This past month has been crazy busy, hence, no blog postings since Pentecost. I didn’t share Bob’s last homily because although it was wonderful as usual, it was mostly about me. I figured you’ve been privy, at nauseum, to more stories of me than you ever wanted to hear. That man does love me! And I him!!! Thanks be to God that Bob Seith is my husband because I would have driven any other man completely out of his mind.
So, let me tell you what has been occupying my time. Migraines, painting, migraines, writing, and migraines and getting horizontal! But it’s my own fault, so I’m not complaining – I’m sharing. Keeping my head in one position for more than 5 minutes is a killer for me. That means working on a computer, reading, working on my art projects… KILLS my neck, spine and behind. BUT, sometimes a girl just has to do what she’s gotta do.
Let’s back up.
May 30th Bob and I had a camera man, producer, and editor here at our house from EWTN’s Living Divine Mercy show for a day of interviews and filming. They were very nice! What I thought was going to be a couple of hours of filming and interviewing became an entire day’s adventure. Again, they were so very nice. It began with them interviewing Fr. Chris while he was on the road to his summer assignment at IPF (Institute of Priestly Formation) in Omaha, NE. Then they were going to interview Bob but changed it up and they decided to interview me next. Did I mention, I’m NOT a morning person?! I start to come alive around 11:00am (on a good day) and this was not 11:00, nor a good day. They instructed me to only answer the interview questions in one or two sentence answers. What?! Is that even possible?!!! It takes me at least 5 sentences to say hello. But I tried. OY!!! Then, I got a bit panicked and asked for a 5-minute time out. I went to our home chapel, laid prostrate on the floor in front of the Blessed Sacrament and begged Our Lord to take over. “God, if this all stinks, it’s just going to make You look bad.” I joked to the Lord.
Then I returned for the interview. I have no idea how it went. They took hours of video so I’m sure they can patch something together to make the 8-minute piece tolerable. And of course, they have Fr. Chris’ part, Deacon Bob’s part, as well as my Physical Therapist’s interview. (Yes! They went with me to PT.) After the 8-hour adventure, my part was finished. The next day I woke with not only a blow-out migraine, but also with “I should have said this. Why didn’t I mention that? Oh, my goodness, why did I wear that shirt?” After all the navel gazing, I decided that I did my best, it is what it is, and it’s in God’s hands! For the One Who can move mountains, this is a piece of cake. Or God will use this experience to humble me – again. Time will tell.
One thing that was apparent to me throughout the day, was the producer’s interest and love of my pictures and poems in my children’s saint books, Cloud of Witnesses I and II. That made me really happy because I love the saints and I know that the kids that have my books are really enjoy them and learning about God’s holy heroes. I’ve been told on numerous occasions that kiddies keep the books under their pillow so if they can’t sleep, they can look at the pictures or read the poems which give them peace after bad dreams. Because my Cloud of Witnesses books are no longer in print, I asked my publisher if he thought we could do a 25th Anniversary Cloud of Witnesses book which would include all the saints and poems from both of my books, in English and Spanish, all in the same book. He loved the idea. Praise God! And the new and improved Cloud of Witnesses 25th Anniversary edition will be available on Amazon when the Living Divine Mercy show airs on August 2nd. I’ve taken the past month to brighten and cleanup some of the original paintings which is something I always wanted to do. There are a lot more colors available digitally now than 25 years ago, and I think I’m better at painting then I was way back then. The poems in this new and improved edition will also include some new saints as well, and longer poems for others – hence, the migraines. But seriously, so worth it! I forgot how much I LOVE painting the saints and telling their stories in rhyme!!!
The last little projects I’ve been working on were just fun. I co-designed a logo for my son, Logan’s new Youtube channel called Logan Percussion.
This video is ridiculous and this one is hysterical. Take a look and if you enjoy, then “like” and “subscribe”. My son is crazy!!!! And amazingly talented!
The last, but not least thing I’d like to share, is that a dear lady gifted us a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Sorrows which has a connection to Fr. Benedict Groeschel, who we knew and still miss terribly. Our family got to hang out with him at numerous conferences and trips back in our Biblically Correct days. Father used to play and do magic tricks for our kids when they were little. Bob and I were blessed to go with Fr. Groeschel to Alaska many years ago. Anyway, Bob and I agreed on a fiberglass niche that I could paint so we could give the statue a place of honor in our chapel. I never painted anything to look like faux marble before, but I think I have discovered my gift in life. Oh, my goodness, it was so much fun to paint this!!!
But it was so engrossing that I kept forgetting to take breaks every 5 minutes and once again, the cause of my head wanting to explode. I’m my own worst enemy! You’d think I’d learn.
Hopefully this bad spell will quiet soon, and my head and body will have a bit of time to rest and stop yelling at me. I’ll be back in the land of the living soon, I hope. I just heard from a friend recently, “We will have plenty of time to rest in Heaven.” Until then, we trudge on.
So, my friends, good things are coming. I’ll keep you in the loop. As usual, please keep the Seiths in your prayers. We truly run on grace!!!
Trudge on and may our good and faithful Lord bless you all!
Joni
Pain of Grace 