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Uplift Mark Benefit Fund - Journal

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Posted 2018-11-04T02:23:08Z

Mark’s Disease Update and Hospice Beware

Mark agreed to go under hospice care about 6 months ago. In the case of ALS, agreeing to hospice has more to do with access to home health care than having a limited number of days to live. Leaving the house has become a complex effort and therefore getting to doctors appointments in downtown Chicago has become impractical. He is now using a bipap machine 24/7 to assist his inhaling and exhaling. He does have a portable version of this machine, which is amazing.  He uses other devices throughput the day to keep his symptoms  at bay and is also dependent on his feeding pump. [...]

Posted 2018-06-30T04:20:00Z

BLOGS ABOUT NOT SO YOUNG ADULTHOOD, LIFE AND WORK IN MY 30's

Joy and Sorrow
 
 June 29, 2018
In the winter of 1997, we were completely surprised by God! Six years after Johnmark was born, Jan is pregnant!! Its a girl!! Abigail (which means father's joy) was born in July of 1998. Instant joy! I used to say that she was either gabby Abby or crabby Abby. She was by far mostly gabby. She brought great joy to her older siblings. She was her older siblings cheering section. If you ever needed an encourager in your life Abby would be your girl![...]

Posted 2018-04-11T02:38:00Z

Young Adulthood Blog Posts: Five Is Enough and I will Make You a Fisher of Men

Five is Enough
 
March 22, 2018

"Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world"
St. Teresa of Calcutta
 
When Jan and I were engaged, we gave our lives to God including our fertility. We took Natural Family Planning classes and found out that there was a safe effective way to plan out our family. It was safe for Jan with no extra hormones going into her body. It upheld God's plan for a one flesh union. It kept us always open to the possibility that our act of total self giving could be used by God to create a new human being. We just didn't know how God would use that power. We never sat down and figured out how many children. The cool thing about NFP is you can know the day each of your children is conceived.[...]

Posted 2018-01-20T03:24:00Z

Our Christmas Mass experience

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Click here for driving directions.

Our Christmas Mass experience will be remembered. Running late as usual, we sent the rest of the family ahead of us. We were further frustrated by the wheelchair not having enough power to climb the ramp into,the van, despite the fact that it had been charging all night. Abby and I pushed it into the van and Abby went to retrieve the portable charger. We drove to church, hoping to charge the battery as we traveled. However, when we arrived  the battery did not have enough power to leave the van. We sent Abby inside and Mark and I kept hoping that 5 more minutes of charging would make a difference. Time passed and eventually people began leaving the church. Below are pictures of God bringing beauty from ashes. Mark was able to receive Eucharist in the van, Father Parker came out to pray over him and our family gathered around to sing Silent Night. [...]