Happy Birthday!
Hello everyone! This is Christina Malloy from the central walk. It’s crazy to think we’re so close to finishing this journey. Five of the walkers in our group have had birthdays during this trip. Nick Doyle’s birthday was June 13th , Erin’s was June 14th, Patience’s was July 21st, Rachel’s was July 25th, and my birthday was Friday, July 30th. I’d like to say happy birthday to everyone else who has had a birthday during the trip.
My birthday was quite the interesting day. The day started with a couple of the other walkers on my shift surprising me with a cupcake with a match in it at midnight. After sleeping and doing the normal morning routine, it was time for us to walk. We started somewhere a little east of Cambridge, Ohio. Patience ran 10 miles and Rushad ran 5 miles. After that, we were not able to continue on the road we were on because there was construction and the road was completely torn up. While we were trying to figure out where to go from there, we discovered the oil was dangerously low. We decided to go to the closest town further east of us. Due to the construction and the fact that Rushad’s GPS on his phone gives one step at a time, we ended up going in two different circles. After that, we decided to drive back to Cambridge. We got an oil change and then got lost while looking for a grocery store and gas station. By the time we were done with that, it was too late to go back and walk so we drove to the host family’s house near Columbus. So Jessica Graehler and I ended up not walking on my birthday. That time could have easily been frustrating, but we all just went with the flow and laughed it all off. It was just a little adventure. I really appreciated all of the gifts people gave me and the yummy cake. =)
That Sunday I was able to take a picture I had wanted to set up since July 4th and here it is:
So, a while ago someone from one of the other walks posted a challenge to post pics of animals and vegetation we’ve seen. Animals we’ve seen include deer, moose, a baby rattlesnake, other snakes, rabbits, quail, geese, hawks, coyotes, squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, and more. Here’s a couple pictures.
Mississippi Mud!
Mississippi Mud used to be, and still very might be my favorite kind of brownie. My favorite part was drizzling the caramel on top and running it through the brownie batter to make a cool design on top. Then my most favorite part was eating them!
Leah Sedelle Here:
Yeah we walked through Louisiana, in less than a week! It was awesome. And now we’re already through Alabama! It only took us four shifts!! Now we are in Alabama and very excited for the weeks to come. But let’s recap before we look ahead.
Night shift with Matt, Mikki, and Mary Sciba
Shreveport was wonderful. Matt, Mikki, and Mary Sciba were wonderful. I think that adoption is the most beautiful form of pro-life out there. Two months ago they adopted beautiful little Mary Alexis Sciba! She is the most well mannered baby I have ever seen! I think she maybe cried once the entire time that I was there! Interesting Fact: Matt walked the Central walk some years ago and the year after, Mikki walked the Southern Walk! How awesome is that! Our extended Crossroads Family! It was great to exchange stories and learn that all walks have their troubles, and their crazy stories and that they are still fun to tell and remember years after you’ve finished you walk!
Chuck and his wife with Team
I spoke at St. Jude’s Catholic Church that weekend which was my first time speaking alone at an English Mass. The previous weekends I’ve only spoken at Spanish Masses and a few Masses giving the talk with one or two other people. It went pretty well but I’m a rambler so I’m not all that sure how well it went. The mass that I spoke at was the evening youth mass, but we also had two masses earlier that day! As those of you who are awesome know, the final game for the world cup was Sundy afternoon. A wonderful parishoner named Chuck invited us to his house to watch the game with him. So we were blessed to meet not only his wife and son, but his son’s fiancee, his parents, and his wife’s parents. Turned out it was his son’s birthday and they were having a birthday meal! They were so welcoming and the chicken fried steak was spectacular! I’ve never had better [actually I don't think I've ever had chicken fried steak before!] Then the game was awesome! Spain won, and it truly was a good game. Well after the first 90 minutes and the first overtime. The second overtime though, it was awesome!
Back to Mass and time with the youth. Yes, I’ll admit this was more enjoyable than watching Spain and the Netherlands run up and down the field without really doing anyting about the goose egg score looming over their heads! The youth were great. They listened to a bunch of fun stories and sounded really excitied about the next evening when they planned on walking with us for a few miles. So yes, St. Jude’s youth group walked with us for three miles and then we all went out for pizza. Actually there are a few youth that we are hoping will join us for the last few weeks of the summer! Keep them in your prayers!
Then of course, we had an interesting week of walking as we always do. But being on night shift, I was asleep or at least half asleep the whole week so I don’t remember much! What I do remember though is that Friday morning Amber told us that she had to leave us and go home to be with her family. Please keep her in your prayers, as well as her family. She left us Sunday afternoon and we all miss her dearly already!
