Bundles of Blessings
September 1, 2005
Friends:
My family has been overwhelmed by the generosity of the community in Houston, Texas. Trying to get my children into Catholic schools, I emailed the Superintendent of the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese. She was quick in replying and gave me instructions on how to enroll my girls in area schools.
For Soleil, my 15 year old, she said that we should go to St. Agnes. It is a very prestigious all girl Catholic high school in Sugar Land, Texas, near where we are staying. When we arrived at the school, we had to fill out a "Displaced Student" form (which I am sure they made up just for this situation). School has already started in Texas and their school is filled to capacity but due to the extraordinary circumstances, they were accepting 50 new students. St. Agnes is a Dominican school and Soleil attended a Salesian school back home. The Dean of the school told us that all the area Catholic schools were meeting to distribute the displaced students to area schools. Being a Dominican school, Dominican girls were given priority placement at St. Agnes. She told us we were not guaranteed placement at St. Agnes.
Then she offered us a tour of the school. The school is gorgeous and all the girls were so friendly; everyone we passed said, "Hi!" The school is a college prepatory school and a laptop school. All the girls are issued laptops and the school has Wi-Fi throughout. We were so impressed with the school - Soleil really wanted to attend. It seemed that the Dean was also impressed with Soleil (of course, we touted her 4.93 GPA and her #1 class ranking as well as all her extracurricular activities). At the end of the tour, we had a really good feeling. She told us she would call us that evening to let us know if Soleil was accepted. If she was accepted, we would have to attend a parent-student orientation tomorrow, September 2.
It was all Soleil could talk about. She wanted so badly to attend St. Agnes. "Mom, I hope I get in! Do you think they'll accept me? I hope they accept me..." At about 4:30 p.m., we received a call from my husband. He broke the news... St. Agnes called and Soleil made it in!! Soleil was ecstatic. Through the generosity of families and the Archdiocese, St. Agnes is going to provide her with everything - uniforms, shoes, books, a laptop, and school supplies. In addition, each new student is being adopted by a St. Agnes family. Wow! It all took my breath away.
We decided that, because of logistics, Eliana could not attend the Catholic elementary school; it was too far away and we only have one car to get both girls to school. She will be enrolling in the elementary school around the corner tomorrow morning. Now that Soleil is going to school, she is once again excited about going back to Kindergarten. Her cousins will be attending the same school.
I received a phone call from my liaison at an elementary school in Houston that adopted our family. They were gathering clothes, supplies, and food for us. She said that the response to our plight was overwhelming and she had a room full of stuff for us. She and members of the PTA will be delivering it to us on Saturday. I cried tears of relief and gratitude. Through all this, I keep thinking, "How are we going to get our kids through this ?" But trust in God, and He will provide. He shows me this over and over again.
Later, a Filipino-American organization delivered four pizzas, chicken and biscuits, and bread sticks to our host family's house for lunch. My mom's friend just sent out a quick email hours before and there, like an angel, she appeared with food at the doorstep.
And the miracles continued for us. The Salvation Army provided us with clothes and some grocery vouchers for food. We were able to stock our refrigerator and pantry. (With 13 of us, I'm sure we'll go through it quickly :) ).
My children's writers friends emailed me and are putting something together. We have heard from friends and family from long ago, and they are all helping in any way they can. The blessings go on and on.
God really does provide and send miracles if you let Him. I am continually unwrapping bundles of blessings. It makes this difficult time easier. Thank you God and thank you to all my friends, old and new, who are helping my family through this tragedy. We love you!!!
Until next time...
September 1, 2005
Friends:
My family has been overwhelmed by the generosity of the community in Houston, Texas. Trying to get my children into Catholic schools, I emailed the Superintendent of the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese. She was quick in replying and gave me instructions on how to enroll my girls in area schools.
For Soleil, my 15 year old, she said that we should go to St. Agnes. It is a very prestigious all girl Catholic high school in Sugar Land, Texas, near where we are staying. When we arrived at the school, we had to fill out a "Displaced Student" form (which I am sure they made up just for this situation). School has already started in Texas and their school is filled to capacity but due to the extraordinary circumstances, they were accepting 50 new students. St. Agnes is a Dominican school and Soleil attended a Salesian school back home. The Dean of the school told us that all the area Catholic schools were meeting to distribute the displaced students to area schools. Being a Dominican school, Dominican girls were given priority placement at St. Agnes. She told us we were not guaranteed placement at St. Agnes.
Then she offered us a tour of the school. The school is gorgeous and all the girls were so friendly; everyone we passed said, "Hi!" The school is a college prepatory school and a laptop school. All the girls are issued laptops and the school has Wi-Fi throughout. We were so impressed with the school - Soleil really wanted to attend. It seemed that the Dean was also impressed with Soleil (of course, we touted her 4.93 GPA and her #1 class ranking as well as all her extracurricular activities). At the end of the tour, we had a really good feeling. She told us she would call us that evening to let us know if Soleil was accepted. If she was accepted, we would have to attend a parent-student orientation tomorrow, September 2.
It was all Soleil could talk about. She wanted so badly to attend St. Agnes. "Mom, I hope I get in! Do you think they'll accept me? I hope they accept me..." At about 4:30 p.m., we received a call from my husband. He broke the news... St. Agnes called and Soleil made it in!! Soleil was ecstatic. Through the generosity of families and the Archdiocese, St. Agnes is going to provide her with everything - uniforms, shoes, books, a laptop, and school supplies. In addition, each new student is being adopted by a St. Agnes family. Wow! It all took my breath away.
We decided that, because of logistics, Eliana could not attend the Catholic elementary school; it was too far away and we only have one car to get both girls to school. She will be enrolling in the elementary school around the corner tomorrow morning. Now that Soleil is going to school, she is once again excited about going back to Kindergarten. Her cousins will be attending the same school.
I received a phone call from my liaison at an elementary school in Houston that adopted our family. They were gathering clothes, supplies, and food for us. She said that the response to our plight was overwhelming and she had a room full of stuff for us. She and members of the PTA will be delivering it to us on Saturday. I cried tears of relief and gratitude. Through all this, I keep thinking, "How are we going to get our kids through this ?" But trust in God, and He will provide. He shows me this over and over again.
Later, a Filipino-American organization delivered four pizzas, chicken and biscuits, and bread sticks to our host family's house for lunch. My mom's friend just sent out a quick email hours before and there, like an angel, she appeared with food at the doorstep.
And the miracles continued for us. The Salvation Army provided us with clothes and some grocery vouchers for food. We were able to stock our refrigerator and pantry. (With 13 of us, I'm sure we'll go through it quickly :) ).
My children's writers friends emailed me and are putting something together. We have heard from friends and family from long ago, and they are all helping in any way they can. The blessings go on and on.
God really does provide and send miracles if you let Him. I am continually unwrapping bundles of blessings. It makes this difficult time easier. Thank you God and thank you to all my friends, old and new, who are helping my family through this tragedy. We love you!!!
Until next time...
posted by Dianne de Las Casas @ 12:23 AM
1 Comments:
Dianne, I'm so glad for your daughter's placement in such a fabulous school. (I love her name, by the way).
Thanks for sharing such personal experiences with your blog. I read it every day now. In fact I just posted a link to it from my own blog at www.LiveJournal.com/users/LindaJSingleton
Hope I can do something to help you. Let me know.
Linda Joy Singleton
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