Another Day {To Pray}

Owen wears a cap to cover some 34 probes attached to his head to read his brain waves during a seizure study at hospital.

Owen's brain scans revealed a disturbing pattern of near-constant seizures at night and several episodes during daytime.  While these revelations give light to the hidden mysteries of Owen's brain, they bring grief to his parents' hearts, as preventative treatment for this wide range of seizures does not exist.  

Baby sister Brenna keeps Owen company during another long stay at hospital.

Apollo's recovery from his second heart surgery is ongoing and painful.  Today his mom wrote from Houston:

Three hours of sleep last night for me and Apollo due to more vomiting. I am *beyond* tired and he is hysterical. Not an auspicious start to day 9 in the hospital :(

 A detailed description of the trials facing Apollo today are here. 


Please continue to hold Owen and Apollo and their families in your prayers. 

Meandering Home {Day 7: South Bend to Chicago}

Peter receives an exuberant greeting from the hounds at Uncle Wayne's house.

The sting of leaving Zachary at Notre Dame {at 2:22PM} was eased by divine grace, and by the fact that we had a dinner engagement in Chicago with Tim's uncle and cousin that evening.  Treated to deep dish Chicago-style pizza, we enjoyed the chance to visit with Wayne and Stacy and meet their (growing) menagerie of furry friends.  Checking into our hotel after the family reunion, we were assigned to room 222.

Cousin Stacy, Uncle Wayne, Tim and Bridget

A long desired wish to visit St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, put a family pilgrimage at the top of our to-do list during our short stay in the Windy City.  We navigated toll roads and one way streets to the Church, and upon entering were surprised to find the entire nave filled with scaffolding and drop cloths. We knew that extensive renovations were happening at St. John Cantius, but had no idea that the place was actually off limits to visitors that day.  We walked along the outside isle, taking in the beauty amidst the construction chaos.  A quick call to the main office filled in a few blanks:

"Hello, St. John Cantius."
"Hello, we are visiting from Washington State and made a special stop to visit the Church. Father Phillips told us that one of the Brothers could show us around the Church today."
(Pause) "The Church is closed today and tomorrow, the only days it's not open to the public during the construction project.  Can you come back another day?"
"No, we are only in town today."
(Pause) "Where are you?"
"We are in the Church, near the baptismal font.  The doors were open... the construction crew must have been on a break because we didn't see anyone when we arrived."
"Stay right there.  I will be right over."

St. John Cantius, under renovation

Not even a minute after we were given instructions to stay put, a construction worker some 30+ feet above us on a scaffolding platform yelled down,

"Hey!  Get out of here!  There's no one allowed in here today!" 
"But Father told us to wait right here.  He's on his way over to see us."
(Pause) "OK... Well then could you unplug that extension cord and unwind it from the base of the pillar?"

Main altar at St. John Cantius, during renovations Aug. 2012

Brother Matthew arrived shortly thereafter, a pleasant, peaceful young man in his fifth year (of eleven) of formation for the priesthood in the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.  Well informed and entirely welcoming despite the scheduled building closure, Brother Matthew visited with us, answering our many questions and sharing the mission and charism of St. John Cantius.  Amazing renewals are happening in our Holy Catholic Church, and the Restoration of the Sacred at St. John Cantius offers a glimpse of the tremendous, heavenly beauty of our prayer and worship, rediscovered and restored.

Brother Matthew with Joseph and Peter at St. John Cantius, Chicago

Restoring the sacred, St. John Cantius is filled with beautiful works of art.

Like most religious orders, St. John Cantius' priests and brothers welcome prayer requests and have an online prayer request form, through which prayers can be requested from anyone, anywhere. 

Power of Prayer

Stan's daughter, Sally, collected his groceries on Saturday, and told us that

Stan's doctors were amazed at how well he was recovering.

Yesterday Zachary and I visited Stan and meet his wife and daughters Katie and Jeannie at the ICU.

Stan has made amazing progress over the weekend, and the emergency brain surgery was successful.

I introduced myself and Zachary to him, and he made a gentleman's effort to shake our hands,

though he could just barely lift his arm.

We asked Stan if we could pray with him, and he said yes.

He gave his best effort at making the sign of the cross, and said most of the Lord's Prayer with us.

We gave him a prayer shawl as a gift from our Church. 

He remembered Sacred Heart and said it was one of his favorite places.

His wife, Clare, told me that Stan had a skiing injury about 10 years ago (in his 70's)

and she thinks that's probably why he lost his balance and fell in the parking lot Friday.

Skiing in their 70's (and 80's)...now that's inspiring!

Still praying for Stan and his family...

A Stranger's Groceries...

... are in our refrigerator:

Two cartons of cottage cheese, a salmon fillet, a bunch of potatoes, a grapefruit, a baguette, two bottles of wine; someone's prescription.

The groceries belong to a man I've never met.

His name is Stan.

Stan needs our prayers, he's in a coma.

I saw Stan collapse onto the parking lot cement today as I pulled into a parking stall at Fred's after taking the boys to the pool.

I was one of the first 3-4 people to reach him, and someone had already called 911.  I prayed.

There was alot of blood.

I helped the man who was rearranging Stan to get him out from under the shopping carts (in the cart holding area).  Then a woman who must have been a nurse or a medical professional took Stan into her care while we awaited the aid unit.  We asked Stan if we could call his family and he gave us his wife's name and their phone number.  I called their home and their daughter, Katie, answered.

I told Katie that her dad had fallen and cut his head, that the ambulance was en route.  I told her that he was able to answer questions and that he would probably need to go to the hospital for stitches.

Katie and I agreed that I would take his groceries home and she would call me after they had taken care of the stitches at the hospital.

Katie called me a few hours later and told me that her dad was in a coma, and may be having emergency brain surgery.  I think she told me he's in his late 80's.

She said they wouldn't be coming to get the groceries today and asked if it would be OK to just keep them here a while longer.   Of course.

Katie also told me that when I had called to tell them about Stan's accident, her mom, Clare, thought I was her doctor calling.

Clare needs our prayers, too; she's being scheduled for heart surgery.