Pray and don’t worry…easier said than done. I don’t know how many times I’ve said to God “ok, this problem is yours, I give it all to you and your will” and then find I’ve taken it all back on my shoulders again. We can only try. Our 2 sons no longer practice the catholic faith or any faith. Our 2 daughters are very catholic…both divorced and received annulments. The one who is secretary at church and sings and teaches too has 2 little boys, but no kids by the first marriage which was a disaster from the start despite doing all the requirements. She is very devout, takes part in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and other devotions. She used to teach at the catholic school but it became too stressful with all that she wanted to be for her boys. The other is a very busy mom of 4 (2 have graduated from catholic school)plus 2 step daughters. Her first marriage ended after almost 20 years even tho she tried and tried to keep it together for the kids. He had been stepping out on her for years and moved in with the latest one…and are married now. He had no faith but now is a practicing mormon again. It’s such a sad thing for me to see the kids going back and forth between homes. The oldest is married and a good catholic and very busy so she doesn’t so much. Anyway, my post was supposed to be mostly about our oldest who became mormon 22 years ago which literally broke my heart. She was 19, the classic age at which they get them here in Utah. She started college with a sports scholarship, hurt her back, had trouble with the coach(who was a catholic sleeze bag…I was so angry when I found out this years later)and the mormons were there to pick her up, give her fellowship etc. It was all done without our knowledge until right before she was baptized when she told me and then moved out so we couldn’t do anything but cry. I prayed and prayed and prayed for all those years. So much more happened, I could write a book, but eventually after she married (in the temple where we couldn’t go)and then had very sad miscarriages, and 3 girls after discovering thru NFP (thru her catholic aunt)that she needed progesteron. We became closer as being moms and she was happily homeschooling when disaster struck, breast cancer. She fought it bravely for 4 years and died in Nov. of 06 at her home with her husband, dad and me by her side…with the kids in and out of her room. I was in shock for over a year. We stayed with them, in a motel, and then a little apt near them, both before and after she died for 1 1/2 years…300 miles from out home which our youngest son lived in, then the sister moved in too who was preparing for her 2nd marriage (another book)with 3 of her kids. It’s been a harrowing time for us but we are finally settled back in our house and our widowed son-in-law and the girls have moved to about 60 miles from us near his parents and siblings so they are moving on with their life and we see them a lot. The difference in our religions is not an issue anymore. We love our son-in-law and of course our granddaughters. We made sure the girls wore the proper clothing to church and got to their little after school activities and they knew we went to Mass and I said the Liturgy of the Hours every day and rosary. I felt that some of their friends where they used to live had hopes of converted us but all in all they were wonderful…dear people that I’m glad to have known. they helped so much. Her funeral was in their mormon ward and then her body was brought back home to within a half a mile of where we live, where she was raised, at her request. There was a little graveside service by the mormons who came 300miles to do, and which many from our area attended, and then a luncheon given at our church, which I thought was very nice of them to do. It’s within site of the cemetery. Our plot is right next to her, in what’s supposed to be the Catholic section. I was with our then Pastor when he blessed the area years ago. As she lay dying, when no one else was in the room, I blessed her with St,. Jude’s oil that was mixed with a tiny bit of chrism oil. I also rubbed baby oil on her arms and told her it was to remind her of when she was my baby. She was basically in a coma due to meds Hospice had given her. Then I said the Liturgy of the Hours for the dead and prayed the chaplet of Mercy at different times. I feel…or I have to feel…that God took her to Himself, probably a little detour in purgatory, because she loved Him so much and that He had answered my prayers at the end. Our prayers are just not always answered in the way we’d like but I continue to pray for our sons and for others who are away from Christ and His church…but I know that ALL is in His hands. Have faith that it is, in whatever you pray for. Has anyone else read Abandonment to Divine Providence? It helps. God bless…M.A.
:whacky: 
) Don’t take it personally. ‘Thorns’ are out there, but we are expected to do our best with everyone we come in contact with. The increase is credited to God.