All of us in a 27ft RV
Last weekend we were hosted in Vicksburg, Mississippi and we had masses in Vicksburg and Jackson. ”I’m going to Jackson” was sung multiple times lasy weekend and the week before. Again we were treated wonderfully and it was sad to leave them as it is every weekend. If I had one wish I would wish that all of the people that have ever walked with us and all of the wonderful people that have been so generous to us would magically appear in Washington D.C. to celebrate the end of the walk and the wonderful graces that God has blessed us with.
NOW FOR THE FUTURE!
We are looking forward to a lot a exciement in the next week or so. This weekend Father Hilary will sadly be leaving us to head back home to Austrlia for a wedding. But we will attempt to fill his presence with three new walkers. A friend of Tim’s from Ireland, Hugh, will be joining us for the rest of the walk. A girl from Birmingham will also be walking with us for the rest of the summer. I’m not sure what her name is, sorry. Also, we are very excited to have Thomas Linton rejoining us for a week. Thomas was with us for the first few weeks and had to leave for the army. He will only be with us for a week though because he is being deployed. I think that’s what he said. Please remember all of our future walkers and our past walkers in your prayers. We will all be praying for Father Hilary’s safe travels home.
Southern Caterpillar!
Another great excitement coming up is that we will be visiting Mother Angelica’s this coming Monday and we have an interview with EWTN that Thursday!
Well that’s about it for now!
May God Bless you and Yours
Peace, Love and Jesus!
Canada: Walking into Sault Ste Marie
On Sunday in Thunder Bay, I attended an outdoor mass. Fr. Terri talked about showing love to our neighbor as people could literally see their neighbors houses from where they were sitting. I gave my first outdoor talk and it was well received. We had an indoor lunch later and I got to meet Fr. Terri’s parents and part of his family. Indeed it must be cool to have a brother or son who is a priest in the same diocese as you are living.
That evening I was set to go to a life teen mass at St. Agnes parish in Thunder Bay. Lifeteen was not active there in the summer, so there were not many youth, however, much more than you would normally see in mass. We try to focus our message on the evils of abortions at youth masses rather than the blurb about prayer intentions and donations.
After this, we geared up for what we knew was going to be our toughest stretch of the walk. 692 km, from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste Marie and only 6 of us to do the walk. We did our regular city walk through Thunder Bay and the majority response was pro-life, although we did get some pro-choices reactions that were pretty strong and were mainly expletives!
I was on the night team and I knew this was going to be really hard. The night team usually gets less sleep, since we have to move the RV during the day and do certain errands when places are open during the day. Not to mention, we were warned about bears, wolves & moose.
The first few nights are always a little eerie and your mind plays games with you. Usually the 3 or 4 AM shift is the hardest, since you are so tired and you have to keep walking. The last shifts are also really difficult since you have been walking the whole night and your legs are really aching and craving a massage! The best thing about the night shift is when the morning breaks. You see the sky lighten up, the birds chirping. In this case, the highway was right beside Lake Superior and you could hear and see the waves crashing, which is also a welcome addition to the morning sounds. The other good points about the night shift are it is really quiet and there is less traffic and hence serves as a good time for contemplation. The skies are filled with literally thousands of stars on the route from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste Marie on the No. 17!
We stopped by Montreal River and got our chance to swim in Lake Superior. The water is super clear and there are no fish. We said our evening prayer to sunset on L. Superior. Montreal River has got to go down as one of the best venues and campgrounds of this trip. Simply beautiful. The beauty transcends all imagination!
After some intense walking and a regular 140 KM/day, we made it to Sault Ste. Marie today. I was practically stumbling along on my last shift today.We attended a Polish service today and the priest was very welcoming to us. He told us about the amalgamating of two churches in the diocese. What I got from our conversation with him was that our priests and young people need a lot of prayers today.
We are based in an old retreat center in Sault Ste. Marie. The whole house was given for us to stay. This place is huge! It has 11 bedrooms, several washrooms, a huge dining room and kitchen, a private chapel, all exclusively for the 6 of us. Man, we are really spoiled!
Tomorrow we start our adventure in Sault Ste. Marie. Only God knows what’s in store for us as we continue down this path. Each day, we wake up to a completely new adventure!
Canada: July 1 Canada Day March
Our Canada Day March in Portage la Prairie, MB. Let us make Canada a pro-life nation that upholds the dignity of all human lives!
