a day to remember

Today as a med student I was blessed to witness something truly miraculous... the birth of a child. No matter how many times this may happen in my career ahead, I think I will always remember this day. My favorite part was when the dad first saw his little girl. I think I can describe it best by saying that I watched a man fall in love. So, so beautiful. (And yes, I cried :-)

Have a beautiful day, and a wonderful weekend! I know I'm looking forward to it-- I'm heading to San Francisco for my good friend Micheal's wedding. Can't wait!! The bonus is that I get to see my sister (and her awesome dog Marlo) too. See you soon Christy!! I'll take lots of pics, and 'see' you all again soon. Much love~

a few pics

i just wanted to say hi and share a few pictures from the past few months that i've been meaning to share. (from time at nd, easter, med school formal, etc.) thank you to all of you who fill this world with such love and beauty... i hope you all have a blessed day today!

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." -g.k. chesterton

happy mother's day!

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers... especially mine!

"Mothers of children, even if they have a thousand, carry each and every one fixed in their hearts, and because of the strength of their love they do not forget any of them. In fact, it seems that the more children they have the more their love and care for each one is increased." -Saint Angela Merici

communion

I am taking a quick study break, just to share something that has been on my heart very much so the past few days, especially this morning.

Today is a glorious day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear blue, and as I drove up to ND to head to the library for a day of studying, I couldn't help but think about the letter I received yesterday from one of my dearest friends who is in her first year of formation with the Religious Sisters of Mercy.

Two of my closest friends are religious sisters, and this has no doubt been one of the most significant aspects of my life the past few years. (The other friend is with the community of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus.) The longing and the ache of missing these dear friends (and so many others I am often far from) is so real to me. So many times I long to hear their sweet voices, to talk with them, to be in each others' presence, to share our lives, to learn, to grow, to cry, to laugh together...

But... as my sweet friend reminded me in her letter that arrived yesterday, the reality of the spiritual communion that we share in the Body of Christ is stronger than any bond we ever could have otherwise.

The truth is that these two sisters are teaching me that the longing I feel is for something eternal. The reality of feeling closer to them now than ever before (despite not being able to see or speak with them) is such a mystery to me. I enter humbly more deeply into the mystery and the reality of the Body of Christ through the living example of these two women. And when I am at my best I'm able to see through the ache of missing them a light that points towards eternity.

As one of these two friends described so well (and I wanted to share with you today) our 'meeting place' now is in the heart of Christ as we meet at the table and see each other in the Eucharist. I'll let you hear it in her own words. And, of course, the song...





God bless you and I'll
see you in His heart,
nicole

"Yours"

The song on my heart these days...



"My life is Yours. My heart is Yours. My hands and my feet ~ Every song that I sing ~ It's all Yours ~ All is Yours ~ All belongs to You. Our gifts are Yours, God. All our dreams are Yours, God. All our plans are Yours, God. The whole earth is Yours, God..."

for your consideration

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

-Edmund Burke

I would like to take a moment to make all who read this blog aware of the April 9th deadline to submit comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the impending removal of conscience protections for healthcare providers.

In December 2008 the Department of Health and Human services finalized a rule that "forbids discrimination against healthcare professionals who exercise their conscientious rights related to participation in certain controversial medical procedures--most notably, but not limited to, abortion and sterilization." (freedom2care.org)

This rule is about to be overturned.

Bottom line is healthcare providers will lose the right to refuse to participate in acts violating their consciences and face consequences that would follow if they do so.

Please consider writing now to ask the Administration to retain the regulation protecting conscience rights. Comments will be accepted until April 9th, 2009 at http://www.freedom2care.org/.

It takes just moments to register a comment, and comments are welcome from all citizens concerned about this threat to conscience.

A copy of the document from HHS outlining the conscience protection rights that will be overturned is available at the Freedom2Care.org website under the tab "Learn." There are 5 current conscience provisions that will be rescinded. You can read all five at the above mentioned website, and I am listing three of them here:

1) The first conscience provision provides that “[t]he receipt of any grant, contract, loan, or loan guarantee under [certain statutes implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services] . . . by any individual or entity does not authorize any court or any public official or other public authority to require”: (1) the individual to perform or assist in a sterilization procedure or an abortion, if it would be contrary to his/her religious beliefs or moral convictions; (2) the entity to make its facilities available for sterilization procedures or abortions, if the performance of sterilization pro cedures or abortions in the facilities is prohibited by the entity on the basis of religious beliefs or moral convictions; or (3) the entity to provide personnel for the performance of sterilization procedures or abortions, if it would be contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of such personnel.

