February 9th, 2013: Update On My Mami

The picture on the left is of Sofia & my mom taken in December, 2012 at the Olive Garden in Oxnard, CA.  

 What a difference two days make!  I can honestly say that my mami is the strongest women I know.

It was a real struggle for me to leave Oxnard on Wednesday night.  God was carrying me throughout my last 48 hours.  My husband, Mike, has been my bedrock.  Sofia my source of joy, smiles, and laughter.  My father, Rolando, has shown me the love, care, and dedication of God, as he stands by my mom.  My friends, Karen, Marie, Greg, Steve Herrera...the list goes on...have been tremendous in big and small ways.  My co-workers have been a God-sent.  The students at USC don't realize how much they are ministering to me, by just being themselves, while I minister to them.  If we are looking for God working in our lives, even in suffering, we don't have to look too hard to see and feel God's presence.  The challenge in seeing God in our lives, usually is ourselves.  God is so clearly present!  The struggle with suffering in our lives is and will always be counterbalanced by love, grace, and God.  Where there is sin [suffering], grace abounds (Romans 5:20).  

At the same time God was helping my mom recover. My mom was finally officially diagnosed with Guillian Barre Syndrome.  Today she moved her head back and forth, she kicked, she moved her arms, she opened her eyes a sliver, opened and closed her jaw, and with help she can sit up.  Wednesday before I left  I asked my mom to practice opening her eyes so that I could see her beautiful eyes on Friday when I came to visit.  As soon as I walked into the room she was thrilled, she started moving a lot, and she opened her eyes a tiny bit.  I cried with joy.  She had been practicing!  She still has a long way to go - her movements are not fluid and they are uncoordinated - but she is physically recovering.  Reading about the syndrome it seems as if she is recovering rather quickly.  My dad is convinced that my mom will be walking in less than 6 months.  Regardless of any time frame in my mami's road to recovery, it was so nice to see her personality shine through the syndrome.

Please continue to pray for my mami and family.  Your prayers, her inner strength, and God are amazing sources of life!

Comments

Unknown said…
Rosie, that is amazing. I'm crying too reading about her determination to open her eyes. Your mom has a great team around her.

My continued prayers for her continued recovery,

Andrea
February 9, 2013 at 5:31 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 23rd, 2020: My Reflections on Mass & the Eucharist during Covid-19

Image
I wrote this note to some of our USC students. I hope this message can also be useful to you during this time when there are no public Masses.  ______________________________________________ Hi all, Just want to share some of my reflections over this time of Covid-19 about Mass and the Eucharist. I am an avid daily Mass goer. Ever since I was in college, the Eucharist has been central to my relationship with Christ. There are times that I remember that the Eucharist was my sustenance, such as when I did a year of volunteer work with migrants in El Paso. I craved the Eucharist so badly during that year, that I found a way, whether I walked or used the community car, to get to the closest church for daily Mass.  This time of Covid-19 has been very difficult for me when in comes to my relationship with God in the Eucharist; simply because I do not have access to receiving the Eucharist. The night the Archdiocese, and then the staff at the Catholic Center, shortly after, dec
Read more

January 7th, 2020: Ministering from the Heart of God

Image
Last week at SLS 2020, a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) conference, I was asked to be part of a panel on ministering from the heart of God. On this panel we were asked to discuss how we, as professional campus ministers, continue to deepen our pursuit of God's heart in the midst of ministry. After the panel concluded several campus ministers asked me to give them the nine points I described while I was on the panel.   (1) Stay rooted in our identity as a daughter/son of God. I am in continual discovery of my relationship with God. It's like any relationship, we cannot know God fully, it takes spending time with Him on a continuous basis. When I reflect upon my identity as a daughter of God there are several instances that come to mind as my identity has been formed. When I was an undergraduate student at UC San Diego I entered university without an active relationship with God. Because of a friend's relentless invitation I decided to join her for Ma
Read more

Jan. 31st, 2011: Weddings...weddings...weddings...

Image
This last week I found out about three engagements! This summer, not including the three engagements, my cousin is getting married, a good family friend is getting married, and four former students (2 other weddings) I worked with are getting married! Weddings, for me, if the couple has discerned their relationship thoughtfully and prayerfully, are one of the most exciting and grace-filled moments one can experience in their lifetime. Honestly, I feel so blessed to have married Mike. He and I both dated some great people in our past...but none of them had everything that God had envisioned for us. There was always something within those relationships that left us both wanting more; something within us that was left untapped. We had to be patient and set aside our time lines to allow God to work within our lives. When we met in person, after a month of long emails and 2-3 hour phone conversations, we both knew that God had helped us to build a solid foundation for a deep faith-filled r
Read more