photos from Haiti

I have been wanting to share photos from Haiti, and Dr. Rachel English just sent me hers. Thank you Rachel! This first photo is of Dr. Madsen. (Just click on the photo below to see the whole album...)

Dr. Hofman Haiti Reconaissance Trip March '07

good guys finish first...

Today might possibly be the greatest day of my brothers' and dad's life. (Well, only after being almost the worst... which is saying a lot if you're a Brown's fan.) But the Browns did it and (in dramatic fashion that I thought was going to give my brother Jeff a heart attack) drafted Brady Quinn. For kids who grew up trading blue & gold on Saturday for orange & brown on Sunday, and who knew "Bernie, Bernie" and the Notre Dame Victory March before we knew our ABC's, this is a huge deal.The day got off to a rough start, but all's well that ends well in the land of the Irish Brownies. Jeff won't be quitting the
Pittsburgh Browns Backers , and Brady gets his childhood dream come true after all (and showed a lot of class in the meantime.) Looks like what Brady signed on my jersey back in October was the best advice after all, and it looks like I'll be digging out my orange and brown on Sundays again too...

We love you Brady!!

saint gianna

"With simplicity and equilibrium she harmonized the demands of mother, wife, doctor and her passion for life."

Today is the third feast day of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, a woman of deep faith, a wife, doctor and mother from Italy canonized by Pope John Paul II on May 16th 2004.

Gianna believed in the sanctity of life, and ultimately gave her life so that her child, Gianna Emanuela, might live. In 2005 Saint Gianna's daughter Laura came to the March for Life in DC and shared that this "was not an isolated act of heroism, it was the crowning of a whole life of sanctity as a physician, spouse and mother."

As the website dedicated to her explains:

Gianna made a heroic choice, but it was something her family members and friends testified she prepared for every day of her life. Her heroic virtue, genuine holiness of life, selflessness, and quiet joy remind all of us that God entrusts us with a personal vocation. Each and every day presents us with choices that have the power to prepare us to take heroic action whenever it will be called for. We can do that, however, only if we surrender ourselves and what we desire to God and His will for us.

Gianna herself said, "I have always been taught that the secret of happiness is living moment by moment and to thank God for everything that in His goodness He sends us, day after day." Moment by moment, day by day, one act of love at a time, this philosophy led to her sainthood.

So many (including me!) have already been inspired by her and someday I'd love to work in a medical clinic dedicated in her honor... we'll see what God has in store! In the meantime, I'll try to follow her example, thanking and responding to God one day at a time for the goodness He sends.

Saint Gianna, pray for us!

nice pass

check out this pass...

bluegold game....guestblog

while nicole is out visiting pitt for a second look weekend irish football was back in session here in south bend.

today was the first day we all got a chance to see the new "arms race" in action. so along with 51,000 plus of our closest friends we headed out to campus. while spring is in the air there was evidence of a definite changing of the guard as could be seen all around so after a quick photo op to help raise money for a local catholic school we headed on inside for our first view of what all the hype is about.

the game was full of familiar and new faces. lou and ara were guest coaches and charlie was given an membership to the monogram club for his efforts with the teams improved gpa. all and all it was a great time, perfect weather spent with great people.

the one to watch i think has to be junior jabbie as he by far had the best game, he won the offense mvp. lou's team won in a low scoring game and i couldn't even begin to guess who the starting qb will be this fall. the only low point, besides another mixed extra point was an injury to john sullivan hopefully it isn't serious. here are a collection of pictures from the game......

charlie, jr. and the jimbotron

the face of the new defensive coordinator

LOU!!!!!!!


jimmy and dd

the newest member of the monogram club (who knew John Paul II was also a member?)

equal time for the other qb candidates
Go IRISH!!!!!!!

honor your mother

A few years ago I had a chance to volunteer for the summer at Maggie's Place. I just received an e-mail about their Mother's Day campaign that I wanted to share. God bless you all!