2) The third conscience provision prohibits discrimination against any physician or other health care personnel in employment, promotion, termination of employment, or extension of staff or other privileges “because he performed or assisted in the performance of any lawful health service or research activity, or because he refused to perform or assist in the performance of any such service or activity on the grounds that his performance of such service or activity would be contrary to his religious beliefs or moral conv ictions, or because of his religious beliefs or moral convictions respecting any such service or activity.”

3) The fifth conscience provision prohibits any entity that receives a grant, contract, loan, or loan guarantee under certain Departmentally implemented statutes from denying admission to, or otherwise discriminating against, “any applicant (including for internships and residencies) for training or study because of the applicant’s reluctance, or willingness, to counsel, suggest, recommend, assist, or in any way participate in the performance of abortions or sterilizations contrary to or consistent with the applicant’s religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Thank you for reading this, and for considering the urgent need to act on this matter. For more information, please visit http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/index.shtml

where i've been...

hello everyone!

i just wanted to write a little note to let you all know where i've been lately... my medical board exam is coming up on april 28th, so i've been spending most of my time the past month preparing for it.

i'm now back in south bend for my last month of studying... so far so good here. it is nice to be back.

you all are in my thoughts and prayers!

love,
nicole

"Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold."
-zelda fitzgerald

stand by me

From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music," comes the first of many "songs around the world." Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe. Film soundtrack and DVD in stores on 4.28.09.

Check out Playing for Change: Peace Through Music for more info, more songs, more videos....

introducing....

Dominic Christopher!

This beautiful little guy is the first child of my dear friend (and former roommate!) Amy and her husband Bryan. What a lucky little man to have such awesome parents!!

He is just as sweet as can be, and too cute not to share. Welcome to the world Dominic. We are so blessed that you are here!

'i saw what i saw...'

"May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to his call..." -St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapter one verse eighteen

leaning from my saint for the year...

Happy Feast Day of Saint Joseph today and CONGRATULATIONS to Amy and Bryan on the birth of their son, Dominic!

amazima

I know I've posted about this before, but I want to share it again for anyone who might not have seen the previous posts.

The blog of 20 year old Katie Davis -- The Journey-- of her life and work serving children in Uganda is a story like no other. I've also recently been following the blog of a team of people who are Joining the Journey.

Amazima Ministries is the organization she has founded. Her story is amazing, as are the stories of the children that she serves.

Have a blessed Sunday!

the other news about stem cells...

I receive a daily e-mail update from the American Medical Association, and this was the headline news as of March 2, 2009. (This news may have been a bit overshadowed by the other news about stem cells that broke a week later.)

Scientists may have created promising alternative to embryonic stem cells, studies indicate.

The Washington Post (3/2, A5, Stein) reports that two teams of scientists "have developed what appears to be a safer way to create a promising alternative to embryonic stem cells." The work that is being detailed in two Nature papers is expected "to have a massive impact on this field." It also "comes at a politically sensitive moment" -- the scientific community is "anxiously waiting for President Obama to follow through on his promise to lift restrictions on federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells." Some who oppose "such a move immediately pointed to the work as the latest evidence" that an alternative is plausible, making the issue a moot point.

For years, scientists have scrambled to develop ways to generate "stem cell treatments without using embryos," BBC News (3/1) added. "In 2007, teams in Japan and the US managed to genetically modify skin cells to be pluripotent." These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) were to become "a new source of stem cells for use in research." But "the technique used viruses to genetically modify the cells." This "Trojan horse" method, according to AFP (3/2), essentially "modifies their DNA in such a way that they cannot be given to patients without boosting the risk of cancer." Now, researchers have found a way to circumvent that problem.

In fact, "the teams in Edinburgh and Toronto had been working separately on iPS cells, until Andras Nagy from Toronto had a chance meeting with Keisuke Kaji, head of the Edinburgh group," the UK's Financial Times (3/2, Cookson) points out. "They found that each had independently solved half the problem." Dr. Kaji's team "discovered how to deliver the four crucial reprogramming genes without using a virus," while Dr. Nagy and his lab mates at the Mount Sinai Hospital were "able to remove all trace of the added genes from the new iPS cells, which avoids disrupting the cells' own genetic machinery."

