by Barbara | May 7, 2011
May 6th, 2011 by Barbara Lishko It’s a boy!! Five long years of infertility had come to an end. It took a miracle at Lourdes, a lot of prayers, and a hope that never died. I think because I desired to be a mother for such a long time, I find such humor and joy in...
by Barbara | Apr 21, 2011
Today marks the end of Lent and the beginning of the Church's holiest 3 days. Tonight, Pope Benedict reminds us, that "God doesn't want to trample on us, but kneels down before us to exalt us. The mystery of the greatness of God is seen precisely in the fact that he...
by Barbara | Apr 9, 2011
All of us, I dare say, played in the sand at one point or another in our childhood. In fact we still head towards the sand as adults; it is just usually with a swim suit on and umbrella drink in hand. As children there was much to learn in the sandbox. They were a...
by Barbara | Mar 27, 2011
Twenty six years of kids will leave you with a lot of accumulated junk. Lost and forgotten treasures lurk within every box, stuffed in long forgotten tubs and drawers, all for the unsuspecting mommy to go through when the brood flies the coop. They seem to only take...
by Barbara | Mar 20, 2011
Pope Benedict says that when the disciples through the Transfiguration "experienced ahead of time something that will constitute the happiness of paradise" These "brief experiences that God grants on occasions, especially in anticipation of harsh trials." God knows...
by Barbara | Mar 16, 2011
So I am praying about this new challenge in my life to hear or not to hear that is the question. Surgery or radiation on my ear to reduce or remove a tumor growing at the base of my brain where my ear and brain meet. Good news...no cancer, bad news no hearing with...
by Barbara | Mar 12, 2011
“Give me a J, give me an E, give me a S-U-S, what’s that spell? Go-oooo Jesus!” That’s me at times, a real cheerleader for the Lord. As a mother and youth minister I have opportunities galore to get out the pom poms and give the rally cry for Christ. No, I don’t...
by Barbara | Feb 2, 2011
“You just don’t understand.” she told me in exasperation. “No”, I sighed. “I guess I don’t.” We had just finished this amazing day and a small inconsequential occurrence, that any other time would have been easily dismissed, caused her to rethink everything as the day...
by Barbara | Dec 12, 2010
As a fellow human being on the road to hopeful salvation, I can at times let myself be overcome with the load of my own cross. Like anything else in my life the more I make of my burdens the heavier they can become from the bothersome weight of pity that I needlessly...
by Barbara | Nov 30, 2010
While at work the other day I got a text from one of my sons, “where is the video camera?” After spending five minutes making sure I had each word spelled correctly and had properly punctuated, I texted him back. Ten seconds later his response indicated that he had...
by Barbara | Jul 7, 2010
The implements of discipline have changed over time. Back in the old days, some pretty harsh punishment was used to keep one’s offspring under control. I can remember my father talking about the barber’s strap being the preferred “rod of discipline” utilized most by...
by Barbara | Dec 24, 2009
This tale of a Christmas long, long ago is what makes me appreciate the more uninteresting holidays of the past few years. Let me take you back to a time when daddy was gone far too much, and the children and I were stranded up in the cold north, far away from family....
by Barbara | Oct 3, 2009
By: Barbara Lishko On a busy Sunday evening just before Mass began, a woman approached me in the narthex and asked if I was Barb. I responded that I was, and she got teary eyed and whispered that her daughter was deeply into drugs. She could no longer hold back her...
by Barbara | Oct 1, 2009
”Group Project” is a dirty word in our house. Yet the teachers in our schools feel the need to mandate these types of projects in the classrooms. I am sure that their intentions are good and their desire is for the students to learn to work together towards a common...
by Barbara | Aug 5, 2009
There was a time back in the day when the kids were little and I would desperately search for ways to get out and do normal mommy things. This usually entailed dragging along the youngins‘ and risking public humiliation. For whatever reason, the mall seemed like the...
by Barbara | Jul 15, 2009
Ahh, it’s summertime again. Memories flood back to a time not so long ago, when all of our children played ball. We were living in Illinois and baseball is what you did with your children in the summer. If they could lift a bat…they could play organized ball. For...
by Barbara | Apr 29, 2009
As mothers, we can all laugh in retrospect about the crazy phone calls and antics of our children. I’m not quit sure if my own kids are “off the charts” when it comes to frolics into the Twilight Zone but they have pulled some “dosies” over the years. Let’s start with...
by Barbara | Feb 6, 2009
oldtcw http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fcatholicexchange.com%2F2009%2F02%2F25%2F136038%2F&layout=standard&show-faces=true&width=500&action=like&colorscheme=light I am one of those souls that schools, charities, and...
by Barbara | Feb 6, 2009
Mothering the Masses Being a mom for twenty-four years has had an effect in every area of my life. I feel a real need at times to mother the rest of humanity. Everywhere I look I see ways to mother people. Just recently when we were in an airport, some teens I...
by Barbara | Feb 4, 2009
I was sitting in my hotel room in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio as a freezing Alberta Clipper whipped outside. It was the closing day of the National Federation For Catholic Youth Ministers Conference (NFCYM) – now that is a mouthful – and I was contemplating the...
by Barbara | Jan 29, 2009
I can remember back to a time when I was the blessed mother of five kids, all under the age of seven. The looks and remarks I would get everywhere were priceless. Of course there were always the comments from kind-hearted souls who would say, “Don’t you know what...