Merry Christmas!!

Hard Times Again

As some may know, my hours have been cut at work yet again. Earlier this year than in previous years. Only getting 26-32 hours a week, and I make less than $10.00 an hour.

I heat with an old electric furnace which not only is on it's last legs, but when I just now got home, is no longer working. It runs but no warm air, so apparently the blower is gone.

I have a high power bill once again, and since the rules for getting heating assistance and power bill assistance have changed, I no longer qualify for any help.

So once again, I would be extremely grateful for any assistance my readers might be able to provide.

I am going to be $183.00 short on the power bill (which must be paid by December 22, 2014), and it's going to take another $125.00 to buy a kerosene heater to get me by until such a time as I can get the furnace repaired.

I hate doing this, but I have nowhere else to turn, but to God and my blog's readers.

So thank you for your prayers and any other assistance you can provide.

God bless you all, and Our Lady keep you in her care.

Urgent Prayer Request -- Please Read -- UPDATED

UPDATE 12/15/2014

Just got very good news from my "daughter" Jackie. Everything is fine and she says that the "baby is perfect and moving around like crazy ". Thanks to all for your prayers! God is good!

END UPDATE

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Jackie R., a young lady I work with, has essentially "adopted" me as her dad, and really thinks of me in that way.

Jackie is about 3 months pregnant. Well, this evening, she called me at work from the hospital. She was bleeding and was taken to the emergency room.

The good news is, that the baby seems to be OK at this point. They were able to detect it's heartbeat. However, Jackie has to really take it easy until she can see her doctor on Monday, so that they can try to determine what is taking place.

I was the first person she called to tell what was going on, and she asked me to pray for her and the baby, and she asked me to ask my friends and family to also pray for them. Please also pray for her husband, as I know he is also worried. Jackie tries to play "cool and tough" but I could hear the fear in her voice.

So, I am asking all of you. Family...friends...acquaintances... both near and far... to please pray for Jackie, her husband and their little one.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (From Goffine's Devout Instructions)

December 8

On this and the following eight days the Church celebrates, with particular solemnity, the immaculate conception of the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, who, from all eternity, was chosen to be the daughter of the heavenly Father, the spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Mother of the divine Redeemer, and, by consequence, the queen of angels and of men. The consideration of these prerogatives convinced the most enlightened fathers and teachers of the Catholic Church that she was conceived immaculate, that is, without original sin. It is very remarkable that among the shining hosts of saints who have, in every century, adorned the Church no one wrote against this belief, while we find it confirmed by the decisions of the holy fathers from the earliest times. Pope Pius IX, forced, as it were, by the faith and devotion of the faithful throughout the world, finally, on 8 December 1854, sanctioned, as a dogma of faith falling within the infallible rule of Catholic traditions, this admirable prerogative of the Blessed Virgin. It is, therefore, now no longer, as fomerly, a pious belief, but an article of the faith, that Mary, like the purest morning light which precedes the rising of the most brilliant sun, was, from the first instant of her conception, free from original sin.

Read more by clicking here.