Reaching Out, Woman to Woman

 Every family experiences challenges, joys and sorrows. Often what determines how a family emerges depends upon the support they receive along the way.

One woman works to help parents give and receive the loving support once passed on from the neighbors next door or Grandma who lived two blocks away.

The Background

Jeannie Hannemann says that as the pastoral associate at St. Bernard Parish in Appleton, Wisconsin, she saw that many young parents yearned for the advice and support of parents who had “been there.”

“In my position as director of the baptism preparation program, I heard many new moms commiserate over their long distance phone bills that were so high from calling their moms, sisters and friends,” who frequently lived out of state, Hannemann says.

She says because people in today’s society move so often, what used to happen through neighbor and family mentoring is missing.

Hannemann began to give her home number to the parents coming for baptism preparation sessions. “The calls were unbelievable, from moms and dads, especially at 10:30 at night after they’d seen all the terrible news on T.V.,” she says.

Hannemann says that she and her husband, Bruce, knew the importance of support. They suffered through more than eight years of infertility before conceiving their elder daughter. When their second daughter was born, she was born with serious birth defects requiring many surgeries.

From the time their second child was two months to five months old,Hannemann says members of their parish brought them a meal every other day.

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CHINA WATCH click here

Nancy's Pitch

 Nancy's section of the rooftop--- 

My thoughts on a variety of topics including pregnancy, miscarriages, childbirth, breastfeeding, marriage, depression and healthy eating. Also, some of my articles which have been published in Catholic periodicals will be added now and again.

Organizations that deserve your money

Catholic Relief Services

Food for the Poor

Video Highlights with Grandma Jane from April 2, 2004 Kaukauna Civic Auditorium Peter Mulvey  

 Green Bay Packers and Catholicism

Green Bay t-shirts declare, “God is a Packer fan.”  If that’s true, it may be because Vince Lombardi has been praying for them for so long.

Regardless of what heavenly aid may have helped get them there...  Read More...

Continued Healing Regarding Anna Cecelia

In 1999, I miscarried a baby whom we later named Anna Cecelia. For more information about the memorial service we had in her honor, please read our article, Mourning the Loss of Anna Cecelia.

When I wrote that article, I thought I was telling the whole story. Unfortunately, I was not being honest and 100% open about my own thoughts and emotions --- with our readers, with my husband, and with myself.

In December of 2000, nearly two years after Anna's brief life here on earth, I attended a healing Mass with a friend who was in a very difficult period of her life. I invited her to join me, thinking she may feel God's peace there.

During the Mass, the priest reminded us that every life is precious, born and unborn. He said that as a priest, he met countless families who needed help mourning and healing the loss of children through abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death. I felt rather smug, thinking, "I'm sure that's true, but at least I've already dealt with our loss."

Little Did I Know...

     These books should be treasured.  I have read them all twice over to my children.  Great stories, values, lessons, theology, and strong writing make this a must have in any family collection. 

The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set

To the man who was trusted with raising the Son of God...

St. Joseph

Saints in our Midst 

This section of my rooftop will feature people who have gone before us who made a significant contribution to the faith of others. I am a big believer in the power of saints and although people in our lives will not likely be canonized, their faith can still carry us through today. We all need those models of faith to admire. Please feel free to share your stories of people who have died and have impacted your faith. For stories and more....

The Light Weigh

A Spiritual Growth and Weight Loss Program that has Made the Difference for Me

Read about my experience

Valuable Church resources:

Bible, Daily Mass readings, the Catechism, Early Church fathers, news, videos,

Many couples know the pain of losing a child through miscarriage or stillbirth. Unfortunately, as a society we have not acknowledged that pain or the genuine need to mourn the death of these precious children.

Slowly we are gaining an awareness that we cannot simply "get on" with life, pretending that child never existed. Even when a woman miscarries a baby after being pregnant for a short time, she will remember that child forever.

This past year, we experienced the reality of miscarriage first hand.

Click here to read on...

In good conscious there are some organizations and companies we try not to support due to their direct financial contributions that fund abortions and their direct attacks on Christianity. You may be surprised who has made our list.

Forced abortions in North Korea

Prayer Requests

Music Links

Anyone who knows me, knows my love for music. Here are some links and thoughts about some of my favorite musicians from the Beatles to Rich Mullins. I've really enjoyed their work and think you might too.  Andrew Peterson and Mitch McVicker have some great stuff.

Prolife Links

 Here are some quality, 100% prolife, no exceptions, no compromising organizations who will defend every child regardless of how they were conceived or what their current condition may be.

The 20th century may go down as the "Century of Martyrs." More martyrs died in the 20th century than all the other centuries combined. Currently China, the Sudan, and East Timor are the hot spots although unjust regimes are persecuting Christians throughout the world. One thing that has been clear throughout the centuries is that Satan craves the blood of human sacrifice. In the 20th century he achieved this through abortion and the blood of martyrs.

 Click to read more...

A link to "JPII the Great"

A true gift from God and for each other.

Fantasy Football...

For the die-hard 

Green Bay Packer Fan

Click here to listen to a few tracks. 

As she has so eloquently put it, "Not bad for an 80 year old woman."

My life's other passion:

frisbee golf

By Love Refined : Letters to a Young...

While up working on my garage roof, I was contemplating the Book of Exodus and its parallels to Jesus and the Eucharist. The book struck me as a prelude to Jesus’ life and ministry. I fully understand that these thoughts have probably been thought before, but here is my spin. There are five main parts: the escape, the Passover, the exodus, the manna in the desert, and the laws.

I. The Escape

Many are familiar with the beginning of Moses life in Exodus 1 and 2. The pharaoh sought to kill the next born boy of the Israelites and Moses escaped. Moses’s mother sends him down the river in a basket. He winds up being taken in by the daughter of the pharaoh, and she adopts him. In Matthew 2:13-18, Jesus escapes the wrath of Herod when Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt during the slaughter of the innocents.

Click here to read more...

The Lord of the Rings

Would Rich Mullins Have Become Catholic?

 by Nancy Vande Hey

“I have to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.”

These words of Rich Mullins, a Christian musician who died in a car accident on September 19, 1997, days before he planned to join the Catholic church, will never fade in Fr. Matt McGinness’ memory.

“It’s what will always stick with me,” says Fr. McGinness.

In the Beginning...

Fr. McGinness, vocations director of the Diocese of Wichita, and Mullins became friends while Mullins attended Friends University in Wichita. Fr. McGinness says Mullins asked him to give him instructions in the faith, but Fr. McGinness told him it would be more appropriate for him to attend RCIA sessions at his local parish, Blessed Sacrament.

Five years later, Fr. McGinness says he received that call from Mullins saying that he could no longer wait to receive the Eucharist. Fr. McGinness arranged for Mullins to be received in the church in a private ceremony on September 22, but the fatal car accident irrevocably changed that plan.

Click here to read the full story...

Fun Kid Websites: VeggieTales, PBS and more...

An Easter Story by Marie, age 8.