Some nice folks in Davidson, SK, donated a huge pro-life banner to us. It was just the right size to go on the back of our RV, so we did exactly that. Choose to give your baby LIFE!
IN 1971 U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS PROPOSED THAT LEGAL PERSONHOOD BE CONFERRED ON A “VALLEY, AN ALPINE MEADOW, A RIVER OR A LAKE” JUST AS IT HAS BEEN BESTOWED ON SHIPS AND CORPORATIONS.
In 1936 the Supreme Court of Germany “refused to recognize Jews living in Germany as ‘persons’ in the legal sense.”
In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn.”
THE SANCTITY-OF-LIFE ETHIC EMBODIED IN THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH WAS DROPPED FROM USE IN MEDICAL SCHOOLS ONLY TWICE IN MODERN HISTORY: TODAY AND DURING THE TWELVE YEARS OF THE THIRD REICH.
At the Hadamar euthanasia hospital patients killed with injections were told that they were for “treatment of their lung disease.”
In 1976 Dr. Willard Cates called abortion the “preferred treatment” for “unwanted pregnancy: the number two sexually transmitted disease.”
- an excerpt from The Abortion Holocaust by William Brennan
By Paul
Life. (Central Walk).
Crossroads has manifested many struggles into the lives of the walkers. We have experienced sunburns, blisters, bug bites, personality conflicts, headaches, sore feet, tired muscles, sleep depravity, worn spirits, exhaustion, cramps, and the list goes on and on.
For me personally, my motives are often challenged when I experience these trials. There have been times in which I genuinely wonder why I took a summer out of my life to walk hundreds and hundreds of miles. There are times of disappointment, discouragement, and doubt. Nonetheless, the Lord has used these opportunities to bless me with abundant grace. He has shown me that these sufferings are a very trying and difficult part of Crossroads; however, Crossroads would not be Crossroads without them. In as sense, suffering reminds me what I am doing. This is not a walk in the park; it is a walk across the country. It requires driven minds, dedicated hearts, and the prayers and support of countless, loving prayer warriors along the way. It is not a one-man show. We are all part of the body of Christ and I am learning more and more that Crossroads would essentially dissipate without the prayers, encouragement, and support of many devoted souls along the way. The Lord is opening my eyes to see that there is beauty in the midst of the suffering on the road (“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.” ~James 1:2-3~).
Suffering has also opened my eyes to appreciate the beauty in the simple things in life. Air conditioning, bathrooms, and showers are not the only things I have come to treasure. I am more and more grateful for a stranger’s smile along the way, the beauty of a wildflower, the embrace of a child, the friendship of the fellow walkers, and the prayers and support of countless individuals along the way. So although life may be challenging at times, God’s abundant grace has enriched my soul with countless blessings.
PS. Sometimes these trials are blessings because they result in fits of laughter. For example, I have been baptized with countless water spills, a can of Vault, and my feet have been washed in the purity of sour cream. I am convinced that sometimes these things come our way because we need an excuse to realize the beauty of being doubled over in laughter.
~Central Walk, Jessica Graehler
Let’s Meet: Amber Perron
Amber Perron
…ok ok! Amber is about to start her third year at Steubenville with a major in, well we’re really not sure. Let’s face it she’s like most college students, she doesn’t know what she wants to do for the rest of her life, and who can blame her, there are so many different things to chose from.
Amber’s silence is an inspiration, truly it is. She has more humility than I have ever seen in a person other than the Blessed Mother.
One of my favorite things about Amber is that she laughs at the most random times, well they are really random, they are more like funny times but you forget that she is there because she is so quiet, then you hear her laugh and remember that she’s there.
Favorites memory of Amber: I was spitting cherry pits at Erica and Tim and I got the brillian idea to spit one at Amber while she was about to fall asleep in the loft. So I opened the curtain and spit one at her face. Well she laughed and it was awesome. Oh no no this story is not over. The next day I threw soggy bread at her and Erica! Well it hit her in the arm. So she picked it up and threw it at my face!!!!!
Love you AMBER!!!!!!!!!
Let’s Meet: Becca Lowery [Tex]
Becca Lowrey
But anyway! About Becca. She is from Irving, Texas and her family is amazing! We stayed with them last weekend. Not a natural red head but beautiful anyway she wears it, Becca loves to tell stories of how she hated being a Texan until she recently lived in New York for a year going to school at The Kings College, in The Empire State Building. She now loves Texas more than any other state and is a hard core, which I just took from her mouth as she spoke them to our host families as I was typing it. Her love of “old” country music and organic farming makes her seem even more like a true Texas, and as the summer continues and as we got closer and closer to Texas her accent came out more and more!