"Honor Your Mother and all mothers this Mother's Day by making a gift in her honor to Maggie's Place, a home for pregnant women who are alone or living on the streets. Maggie’s Place has three homes in the Phoenix area, and serves more than 25 expectant mothers each year.

In acknowledgement of your gift of $20 or more you will receive a special Mother's Day card designed by one of the mothers at Maggie’s Place. This one-of-a-kind card can be sent to you by regular mail or downloaded from the internet. Your Mother’s Day donation provides our mothers with immediate needs of food, prenatal care, shelter and a loving community. Your donation also empowers our moms to improve their situation via health, goal-setting, education and employment. What a perfect gift in honor of your mother and all mothers who give the gift of life! Donate and obtain your cards online or call Maggie’s Place at 602-262-5555."

the exotic bomba

Tonight our women's prayer group from St. Pius celebrated Easter at a new Italian restaurant in town called Carmella's. It was wonderful! Dessert was the best... a few ordered "the magic square" which was kind of like a gourmet klondike bar. I had the "exotic bomba" which was passion fruit sorbet covered in a white chocolate shell drizzled with dark chocolate. Yum.

It was a great night with great friends & a great start to celebrating the 50 days of Easter. (I knew we were in good company when we saw
Fr. Hesburgh at a table on our way in.) Thanks Terry, Angie, Alli, Lisa, Beth, Theresa and Beth for a great night!

(My favorite picture of Fr. Hesburgh)

see the morning

Saturday night I attended the Easter Vigil at St. Pius X with Amy, Alli and Beth to help welcome Beth's good friend Stephanie into the church. The whole experience was very moving, and I was definitely struck by Fr. Bill's explanation that "easter" is a nautical term meaning "to turn east towards the rising sun." As those about to receive the Easter sacraments turned towards the east -- the place of the sunrise and of the light-- to profess their faith, the word "Easter" took on new meaning for me.

I thought more about this today, and of the connection with one of my favorite CD's "See the Morning", which Chris Tomlin wrote inspired by the idea that God's ongoing work is provoking new beginnings. As he explains,

See The Morning expresses the idea that God's as faithful as the rising sun. Though your life may be shifting all around you and it may be dark, there is hope... morning is an incredible symbol in scripture. Morning is brand new. It's fresh. It's new life. That while the darkness came and was for a while, light is breaking through into morning. That's the hope I want to help people grab with this album.

As he puts so beautifully, and I leave you with on this Easter Monday... "This is life’s resurrection by the hand of God: Dawn always breaks into morning over humanity’s dark night of the soul."

Have a beautiful day today, and a blessed 50 days of Easter.

See the morning!

Alli, Stephanie and me after the Vigil enjoying the snow!!

dream big

thanks to beth and allie for introducing me to my new favorite song...

nd on youtube

Notre Dame enters the world of youtube with a video about the Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease, of which the Haiti Program is a vital part.

Check out the other ND videos here.

restavecs

While in Haiti I was impacted greatly by the reality of "economic orphans." Basically, when parents cannot afford to feed their children, they are often sent away to work for a family in exchange for food and shelter. In reality, this situation often becomes a form of slavery, as the children live in conditions of grinding poverty, enslaved to their hosts. These children are called "restavecs" which comes from the French phrase "reste avec" meaning "stay with."

The BBC has just this week published a story on these children, Haiti's hidden child slaves.

My new Haitian friend Gary was once a restavec, and he is one of the most beautiful little guys you would ever hope to meet. I've heard the story of how Fr. Tom met him in the hospital in Leogane after he had run away from his life of this kind of slavery, and was hit by a car. After a year of living at the hospital, Fr. Tom took brought him home to the residence in Leogane, where he has lived since.

Jean Robert Cadet , a Catholic educator who lives in Cincinnati, has written an autobiography called Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American. I just bought the book, and would be happy to lend it to anyone who'd like to borrow it. Free the Slaves is a good site for learning more as well.