Red, White, and Blue in the Face!

No matter how many children she may have each mother who faithfully loves and cares for her children the best she is able is a candidate for canonization in my book. Included in this category of mothers are those who are mothers twice –  they raise their own children and then, for whatever reason, end up raising their grandchildren too. All around the planet we can find mothers and grandmothers, hard at work caring for homes and families and so many of them are doing it alone. Some, I’m sure, are operating solely on the grace of God, wondering how bills will be paid or food will be obtained. All around us, mostly “invisible” to us there are women who sacrifice their lives willingly for their families, who do anything for their families to ensure their well-being and to see that they grow up knowing a proper sense of “values”. For the most part these mothers have “a tough row to hoe” (as my great-grandmother would have said). The “civilized” world is pressing hard on the family these days — the cost of living is largely beyond the means of one income and those who need assistance in one form or another find the red tape and bureaucracy almost more than a human can bear. The devil is doing his best to tear the family apart and in the USA it seems as though he’s getting more than his fair share of cooperation.

One such mother, Kristin Luscia, is blogging about this at “11 On My Own” and the story she tells is nothing short of incredible. I could never begin to put up with what she’s put up with or persevere and she is persevering and against odds I cannot fathom. It would seem, reading her blog posts, that there is nothing going her way, nothing working in her favor, yet she continues to hang on — the photo in this post shows why. What a beautiful group of children.

I first got wind of this mother and her dilemma when she applied to have her blog listed on the Saint Blog’s Parish Directory, which I maintain. Normally I make a quick check of a new blog to ensure that it is what the applicant purports it to be — Catholic. I rarely have the time to spend much time on any one blog but I recall being mesmerized by the posts this woman wrote detailing the trials and tribulations of her and her children’s lives. I listed her blog and soon the memory was very faint. Then on the Tuesday, May 11th edition of Catholic Exchange I saw a book review entitled “11 On My Own” –  the recall was instantaneous –  this was a book written by the mother of 11 who blogged at the site by the same name! She had written a book! I immediately contacted her and asked if it would be okay to use the photo from her site in a blog post. She kindly said yes and here I am finally getting to it a few days later. In only 3 days time though her ex (she refers to him as “tbj”) has managed to threaten her publisher with a lawsuit and caused them to pull her book from sales. Incredible. Wherever this man is getting his money from it is clear that he’s willing to use his money to cause this mother as much trouble and heartache as he possibly can and is unwilling to use any of it in support of his family. This guy epitomizes the term “Deadbeat Dad”.

Kristin and many, many mothers like her need our prayers and support.