Hi! Sorry!

As it would turn out, I'm a horrible blogger. I don't even know if there is a point to me posting as I'm sure anyone who may have checked this before has given up on me. So sorry. The good news is I know that none of your lives revolved around my blog, so you most likely do not hate me for my absence. :)

Now I feel as though I'm required to update you on everything that's been going on in my life, but um, I think that's just too much. So how about some bullet points and a few pictures!?

-Life is good. Praise the Lord!
-I'm a little sick at the moment though. :(
-A prayer request: Baby Carrie (a friend's niece) just born on the 12th has Neonatal Hemochromatosis, a rare liver disease. Please pray for her and her family!
-Thanksgiving was wonderful! I spent time with my family - best dinner we've had yet! - and with my second family, the D'Angelo's. Good times all around and I am very thankful for all of my family and friends.
-I saw the movie Bella - so good. You should all go see it!!

How's that for bullet points? Lame? I know. I'm tired and should be in bed. But pictures are more fun anyways!

Let's go back to Halloween and share a few of my favorites:

First, the nephews... LP as Blade

Jaden as a lion..ROAR! (First Halloween!!)

and trick or treating w/ a few of the kiddos I nanny for - Veronica, Eleanor, and Madeline

Next, meet my boyfriend. I just did! His name is Andrew:

And here's a couple from the Marine Corps Ball!

And to prove he smiles and because it's my favorite, one more...

A final update on Gloria

September 21, 10:00 AM

Editor's Note:

Gloria Strauss, subject of The Seattle Times' "A prayer for Gloria" series, died this morning from complications of neuroblastoma. Reporter Jerry Brewer and photographer Steve Ringman are with her family and will be sharing more about Gloria online today and in Saturday's newspaper. Gloria's family posted the following statement this morning: "After a 4 year battle with cancer, Gloria received her miracle this morning, passing into our Heavenly Father's hands. Gloria's courageous battle has inspired us to deeper faith and has taught to love, suffer, and most of all pray. Let her short life of 11 years be an example to each of us as we walk through the days of our lives. "Gloria, you are a shining star, yes, a miracle for each of us."

I'm praying for Gloria's soul, but I already feel like I should be asking her to pray for me. Please keep the Strauss's, their close friends, and all who have been affected by Gloria in your prayers.

Where did August go!?

I feel like every other day I find myself saying, "What happened to this month!?" Time is really just flying by me! I'm trying to work on not being quite so busy ALL the time. I think maybe I've said "no" twice this past month! ...really, that's progress.

So here are a few updates from last month....

First, another Gloria article was in the Seattle Times last week. She really is an amazing girl who is putting up quite the fight by the grace of God. I also found another great video clip that talks about each member of the family: Nine Lives: Inside the Strauss House.

Next, my two friends Angie and Seth were married! The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun, too. Angie and Seth are not only great friends and wonderful people, but are such great compliments to each other. It was exciting to witness them taking their next step together in life. Congratulations to the love birds!

And for my final update, I spent a fun weekend away for Camp 4:12. It's a junior high leadership retreat through the archdiocese and it was a ton of fun. The location couldn't have been more beautiful and was definitely my favorite part of the weekend along with spending time with great friends! I was actually asked to attend as a representative of Holy Family, but I had the additional bonus of getting to hang out with the St. Vincent's group! Both Maryelyn and Brita were there (Congrats to Brita who is the new assistant youth pastor!) and we had a ton of fun rooming together in our oh so lovely cabin. And by oh so lovely I mean...seriously!? Here are some fun pictures from the weekend:

w/ Brita on the Kiwis!

the St. Vincent boys

So beautiful!

w/ Maryelyn and Brita

And to wrap up this post and start off the new month, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERRY! My oldest nephew is now 7 years old! Love you, LP!

"We're not denying that heaven could be possible"

Part 7 of Gloria's story has been printed in the Seattle Times this morning. Please continue to pray and may the Lord bless all of you today!

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Also, I would like to throw out one more intention that is near and dear to my heart right now. My grandma's skin cancer (on her face) has returned and she will go back in for surgery on Sept. 5th. Please pray for her comfort and healing. She is one amazing women! Her strength just floors me. She was the oldest of many children, raised 11 of her own, and then ran a daycare for years. My grandpa passed away about 35 years ago, while their youngest was just 12 years old. My grandma is now 86 and has fought a lot - knee surgeries and other leg problems, glaucoma (only sees out of one eye now), open heart surgery, and she has also seen three of her boys pass away. She is definitely part of the reason I have my faith and love our Lady so much!










I love you, Grandma!!

Carrie's Baby Shower!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to celebrate Carrie and Tom's new little one...what a fun time! I can hardly believe how quickly time has flown - it seems Baby Herring will be here before I know it! ...joined shortly after by Baby Mauss! Congrats to all!

I wanted to share a few pictures of the lovely ladies! (and I know, I know, I'll put them on facebook.)

The WWU Ladies! :)

Pregnant Ladies!!

Carrie & Me

Silly Girls :)

And they even look beautiful when they clean!

