Our Homemade Prayer Book

     One of the struggles Boo has many times is an inability to articulate his thoughts and feelings. Many times he needs familiar prayers that he recites. Sometimes he'll say that a prayer is exactly what he'd say if he could remember the words. I make special note of those and on days when he's having problems, I know just which prayers to use. He repeats the prayers or parts of the prayers at various times during the day. Once he told me that it was a relief to be able to tell God how he felt even when he couldn't communicate anything else.

     Another struggle Boo has is reading. Many days he doesn't see well enough to read anything. Other days he can read large type. None of the prayer books that we own have type large enough for Boo to read. So, I began compiling a collection of prayers that are meaningful to us. At first, I just typed each prayer in 18 point bold type. For a while that seemed to work. Now, Boo needs a magnifier to read on those occasions that he can see well enough to do so. He specifically asked me to make the pages nicer because “that's really the way a prayer book should be, helping us be reverent.” (It probably doesn't hurt that I usually sit beside him as I retype and decorate the pages on the computer. He likes anything that keeps me near by.)

Created from Shabby Blog Kit, Mother's Tree and A Mother's Love

A Caregiver's Prayer

     This prayer is one that I pray. It is from a website created by the Dobbs, Your Aging Parent. I made slight alterations in it so that it better suited my needs. There are chaotic days when I really need this prayer to help me focus on what is really important and not some of the trivial things that clutter up my life at times. The link directly to this beautiful prayer is:

http://www.youragingparent.com/a_caregiver's_prayer.htm

Created from parts of Shabby Blog Kit, A Mother's Love and Mother's Tree/

Morning Prayers

      In the morning, Boo and I have certain prayers that we've prayed together for years. We usually begin with a Glory Be, an Our Father, a Hail Mary, the Apostles Creed and a Morning Offering. Thus far, the Glory Be, Our Father and Hail Mary Boo remembers with no problem whatsoever. The Apostles Creed and the Morning Offering are different. Some days he can recite the creed, but not usually. So, I've provided only those prayers that are problematic. Eventually I may have to include others. The title of one of the prayers is off centered. As of now, I haven't figured out how to correct it.

Next Sunday, I'll post more of our prayer book...