My love

28 days since I held you in my arms and told you help was on the way. 90 minutes you suffered pain I can't even imagine.

You are my heart. My soul. My strength. My everything.

As I type this, 28 days 10 minutes ago I ran outside, hoping, praying, begging I was wrong. That you were just at the gym. I saw the box at the mailbox and the car with the trailer in front of it - and I knew. I just knew.

Just two more seconds. That's all the difference it would have been.

I love you. I miss you so much. You ARE love. The truest love.


Funeral Homily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV5ZPEsQej8
(this link will be updated in the near future)

Be encouraged homily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDZgQsCuCsA
13:40 is the key section
Pronouns are not Fr. Meyer's strength. ;)

Edited to add:
Christmas homily - this was Midnight Mass. The homily includes Joshua.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2540352396243889&id=1490553047890501 (this one mentions Joshua a bit more than the next link.
Just the homily as given at an earlier Christmas evening Mass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W34xzpAKWU

Roaring Hyenas

Joshua loves to have fun. And a good part of this fun is with his beloved (albeit disowned and disinherited at least once daily for being ridiculous) Godfather.

One memorable Tuesday evening, it was decided that lions are extinct, thus the devil could indeed not be capable of prowling like a roaring lion, waiting for someone to devour. Hyenas, however, are still very much rampant upon the earth. And the devil kind of sounds like one, underneath all of his suave exterior.

After a few months of begging him to stop, Joshua's Godfather and Joshua were both gifted a handmade lion... whose name is: Hyena.

I mean, hello!!!!! They're BOTH right! How many lions named Hyena do YOU know? That's right, NONE. So they were extinct, until the creation of two. Just for my two favorite men.

COMPLINE
(Night Prayer)

Tuesday

---

God, come to my assistance.
 - Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
 -  as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen. Alleluia.


HYMN
We Praise You, Father For Your Gifts
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
This World, My God, Is Held Within Your Hand
Now At The Daylight's Ending
O Christ, You Are The Light And Day
All Praise To You, O God, This Night
The Master Came To Bring Good News
Te Lucis Ante Terminum
Christe, Qui, Splendor Et Dies


PSALMODY

Antiphon: Do not hide your face from me; in you I put my trust.

Psalm 143:1-11
Prayer in distress
Only by faith in Jesus Christ is a man made holy in God's sight. No observance of the law can achieve this (Galatians 2:10)

Lord, listen to my prayer:
turn your ear to my appeal.
You are faithful, you are just; give answer.
Do not call your servant to judgment
for no one is just in your sight.

The enemy pursues my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead, long forgotten.
Therefore my spirit fails;
my heart is numb within me.

I remember the days that are past:
I ponder all your works.
I muse on what your hand has wrought
and to you I stretch out my hands.
Like a parched land my soul thirsts for you.

Lord, make haste and answer;
for my spirit fails within me.
Do not hide your face
lest I become like those in the grave.

In the morning let me know your love
for I put my trust in you.
Make me know the way I should walk:
to you I lift up my soul.

Rescue me, Lord, from my enemies;
I have fled to you for refuge.
Teach me to do your will
for you, O Lord, are my God.
Let your good spirit guide me
in ways that are level and smooth.

For your name's sake, Lord, save my life;
in your justice save my soul from distress.

Antiphon 2: Do not hide your face from me; in you I put my trust.


READING           1 Peter 5:8-9
Be sober and alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion HYENA, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith.


RESPONSORY
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
 - Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
You have redeemed us, Lord God of truth.
 - I commend my spirit.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
 - Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.


GOSPEL CANTICLE            Luke 2:29-32

Antiphon: Protect us Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace.

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be for ever.

Antiphon: Protect us Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace.


PRAYER
Lord,
fill this night with your radiance.
May we sleep in peace and rise with joy
to welcome the light of a new day in your name.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.


BLESSING
May the all-powerful Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death. Amen.

Jesse Tree ornaments by Joshua

My son, Joshua, helped design these ornaments. He hand-burned our first set. I have not been selling them the last few years, but recently pulled them out, touched them up and prepped a set for showcasing.

The day he left this earth, Joshua had pulled out our Christmas boxes to get out the green ornament hooks - and the day before he had pulled out our small tree on which to hang them.

I finally got them together and they are available for sale. They can be in your mailbox in 2-3 business days if it's the only thing you order. Or in your hands within 3 hours if you are local.

Our Christmas season, as well as Lent and Easter sets will be available soon. Then I will work on adding the variations.

Jesse Tree Ornaments at Garden of Francis

Trolls: why they are the predominant species of Earth

Trolls: why they are the predominant species of Earth 

NOT a troll. 

“What is a troll?”, you might say after reading the title. Well, a troll is shaped like a man, but he’s a bit more than a man. He’s taller, by a great deal, which might seem like he wrecks everything he touch's, but in fact, trolls are actually gentle. You hear these vast and scary tales of “my family was killed and eaten by trolls”, but in fact the humans themselves started the fight by angering the trolls. If a man walks into your house and steals your wallet, you're going to want to get back at them. Back in the days when there was no government or police, they had to get it themselves. So the trolls walked over and got their “wallet” back. People tried to fight and so they retaliated by eating them. Sounds harsh but humans did much MUCH worse things back in the day was I was young... sorry, I digress. So trolls themselves aren’t harmful, such as not all humans are harmful. Just because there’s a troll in your backyard doesn’t mean he’s harmful, just like a baby isn’t harmful unless he’s starring in a horror movie. 

