Sr. Modanna Marie Cunningham

This past week, we buried one of the great women of our community.  Many thought of her as great because she was president of our college, the congregational minister for 10 years, and also on council before her years of being congregational minister.  I thought of her as great because she was an exceptionally kind and compassionate listener who gave generously of herself.  May you rejoice in heaven, Madonna.  Your Sisters miss you.

New website

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Thanks to Frank Farren, the owner of http://www.enablepoint.com/, we have a new website, called http://www.familyrelationshiphelp.com/  Frank set it up and is hosting it.  He did it at a very reasonable price, too.  Frank is helpful, open, and honest.  I would recommend his work.

I am very happy with it.  If you get a chance, browse around our store.  We not only have things we are personally selling, we have things from amazon.com and paydotcom.com.  You can find almost anything on amazon.com.  I was really amazed.  Just type in what you need and I am sure you will find it.

Family & Children

Dear Diary,
As part of my ministry, I try to promote healthy families.  I came across this very interesting e-book that I thought was a way to promote "healthy families."  So, I wanted to share it with you.  If any of the readers have wanted to get pregnant and haven't been able to, this looks like a good way to go:
http://1frhnow.411help.hop.clickbank.net/  I hoping that you and yours have very healthy families.

The Alchemist

Cover of The Alchemist

Would you like to influence and inspire children and adults? You will find a delightful surprise in The Alchemist. Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelhos charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.

"The Alchemist" in its twenty-second year as a best seller has found its way to the four corners of the world, and to me. I read this about two years and have just reread it as we enter the decade of the 2010s. It is a good read at the beginning of any new year.

Who would you like to inspire?

Amazon.com

Image via CrunchBase

I became an associate of Amazon in an effort to help our non-profit ministry.  I was absolutely amazed at what they sell.  I though they just sold books.  They sell clothes and other things.  Anyone who is reading this can try it for themselves.  Just type in any item you could possibly want in the search box, and you will be amazed at what you will be able to find.

My Ministry

Image via Wikipedia

Well, I promised to let you know what I do in my ministry.  I have four aspects (or maybe more, but whose counting) to my ministry.  I am a licensed mental health counselor.  I see everyone from age 2 to 92.  I see couples, children, adults, teenagers.  In the past seven years, I have been deeply touched by the stories people have entrusted to my care.  I have also been deeply touched that God has used me as an instrument of much healing.  I have seen children who have been sexually abused come in afraid and leave as self-confident persons, to be very successful later on in life.  I have seen teenagers on the verge of joining gangs and changing to more positive directions in their lives.  I have seen depressed people drag themselves in and leave with their heads held high, and feeling good about themselves.  I have seen anxious people, tranquil after therapy.  A second aspect of my ministry is drug and alcohol counseling.  I marvel at those who have taken the tough road from addictions to being drug free and sober, having faced their own demons and come out of it a better person.  A third aspect of my ministry is spiritual direction.  Many people do not know what spiritual direction is.  It is when one person, the director, sits with another and tries to discern God's presence in their lives.  To see the spiritual growth in others is truly a magnificent gift.  The fourth aspect of my ministry is the parenting program or the Nurtured Heart Approach.  This was originally started for parents of children with ADHD, but has been found to work with all children.  Another aspect of that is to bring it into the schools.

      I have a wonderful staff who works with me on these projects with amazing results.  I am so fortunate to have them.

     We have worked exclusively with poor people of all races and nationalities.  Our funding has been cut, so we are trying to sell some of our products.  For example, we made a DVD, 2 CDs, and a couple of e-books, and are working on some more.  If you want more information, let me know by writing to me at corazonalimentado@hotmail.com

If you think this is a good ministry and you would like to donate, please go to the church's website at http://www.stpaulchurchde.org/ and click donations at the bottom and specify that it is for the counseling department.  Every little bit helps.  In advance, I ask God to bless you for your generosity in helping especially the children.  Well, that is a very brief summary of what I do.  Please do not hesitate to write me your thoughts.

Recycling

One of the things I do as a Sister of St. Francis is recycle.  St. Francis saw God as the creator of all things.  So, he reasoned, all of creation is our brother and sister.  Hence, the title of the movie Brother Sun, and Sister Moon.  If the earth is our sister, then it makes sense to take care of our sister earth.  Recycling is one way of doing that.  I recycle here and it helps the environment as well as helps our poor parish mission which I serve.  I send the recycled items to Recyling Fundraiser.  This is their list and it is an impressive one:

cell phones (please do not send chargers or accessories)

Laptop computers:  (We do not accept: desktop or tower computers, monitors, printers, scanners, faxes, modems, keyboards, mouses or TVs.

Inkjet cartridges: We accept the small ones that will fit in the palm of yur hand that contain or contained liquid ink.  We do not accept larger cartridges that contain powder normally known as toner)

MP3 players: only Apple iPod, Microsoft Zune, Sandisk, or Creative.  (No other types accepted)

Digital cameras

Digital Video Cameras (camcorders)

Handheld Game Systems - ONLY Sony PSP handheld, Nintendo Dsi, Nintendo DS lite, Nintendo DS original, Nintendo Gameboy Advance, or Nintendo Gameboy color.  (No other types accepted)

GPS Devices ONLY Garmin, Mio, Magellan, and Tom Tom (No ther types accepted)

Radar Detectors - ONLY Escort, Beltronics and Cobra. (No other types accepted)

E-Book Reader -ONLY Kindle, Sony, and Verizon iRex. (No other types accepted)

Gold, Silver, and Platinum Jewelry (No costume jewelry, plastic jewelry, and no gemstones)

As you can see this is quite a list.  If you would like to help out, it is very little effort on your part.  You can go to your computer, print out prepaid FedEx shipping labels directly from their website at http://www.ecophones.com/ by scolling to the bottom of the screen and clicking on the white FedEx truck.  Then paste it on any box and please put my return address on it:

Sister Theresa Marie Elitz

Counseling Center of St. Paul's

1010 W. 4th Street

Wilmington, De.  19805

They will ask for a contact.  That's me, my e-mail address therelitz@hotmail.com, and my phone number 302 576 4121. Then call the FedEx number 1-800-463-3339 and ask them to pick up the package at no cost to you.  Unbelievable, isn't it!  St. Francis thanks you for helping the environment and I thank you for helping our poor mission here.  At some point on this blog, I will explain a little more about what I do.

My Niece's Surprise Party

I just came back from my niece's and only godchild's surprise party and got pictures.  This is my niece's Christmas tree.  My niece, Carol, organized the party for her sister Donna.  This is Carol's house.

This was my niece, Donna, being surprised at her party.  Her mother, Dot, is behind her.

Now that she has gotten over the shock, she is all smiles.  Congratulations, Donna.  You are a great niece and godchild.  I love you bunches.  Blessings on you.

This is a picture of one of my Christmas presents.  It is Susan Boyle's  I Dreamed a Dream.  What a beautiful voice.  I just love this album.

Experimenting

As you can see today, I am experimenting with gadgets.  I hope you enjoy them.  Someday I hope I have a digital camera and I can include them in this blog.  I think pictures are so much more interesting than just plain reading.  I am headed up to my friend's house this afternoon and it looks like the weather will co-operate.