Prayer request

I don't usually do this, as I'm ashamed to admit I usually forget to pray for other bloggers' requests. But I'm going to go out on a limb anyway.

A little background: My friend Patty lost her daughter to cancer a month ago. Kimmy was 30, and had four children, the oldest of whom is six, from three different fathers. Patty has been taking care of the children, as Kimmy had wanted her to. The kids were all close to Gramma in a way that only children of a single mother can be.

Patty has reached an accommodation with one of the kids' fathers, and another is nowhere to be found and likes it that way. But yesterday morning, she was served with papers from the girls' "father," saying that he was coming out on Friday to take custody. She went to a lawyer here in town, who told her there was nothing she could do. Her family lawyer back in Minnesota called an old school chum of his here in Washington, who couldn't take the case in time himself but gave her a lot of good advice for how to present herself to the judge.

So why does a diehard father's-rightsnik put "father" in sneer quotes? Well, not only was the guy violent – the reason Kimmy fled to Washington in the first place – but he's been out of the picture for five years. He's never even laid eyes on the younger girl. But apparently there's a little money in having them now that their mother is dead, and he wants his cut.

So I'm begging y'all to pray. Pray hard. If you belong to a group or an order that prays together, ask them. And I'll be better about praying for the requests other folks post from now on, honest.

Are you gonna pull those rosaries, or whistle dixie?