This story was originally posted in October of 2007. I am re-posting it today in honor of our beloved Saint Thérèse, whose feast day it is and to whom we owe so much.
The name of my story is “She said yes.”
Breaking News: We got a dog.
She’s cute. She’s soft. She pees a lot.
You warned me about this in your comments. In fact, I was so thoroughly swayed, dismayed, and put off by your admonitions that I said “No, sir. I just can’t do it.”
And then I had to sit there and be this big ogre of a momma while five little innocent faces (and one slightly larger and more whiskery one) blinked back at me oh-so-sadly.
“Fine,” I said, “We’ll pray a novena. St. Thérèse had a dog and knows what work they are. If she sends us…” and here I thought to pick as arbitrary and unlikely a color as possible, “Yellow roses, we’ll know she thinks that we can handle it.”
So we prayed the novena and the surprising thing is—‘cause you already know we got our answer—was that by the middle of it, my heart had softened. I wanted a dog as much as my family did! I started reading Dogs for Dummies with gusto and even stopped by PetSmart with the kids to look at rubber balls, rawhide bones, and poop scoops.
On the ninth day of the novena, I had a meeting for my homeschool co-op and couldn’t be there for the prayers. Daddy said them with the kids, though, and they all went to bed anxious. Would they wake up with a yellow rose beneath each of their pillows? Would the FTD man start pounding on our door at midnight? They just didn’t know.
They certainly didn’t know that on my way out of the meeting, which was held in the basement of our church, I stopped in the chapel to say a prayer or two. As is my habit, I made my way to the pew right in front of Mary. I sat down. I saw the roses.
Yes, Virginia, they were yellow.
As Ogre of the Hour, I was given naming rights. I chose something French—surprise surprise—in honor our celestial intercessor, yes, but also because I liked the sound of it. “Elle a dit ‘Oui” is our puppy’s name, which is French for “She said yes.”
I call her Elody while the kids like Ellie.
When I find out what the dog prefers, I’ll let you know.
Postscript: Many of you know that this story has an unhappy ending. Our Ellie died unexpectedly only 2 1/2 years later. As with so much of the suffering in our lives, we won’t know the why of her death in this lifetime…although we believe that God gives us each and every cross for a reason…should we embrace it. Just ask St. Therese!
And on that note, a happy note, I’d like to ask my faithful readers: Do you have a story to share about St. Thérèse? We would truly love to hear it.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints,
One of my favorite feasts today and one of my recent favorite Saints!
I do have a St. Therese story to share, but can it wait until Monday? I've actually been meaning to write a post about the roses she's granted us and specificially, more about our Gianna ROSE whose middle name is on behalf of St.Therese and not St. Rose. But I'll be gone all day today.
Responding to your post, this may be the perfect time to finally get that written!
Happy Feast of St. Therese!
One of my top 5 feast days!!
NO time to tell a story though…wanted you to know, I'm thinking about you and wish you the first birthday wish for tomorrow!!!!
You old lady!!
I know, Jamester, I know! As of tomorrow, my age gets rounded UP!
Wah.
PS. And I've been praying for you and your sweet little pumpkin–praying especially on these great feasts.
Just that I tried to go to 8 am Mass today for the First Saturday, at a parish near mine that is the only one around that I know of that does daily Mass on Saturday, but discovered when I got there that Mass had been moved to 10:30. Pour la fête de la Petite Fleur, bien sûr!
But one little old lady was there too, so we said a rosary together in the dark. That was nice. :). And now I am in a nearby Starbucks with nothing to do for the next hour or so while I wait for Mass, which is also nice 🙂
On 12/19/06 I went to Mass at the National Shrine of St. Therese (Darien,IL),I was praying our adoption would not fall through and we would be blessed with another baby. I had been praying and praying to St. Therese and keept a perpetual novena going. I cried during the consecration and promised God I would not stop hoping. The priest had talked all about having hope in the Nativity. I came home to the phone ringing. As I answered it to talk to my husband, his first words were did you just finish a novena? He had an email while I was at the Shrine from our adoption agency that we had been blessed once again and now had a daughter! She is our Christmas miracle! 🙂 Thank you, St. Therese!
Actually, it turns out that I do have a St. Thérèse story to share, from today.
So after the little old lady and I (see my comment above) said the rosary together in church, we introduced ourselves to each other and chatted a few minutes before I left for the Starbucks. I came back to the church later to attend the Mass in honor of Ste.-Thérèse, which was lovely and included a blessing with the saint's relics. After communion when I settled down to pray, I thought to myself, "I should say a prayer for the nice little old lady who prayed the rosary with me this morning," so I started with "O God, please bless … Violet…!"
It seems I had had a visit from a little flower this morning!
I prayed for quite a while to St Therese for something, but I think it was too big. I still love her.
As for your dear Ellie, you never know how many prayers were answered the day she came to live with you. Perhaps hers for a happy life? Perhaps her own angel's prayer, knowing Ellie would have only a few years, that she be surrounded by love and kindness, and would be remembered long after she had gone.
I love your St. Therese story! What a sweet memory of your dear friend. You inspired me to post mine:
My St. Therese Story
I had met a wonderful Catholic man at the Catholic university that I attended and although he was great, I didn't feel called to marry him. After breaking up very uncertainly I met another local man. He was a nice guy, great with kids but not a practicing Catholic at the time, pro-choice, and kind of liberal (and refused to attend confession with me!). Anyways, my "Catholic side" still wanted my ex boyfriend at times (I even had airline tickets to go visit him again) and I decided to say a novena to St. Therese whether to go back to him or be open to possibilities with this new man I had met. On the final day, my new guy and I met for our usual date night at the local donut shop and what does he arrive with? A rose! I was so blessed by St. Therese's gift and also this man – now my husband…12 years and 5 children later. And he is now a great conserative Catholic. Thank you God and St. Therese!
We had been trying to buy a house and one deal fell through but our house had sold so we were under the gun. We went out one day and found a another house but we were unsure because of the price. We started praying to St. Therese, asking her to send us a rose if this was the right house. Well as things progressed there was still no rose (yes, we were still moving things along despite the no rose 🙂 Every time I saw someone I knew in town they would ask me where we were moving to and I would tell them. They ALL would say, "Oh, that's Rose G's old house". I can't tell you how many times I heard that! It wasn't until the day we were moving in that it hit me that St. Therese had sent me a person named Rose and not a flower 🙂 We got our rose and could live there in peace knowing it was the right thing!
Followed your blog from atnother Catholic lady's blog (Queeen of Heaven) and had to share my story, however it is super long. I did post about it though.
http://catholicmommy-josette.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-st-therese-holds-special-place-in.html
I have a rather incredible St. Therese story to share, of roses in many forms that arrived this past weekend.
Here is my story:
http://adobecreekacademy.blogspot.com/2011/10/roses.html
Happy Feast of St. Therese!
I have a story about Teresa.
She was in a Coma and St.Therese came to her…………
if you wish to read this story please email me