Becca likes to tell people that she is an introvert, but we all know that she is for sure an extrovert, she is one of the loudest people on the walk. Well that might just be because we can make her laugh at the drop of the hat and it’s a beautifully loud laugh that makes all those around her laugh as well.
Becca’s interests include being AWESOME! and backpacking. Ask her about her five fingered shoes!!!
One of my favorite memories of Becca is well almost every moment that I spend with her. I really cannot pick just one memory because they are all simply so wonderful because she is simply so wonderful! <3 you cowgirl!
Let’s Meet: Sean Norris [walk leader]
Sean Norris
Sean leadership skills have come out more than he ever thought possible this summer because if they didn’t our team would be a lot worse off. He likes to pull the I’m bigger than you card, no not really but he has threatened to sit on me a few times. But really Sean is a big teddy bear. We can make him do most anything we want so long as we are all against him, but if anyone decides to be on his side we lose. Normally it’s Tim on his side.
Sean’s favorite word: prudent. I have heard him say it at least thirty times this week and it’s gone down a lot since the beginning of the summer.
Favorite memory of Sean: Friday of our first week, Sean and I were walking together and we wanted to see how fast we could walk the second mile of our two miles, so I speed walked while Sean jogged along side me and we got an 11 minute mile! LEGIT!!!
We all hope that Sean will keep his sanity through the rest of the walk, but let’s admit it, we wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t! If you disagree with me, than you don’t know my team!!! =]
We <3 you Seany Baby!
Let’s Meet: Father Hilary Flinn
Father Hilary
Yes we Crossroads Pro-Life Southern Walk 2010 have decided to post profiles of all of our walkers for you all to get to know us better. [well I Leah Sedelle Chapman have decided]
The first on the list is Father Hilary Flinn:
Father Hilary is our seventy year old priest. He was on the first walk from San Francisco to DC. He also walked protions of the other walks twice in years past. Father Hilary took a three month sebatical from his parish in Australia. Yeah, that’s right, he’s from Australia with the accent and all! My favorite thing about Father is that he is always blessing people and things. He blesses me a lot when I say goofy things and very ridiculous things. If you complain about blisters, Father is right there to bless your feet. Complain about being tired; sure enough you can plan on Father making his way across the packed RV to bless your head. Say something silly and Father will for sure be there to bless you! Yes I know from much experience.
I’ve never before met a priest that takes such joy in such simple things. His homilies are filled with teaching and challenging. Sometimes he is so sublte in his teaching that I don’t ever realize that I learned anything until I bring it up to someone on the team later and they mention that they heard that earlier that morning in Father’s homily. He truly brings a blessing to the group and we will all miss him dearly when he has to return home in 2.5 weeks to say a wedding in Australia.
Funniest thing about Father Hilary is by far his facial expressions. You can always plan on being able to tell when you are being goofy because Father will give you a really great look of, are you really acting like this right now. And essentialy it just makes you laugh so much you start rolling on the floor, or crying in Erica’s case.
Everything’s bigger in Texas
Leah Sedelle Chapman will be your commentator for the remainder if this blog. Please remember to keep all hands, feet, arms, and legs in the vehicle at all times. Please also note the nearest Emergency Exit in case of a fire, flood, or fire and flood! If you are sitting in an Emergency Exit row and do not feel comfortable with this responsibility, please let your attendant know and they will find you a different seat. In case of…..
Yeah we’re not going to go through all of that, but you all thought that I was didn’t you! See I got you there.
Dave will yell at me and not let me post blogs anymore if I don’t start talking about the walk so here goes:
Go Longhorns!
We are finally in Texas and personally I am loving it! We are in Dallas [well really Irving, Texas] this weekend staying with one of the walker’s, Becca, family. There have been many interesting happenings since the last time we have posted a blog so I will try to keep you posted on all of them without making you fall asleep.
Lubbock Texas with the Wilkes Family
Two weeks ago we were in Lubbock, Texas staying with the Wilkes family and we had a blast. The kids were amazing and great fun, they even tried to adopt a few of us. I was all for it! The weekend was filled with World Cup, ping-pong, coloring, painting nails, coloring hair, and more laughs than I’ve ever had with complete strangers before in my life. And of course we cannot forget about playing Just Dance on the Wii! Fear not my friends video will explain in much greater detail than words ever could. . To Mr. Wilkes I have only one thing to say, “I’m a BEAST!” We are so grateful for their hospitality and letting us stay an extra night because we were having RV problems and didn’t feel comfortable driving the RV out into the middle of nowhere when it wasn’t quite ok to drive at all. We keep them in our prayers both in thanksgiving for God bringing them into our lives and ultimately our hearts. We also pray that they will stay safe and that their family with thrive from the graces that they receive for all that they do in God’s name.