They were able to do so by using "a snippet of DNA from, of all things, a cabbage looper moth, which delivers the genes needed to reprogram cells into stem cells," the Canadian Press (3/2) reports. More specifically, the "team used a jumping gene, a mobile piece of DNA also known as a transposon," the Globe and Mail (3/1, McIlroy) added. Apparently, "in moths, corn, and other species, these genes hop from chromosome to chromosome, inserting themselves randomly into the genome." During the current experiment, the team "inserted the four reprogramming genes into a jumping gene from a moth," and later "put the jumping gene and its cargo into a skin cell." Eventually, the "jumping gene cut and pasted the stem cell genes into a chromosome in the skin cell. The scientists were then able to coax the skin cell back to its embryonic state, giving it the superhero-like ability to turn into many types of cells."

And, "once the genes had done their job, the scientists removed them, leaving the cells healthy and intact," the UK's Guardian (3/1, Sample) added. A member of the "lobby group Comment on Reproductive Ethics" maintains that there are "some scientists who like to hold on to what they've got, but" she doesn't "think people are going to waste time on embryonic stem cells any more."

Similarly, scientific "experts say the elegant discovery will quickly be adopted by labs around the world and will accelerate further advances in biology's hottest field," according to the Toronto Star (3/1, Ogilvie, Hall). Alan Trounson, "president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine," said, "It's a very innovative way of delivering the gene products that are needed for reprogramming adult cells into embryonic stem cell-like cells. Well done to the Nagy group."

To recap: Induced pluripotent stem cells (created from genetically "reprogramming" an adult cell back to its pluripotent stem cell stage) were first produced in 2006 from mouse cells and in 2007 from human cells. As of this month, safer methods of this technology have been discovered.

Why is this significant? "Scientists have demonstrated that they can reprogram ordinary human skin skills into pluripotent stems cells which will not cause tumors or rejection. There are several ethical stem cell research alternatives that already have successfully treated thousands of patients. By using adult sources of stem cells (including umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid and placental sources) it has been possible to treat, and sometimes even cure, numerous maladies and pathologies, from spinal cord injury to cardiac disease, pediatric brain tumors to cerebral palsy, to the widely-known successes in blood diseases." -National Catholic Bioethic Center

I was very struck by two OpEd pieces today, one in the Washington Post and one in the L.A. Times, that discuss recent decisions by President Obama regarding embryonic stem cell research. Mr. Krauthammer (the author of the Washington Post piece) sat for five years on the President's Council for Bioethics which he explains "consisted of scientists, ethicists, theologians, philosophers, physicians -- and others (James Q. Wilson, Francis Fukuyama and me among them) of a secular bent not committed to one school or the other."

As a member of the council he had "long argued... that, contrary to the Bush policy, federal funding should be extended to research on embryonic stem cell lines derived from discarded embryos in fertility clinics." He now, though, believes that the new executive orders have gone too far. What drives his reaction? I think it makes for an interesting read.


Okay, I must get to the library.... time to study biochemistry. If you'd like to know more about the Catholic Church's response to embryonic stem cell research, I can recommend a few resources:

Declaration of the Production and the Scientific and Theraputic Use of Embryonic Stem Cells
Practical Problems with Embryonic Stem Cells
Adult vs. Embryonic Stem Cells Educational Video

"If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough." -Dr. James Thomson, the pioneer of embryonic stem cells

Emmanuel's Gift

If you are going to rent/buy/watch one movie this year please consider this one...




Emmanuel's Gift.

I just watched it and am speechless.

Gift yourself the gift...


Also... regarding the last post (the one below)... I humbly ask for your prayers for this man. (Please pray especially on March 19th if you can.) Thank you.

"The ultimate measure of a man or woman is not where he or she stands in moments of comfort and convenience; It's where they stand in times of challenges and controversy." - Osagyefuo Amoatio Ofori (Akyem Abuakwa, Ghana)

"Any country that accepts abortion is the poorest of the poor."
-Mother Teresa

Today (Wednesday) at noon there is going to be a presentation at the med school on first and second trimester abortions. I did some research on the presenter tonight, and found his testimony from 2004 when he testified on behalf of Planned Parenthood in their attempt to overturn the ban on partial birth abortions. (Planned Parenthood vs. Ashcroft, April 6, 2004.) (Warning: it's graphic.)

Excerpts from Government's cross-examination:
DAY FIVE: Tuesday, April 6, 2004

Q. Now, you have encountered situations in which you are performing a D&E and the fetus is removed intact except that the head of the fetus gets stuck at the internal cervical os, correct?

