Our Daily Bread

The first year we were married, way back in 1986, my Mom gave us a beautiful wooden carved statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is very special to us and has always held a very special place in our home. In 2002 we discovered how special we are to her.After months of unemployment it was getting harder and harder for this family of eight to make ends meet. My husband lost his job right after 9-11 and things were bad all over. But, every month something would come through. An unexpected freelance job, or a gift from a friend or relative would get us through one more month. But how long could this go on?

One day in the summer of 2002, my husband was in the front of our house checking the mail and a lady pulled into our driveway. I’ll have to explain a few things. We live on a fairly busy street and never hang out in front, and our driveway is very large and folks are always using it to turn around. We also have a metal sign covering our mailbox on the curb and we post messages on it using magnetic letters. Our sign is well known and folks are always amazed when they meet us and find out we live in the house with the mailbox sign. My husband watches as the lady gets out of her car. “What does she want?” he wonders.

She introduces herself and begins to comment on how she always reads the sign when she passes by. After some chit chat she launches into the real reason for stopping. One rainy day, exactly one month previous, she was passing our house. There was a bit of traffic and cars were moving slowly. She glanced at our house and saw a very large, two-story, image of Our Lady of Guadalupe right in front of our house, tucked in between two very large fir trees. She kept going and thought, “Wow, they have a really big banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe!” She was on her way to adoration and couldn’t stop thinking about the “banner.” That evening, on her way home, she again passed our house. No, there was no banner.

Now, she can’t stop thinking about this vision. What was Our Lady trying to tell her? One evening she goes to a prayer group and tells the others what she saw. After some discussion, someone in the prayer group told her, “I don’t think she appeared for you, but for them, the people in that house.” She immediately knew it was true. But how would she tell them?

So, exactly one month after seeing Our Lady of Guadalupe, she was passing by our house and there was my husband. I wasn’t home, so they exchanged phone numbers. When I got home, he began to tell me the story. “She didn’t seem like a nut,” he said. The phone rang, it was her. She went through the entire story with me. Goosebumps, awe, wonder. I cried. Our prayers were being heard. Our Lady of Guadalupe was taking care of us.

The lady was manager at a nearby restaurant/bakery where each night, bags of bread are thrown away. She began bringing us these large bags of bread. We kept a lot of it and passed on what we didn’t need to other homeschool families. Homeschoolers are a hungry bunch. Even when the dad is employed, a big bag of bread is greatly appreciated. The bread exchange went on for years and helped us get through some very slim times.

We pray with confidence: Our Lady of Guadalupe, continue to watch over us.