Catching Up with the Past…

Dear Reader:

It was time to “clean house” and Saturdays are notorious for just these types of chores…except in this case…”cleaning house” was my blog format.

On the right hand column of the blog…were certain links that lead to nowhere. If anyone wanted to know, for instance, what the contest with Scheherazade was all about ….they sure weren’t going to find out by clicking on the information…it just took the blog reader to a “no permission to use” (quite negative sounding) page.

If a blog reader started to read the story (About Becky) on the right hand column, the story died out after Read More instructions…. leaving the reader lost with no ending.

And then I realized that new readers had no clue why I chose the title of my blog to be Chapel of Hope Stories? What was St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope and its connection to me and the blog…and you…as fellow journeymen?

Yep…it was definitely time to clean and update the blog. Like all cleaning chores…it wasn’t easy-beginning was the worst part…but once I got started I felt so much better having taken the time to do it.

So today….let me share the changes with you and then from now on….you can just click the icons on the right and pull the updates/stories any time you wish.

Let me start with the Chapel of Hope Connection: (the beautiful title picture today is of the little stream and woods behind St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope in Trust, North Carolina)

The Chapel of Hope Connection

I realize for some of you new readers…you might be wondering why I chose the title for my blog as: Chapel of Hope Stories. It’s a good question and the answer is one that produced a life-altering detour in my personal journey through this life on earth.

I will have to take you back in a time-capsule to July of 2010…the year I first saw St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope in Trust, North Carolina. I had been fighting breast cancer for two years at the time…having already had two surgeries, two rounds of radiation and chemo. It was an uphill battle. But, quite honestly, my thoughts were not on treatments, at that time, but on my new grand-daughter, my first grandchild, little Miss Eva Cate.

She was born April 27, 2010 and you couldn’t budge me from her side. I thanked God day and night that He let me live long enough to see that beautiful symbol of new life and hope.

So when my friend, Honey Burrell, called and asked me to come spend a few days in the mountains with her and her husband, Mike…I kept thinking of excuses why I had to stay home.

Finally Mike got on the phone and told me that he had discovered a special place with a special story…that he had already shown to Honey… and they both agreed that it would prove even more special to me.. He had caught my curiosity and wonder…how could I not go see this place?

From the moment Honey and I drove up the gravel driveway and I first laid eyes on the little doll-house sized chapel…I was in love! When I entered the chapel I immediately felt a presence there….warm and inviting. Newspaper articles about the creator of the chapel lined the walls and I began reading.

Beverly Barutio, a cancer victim herself, had built the chapel as a “thank you” to God and St. Jude, the patron saint of improbable (but not impossible) causes. She and her husband, Bill, had moved to the little community of Trust, North Carolina on a leap of faith. She had advanced cancer which had spread throughout her body and she had decided to stop chemo treatments.

Beverly prayed for time to be with her beloved husband and family… she got it! Her cancer went into remission and stayed there for over fifteen years. Today St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope has visitors from around the world and it has changed lives, like mine, for the glory of God.

When I returned home from my first epiphany…I wanted to share my experiences with others whose lives have been touched, too, by this little chapel in the woods. But I didn’t know how to channel such a communication.

My son-in-law, John, first explained to me what a “blog” was and then helped me set it up…the rest is history.

Come join me on my quest to honor Beverly Barutio for her special chapel through stories of self-discovery with God as our guide.

………………………..

*Jackson, Brooke, and I went to Mike and Honey’s beautiful home last October on Mt. Pinnacle… and once again we took the scenic view route to Trust, North Carolina to see St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope.

Beverly named her post-Civil War home (that she and Bill, her husband, bought and lived in during their time in Trust, N.C.) “Plum Nilly“…because Trust is “plum” out of Asheville and “nilly” to Tennessee! A wonderful sense of humor!

This chapel has become my magic medicine. My body, heart, and soul tells me when it is time to renew my energies to continue fighting my cancer (“little c”) and it never fails to do just that…renew my strength and faith in God to continue the fight.

* When I saw this picture of Honey and me with the light filtering down upon us…it makes the “miracle of healing” even clearer to me…because I can literally feel the rays of hope penetrating my body when I return “home” to the little chapel in the woods.

* And now I even know the compass directions where my magical healing chapel lies…on my copper bracelet…

(Christmas gift from Tommy and Kaitlyn that remains on my wrist at all times…never want to lose my direction to it.)

I think I will stop here today….and tomorrow share the story of the Scheherazade contest and the roots of my love for storytelling...because the sun is calling me to come play!

So until tomorrow…Get outside and enjoy the sun! I am heading to my garden bench as soon as I finish the blog and bask in all its warmth and glory!

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

* Brooke sent me this precious nursery rhyme song about the sun… and I emailed her back telling her it was stuck in my mind and I had been humming and singing it all day! Hope you do the same!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VASPRy6VQ-c

* While pulling Eva Cate’s newborn picture from almost five years ago (that is so hard to believe) I glanced down at my Iphone (which I got from Jackson days before Jakie was born) and ended up putting his newborn picture on the cover.

Heredity and genes are powerful stuff aren’t they? I think we can easily see that they are brother and sister from their newborn pictures.

John sent me these two adorable pictures of him and Mandy with Jake…can’t believe how rested they look…especially on a Friday night after a week of work and getting a four year old and almost four month old out the door each morning before work.