A. Correct.

Q. When that has happened you have preceeded with the D&E procedure in one of three ways, correct?

A. If you can tell me the three ways I would be happy to.

Q. One method would be to pull on the baby so that the head breaks off from the rest of the body; is that right?

A. Yes.

Q. And then, you will go inside the uterus with the forceps and remove the head?

A. Correct.

Q. The next method is that you would use scissors to puncture the base of the skull?

A. Correct.

Q. And then, you will stick a suction cannula into the opening and drain the brain tissue, and then you will have the head come out.

A. Did you say "Drain the brain tissue"?

Q. Then, you will drain the brain tissue?

A. Yes.
~
Q. And the third method is that you take a crushing instrument, put that instrument inside the cervical os, crush the baby's head, and pull the head through the cervix, correct?

A. That would be the third possible, although physically that would virtually never be the case. It
would be one of the first two. Those are my three options, but it would be one of the first two that I could realistically do.
~
Q. Doctor, if a woman's cervix was so dilated the fetus could be delivered in intact it would not be necessary to collapse the skull because the fetus could pass through the cervix, right?

A. Correct.

Q. But you would not allow the fetus to pass intact if the fetus were at or about 24 weeks in gestation, correct?

A. Correct.

Q. Because if the fetus were close to 24 weeks, and you were performing a transvaginal surgical abortion you would be concerned about delivering the fetus entirely intact because that might result in a live baby that may survive, correct?

A. You said I was performing an abortion, so since the objective of the abortion is to not have a live fetus, then that would be correct.

Q. In your opinion, if you were performing a surgical abortion at 23 or 24 weeks and the cervix was so dilated that the head could pass without compression, you would do whatever you needed to do in order to make sure that the live baby was not delivered, wouldn't you?

A. Whatever I needed, meaning whatever surgical procedures I needed to do as part of the procedure? Yes. Then, the answer would be: Yes.

Q. And one step you would take to avoid delivery of a live baby would to be to deliver or hold the fetus' head on the internal side of the cervical os in order to collapse the skull; is that right?

A. Yes, because the objective of my procedure is to perform an abortion.

Q. And that would ensure that you did not deliver a live baby?

A. Correct.

We have good reason to hope and to pray for conversion...

"A number of abortionists have converted to pro-life activism since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. The most famous such convert is Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of the abortion lobby NARAL. Nathanson renounced his abortion practice in the 1970s and subsequently converted to Catholicism in 1996." -Human Life International

(Read Dr. Nathanson's powerful testimony)

WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

happy birthday mom and aunt lisa!!

Hi Mom,

I know you're my most faithful blog reader, so I hope that you see this on your birthday today...

Happy Birthday!!

I'm so glad that I was able to come home this weekend to celebrate your and Aunt Lisa's birthday. I hope you have a great day today, and a good week ahead too!! Talk to you soon~

love,
nicole

the birthday girls :-)

leaven

Last night at mass I heard a Gospel story -- Mark 8: 14-21-- that I don't recall ever hearing before. This passage occurs immediately after the multiplication of the bread and fish, and picks up as Jesus and his disciples get into a boat to head to the other shore...

"They (the disciples) had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. He (Jesus) enjoined them, "Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"

They answered him, "Twelve."

"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"

They answered (him), "Seven."

He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

As many times as I have heard the story of the loaves and the fish, I don't ever remember hearing what happened immediately after. I can almost picture the disciples looking at their one loaf of bread, and looking around at one another-- hungry and wanting something to eat. They had just helped to feed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish, and now here they are with one little loaf to share among their boat.

And Jesus says, "Watch out. Guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod..."


Hearing this Gospel made me think of the lesson that my dear friend Amy teaches as a catechist to illustrate the parable in Matthew 13:33, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
In front of the children she mixes two batches of bread dough-- in one batch she adds a small amount of yeast. Over the course of the next few hours the children watch one loaf begin to rise and learn the lesson of how the smallest amount of leaven will effect the whole batch of dough.

The point seems to be that the 'bread' of our lives will rise in some fashion, according to the leaven that has been added. This is (I think) why Jesus tells the disciples in this rather ordinary moment as they face the reality of their hunger to guard their hearts against the wrong kind of leaven. Yep, although the smallest decisions and influences might seem to disappear into the overall story of our lives, they are in a powerful way mediating an effect that will be known in time. For better or for worse.


