PathToHoliness

This past Friday during our Holy Hour at the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel, retired Bishop Martin Holley offered a reflection on “Caring for Family. This is one of the quarterly speakers we have been blessed to have speak out on the value of life. This is organized by the parish Veronica Guild Honoring Life.

Bishop Holley spoke about his family as an example for caring about the life of others. His parents had 14 children and his younger brother has suffered from a fall that paralyzed him. He needs help in a caring facility and Bishop Holley sees to his care every day. It was a very emotional talk.

He also said that “as the Catholic church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society, and this belief is the foundation of all principles of our social teaching.” He talked about how human life is under attack in the form or abortion, euthanasia and other issues and we should do everything we can as Roman Catholics to uphold the teaching of Jesus Christ. The scriptures are filled with these teachings.

Mother’s Day is past but Cindy and I visited my Mother and other local family where she lives that weekend. It’s a long drive but well worth the effort. Mother took us all to LongHorn Steakhouse after morning Mass. She insisted it was her treat although we were all ready to take care of the meal. We not only had a good time going to Mass and lunch but spending time at Mother’s house and my brother/sister-n-law’s house with some of their children. We don’t know what the future holds and after losing my Father it really made me think a lot about finding time to visit family. Cindy and I have family scattered in 4 states so it’s not easy or inexpensive to make trips multiple times of the year. But we believe God will take care of all that as long as we talk to Him and use the treasures we are blessed with.

For Father’s Day we will be making a trip to Nashville to see our children and 1st year old grand baby. And we will have more plans to see family during the rest of the year.

It was a happy family Thanksgiving at our house. Pictured with Cindy and me are the kids and grandkids, almost all with names that start with C. Chuck, Caitlin and Clint, Case and Cruz, Chelsea and Cove, Cindy, Carly, Charli, … and Doug. Not pictured: Pets – Croix, Chiara, Calypso and Limu Emu.

I am very thankful first and foremost for my faith in God and love of Jesus. But my wonderful wife, Cindy, is right at the top. We’ve celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary this year and hope to have many more. With Cindy we have three daughters that we love dearly and the grand kids as well. We’re scattered around the country along with other family members and friends so it makes it difficult for us all to get together. But we put in the effort and don’t regret it.

And, as you might imagine, we’re looking ahead to when we can visit again. Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us.

As my wife and I get older we are needing to spend more time with our parents. I’ve talked with a number of friends who are doing the same. In the last month Cindy has been able to spend time with her Mother who wasn’t feeling good. She’s much better now.

Neither of our parents live close to us so it is a long drive in opposite directions. I spent several days with my parents and other family members last weekend. They are pictured here after Sunday Mass.

We’re both finding out what we can and need to do for our parents. They are closing in on 90 and need help with house/yard maintenance, discussing end of life plans and I’ve been surprised that they are asking questions and looking to us to help find answers. Cindy and I are already making plans for our next visits.

On my trip last week I was able to visit my sister who is in assisted living due to several strokes. I had not seen her in more than a year and it just so happened that the week before we got there the facility started allowing people inside to visit. I went with my Mother and other sister. It was a wonderful and emotional time. I believe God answered my prayers that we would have a nice visit and be able to spend some time with her.

There are some challenges to overcome helping my parents like near total loss of hearing on my Dad’s part and just the physical shape they are in. As I’ve heard, “No one said it would be easy, but it would be worth it.”

It is easy to get caught up in my work or my own family which now includes grand children with a new one on the way. But I am making a commitment to help take care of my aging parents however I am able.

When you live in Florida and your grand babies live in Missouri you don’t get to see them very often or for long. Cindy and I used some airline miles to make the trip last week and spent some quality time which included touring Talking Rocks Cavern.

These young ones could care less about what’s happening in the world. They just want to play and ask lots of questions. And for us, we had a few days where we didn’t have to deal with all the things that have been challenging, like our business, staying upbeat, letting go of worry and a lot more.

We think it’s important to stay close to all our family, young and old. It isn’t always easy, especially since our family is scattered around the country. But we’re committed to continuing to find time to visit. And if we can’t be there in-person then we try to make regular phone calls to stay in touch.

I’m behind on this but better late than never.

For Mother’s Day we went to the beach. Cindy is pictured with our daughters and Caitlin’s babies. The girls all spent the night in a hotel room on the beach and the boys went home.

For this grand daddy it is amazing to see our little babies now having babies and already seeing them grow.

Another major event for our family in 2014 was the December graduation of our daughter Carly. Carly graduated with a doctorate in physical therapy so she’s now Dr. Carly Zimmerman!

We can’t be more proud of Dr. Carly who not only followed through on the extra years of university but in the field she is most interested in. She also has her first job in Missouri where she wanted to be. How often does that happen?

