"House" is one of my favorite TV shows and last night's episode was amazing! It centered around a mother whose unborn baby was sick and was essentially killing her but she refused to have the baby aborted. House was trying to get her to abort but Cuddy, the hospital administrator, was fighting tooth and nail to save both the mother and the child (because she wants a child herself). There was this incredible scene where they had to cut into the uterus to bring the baby out (who was all of 21 weeks old) so they could operate on the baby and correct the problem, and the baby's hand grasped onto House and he believed finally that the baby was a person. It was so moving.What a great statement about life that episode was! The episode also highlighed all the hassle that Cuddy went through to try and save the baby even though everyone was against her. It was very edifying. You can read the recap here: http://www.fox.com/house/recaps/ I left audio feedback on The Daily Breakfast hosted by Fr. Roderick found at http://www.sqpn.com and Fr. Roderick used it! Check out episode #280 and you'll hear it. Gotta watch this show! p.s. Amazing week on American Idol. Love this show too! Chris Richardson is getting a lot better. I really didn't like him but this week he rocked! Melinda was flawless as usual, I'd buy one of her albums in a heartbeat. And I love Jordin too - great voice, great presence, and yes, a wellspring of joy.

Been too long since my last post, so sorry! This past Tuesday I attended a prayer service at my husband's church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which is a Melkite Catholic Church, celebrating the Eastern Rite. This service was known as the Holy Unction or Holy Oil. It was in commemoration of Mary Magdalene and how she anointed the head of Jesus with expensive perfumed oil. The service is beautiful with many prayers and scripture readings, and ends with the each participant receiving the Holy Oil upon their foreheads and hands. The oil is for physical and emotional healing. I admit that I went to placate my husband. My prayer life has been dry as toast for the last several months (mainly because I haven't yet figured out how to pray and maintain a busy schedule - the busyness tends to win out!) and when it is dry, the last place I want to be is at a service where a lot of long prayers are read. But I went anyway and despite my hard heart and lousy attitude, God chose to bless me. I had brought a book with me to read while I waited for the service. Rich needed to get there early as he is a deacon in training and serves at all the services and liturgies. I started a book called "Simplicity" by John Michael Talbot. Something I am sorely looking for in my life! The first chapter was on the true nature of humility. I wasn't able to get too far into it but it was enough to set the stage. The service began and when I saw how many pages there were in the prayer booklet, I groaned. I couldn't imagine getting through this without nodding off. Still, God blessed me. After several pages, the rhythm of the prayers and the smell of the incense began to take effect. I felt myself getting into the rhythm and feeling a sense of peace. During one of the gospel readings, I suddenly took note of the incense rising to the ceiling, as if to God, in prayer, and I thought of that psalm (don't know which one) which says (paraphrased), "Let my prayer rise to You like incense, oh Lord." I then began to look at the altar and thought about how beautiful it was with the many icons and the lit candles. By the time we were to receive the Holy Oil, my heart had been greatly softened. I received the oil and meditated for several moments on it. I let my finger feel the oil on my forehead and hands. I smelled its sweet scent. I didn't think of anything in particular, just that I felt at peace and felt the presence of the Lord deep inside me. Afterwards I realized what the Lord was gently teaching me. One aspect of true humility is that you recognize and submit to something greater than yourself. In this case, I was submitting not only to God, but to the wisdom of those who had written the prayers. I allowed myself to get into the prayers written so many years ago and because of that submission, God granted me His sweet consolation, something I have not felt in such a long time. I had read a paper that Rich wrote for his bishop the day before which spoke about this. Rich was supposed to reflect upon his prayer life over the past year since he had started reciting the Divine Office. In the paper he wrote how at first he resisted because he didn't want to give up his need to be creative in his prayer. He felt that reciting the prayers of others would not be meaningful. But he submitted and recited the Divine Office and has been greatly blessed as a result from those prayers, including a very deep appreciation of the psalms which are heavily used in the Divine Office. A seed was planted when I read that paper and it came to fruition the next day at the Holy Unction service. During the service I had asked God for healing from anxiety. He showed me how I could obtain that healing. By practicing humility and submitting myself to something greater than myself, I could be freed from my anxiety. Now the task lies before me to obey that call. And I will, with joy.

