GRATEFUL
I’m grateful for my every breath, I’m grateful for my son,
I’m grateful God has given me the chance to be a mother.
I’m grateful I have faith in God, I’m grateful for His son,
I’m grateful for my answered prayers my each and every one.
I’m grateful for the days I Iaugh, I’m grateful deep inside,
acceptance of my failures makes me grateful that I tried.
I’m grateful for my mom and dad, my sister and brothers.
I’m grateful Jesus gave us love to share with one another.
I’m grateful for my painful past when life was torn apart,
my trials led me to the Lord, He saved my broken heart.
I’m grateful for the morning sun, I’m grateful I awake,
I’m grateful Jesus gives me strength in every step I take.
I’m grateful for my poetry, I’m grateful every day.
I’m grateful Jesus helps me out with finding words to say.
I’m grateful I have found the Lord my heart has made amends.
I’m grateful for the wooden cross that washed my sins away.
I’m foolish for the wrong I’ve done my hateful ways were sinful
but now that Jesus owns my soul believe you me I’m grateful.
Written by Rebecca M. Davis
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROBERT CARRILLO
JANUARY 20, 1936 --- JANUARY 20, 2008
In Your Blessed Hands
Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi
God, You made me.
From before I was born,
You took me through my life.
You supported me.
You were there with me when I wasn’t there with You.
There were times when I was sick and you healed me.
There were times I was in despair and You gave me hope.
There were times when I felt betrayed and I could still turn to You.
It was a wonderful life. I loved and I was loved.
I sang, I heard music, I saw flowers, I saw sunrises and sunsets.
Even in places when I was alone,
You, in my heart, helped me turn loneliness into precious solitude.
I look back over the panorama of my life,
What a wonderful privilege this was!
I still have some concerns for people in the family,
For the world, for the planet.
I put them in Your Blessed Hands.
I trust that whatever in the web of life that
needed me to be there is now completed.
I thank You for taking the burden from me,
And I thank You for keeping me in the Light.
As I let go, and let go, and let go…and let go.
-From the ‘Graceful Passages, Wisdom of the World Series CD’
Submitted by Suzanne Carrillo Clements
AS A SURVIVOR, YOU ARE REBORN!
When you walk out the hospital door, after surgery, from a chemo treatment, radiation treatment, a blood transfusion or your follow-up exams, as a survivor no matter what form, these things are reality, not a game of survival on a television show.
As a survivor you are reborn, you have been given another chance to enjoy moments with love ones. To witness the birth of your
child or grandchild. To gather at birthdays, holidays, to meet for coffee or just hangout.
As a survivor you are reborn, you have been given another chance to see the sunrise as it turns white clouds to a flamingo color, to feel the wind in your hair, to smell the rain on the ground, to hear the roar of thunder or watch the sunset at the beach as it slowly disappears.
As a survivor you are reborn, you have been given another chance to eat that hamburger smothered in onions, to have a piece of pizza with a cold beer, a hot dog at a game, eat ice cream on a hot day or to drink homemade lemonade.
Yes, indeed as a survivor you are reborn, so love, laugh, dance, sing and live life to its fullest. Raise your arms to the Great Spirit in thanks, for you may not be given another chance to be reborn, so take it and run.
Written by Anna Escobosa
City of Hope’s departments of Patient, Family & Community Education and Communications produce Hope Notes. Please contact Linda Baginski, editor, at 626-256-4673, ext. 62978, fax 626-301-8868 or e-mail: lbaginski@coh.org