That week we walked through the rest of Texas and finally got across the border to Texas on Friday. During the week we caught Erica laughing so hard she was crying multiple times. Sean also had me perform surgery on his foot to get a tiny little rock out of his heel. Found out two things that night; 1] Sean feet are very ticklish and 2] Becca and Erica do not like feet or my hands after they have touched feet. But nonetheless the rock is out. I hope.
Last weekend we were in a house to ourselves so it was great to be able to sit and just hang out with the team without having to worry about transition times and getting on the road. We played Apples to Apples, and Becca won even though she wasn’t paying attention most of the time. A.R.G.H.! Then we transitioned into Taboo. This didn’t last long because everyone was very tired. But don’t worry I’m sure that it will turn up again soon and the game will prevail over sleep this time. After masses on Saturday we were invited out to eat at an Asian grill, Bonzai, by a lovely young woman named Carmen. These are personally my favorite times when we don’t have to worry about getting in the miles and we can just sit and listen to people stories and hear what they love to do and places they love to see. I don’t know that’s just me, Leah Sedelle, get used to it! =] The food was amazing and the company was even better! Before we headed out to walk again on Sunday night we had ourselves a little photo shoot. I’ll give you a little background so you don’t think that we are completely crazy!
Here we are showing our true colors!
Our boys are very "tender"
Don't you wish your girl walkers we Hot like us!
When we were in Lubbock praying at the abortion clinic there was a garage sale at a church across the street from where we were. We had to go of course. We found many a treasures and decided that everyone needed a new outfit. So most of the guys got their wonderful dresses and the girls got the hippest clothes on the block! Well only if it were a very badly dressed block!!! The photo shoot was so much fun. We had to ask one of the neighbor across the street from the house that we were staying at to take the picture so that we could all be in it. Needless to say he was laughing at us the entire time so if the pictures are a little blurry it’s because he was laughing. But I’ll let you all have a look for yourselves.
This last week of walking was pretty eventful! Sean surprised me and the rest of the team with a soccer ball! YES, Finally! So Tim and I have been playing soccer a lot, mostly just headers because there isn’t much room for much else and we’ve been playing with flip-flops on so you can’t do much without proper shoes. Sadly though our beloved United States is out of the World Cup. Landon my dear we understand that you played to the best of your ability, and we don’t blame you. We do however blame those meanie faced officials that called our goals offsides when they clearly weren’t. But everyone makes mistakes and fear not I will pray for their souls! =] [If you haven't realized Landon Donovan is by far the greatest soccer player of all time, Yeah I said it Alexi you are good too but Landon just raises the bar a little more! Pele I hear you crying, you're old news buddy! Just kidding love you all]
Sorry about the little tangent there it’s all out now! We discovered new ways to annoy each other and gross each other out. The new favorite is to eat cherries and then spit the pits at each other. Once you get good they are actually really good ammo. Just ask Amber. She got one in the face when she was getting ready for bed! Love you Amber! Hope your eye heals so that you can see again this week, maybe? Don’t worry Amber’s friends and family, I didn’t actually hit her in the face, but I almost did! This week we have walked through rain or at least light rain every day.
Catching raindrops in the middle of the street
Yesterday it started to pour while Erica and Amber were walking. I got out to get myself a good hearty PB&J, but when I opened the trunk of the van, or the “boot” as Tim calls it, the entire cooler fell out onto the rainy highway shoulder. It opened of course and my bread fell onto the should as well OF COURSE! It was all soggy now and I had no desire to eat it so I decided to throw it at the girls. This swiftly turned into a soggy bread fight and the three of us girls ended up with soggy bread crumbs? all over in our hair, on our shirts, all over our arms and legs. I had fun though and we laughed so hard I thought one of us was going to fall over onto the highway from laughter. Yes Erica was crying again from laughing so hard.
Today was interesting already and it’s not even 3:00. On our way back from praying at the abortion clinic in downtown Dallas we were witnesses to an accident. A car flipped over into a ditch. Luckily the girl in it got out with only minor scrapes and cuts. God is so good.
Now I must go eat chicken tortillas! I’m starved!!!!!!
Thank you all for reading and God Bless
Peace, Love, and Jesus =]
We <3 babies!