This morning when I woke up I had an e-mail waiting from Mrs. Skorich in which she shared with me a reflection from a devotional book "The Word Among Us" on yesterday's Gospel that helped me to understand this even more:

Twice the disciples had witnessed, twice participated in, a miracle of multiplying bread and fish (Mark 6:34-44; 8:1-10). Twice did they see Jesus satisfy everyone's physical need for food and spiritual need to know God's love and provision. Twice did they see the abundance: more bread and fish was left over than when they started. So why were they now concerned that they had only one loaf of bread?

Jesus must have confused them when he warned against the "leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15). What did those people have to do with the disciples' lack of bread? But Jesus knew that the issue wasn't a lack of bread. It was a lack of faith. Having seen two miracles in which Jesus provided for so many people, the twelve still couldn't believe that he would take care of them.

Somehow, the doubts, cynicism, and skeptical attitudes of Jesus' enemies still had inroads in the disciples' minds. Like yeast in bread dough, these attitudes threatened to expand and take over their ways of thinking. And so Jesus reminded them once more about how good he is and how eager he was to care for their needs. In effect, he was cautioning them against having too narrow a concept of what God can or wants to do.

We face a similar challenge today. Every day, we have the privilege of witnessing one of God's most amazing miracles, as plain bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Every day, we have the opportunity of being fed--nourished and sustained--by the heavenly food of the Eucharist. And yet despite this amazing truth, we still find the philosophies of the world "leavening" our minds. "Maybe God doesn't really love me all that much," we think. Or "Maybe I'll be happier if I focus only on myself and don't worry about the needs of others."

Don't fall into that trap! Today in prayer, call to mind all the ways God has worked in your life. Think about the way he comes to you in the Eucharist, always feeding you and lifting you up into his presence. He really will take care of you. He really will provide for you.

Father, fill me with your love today and carry me close to your heart. Open my eyes to see how you provide for me. Help me to see your abundant goodness all around me."


God bless you all today!
love,
nicole

a special b-day wish...

Happy Birthday Sister Rose Therese!!!

"I take delight in the day when we shall celebrate in the heavenly city."
-St. Therese of Lisieux

"Birthdays keep us childlike. They remind us that what is important is not what we do or accomplish, not what we have or who we know, but that we are, here and now. On birthdays let us be grateful for the gift of life."

- Henri Nouwen

congratulations beth and josh!

I've shared this the past two years, and can't let the day pass without sharing it again...

"For God so loVed the world,

That He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
That whosoever
Believeth In Him
Should Not perish
But have Everlasting life"
- John 3:16

I also thought that today would be a perfect day to announce the engagement of two dear friends... congratulations Beth and Josh!! Beth, you are such a wonderful friend and I couldn't be happier for you-- Josh is such a great guy and you have both been so blessed. You're in my prayers as you prepare to be married & I can't wait for the big day!!

the happy couple :-)

Thanks Beth for sharing the engagement story too...

"Let me start off by saying that I hate surprises. When I get an idea that something is going on I can't stop thinking about it until I solve it. So when Josh suggested a few weeks ago that we go on a trip to Brown country--a place I loved as a kid-- the seed was planted. I kept trying to push it out of my head but everybody kept saying 'do you think he is going to propose?' By the time the weekend came I was freaking out. (Not that I was scared that he was going to do it, but just how he was going to do it.)

The weekend was cold but we were determined to make the best of it & headed out to Brown County State Park for some hiking. We hiked about 6 miles and it was so great to be outside, but even as we were hiking I was wondering IF Josh was going to pop the question. Every time he fell a step behind me or unzipped or zipped his coat I was freaking out and asking what is going on, what are you doing, are you ok. I am sure I was quite annoying.

After hiking we went wine tasting and to mass at a cute little church in Nashville. We then started making dinner and as soon as it was in the oven Josh mentioned that I had a present in his bag. I then became like a little kid on Christmas... As dinner was cooking he asked me to go sit on the couch and he brought me a box wrapped up in bright red sparkly paper. I looked at Josh who was semi-nervously holding a card. He gave me the card and said that I had to read the card first and what he wrote second. So I skimmed through the card and read the part where he said that the weekend before instead of going to see his friend in Illinois (like he told me) he actually went to my parent's house. The card ended 'So here it goes…' He then got out the ring (it is perfect) and asked me to marry him. I said yes and started crying. It was perfect. Only later did I find out that my entire family knew, my mom had already contacted some of my aunt and uncles and Fr. Bob already knew. There was a wide range of reactions from being glad that I finally knew (Fr. Bob) to being shocked and excited that it happened. It was so great being able to celebrate with everybody and now the real fun begins... bring on the Kitchenaid mixer!!"