Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Prayer Intentions for Fatima and Lourdes


Only 10 days left......

We leave Memphis at 6:15 pm (thanks be to God, maybe we will sleep!)and will be flying into Lisbon, Portugal where we will first visit St. Anthony's church. St Anthony is invoked often around my family - especially my mother - who loses things quite frequently! I always thought he was from Italy, but nope, he was born and raised in Lisbon.

Then we head for Santarem, one of the oldest cities in the world and home of the first Eucharistic miracle. From there we head to Fatima and spend 2 days touring the Basilica, Little Chapel of Apparitions, the children's graves, site of the apparations. We will walk the Stations of the Cross along the Via Sacra and join pilgrims from around the world in a candlelight rosary.

Next stop is Salamanca, which will be the cultural/historical stop of the trip, and then head to St. Teresa's hometown of Avila and ON HER FEAST DAY we will be there - what a rare blessing this will be for us!

Saturday we head for Lourdes, stopping first in Loyola which is birthplace of St. Ignatius. We head to Lourdes and engage nightly in candlelight processions. We will walk the lifesize stations of the cross, immerse in healing baths, and attend the blessing of the sick.

I will be leaving a week from Saturday, and a few bloggers have asked to send some prayer intentions with me. I would be more than happy to accept your intentions. There is a grotto there in Lourdes where petitions are placed, and I plan on placing a nice fat little bundle. Email me your intentions so I can print them off and place along side mine in the blessed grotto!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

I love TOMS shoes!!!



When DH and I went to New Orleans for spring break last year, I found some shoes that I have literally not taken off since. They are called TOMS and are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. The first pair I bought was red (so cute!) and I wore them so much that DH bought me another pair a couple weeks later. The premise behind this company is the reason I bought the shoes, and I am sure you have seen the commercial for VISA with a good looking curly headed man promising a pair of shoes sold means a free pair donated to a child in a third world country. Below is a history of TOMS shoes:



The video and commericals makes me cry everytime, especially the children of Argentina who aren't allowed to attend school unless they have shoes since parasites most commonly enter through the foot. They are a bit expensive but I promise the are ridiculously comfortable and so cute too! I wear them with shorts, jeans, dresses, skirts, whatever, and they look cute with everything (I think anyway :) The new fall TOMS in cord are out and I am dying to buy a third pair, but need to save for my pilgrimage!!!

Buy a pair, help a child in need, look cute, and be comfortable!!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

10 Things


Thanks to Somehow, Someway, Someday for tagging me - I am a little late to this, but here goes!

1. My sister is almost almost 8 years younger than me, but everyone thinks we are closer in age because we are best friends and super super close. I can't imagine what I would have done without her support during these difficult times. My whole family is super close - 5 siblings and no one lives less than 20 miles apart.

2. I previously posted this about a month ago, but I think it is pretty darn interesting...I talked my way into a job teaching Spanish when I knew about 2 words. I worked my butt off studying for a year and lived in Guatemala for a few weeks last summer and passed the high school teacher's Spanish Praxis test and got my certification!



3. I didn't get married until I was almost 35 years old, but Blake is well worth the wait :)

4. I was engaged before and called off the wedding about 2 months before the date. Invitations were out, dress bought, house had a contract, you name it. Saints be praised I had the courage to scram. It was the hardest decision I ever made in my life, but my life would be miserable if I had not left the relationship. He was lawyer/musician (the problem) and a partier to boot. I wouldn't have met my DH if I had not done it!

5. I have had about 17 wrecks in my life. Most were minor like hitting a garage, or wall in a parking garage, or minor fender benders that required little to no work, but I totalled 2 cars. My attention span was a bit spastic. Now I don't text or rarely dial calls while driving. I am better driver now and have been accident free for about 5 years. (knock on wood!), although my brother still makes the sign of the cross on my neice and nephews heads before the take off in a car with me.

6. I desperately wanted to go to cosmotology school, but my dad stongly urged (made) me go to Mississippi State. I hated it until I joined a sorority and had so much fun I didn't want to graduate. Thankfully I changed my major from forestry to Education. LOL - I wanted to be a park ranger at one time.

7. My favorite things to do are cook, garden, and exercise. All 3 things stress me out though because I work hard to find time to do them all, but relax while doing them. My new favorite is power yoga - I am obsessed with it :)

8. I am going on a pilgrimage in less than 4 weeks to Fatima, Spain, and Lourdes. I am on pins and needles with excitement! I will have 6 stamps on my passport when I return. Where to next....

9. I love reality tv, especially The Bachelor, THe Bachelorette, Housewives of New Jersey, Housewives of DC, and especially Dancing With the Stars. If I could do anything at all well, I would choose dancing. Another thing that is stressful though is finding time to watch them.

10. I love love love my faith. My life has changed so much (for the better) since all this fertility mess I have been enveloped in for the past almost 2 years. I definitely pray more, have changed my life in little ways, but I am ready to pray in praise, not supplication~

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

More results from miscarraige testing

I met again with my new RE (in the same office) to finish up some final tests. I had read JBTC email earlier and recognized that lonely feeling all too well. One day everything is fine, I am enjoying a beautiful day with family, DH, or friends, and for no reason at all, I begin to feel incredibly lonely and depressed. It comes with no warning, and seems like more often lately. I think I never properly grieved this last m/c because school was starting, I was busy, and it all happened so suddenly too. Well, it seems I am experiencing delayed greiving the past week or so. But like I always say....This too shall pass.

Here are my latest test results. PLease feel free to comment what you think about them. So far all the testing I have had done has been normal or above average for my age (35) and still.......they cannot find a reason why I cannot keep our babies. I am so desperately wanting to go see Dr. KK, but I don't now what I would do if she suggested one of the treatments that we cannot afford (or we could afford and could not adopt if the pregnancy didn't progress again). Here are the latest results:

prenatal screen - normal
chlamydia - negative
AMH - 2.9
LH - 4.21
FSH - 5.5
Estradiol - 23
Follicles on CD3 - 13(left ovary) and 15 (right ovary)

I go for another hysterosonagram tomorrow at 11:30, even though I told them the m/c IS NOT DUE to fibroids or polyp. I had a HSG in May which revealed a polyp I then had removed via hysteroscopy and the fibroids were removed 2 years ago. This new RE is very very thorough and said he wanted it done again anyway. So off I go, also to have my anti-philosphid antibodies checked again. It has been almost a year since it was checked and 2 m/c ago so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I know alot of people are negative for it, but after subsequent pregnancies or m/c it can pop up. That would be so great if we could find a dang cause - it is so horrible that I am begging and wanting to find something wrong with me. Maybe God is wanting a miracle to be worked within me in Lourdes. Lord, bring it on!!!!