Hubby took me to Kaiser to get my asthma meds. It was quite a wait. Waiting creates angst. So, I prayed. Praying calms me. It renews me. Last night, a Vatican mass, live before sleeping gave me my best sleep. Pope Francis soothing homily was about remaining in mutuality with the Lord, I remain in Him and the Lord remains in me. If we are the light, let’s be witnesses so the Church may grow, mutually remaining in each other, he said.

Pope Francis designated today as an international day of prayer, where all faiths, groups, cultures and traditions are praying together as One. This Coronavirus pandemic came like a flood, he said, but for the first 4 months, a pandemic of hunger led to 4,000,000 dying of hunger. Thanks to the High Commission, we are invited to pray that God stop this tragedy, this pandemic plus two others, pandemic of hunger and pandemic of wars. 

From John Hopkins Dashboard:

4,405,688 confirmed new Coronavirus cases
300,074 deaths in 188 countries/regions out of 195 countries

US has 1, 400, 500 cases
84, 985 deaths 

NY has 340, 661 (27, 567 deaths)
NJ has 142, 389 (9, 946 deaths)
Illinois has 84, 694 (3, 792 deaths)
Mass has 80, 497 ( 5, 315 deaths)
California has 73, 144 ( 2, 974 deaths) 
Hawaii has 638 ( 17 deaths)

States that have quarantine in home orders have decreased their death rates. 

“We quarantine because we love our families and we want them to live in virus-free states.”

Top 10 cases, with most deaths, are from: US, UK, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Brazil, Iran, Germany and Netherlands.

Yesterday, thousands died:

1, 763 died in United States
779 died in Brazil
495 died in UK
195 died in Italy
184 died in Spain
123 died in Germany 
83 died in France
52 died in Netherlands

Least amounts of deaths: Iceland – 10; New Zealand – 21; South Korea – 260; Israel – 264; Japan – 678; Ph – 790; Portugal – 1, 184

So proud that I was invited by then President Barack Obama to cover Pope Francis’ visit to the White House, attended by 300+ media folks. I felt so fortunate to be there. I stood in line starting at 4am, got my security clearance, saw Bishop Barron, Maria Shriver and went inside the South Lawn. This was Sept. 2015
Flowering anthuriums, almost year round
New blooms on the cactus
Three favorites: champagne Manila mangoes, ube biko and kokedama cactus, a gift from my favorite handsome son
The multicolored vegetable miso soup I made inspired by Janet Susan Rodriguez Nepales’s udon vegetable dish
We were pleasantly surprised by my beautiful favorite daughter C bringing us De Vito’s pizza. My #princess2015la was so hungry, she ate her slice. After, we had this exchange.

Princess: Grandma, I dreamt of you and Grandpa. I miss playing with you.

Me: Oh, Princess I miss you, too.

Princess: Grandma, I miss hugging you.

I almost lost it here. I steered myself out of it by telling her that her grandpa has been taking photos of her tea kettles, all three in conversation. She liked that story

My prayers: May these souls rest in peace as those who perished in 188 countries/regions. Lord, may the scourge of this pandemic, as the pandemics of hunger and war be stopped in their tracks. Thank you Lord for your everlasting Grace!