Hopeful Hearts Ministry

Non-profit

https://open.spotify.com/show/7quLRo8eZFbg7miyjF1D36?si=47dc2fdb1caa4d61
Neal and I rang in the New Year – the one I dubbed 'Year of Grace'

Every new year is a mystery and I went into this year with no expectations or even desire to try and find the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.  On 1-1-11 I dubbed this the ‘Year of Grace’ and that very week I found a journal with the title “Streams of Mercy Living in God’s Grace”.  Every year I buy myself a new journal and every year I have just enough space to write in the journal for the twelve months.  On the first page of this journal is the following quote:

“Our prayer and God’s mercy are like two buckets in a well; while one ascends the other descends.”

~ Mark Hopkins

In an effort to sum up what this year of Grace was like for me I decided to do it with pictures:

 

Who can forget the constant badgering to VOTE! After being nominated and chosen as a Top 5 Catholic Book of the Year it was left up to a vote from YOU…I was neck in neck with Patti Armstrong and her book on Homeschooling. Just short of 200+ votes I came in as runner up. What a blessing!

 

Five years of doing the Surfside Retreat for Young Adults. I love this retreat and I love Fr. Arthur Carrillo, the Passionist priest we've worked with every year.
Spring Break in San Antonio with the boys and running into the Pozzi family (dear friends from Kingwood!)

 

Barnes & Noble book signing in April
Losing our black lab, Rocky. We had to put him down at the end of April due to a sudden brain disease. He used to sleep in bed with Seth (as seen in this picture).

And by the way, that’s not a real gun in the picture! Nice, huh?  It’s one of those air soft guns… a boy, his dog and his gun. LOL 🙂

In June – my last day as a 'paid' employee at the church. I won't say my last day of working for the church because I will always serve my parish. 🙂

 

My 15 year wedding anniversary in Napa Valley, CA

Fifteen years with Neal (yes Grace abounds! 🙂 )…I am so blessed to have Neal in my life.  Without him I couldn’t follow God’s lead to do ministry work.  This is just as much Neal’s ministry and service to God as it is mine.

Living life on the edge (of a waterfall) in Tahoe…and being goof too! I'm a dork. 😉
First time trip to family cabin in Twin Lakes, CO with our friends the Whitley family…snow in July?? Who knew??

 

Independance Pass near the cabin in CO… shorts, snow, crazy and beautiful!
This is the main log cabin on the property…built in the 50's.

This was the first summer in five years that I have had time to take an extended vacation with my family.  As much as I missed being at the Steubenville conferences I sure did love exploring the Rockies!

Headed to Lourdes, then Avila and then Madrid, Spain for World Youth Day 2011 with 30 young adults!

I didn’t find out until April that I was for sure selected to speak at World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain.  What a crazy whirlwind and amazing opportunity.  God is so good.  The greatest gift was to head to Lourdes, France where St. Bernadette had her apparition.

Leading the procession of the rosary in Lourdes…candlelight vigil. A M A Z I N G (I'm in far right bottom corner, the back of me 🙂 )
This is what the candlelight vigil began to look like in the end as they made us gather to the middle of the courtyard. Some of our group were standing above and took this picture. They said there were over 250,000 people there that night.
What I've been waiting to see for quite some time now…and it was worth the wait! The GROTTO! May I have the faith of St. Bernadette…

I also did the baths of Lourdes…it was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I had no idea Avila was a city beyond walls…GIANT walls… this is a must see if you are going to Spain. Visit St. Therese of Avila's convent and the chapel.
The streets of Madrid for opening Mass! We were told by the end of WYD there were 2.5 million young adult Catholics there for the festivities!!
A moment I'll never forget…God answered a personal prayer of mine and then put me out in front of all of these pilgrims to spread His message of hope, survival and LOVE.

I had no time to prepare and I loved it!  There was no chance “I” could get in the way …it was all HIM!

By the end of the talk there were people from all over the world (English speaking) …this is the greatest blessing of WYD, being with our brothers and sisters across boarders.
The 'STEPS' procession we came across at 1:30am in Madrid…eerily fascinating…
The Madonna at the end of the Steps procession
After the 12 mile walk in 100 degrees and no water to the vigil site…still smiling!
My friend Candice after the long long day…the picture says it all. 😉

 

The sea of people at the WYD Vigil…

All in all the WYD trip was truly a pilgrimage…I learned a great deal about myself and about aspects of myself that needed to be worked on and changed.  It was after this trip that I found the ability to fully ‘let go’ of my expectations for each day and I put no expectation on tomorrow.  It is freeing…full of grace.

Speakng for the first time at the university I attended. This was a milestone for me of sorts…

Again another ‘event’ that took my breath away.  To go back to the place where I once felt so alone and in the greatest battle of my life and to be invited to speak on that very event AND be able to talk about my faith at the same time.

Awarded as one of the 50 Great Writer's You Should be Reading by TheAuthorsShow.com

That is it for 2011 for me!  I wish I had taken pictures of Christmas but I apparently was too busy enjoying all of the families I was surrounding myself with than thinking of photos.  One resolution I hope to follow for 2012 is to be better at backing up my blog with pictures as well.

I pray you enjoy these last two days of 2011!  Remember, God gives us 24 hours in a day, offer it up to Him and the opportunities are endless.

See you next year!

Blessings

Shannon