God made the world from nothing, and if we can be nothing, then God can make something of us.
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
|
Faith and reason are mutually compatible. May God bless you with reasonable requests and a faithful response to the answers returned.
|
WELCOME TO XANDERLAND
She built a miniature world to honor her late son. Now it brings joy to others.
If you walk past Shannon and Joe Katona's house on a corner of one of Baltimore's busiest roads and turn down the side street, it's hard to miss the 7-foot metal dragon in the yard, standing upright, his massive wings unfurled. He looms just off the sidewalk, a graceful curve to his long neck and a hint of dragon smile. Stop to take him in and you'll notice — dwarfed by his rear claws — a tiny realm of castles and gnome houses, fairies and frogs, lesser dragons
and dragonflies and even a miniature baseball diamond, all surrounded by a trickling moat.
Welcome to Xanderland. A fantasy world created by a mother in mourning, Xanderland may seem small, but its borders are as far-reaching as grief and as everlasting as the delight of neighborhood children.
The Katonas installed the dragon about a month after their youngest son, Alexander, who went by Xander, died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest in 2015 at the age of 21. He was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, Shannon Katona said; hence the dragon. The family named the creature Gleep and decided to share him with their Northeast Baltimore neighborhood.
“I didn’t want to put him in a hidden spot,” said Katona, “because other people’s joy is also my joy.” She invited friends to bring found objects to a memorial service, and Gleep’s playground became Xanderland, a corner of Katona’s larger garden, which stretches over two adjoining yards that she and her husband own at Northern Parkway and Sefton Avenue.
On a recent afternoon, two children scampered through the yard counting fairies and wind chimes. It was breezy, and the chimes jingled. Elsa Lisse, 7, lives nearby, and she was showing Xanderland to her friend, 6-year-old Terra Crespo. “I wish this was my garden!” Terra cried as she flitted among gnomes and gewgaws. Before their visit ended, Terra found 72 fairies; Elsa counted 62 wind chimes, or maybe 101. (Shannon Katona believes she has about 40 chimes, but she herself has lost count...READ MORE
|
HER ACHING HEART
Requesting prayers for my son Russel. He is under physchiatric treatment for the past 20 years. All was going well, till recently. He started getting seizures for the past 1 month and it increased. He was taking 250 mg meds and now the physchiatrist has increased it to 800 mg. the more our Praise and Worship and Intercessory prayer intensified, my son's condition got bad. But GOD in HIS great mercy is helping us through this. My heart is aching to see him like
this. Please pray for my child. GOD BLESS YOU ALL
- jacinta
|
Not a Subscriber Yet?
Get your own Daily Blessings!
| |
|
|
|
