Dear Reader:

So many times, as I am going through just a normal day, I feel a need to stop and send God a thank you note because of something I saw or heard around me. In a perfect world all six (plus) billion of us living on earth should form a perfect circle and make the ‘Biggest Thank You Card’ in the world…attached to thousands of balloons that slowly takes it up, up, up into the sky. A thank-you for life.

One of my thank you notes would definitely be to thank God for my home, my sanctuary. I know how lucky I am to have a home. I breathe a sigh of relief each time I walk through the door…coming back to “My Happy Place.” It is a place of peace and serenity…I have filled it with flowers and bright colors which make me happy.

The other day I came across a book of poetry Bill Barutio sent me that his wife (creator of St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope) Beverly had written. It was sent soon after I discovered St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope (seven years ago) and the story of the miracle of this little chapel and its creator, Beverly Barutio.

As I read the dedication on the front page of  her volume of poetry … it said:

To my children:

You are the flesh

of my flesh,

Blood

of my blood,

But more than this

You are my

“Thank you” note to God. 

………………………….

What a beautiful dedication…the idea that the gifts we have been given are all ‘thank you notes’ to be sent to God to be served by Him.

Many of you have heard the story of how Beverly Barutio ended up in Trust, North Carolina forming one of the two-person population (she and her husband Bill) living there.

In the eighties Beverly discovered she had advanced cancer that had spread to other parts of her body. She turned down more chemo treatments after a year …to live out the rest of her life her way…so she and her husband moved from Savannah… ending up in Trust, North Carolina where they lived in an old post-Civil War stone home and ran a general store and diner.

She prayed to God and St. Jude…the patron saint of improbable (but not impossible) causes for a longer life and her cancer miraculously went into remission for over fifteen years. Beverly was soon known for her culinary cooking talents, especially with pies, and people started coming from miles around to eat at their place.

But Beverly knew she had made a promise…that if she was given more time on earth she would reciprocate by giving back to St. Jude and God…thus St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope was built. Today it is open 24/7 and welcomes one and all to pray there and take refuge if needed.

It was on a hot July day in 2010 that I first saw this chapel and it changed my life forever…the blog was born. I will be forever grateful to Honey and Mike for discovering it and then sharing it with me.

I felt Beverly’s kindred spirit immediately upon entering and since then have been told by others who knew her that our personalities were/are a lot alike. She had a wonderful sense of humor….as you can see in this first line of her life story.

“I was born at a very young age in Jefferson County, Iowa, because I wanted to be near my family. I moved to Savannah, Georgia because they didn’t raise very much corn there, and it was near a body of water larger than our cow pond in Iowa.” 

Beverly also dedicated the poetry book to her husband Bill…about whom she said:

“To my husband Bill, without whom I am only Me; with whom I am, at last, totally Myself.”

So until tomorrow…I believe if we wrote God a similar thank-you note…telling God that without Him we are only a little “Me, but with Him, we, at last,  are totally Ourselves” …it would be the perfect thank-you note for the gift of life. What a beautiful line of prose.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

My new mouse pad arrived yesterday (my last pad literally fell apart from use and old age)…has five letters on it…S T O R Y. That’s my life in a nutshell. Thank you for letting me share it  with you.

Over the weekend I made my annual donation to ETV. This is a donation that I gladly give. I watch more ETV than the other channels together. The quality of their programming is simply superior to so much stuff on television these days….in the form of just mindless watching.

Last Monday I got a call from Jonathan Faulk, Web Member Services Coordinator, concerning something I had said when asked why I made a contribution and he asked if he could use the quote and if I would send a picture because they were starting a new addition called “Donor Highlights.” I did but was never sure exactly how it was being used for publicity until he sent me this yesterday.

It’s been lovely speaking with you. Please share your Donor Highlight with your family and friends! You can tell them you are the first person ever to have a Donor Highlight on the ETV website!