My friend M from the Rachel's Vineyard retreat I went to in 2010 and I are registered to go to the R.V. retreat taking place next month. In a way, I'm excited, because once you've done two retreats you are eligible to help out with future retreats. I think it will be extremely healing for me to help others in the future with this.
The only part I am dreading is the memorial service on the last day when I have to put the little doll representing Claudia in the cradle. I remember from the last retreat that for quite a while I couldn't even think about that ritual without crying. My therapist has told me that he would discuss that worry with me and help me get through it. And ... he wants to go to this second retreat's memorial service with me! YEAH!
The first retreat was held at a bed and breakfast about 30 minutes away near the mountains, but this one is going to be held at a large rented house that's a whopping three-minute drive from me. Funny! Some retreat, eh?
Friday, October 26, 2012
40 Days For Life
After the Rachel's Vineyard retreat I went to in 2010, the coordinators of the retreat have been active in pro-life things (going to the rally in Santa Fe for the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, etc.). At first, coming from a post-abortive standpoint, it feels kind of hypocritical to stand for something pro-life when you had one taken away. But lately I've been feeling like I'm pro-life as in "I don't want anyone else to go through the same hell I am."
Usually during Lent there is a 40 Days For Life (pro-life) prayer campaign going on, where it lists clinics in your area that daily prayer vigils are being held at. You can also do fasting, either for a meal every day or give up something important for the 40 days (like you would for Lent). This time it's from September 26 to November 4, probably to coincide with the election.
There aren't any vigils being held in my city. Since I can't physically give up food for health reasons, I've been fasting from ... Facebook! My public P.R. reason or "spin" on it though is that I'm sick of all the political posts so I'm not signing in till the election. (Which isn't exactly a lie but it's not actually the real reason I'm not on there.) Now that I had been forced in August to convert to the Timeline, I had started to play Mahjong there a lot and listen to music on that wonderful app, Spotify. Oh, I do miss them! But I signed up for the 40 Days For Life daily emails and devotionals for this campaign, and honestly they are really helping and blessing me. It's so worth it.
Usually during Lent there is a 40 Days For Life (pro-life) prayer campaign going on, where it lists clinics in your area that daily prayer vigils are being held at. You can also do fasting, either for a meal every day or give up something important for the 40 days (like you would for Lent). This time it's from September 26 to November 4, probably to coincide with the election.
There aren't any vigils being held in my city. Since I can't physically give up food for health reasons, I've been fasting from ... Facebook! My public P.R. reason or "spin" on it though is that I'm sick of all the political posts so I'm not signing in till the election. (Which isn't exactly a lie but it's not actually the real reason I'm not on there.) Now that I had been forced in August to convert to the Timeline, I had started to play Mahjong there a lot and listen to music on that wonderful app, Spotify. Oh, I do miss them! But I signed up for the 40 Days For Life daily emails and devotionals for this campaign, and honestly they are really helping and blessing me. It's so worth it.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Un Increíble Conversación de Almuerzo
No, I haven't suddenly learned Spanish, and actually I blame Bing Translation if the title isn't the correct way to say "An amazing lunch conversation." I've kept in contact with my roommate ("M") from the Rachel's Vineyard retreat I went to a couple years ago. We went to lunch today at an authentic Mexican restaurant here in town. A mariachi band (two guitarists, a violinist and a trumpeter) was playing for the lunch crowd and it was so awesome.
M retired a few months ago and has been traveling in Europe with her husband and their two young adult children. She told me about an incident that happened in Spain, and she said I could share it with everyone everywhere to show how amazing God is. Her son and daughter went out dancing at a club since the drinking age is lower in Spain. At 2:00 a.m. the kids still weren't back at the hotel and M's husband wondered if he should check on them but she told him they would be all right. The next morning they were getting ready to go on a tour bus and M went to her kids' hotel room to get them. Her daughter answered the door frantic - her brother wouldn't wake up. (Even though I knew the ending must have been okay since M was calmly telling me about it, I started crying.) M was shaking him, she tried moving his arms and they were just limp, and she said his breathing sounded like rattling and then she couldn't hear him breathing at all.
M was hysterical screaming and the hotel personnel called for an ambulance. A man who just happened to be walking by with his girlfriend said he was a doctor from Israel and asked if he could look at her son. He rolled her son onto his side and a bunch of watery vomit dribbled out. The man cut her son's shirt off him and was going to give him CPR, but he started breathing by the time the ambulance got there. They took him to the hospital and he didn't wake up the whole day. M said he was released from the hospital and began to feel like himself about three days later but she just wanted to cancel the whole trip and go home. Her son said he got a bottle of Absinthe (which M said is illegal here in the U.S.?) and his friends back in America were on video chat telling him to "have a shot for me." He said the last thing he remembers is drinking the third shot.
M's husband had given the Israeli doctor his business card. After they came home from the trip, the doctor sent her husband a message asking how their son was and said that he and his girlfriend had overslept that day in Spain and ended up missing the bus for their own tour. If they hadn't missed that bus and heard M screaming, her son would have died. God's timing is perfect in everything. I want to trust that for my own life too.
M retired a few months ago and has been traveling in Europe with her husband and their two young adult children. She told me about an incident that happened in Spain, and she said I could share it with everyone everywhere to show how amazing God is. Her son and daughter went out dancing at a club since the drinking age is lower in Spain. At 2:00 a.m. the kids still weren't back at the hotel and M's husband wondered if he should check on them but she told him they would be all right. The next morning they were getting ready to go on a tour bus and M went to her kids' hotel room to get them. Her daughter answered the door frantic - her brother wouldn't wake up. (Even though I knew the ending must have been okay since M was calmly telling me about it, I started crying.) M was shaking him, she tried moving his arms and they were just limp, and she said his breathing sounded like rattling and then she couldn't hear him breathing at all.
M was hysterical screaming and the hotel personnel called for an ambulance. A man who just happened to be walking by with his girlfriend said he was a doctor from Israel and asked if he could look at her son. He rolled her son onto his side and a bunch of watery vomit dribbled out. The man cut her son's shirt off him and was going to give him CPR, but he started breathing by the time the ambulance got there. They took him to the hospital and he didn't wake up the whole day. M said he was released from the hospital and began to feel like himself about three days later but she just wanted to cancel the whole trip and go home. Her son said he got a bottle of Absinthe (which M said is illegal here in the U.S.?) and his friends back in America were on video chat telling him to "have a shot for me." He said the last thing he remembers is drinking the third shot.
M's husband had given the Israeli doctor his business card. After they came home from the trip, the doctor sent her husband a message asking how their son was and said that he and his girlfriend had overslept that day in Spain and ended up missing the bus for their own tour. If they hadn't missed that bus and heard M screaming, her son would have died. God's timing is perfect in everything. I want to trust that for my own life too.
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