J.J. and the Angels

jbloustein — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:21:15 -0600

Boxes filled the bedroom.

We had only days to go before my daughter, J.J., and I had to move.

But I was having second thoughts. Downstairs, the front door slammed and J.J. called up to me. “Mama,” she said. “Guess what? I saw another angel today!”

A Little Luck

jbloustein — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:27:51 -0600

Here in Pecatonica, they call me the Angel Lady.

For 20 years I’ve made more than 15,000 lace angels for craft shows, friends and neighbors. My latest project, though, might just earn me a brand-new nickname.

Last spring, I spotted a perfect four-leaf clover in my yard. I took it as a sign of luck, and placed it in a magazine to dry out. But day-by-day, more four-leaf clovers sprouted around my house. This was more than luck. By summer’s end I’d collected 95!

From Dublin to Donegal

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:39:00 -0500

You know, a funny thing happens when you play the harp, as I have since I was a schoolgirl. People start to think of you as a kind of angel.

It must be all those familiar images of serene cherubs reclining on huge fluffy clouds, plucking softly at the strings of golden harps. And since I'm a singer, too—well, that just adds to the effect because we're so accustomed to hearing angels lifting their voices in song.

Angel Sightings

jbloustein — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:28:34 -0500

Bird Angel

My angel sighting was today, the first Sunday during Lent. On Sunday mornings before mass while my daughter attends her religious education class, I find a quiet chair in the meeting room to read my book.

Well today, a bird flew into the window right next to my chair, and jumping when I heard the noise, I looked up at the window. What I saw is in the picture, and the bird was ok!

—Yolanda Cullagh

Flying Through the Night

jbloustein — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:28:44 -0600

Ready to fly, girl?” I said, stroking the Arabian mare’s mane.

It was nighttime—pitch black. I’d just snuck out of the girls’ dorm at my boarding school. If I got caught I’d be in deep trouble. But sometimes a secret midnight ride on a horse, Sakie, pastured close to the school was the only way to clear my head.

At sixteen there was so much I couldn’t control. I felt somewhere in the middle of being an adult and a kid. Everyday life could seem downright scary.

Crossing Guardian

jbloustein — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:12:51 -0500

If any of you have ever suffered from migraine headaches, you will sympathize with Mary Anne Rodrigues of Bombay, India, who experienced them frequently.

“They usually started in the mornings at work,” she says. “I would have to leave the office immediately and come home, as I couldn’t bear light or noise, or concentrate on what I was doing.”

Healed of Breast Cancer

jbloustein — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:46:54 -0600

This story comes from a woman in New Hampshire: In 1987, this woman developed breast cancer.

After surgery and radiation a new lump appeared. It was now December 1988 and she was scared out of her wits.

She had a doctor's appointment for the week of Christmas. Dreading it, she prayed God to take care of her.

Fireball!

jbloustein — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:51:51 -0600

Every second mattered.

The blaze was less than two miles away, but it seemed like we’d never get there. Our fire squad barreled down the road. The siren screamed. My heart pounded inside my heavy turnout coat.

My job was to lead the charge into the blaze. The other men would follow. They were depending on me to deliver the knockout blow to put out as much of the fire as I could on my own.

My Mysterious Visitors

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:21:44 -0500

Last Christmas got off to a promising start. Alison and I and the children—two of our four were still living at home—had picked out a tree, and its lights were twinkling merrily in the living room.

I had lit a fire to take the edge off our raw English air. And then 12-year-old Matthew asked me a question that would have been perfectly natural in any other household: "Dad, would it be all right if I put on some Christmas music?"

"Of course," I said too quickly.

My Miracle Dress

jbloustein — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:20:41 -0500

Everyone expects the bride to be overwhelmed before the wedding. But sometimes the mother of the bride is too. When my eldest daughter, Christie, got married, my head was spinning with details.

By the time I thought to wonder what I’d wear, it was too late to find anything special. I wound up in a gold lamé dress, wrapped tighter and brighter than a baked potato in foil.