So, right now Cindy and I are waiting on grandson number two and kind of wondering what else God has in store for us in 2015. We’re working on making some changes in our business and praying that we make good decisions.

In November last year our youngest daughter, Caitlin, got married to Clint Underwood. I’m still getting used to Caitlin Underwood!

Pictured is the priest who performed the Mass and wedding along with Caitlin, Clint and Cruz Baby. They were married in a beautiful chapel on the beach in Cancun. The Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel at the Grand Caribe Real was a perfect and unforgettable setting for the wedding.

This was just one of the big events in our family in 2014. But we had another one in December I’ll share next.

It seems like yesterday Cindy and I made the trip to Missouri to see our new born grandson Cruz. His parents Caitlin and Clint and other family members were all there too.

Now Cruz Baby is one year old and Cindy and I are traveling up to see him at his Saturday birthday party. This little boy is showing lots of early signs of needing a modeling contract. What do you think?

Now Caitlin is expecting another boy so we’ll soon have two grandsons and more reasons to do some extra travel!

This year has started off with a bang for us. First of all, our daughter Caitlin, pictured on left, got engaged to her boyfriend Clint. Clint is holding Cruz Alexander Underwood. Cruz is Caitlin’s baby who arrived in the world last week! So, Cindy and I are now grandparents.

We traveled to Missouri to see the family and went to Mass with them in Ozark, MO this weekend. It was the first one for baby Cruz. To our surprise Bishop James V. Johnston, Springfield/Cape Girardeau, celebrated and conferred Confirmation on 12 young folks. Afterward he said a blessing over Cruz. Now that was very special and very cool.

Here’s a Merry Christmas to you. My family, minus one daughter who is near term for her first baby, posed after Christmas Mass at St. Gregory Church in Plantation, FL. We had hope to get their beautiful nativity scene in the photo but that didn’t work.

Hopefully you are enjoying the end of the year with family and friends. It should be a great time to relax and thank God for our blessings as we get ready to embark on another year. Too many people get all uptight though.

Please remember that January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and a holy day of obligation.

One of our Godson’s, Luke Zimmerman, received the sacrament of Confirmation last week. He is the son of my brother who lives in Georgia. We got to go spend a few days there after making it up in time for the Mass. Bishop Zarama of the Atlanta Archdiocese was there and gave the Confirmation class a great homily. Here’s a quote that Chelsea wrote down.

The most important decision you make in life is to be yourself. That is, be the person God made you to be. –Bishop Zarama to my cousin’s Confirmation class

Congratulations to our daughter, Chelsea, for becoming the Editor-in-Chief of Catholic Lane.

Here’s an excerpt from her blog.

As you may recall, I have been as associate editor at Catholic Lane for the past year and a half or so, managing the Life Issues and Bioethics section. Sadly, my former editor-in-chief — and CL founding editor — Mary Kochan has been forced to step down due to increased disability in her hands and she graciously asked me to take her place. It seemed like an opportunity that I would be a fool to pass up. I pray that I am up to this challenge.

I love going to Georgia for work. It gives me the opportunity to see some of my family. My brother and his family live east of Atlanta as do my parents. He and his wife took off for a night while I was there. So I got to spend time with this group of nieces and nephews. We cooked hamburgers on the grill and went to see a movie together. We saw The Big Year btw. I really hoped it would turn out to be okay for all of them to watch and it was. It is not at all what I expected out of a Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson movie. The soundtrack was awesome and if you like birds this is a must see movie. That’s all I’ll say about that.

I was in Georgia to attend the Sunbelt Ag Expo, doing some work for one of my clients, New Holland. You can see some of the interviews and other multimedia content I produced on the New Holland Boomer 555 Contest blog. This is a special promotion that’s being driven by social media and my company is handling it for New Holland.

I’ll be back on the road this week. It’s pheasant hunting time! I’ll be heading to South Dakota for an annual trip with some of my friends and clients. I will definitely have photos to share later.

If you want to become friends on Facebook you can find me here.

A week ago this morning I got notice that a good friend of mine, Derry Brownfield, had passed away. It was a shock to say the least. My life has been made better by knowing him. Here’s a link to my work blog post that I did when the call came in. I worked with Derry and traveled a lot of miles with him during that time. We spent a lot of time together on those trips, at his cabin, riding fence and checking cows.

This week Cindy and I attended his funeral and then went to the Bury Derry Day Party with his family and friends. He always talked about that day with that name btw. We laughed, cried and drank too much scotch. And I’m glad for that opportunity. He has a great family too. And speaking of family, I felt like part of his family. I heard a number of people who thought of him as a mentor or even father figure. I am in that group. He had a BIG family!

At this funeral, Bob Priddy, Missourinet, did the eulogy which is a wonderful recollection of his life and I’m sharing it here since it was recorded.

So, I’ll say goodbye now to you Derry. You’re always going to be in my prayers. I hope to see you on a happy trail someday.