this weekend ( I get to keep the kids)
Ben lives with us so his address has changed as well. He is in school in the nursing program and works part time at Chili's. He has been a great help in caring for Dyda. He calls Loralei every day and looks forward to his next visit.
Nathaniel and Vanessa are living in Greensboro. Nathaniel is working at the Double Tree as their night auditor and Vanessa has interviewed for a great job at the O'Henry Hotel. They are expecting their first born in January.
JPD is back to school at UNC Asheville. He continues to participate on the school's team for war games battle reenactments. They do really well. It must have come from all the paint ball games he enjoyed. He has a part time job on campus.
Mary is back at UNC Greensboro. She is on the school's swim team and we look forward to seeing her in some of the meets. Her latest job is as a photographer for a promotional web site. Her Air Force career is postponed to continue her education.
Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family,
Eva and Gordon
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
OK. So its not Friday...
Fellowship
Better to suffer
on earth with Christ, than reign in
Heaven without Him.
St. Bernard of Clairveaux
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Grammar Nazi
It's my mother's fault. She raised my brother and me to be grammar perfectionists. It was almost preferable to commit a mortal sin than to split an infinitive. Of course, it is one thing to know how to speak correctly; it is quite another to apply correction to those committing the unpardonable sin of improper speech, whether it be family, friend or foe. If she heard, "Her and I went to the Mall," the young lady would be advised that it should be "She and I.." Oh those pesky pronouns. The improper use of "who and whom" drove her to the edge, as in "he is the one who I want to date. "Whom, my dear...it should be "whom." She was fearless.
No one escaped her kind but firm correction and it used to amaze me how bold she was in her mission. It used to anger me when I would get caught in some egregious error, but how thankful I am that she held me to her higher standard. And despite my own resistance, my mother created a clone of herself: I am an unabashed Grammar Nazi.
Just ask my children how difficult it was to carry on a conversation in our household. Each would converse with care and trepidation, hoping not to hear the dreaded... "Grammar Error...Grammar Error." Now this phrase was preceded with an alert sound that resembled the noise made by the fire-drill horn in high school. It was an "EH..EH..EH..EH." followed by "Grammar Error...Grammar Error." Kinda like, "Danger Will Robinson...Danger Will Robinson." Then the correction would be made to the undying embarrassment of the offender. My son, Nathaniel, didn't really carry on conversation until he was 7. Didn't want to hear that dreaded "EH..EH..EH?" Perhaps.
St. Eva the Good and I have been on vacation in Myrtle Beach for the last week. We went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant called "Myabis." As I went to the hostess desk, I was confronted with a sign that said: "To receive the early bird discount, you must be sat by 5:30PM." The alarm bells went off in my brain. "EH...EH...Grammar Error." All during dinner, I agonized over that sign. "Must be sat?" I know this is South Carolina but for Pete's sake... When I paid the bill, I asked the hostess who was in charge of the sign. "The Manager," she replied. "It has a serious grammar error," said I. She came around and stood beside me as I pointed it out. "Well, you see, she's Japanese..." Nazi's accept no such lame excuses.
Yes, it is a curse. But we Grammar Nazi's never sleep...we never rest...and even though we may be in Myrtle Beach, we never take a vacation.
No one escaped her kind but firm correction and it used to amaze me how bold she was in her mission. It used to anger me when I would get caught in some egregious error, but how thankful I am that she held me to her higher standard. And despite my own resistance, my mother created a clone of herself: I am an unabashed Grammar Nazi.
Just ask my children how difficult it was to carry on a conversation in our household. Each would converse with care and trepidation, hoping not to hear the dreaded... "Grammar Error...Grammar Error." Now this phrase was preceded with an alert sound that resembled the noise made by the fire-drill horn in high school. It was an "EH..EH..EH..EH." followed by "Grammar Error...Grammar Error." Kinda like, "Danger Will Robinson...Danger Will Robinson." Then the correction would be made to the undying embarrassment of the offender. My son, Nathaniel, didn't really carry on conversation until he was 7. Didn't want to hear that dreaded "EH..EH..EH?" Perhaps.