Stories, Updates, & a Video Slideshow

Jerry has put up quite a few entries on his online journal about Gloria. There are updates and quite a few emails that people have sent in, as well as an amazing audio slide show from one of their late night prayer sessions. (A link to this can be found on the journal page.) While I encourage you to check out the journal for yourself, there is one email I would like to share that I think really sums up what Gloria is all about.

I am Julie Carrick, a Catholic Recording Artist who lives in Scottsdale, AZ. I had the privilege of meeting Gloria a few years ago and as I learned of her condition, I brought a first-class relic of St. Philomena to the St. Philomena church and was humbled beyond words as I thought that I would help lead this church community to pray for one of their own in, somehow, a deeper way.

During the concert at the church, Gloria, without hesitation, held the reliquary that holds the small piece of St. Philomena's bone, and one by one people came forward to pray with and for Gloria.

As the concert was ending, I went to Gloria and asked her if she felt anything after the opportunity to pray with so many people for her healing and with the most precious smile she simply said, "It was really nice to pray for all their needs. I didn't get tired at all. Thank you for letting me pray for them with St. Philomena."

I was overwhelmed to realize that this beautiful child had been praying not for her own healing as I had suggested, but instead had prayed with each person who had come forward, for that 45-minute period of time, for their needs.

I know they were praying for her healing, but she was not at all thinking of her need, but of theirs. This child is truly filled with God's grace.

We will begin a novena here in Scottsdale, AZ, and I am sending a note to every person in our ministry database, to flood heaven with her intention and especially through the intercession of St. Philomena and Nicky Mailliard (a cancer patient from Scottsdale who died in 2005). For Gloria, and for her entire family, we ask our Lord Jesus to shower His richest blessing and fullness of healing.

In His Service,

Julie Carrick

Note: If you can't access the journal through the link or previous links, it is because they have moved the stories a few times. Usually you can find everything on the Seattle Times homepage now or by going there and clicking on local stories.

Reporter's Journal

www.seattletimes.com/gloria - "We're Not Out of the Water" (Aug. 4th)

Reporter's journal Jerry Brewer 12, 3:26 PM

Gloria's parents have been sleeping for the past fewhours. It's much-needed rest.

The latest news is that Gloria will be slowly weanedoff her numerous medicines because doctors want her tostart breathing on her own.

She's almost there right now. She's barely using herbreathing tube for support now. So the goal is to wakeher and take out the tube before the end of the day.

What's unknown, however, is what Gloria's pain andother symptoms will be like once she is out of this coma.

Family and friends here are obviously encouraged bythis latest news. The hope is that Gloria will get totalk with her family.

It's been interesting to see some of the family's supporters come together in the intensive care waitingroom. Some had never met before. I've been payingcareful attention to how people are reacting now thatthey're realizing how vast Gloria's support base is.

It's very uplifting to see these people, who've beenon the same mission for more than four years, united. And they refuse to give up, too.

Also, I have some information to pass along:

For those wanting to pray with others for Gloria, St.Philomena Parish's 5:30 p.m. Mass tonight would be agood place to go. A huge group of the Strausses' friends will be there.

After St. Philomena is in Des Moines.The address is: 1790 S. 222nd St., Des Moines, WA 98198

St. Philomena Parish's Mass at 5:30 p.m. today,they will pray the Rosary.

Also, there is a 24-hour adoration at the chapel just outside the church. People are gathering at all hours of the night to pray for Gloria there. Knock on the back door, and someone will let you in.

If there are any other prayer meetings, e-mail me at jbrewer@seattletimes.com, and I will post them in this journal.

August 12, 12:40 PM

Doctors are consulting Gloria's parents about her latest scans right now. Her condition remained the same overnight.

She's still in a medically induced coma. Let me add more explanation to her condition.

A CT scan on Saturday revealed the cancer has spreadto Gloria's brain. The way Gloria's father, Doug, understands it, a tumor burst in her head Saturday.That was probably the cause of her seizures.

Gloria also has a tumor on her left lung. Dr. Julie Park, her oncologist, also told the Strausses that Gloria's chest pain could be from cancer invading her heart.

Throughout her 11 years, Gloria has made some amazing medical rallies, but she is cornered like she has never been before. Park has told the family there's no way for Gloria to escape.

It's jarring to see her in bed with a respirator doingher breathing. Some close friends -- Theresa Brennan, Jeanine and Jessica Morley -- visited a while ago, andtheir faces expressed exactly what I felt.

It's hard to get over how quickly this happened. Just last Sunday, Gloria was healthy enough to spend then ight at a friend's house. Two nights ago, she was joking on the phone with Jason Prouty, one of Doug's best friends.

On Saturday, her parents placed a crucifix on Gloria's chest, and I couldn't stop looking at it. As the respirator filled her body with air, the crucifix would rise along with Gloria's chest. That image stays with me. The message of why she's suffering was right there, obvious with every breath.

Then I looked at a dry-eraser board in her room. It reads, "We're Here To Glorify God Through God."

Last night, after some arguing, Doug got permissionfor a group of about 20 to pray over Gloria. It was somoving. No dry eyes.

But I can't escape this feeling of helplessness. All people can truly do now is pray to God. The cancer hasher boxed in. She's in an intensive care unit thatallows little access. She's trapped in a building withsuffering children all around.

And so we continue to wait.

And wait.

And wait.