Now that you have firm solid grip on what a troll is, let’s explore why they are better.  Trolls are: 

• Gentle 
• Kind 
• Beautiful 
• Helpful to the environment 
• Helping animals not go extinct 
• Populating forests 
• Rich 

Now by this point most of you are probably laughing thinking, “there's NO way this guy can prove ANY of these points”, so let’s take a trip down the list and see what you think by the end of this paper. 

Trolls are gentle naturally, except when people intrude in their houses and try to steal their stuff or kill them. Most humans are gentle, except when an intruder breaks into their house and tries to take their stuff and shoot them. Any one of us would be enraged by that, and try to stop them by any means necessary. Sure, there’s rogue trolls, but there’s also rogue humans that try to kill other people.  

Kindness goes hand in hand with gentle. There are all these stories of trolls kidnapping human princesses but all they actually want is their head scratched. The water trolls will even give human girls heaps of riches if they scratch their head.  

Beautiful is all from a point of view. You might think a dog looks ugly, but to another dog, that dog is the best-looking dog that there ever was. From a trolls POV, y’all are ugly and their beautiful. Don’t go throwing around the term ugly just because they're not the same species as you. You wouldn’t call a dog ugly, so don't call a troll ugly, its hurtful y’all.  

Trolls actually help the environment and animals way more than we do, y’all. They don’t pollute the air with junk from nuclear power plants and all that, naturally. They also can use magic and turn different things into animals, preventing species from going extinct (not that they would be because trolls don’t track down and slaughter animals like we do with traps). They plant whole forests filled with gold and lakes and ponds, helping further the animal life. 

Trolls are enormously rich, due to all the digging they do. They don’t slaughter, maim and massacre every forest they come across just for some worthless paper dollar that blows away in the wind. Their money is much more secure and doesn’t harm the environment as much as we do. 

So now from all that info, you should be able to clearly see that trolls are the predominant species in this planet and all the other ones they’ve taken over. Have you ever wondered what the moon is? It's actually a troll that fell asleep one day for a VERY long time. You ever think you saw someone but then you find out no one's there? That’s actually the trolls taking over. Better watch out, they will be the predominant species soon. 

Bibliography: 

D'Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar Parin. D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls. New York: New York Review Children's Collection. 2000.
Knudsen, Shannon. Giants, Trolls, and Ogres. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications. 2010.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rough Draft from the Outline and Notes

Trolls, and why they are the predominant species of Earth 

What is a troll, you might say after reading the title. Well a troll is shaped like a man, but he’s a bit more then a man. He’s taller, by a great deal, which might seem like he wrecks everything he touch's, but in fact, trolls are actually gentle. You hear these vast and scary tales of “my family was killed and eaten by trolls”, but in fact the humans themselves started the fight by angering the trolls. If a man walks into your house and steals your wallet, your going to want to get back at them. Back in the days when there was no government or police, they had to get it themselves. So the trolls walked over and got their “wallet” back. People tried to fight and so they retaliated by eating them. Sounds harsh but humans did much MUCH worse things back in the day was I was young... sorry, I digress. So trolls themselves aren’t harmful, such as not all humans are harmful. Just because there’s a troll in your backyard doesn’t mean he’s harmful, just like a baby isn’t harmful unless he’s starring in a horror movie. 

Now that you have firm solid grip on what a troll is, let’s explore why they are better.  

Trolls are: 

• Gentle 
• Kind 
• Beautiful 
• Helpful to the environment 
• Helping animals not go extinct 
• Populating forests 
• Rich 

Now by this point most of you are probably laughing thinking “there's NO way this guy can prove ANY of these points”, so let’s take a trip down the list and see what you think by the end of this paper. 

Trolls are gentle naturally, except when people intrude in their houses and try to steal their stuff or kill them. Most humans are gentle, except when a intruder breaks into their house and tries to take their stuff and shoot them. Any one of us would be enraged by that, and try to stop them by any means necessary. Sure, there’s rogue trolls, but there’s also rogue humans that try to kill other people.  

Kindness goes hand in hand with gentle. There’s all these stories of trolls kidnapping human princesses but all they actually want is their head scratched. The water trolls will even give human girls heaps of riches if they scratch their head.  

Beautiful is all from a point of view. You might think a dog looks ugly, but to another dog, that dog is the best looking dog that there ever was. From a trolls POV, y’all are ugly and their beautiful. Don’t go throwing around the term ugly just because their not the same species as you. You wouldn’t call a dog ugly, so don't call a troll ugly, its hurtful y’all.  

Trolls actually help the environment and animals way more then we do y’all. They don’t pollute the air with junk from nuclear power plants and all that, naturally. They also can use magic and turn different things into animals, preventing species from going extinct (not that they would be because trolls don’t track down and slaughter animals like we do with traps). They plant whole forests filled with gold and lakes and ponds, helping further the animal life. 

Trolls are enormously rich, due to all the digging they do. They don’t slaughter, maim and massacre every forest they come across just for some worthless paper dollar that blows away in the wind. Their money is much more secure and doesn’t harm the environment as much as we do. 

So now from all that info, you should be able to clearly see that trolls are the predominant species in this planet and all the other ones they’ve taken over. Have you ever wondered what the moon is? Its actually a troll that fell asleep one day for a VERY long time. You ever think you saw someone but then you find out no ones there? That’s actually the trolls taking over. Better watch out, they will be the predominant species soon.