St. Eva the Good and I have been on vacation in Myrtle Beach for the last week. We went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant called "Myabis." As I went to the hostess desk, I was confronted with a sign that said: "To receive the early bird discount, you must be sat by 5:30PM." The alarm bells went off in my brain. "EH...EH...Grammar Error." All during dinner, I agonized over that sign. "Must be sat?" I know this is South Carolina but for Pete's sake... When I paid the bill, I asked the hostess who was in charge of the sign. "The Manager," she replied. "It has a serious grammar error," said I. She came around and stood beside me as I pointed it out. "Well, you see, she's Japanese..." Nazi's accept no such lame excuses.
Yes, it is a curse. But we Grammar Nazi's never sleep...we never rest...and even though we may be in Myrtle Beach, we never take a vacation.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Passion of St. Augustine
When he finally surrendered to the embrace of Christ, Augustine was never the same. As he reflected on his life in his autobiography, he penned one of the most tender expressions of love I have ever read. Since I, like Augustine, was converted late in life (age 31), his words express the depths of my own love and gratitude to Jesus:
“ Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new! Late have I loved you! And behold, you were within, and I abroad, and there I searched for you; I was deformed, plunging amid those fair forms, which you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from you—things which, if they were not in you, were not at all. You called, and shouted, and burst my deafness. You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness. You breathed odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for you. I tasted, and I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for your peace” (St. Augustine, Confessions)
“ Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new! Late have I loved you! And behold, you were within, and I abroad, and there I searched for you; I was deformed, plunging amid those fair forms, which you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from you—things which, if they were not in you, were not at all. You called, and shouted, and burst my deafness. You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness. You breathed odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for you. I tasted, and I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for your peace” (St. Augustine, Confessions)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
"Never, Never, Never Give Up..."
These words were spoken by Winston Churchill during the darkest days of World War II. Churchill, for many reasons, is one of my favorite historical personalities. Though certainly flawed, as are we all, I have always admired his great tenacity.
And today, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Monica (d. 387AD), whose tenacious and unyielding prayer gave us the great Saint we celebrate tomorrow, St. Augustine. I have written of St. Monica before. She is the model for contemporary parents who have children that have strayed from the fold; children who have surrendered to the "sex, drugs and rock and roll" culture that has subsumed our American life.
Augustine was the playboy/hippie of his day. Sin was no stranger to this fourth century bon vivant. For 17 years, Monica wept, fasted and prayed for his conversion. She sought the counsel of others to help her convince Augustine to follow Christ. After beseeching Bishop Ambrose of Milan for days and days, he said to her, " My dear, go home. Surely the child of so many tears will never be lost."
You see, she never, never, never gave up on Augustine or God, for that matter. And we need to do the same. I have 8 children that are on, shall we say, various paths. Some paths good...others, not so good. But I take great comfort from St. Monica. It is my role to pray them to the "Gates of the Kingdom," so to speak. Certainly, as a fruit of my prayer, God will give the grace that brings each of them to that heavenly door...but,it will ever be the personal responsibility of each to willingly walk through the threshold. And so,my children.....I am never, never, never giving up!!!
And today, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Monica (d. 387AD), whose tenacious and unyielding prayer gave us the great Saint we celebrate tomorrow, St. Augustine. I have written of St. Monica before. She is the model for contemporary parents who have children that have strayed from the fold; children who have surrendered to the "sex, drugs and rock and roll" culture that has subsumed our American life.
Augustine was the playboy/hippie of his day. Sin was no stranger to this fourth century bon vivant. For 17 years, Monica wept, fasted and prayed for his conversion. She sought the counsel of others to help her convince Augustine to follow Christ. After beseeching Bishop Ambrose of Milan for days and days, he said to her, " My dear, go home. Surely the child of so many tears will never be lost."
You see, she never, never, never gave up on Augustine or God, for that matter. And we need to do the same. I have 8 children that are on, shall we say, various paths. Some paths good...others, not so good. But I take great comfort from St. Monica. It is my role to pray them to the "Gates of the Kingdom," so to speak. Certainly, as a fruit of my prayer, God will give the grace that brings each of them to that heavenly door...but,it will ever be the personal responsibility of each to willingly walk through the threshold. And so,my children.....I am never, never, never giving up!!!
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