Our family is Greek and we practice the Orthodox Christian Faith. I mention this to as to explain our devotion to our Mother of God, the Theotokos. In November, 2011 my dear mother was diagnosed with sepsis, and was pronounced terminal. She was placed in Hospice at the hospital with a team of healthcare providers that were angelic. The Priest from our Church came regularly to say prayers over her. Although she was declining, and not expeceted to live long in hospice care, she continued to hang on. She was not able to talk and was mostly in a sleeping state. A week into hospice my aunt came in to see her with a little icon of the Virgin Mary and Christ from their parents home village in Greece. It is called “Mother of the Sign” and depicts the Virgin Mary with her arms up, glorifying our Lord, with Jesus sitting on her “womb” so to speak. She placed the icon in my mother’s little hand and she clutched this from that point on as if her life depended on it. Even the darling nurses, after they would bathe my mom, would place the small icon back in her hand. Days went on, and days turned into weeks, and we treasured our quiet, sacred time with mom in hospice, as she was so peaceful. But we would say to her, in hopes she could hear us, “It’s okay to go now mom, we will be okay. You go now and be with the Lord”. Well, you don’t tell a little old stubborn Greek lady what to do! LOL. She peacefully passed away on November 27, 2011. Clearly God’s time, not our own. Fast forward many months, I had started reading a book about a Russian nun. I got about half way through and out it down, and added it to the stack of partially read books that I always have. I was supposed to go to a meeting one evening, but just didn’t feel like going, as I felt compelled to stay home and read my book about the Russian nun. I began reading and got to a place in the book where the nun talks about the icon mentioned above, and that her monastery in Kiev was going to have a Feast on the day that commemorates this icon. I got to the most compelling part of the story, when she went on to explain that the feast day honoring this icon is NOVEMBER 27! This is the day my mother passed, while holding the icon of “the Sign” in her hand. I put the book down and went to the fireplace mantle where the icon was sitting to compare the image on it, to the one in the book, and of course it was the same! In our heart of hearts we feel that Lord’s Mother held our mother’s hand, and led her to Jesus Christ our Savior on the special day!

Glory be to God in the Highest!