Sorry for the delay in posting. There's just been so much going on I can hardly keep up with it! First of all, if you recall the post I wrote about the Waiting Game and St. Therese - she was faithful as always her intercession. Basically I had to decide whether to invest our own money in this Sung Rosary project or ask for a refund of monies already paid and refund my customers so that I could take more time to fundraise without making them wait. The Lord was very clear in what He wanted me to do. First, I was to involve my husband. Gulp! I had a feeling that was coming and I was afraid to approach him on this. Can you imagine? How strange we can be sometimes with the people we love the most. Rich and I have a wonderful marriage and relationship but we often pursue our passions separately just because we don't share the same interests. So a lot of my ministry work has been rather clandestine. Rich is fine with me doing it but he hasn't been directly involved since 1999-2000 when I recorded my first CD, "Teach Me to Love." Now I had to ask him to help me find $5000 to record this Sung Rosary. Originally we thought about selling some stock that we thought was not going to grow all that much, but then we found out it is actually growing! So now we're working on a payment plan to fund the project. He was very supportive of the whole thing. After all, if I don't have enough faith in this project and belief that it is the will of God to produce it, why should I ask anyone else to contribute? I literally have to put my money where my mouth is! It also made me realize that keeping my activities a secret from him, and from others (my local friends and family) is really satan getting in the way of my ministry activities. God means for us to reveal Him to the world. Keeping anything a secret is not good. It reveals a weakness in me that I've always known about - shame about revealing my Christian identity to the world. It's hard to admit this but I do it all the time. At work, when I'm listening to my podcasts or Christian music, I turn the volume down or turn it off whenever someone comes in the office because I don't want to have to be confronted about my faith. How dumb is that?? Here I am, a PERFORMER, singing in public about Jesus, and a WRITER and PUBLISHER of a Catholic music magazine - I mean, how public can these things be? And yet I won't play Christian music in the office when someone comes in! God does indeed have eternal patience and mercy! God evidently meant for me to learn a LOT more out of that novena than just how to secure $5000 for a recording! He is so good. And speaking of God being good, truly be careful what you ask for in prayer! I asked 3 friends who are real prayer warriors to pray that I would be able to sell a good amount of advertising for GrapeVine since it is going to be printed for the first time (yep, it's true! GV will become a real magazine with this issue - see www.gvonline.net for details and be sure and join the GV mailing list on the website to be kept up-to-date with happenings) and I was DELUGED with orders! I'm kind of freaking out now over the layout, making sure I have enough content (and time!) to produce a good magazine. Stay tuned for further details regarding this end of my ministry and say a prayer for me that I will do my best for the Lord. Until next time, Peace!

Whenever I have an important decision to make, St. Therese, the Little Flower is always the first saint I turn to. She never fails to show me a rose in some fashion and I sense directives from God after asking for her intercession. Well, this week I need help from her! It concerns, yet again, my Sung Rosary project. This poor Sung Rosary should have a new first name: DELAYED AGAIN. As in Delayed Again Sung Rosary. It appears that I must come up with the $5000 needed to record the project (or at least half of it) before work can begin. This is fair, after all, the producer has to support his family! So I don't blame him at all. And in a way, I'm happy about this because I didn't want to be in debt to him. So, I started a novena to her this past week and asked some friends online to join in with me. And I should hear something by next Friday, the 19th. I have two different paths I can go: 1. Get a refund from the producer for money already paid, and pay back the kind people that pre-ordered the CD. This is not to mean that I am giving up, only putting things on hold while I work to earn the money to have the CD produced. or 2. There is another option whereby I would be able to get a hold of the full amount. However, it requires the full support of my family and it could be a very hard sell seeing that my track record of paying back debts through CD sales has not been that convincing. It does not require going into debt, at least to anyone outside of the immediate family. St. Therese is good and I know she will intercede for me and God will grant me the discernment and wisdom needed to make the right choice. Lately the theme in my life has been to step out of the boat, like St. Peter did. The various podcasts that I listen to have talked so much lately about the need to trust in God with a BOLD faith. So bold that you would step off a cliff for Him. I did that once many years ago when changing jobs. At the time I was working a 40 per week job and I had very small children. Even though the job had flexible hours, I found myself saying on a regular basis that I had 'no time' for the kids. That pained me to no end. For about 6 months I kept seeing in my mind an image, that of a chasm with Jesus on one side and me on the other. I had to jump over the chasm and He would catch me. But what was the chasm? It puzzled me for a long time but I finally figured out that I was to leave my present job and make no plans for a new one. Heck, I thought I'd even be leaving my field which was graphic arts. So, I gave a month's notice and began the waiting game. What would God present to me? My husband, God bless him, was so supportive. He was rewarded for that support. For exactly 3 days later, I was offered a cream puff job with a local real estate agency as their desktop publisher. It was a much easier job than the one I currently had at a quick printer. The office was lovely too, beautifully decorated. A nice perk. Turns out the salesman from the company I was currently with recommended me to the owner of the real office! 3 days! The irony of it being 3 made me smile. I've been with that company for 13 years. It made it possible for me to be with my kids. It also was a key factor in getting my music ministry going for I had time for that too. And there have been so many other blessings as a result of my taking that leap of faith. I have a song that I wrote about that experience which I've never recorded. Perhaps that'll be my first podcast for this blog. In the meantime, check back and see what happens as a result of the St. Therese novena. Somehow I have a feeling He's going to be asking me to jump off that cliff again. You just never know with God!

I am so happy to be here and to be able to share my life and my faith with you. I love the Lord with all my heart and am so grateful for my family (Rich, Stephen, Meredith). And these are some of the other things I really enjoy: My cats past and present (Milo and Noah, RIP; Spencer and Jenny) I love getting people together with other people, and connecting people with ideas. Nothing gives me more of a rush than that. I am totally addicted to my computer, it's a wonder I get anything done! TV: I love "24", "American Idol", "House", "America's Next Top Model", "Project Runway", "Smallville" and anything to do with Star Trek Favorite books: Harry Potter rules! I also enjoy biographies as I am intensely curious about other people’s lives. I love history so I am particular interested in the authors from the Transcendentalism era such as Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau since I live near where they lived: Concord, MA. Favorite movies: the whole Lord of the Rings series, and all the Harry Potter movies, and old movies like "Going My Way" with Bing Crosby and "Mildred Pierce" with Joan Crawford; the whole Rocky series, and the Spiderman movies. Plus, "The Sound of Music" - most romantic scene ever. Birds; I love watching and studying them In the days to come, I'll share with you things about my life and music through the lens of faith, as that is how I see my life. And I look forward to hearing from you! Peace!