BLESSINGS FROM OUR JOURNEY: FAMILY, HISTORIC CATHOLIC CHURCH AND A REFUGE!

Good Morning, good morning! It is a beautiful day! Hello out there! I hope your week
is going well! My last post was about the wonderful blessings that happened during the
first couple of days of our trip. Today I want to tell you about some more of our neat
experiences. I ended my last post with Friday evening, April 1st.
Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the baseball/softball complex. It was
opening day and they were having a small parade. The teams and their coaches walking
from the school to the field, each team carrying their banner. These are the little league
teams, so you had children from probably kindergarten age to 5th, maybe 6th grade.
The team names were all great and the little ones who play T-ball, oh my goodness,
they are so cute! After each team was announced the kids were able to go and play
in the park area where they had jump houses, big slides, and carnival type games.
We stayed there until our granddaughter's game began at 1:30 p.m. Her dad is the
coach, so of course we were doubly proud to be there and watch! She is 7 and this is
the first season she has played, she is also the catcher! It was a great game, so much
fun to watch! We went out to eat afterwards and then went back to the house to visit.
Now I will move on to Sunday morning. We woke up early and got ready, we were
meeting the kids at the catholic church they attend so that we could all go to Mass
together. Mass began at 9:00 a.m. Jim and I loved being with our family at Mass!
After Mass, the girls showed us where they go to CCD classes. The older one will
make her First Holy Communion in May, we are very excited!
Next, we all went to eat breakfast and then it was time to head back west toward
home! We decided to stop in Praha to visit one of the old catholic churches that has
been undergoing renovations. St. Mary's Church of the Assumption in Praha, Texas
is a historically beautiful, amazingly designed catholic church. The paintings,
stained glass windows, statues and architectural design will just grab you. This is the
second time that Jim and I have been to visit this church. It is listed as one of the
Painted Churches. We arrived about 4:00 p.m. and the doors would not be locked
until 5:00 p.m. so we had plenty of time to look at everything. We both knelt down
to pray for a little while. Jim walked up to one of the shrines and lit ten candles, one
for each of our grandchildren. We walked back outside and went toward the grotto.
Jim said he wondered who had given Mother Mary the beautiful flower. I walked into
the grotto, the statue of the Assumption of Mother Mary is so beautiful and gives
you such a feeling of serenity. I noticed the prettiest, dark red rose lying right in the
crook of her arm. I laughed and told Jim that I didn't think he was supposed to pick
the flowers. He told me it was just one, the prettiest one out there, and he felt like
that was where it belonged. I couldn't argue with that logic! I'll attach the picture of it
after I finish this post. We got back into the truck and headed west once more. We
were only a few miles down the road when I asked Jim if we could stop and visit
Raphael's Refuge in Flatonia (which is only just a little further down the road). I knew
he was tired and just wanted to travel on but I really needed to stop there and so
we did! It had been almost two years since we first found Raphael's Refuge, and I
wanted to see how much more work had been done. We thought we might be the only
ones out there but were pleasantly surprised to see Midge, the amazing woman who
listened to God, and donated a large piece of her land for this wonderful place to be
built. She was saying good-bye to another woman when we walked up. I said hello
Midge, you probably don't remember us, but you know what? She did, she remembered
our first visit and gave us both a big hug. She was so excited to show us around. I will
have to share everything about that visit later on.
I will call it: Raphael's Refuge - Part 2
This is their website if you would like to look it up: www.RaphaelsRefuge.org
This is their mission statement:
To build and maintain a memorial in honor of babies, born and unborn.

- To provide peer counseling for those suffering a loss of a baby due to:

miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death, and abortion

I'm going to close with this prayer from Raphael's Refuge:

Parent's Prayer

for a Departed Baby

Holy Spirit, creator of life and love,

thank you for breathing life

into the soul of my baby.

Heavenly Father, thank you

for letting me play a role

in my baby's creation.

Lord Jesus, thank you

for my baby's love.

From my empty arms,

I place my baby into your arms,

to be held for all eternity.

Amen.

#catholicchurch

#paintedchurches

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