Jeremiah, Great but Small: As Told Through the Eyes of Sister Mary Elizabeth O’Brien

By Linda Porras

Jeremiah is a precocious child, and while very intelligent and advanced in his 3 Rs, is still an active little boy. He sees the world as a wonderous place and takes many things he sees and hears at face value. Above all, he wants to please his parents, his teachers, and most of all, God.

In this story, people in Jeremiahs world learn what it is like to see life through the eyes of a child, and how important it is to safeguard and enjoy them for the short time they are entrusted to us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499061901

Linda Porras

Linda Porras is a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, a teacher, and most importantly, a Christian practicing her Catholic faith. She has written one other book, Jeremiah, Great but Small, which details the story of the child, Jeremiah, from before his birth until his sixth birthday. Linda was born in Riverside, California, and now resides in Fontana, California. Her favorite pastimes are reading novels and The Bible, writing, scrapbooking, loving animals (especially cats and dogs), and enjoying anything to do with the Denver Broncos. She loves her family, all children like little Jeremiah, and her faith beyond measure!

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Before I relate this story to you, let me tell you a bit about myself. Yes, I’m a Catholic nun. Okay, I’m very dedicated to my faith and profession. But contrary to what most people think, my sisters and I don’t spend all our waking hours on our knees praying and doing penance. We are, of course, first and foremost, women of faith. However, we live, breathe, teach, nurse, and on occasion, even enjoy some good, clean fun. And we are very observant of what occurs around us. So when I tell you readers all the wonderful things I’ve stored in my heart, I want you to know one important thing. All these stories were first appreciated by the many people who lovingly surrounded a wonderful child named Jeremiah.

This child was born to parents who already had five children between them. The father was twice married and twice widowed. His first wife, Carolyn, was a sweet and gentle soul, who loved staying home for her family and enjoyed being the kind of partner Jonathan both needed and desired. She even baked her own bread and cookies. This couple was overjoyed when Carolyn finally became pregnant with their first child, a daughter, some eight years into their marriage. Then tragedy struck when Julissa was only two years old. Carolyn contracted ovarian cancer and died just six months later. Jonathan was heartbroken for himself, but most of all, for his little girl. He poured his efforts into his ranch, ran for county sheriff and won, and lovingly cared for Julissa with the help of his father’s maiden aunt, Juanita.

Jonathan decided that he should not date unless he met just the right woman who could help him parent the light of his life, his little girl. Julissa was eleven when her father met his second wife, Patricia. Although seemingly a wonderful lady, she wasn’t, to say the least, mother material. A real estate agent and a career woman at heart, she delighted in showing her feminine side to all close by, and she had great acting skills. It was with great pride that she landed Jonathan, this rather wealthy rancher/lawman and a much sought-after catch. They were relatively happy until she discovered she was pregnant a year later with not one but two fetuses. To say the least, she was devastated! Jonathan had a great deal of work cut out for him to convince Patricia that she must keep these blessings from God. He promised her anything she desired if she both kept and birthed these babies. To give her a bit of credit, she mostly held up her end of the bargain. She found she could work from home by using the Internet to advertise and promote the houses to nearby customers. She did maintain a lighter schedule and met with clients less frequently than before her pregnancy. But she loathed this new regiment and longed for this sentence to be over. Patricia and Jonathan became the parents of Jason and Janice by way of cesarean section. Patricia held court at her bedside, had her photos taken holding these precious charges, and then foisted the care of the babies to Aunt Juanita. She didn’t care to be around them unless company stopped by, and then she used her thespian skills to show off her bundles of joy.

Patricia returned to work only four weeks after giving birth and sold her first property one week later. Acting on an advertisement from the Internet, she and her partner, Craig Westlake, decided to attend a realtors’ convention halfway across the continent. On the way to their destination and hotel, their taxi was broadsided by a tractor trailer, killing both Patricia and Craig instantly. The taxi driver passed away some days later.

Bewildered, Jonathan once again was left a widower and a single parent. This time he had three children to worry over, but with tireless efforts from both Aunt Juanita and him, they got through it all.

Jonathan also received help from the wonderful friends and family in his small town of Evergreen. On his father’s side of the family, he inherited from John Blackhawk many wise and generous Cheyenne traits. Jonathan’s mother, a full-blooded Irish woman by the name of Erin, passed on to her son her emerald-green eyes, jet-black curls, and a loving heart. So Jonathan was not only a fair and honest lawman but also a loving and gentle father, who loved the earth and the creatures therein, his beautiful children and family, and most of all, God. Perhaps this is why he was chosen to meet his third wife, Laurie Lynn.

Chapter 2

Laurie’s Early Life

Laurie Lynn Preston (not the same name she had signed on checks a few months before) had to, by necessity, relocate to another town, in another state, and in vastly different environments. Laurie had traveled to Denver many times, but mostly over the Rockies via United and Southwest Airlines to visit their son. But one time early in her marriage, she, her husband, Daniel, and their younger son, Chance, took a short jaunt to Fairplay where the town’s biggest claims to fame were the Burro Races and Burro Days. They decided to catch a hamburger on the way, stopping at Evergreen. Laurie fell instantly in love—not with the burgers but with the beautiful land at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. This vision stuck with her when she was asked where she would like to transfer. You see, her husband, Daniel, had been in a tremendous accident outside of Fabens, Texas, on the Interstate Highway 10. A speeding van full of drug-making chemicals and four known criminals lost control on an overpass and fell onto to the interstate below. Daniel, piloting a brand-new black F-250, had just been to his birthplace of Fort Hancock to pay his respects to a friend who had died of a heart attack at age 52. Little did he know that he would be the next to be mourned by his family and by his many friends. He was traveling west on I-10 when his truck had almost cleared the overhead bridge. He probably never saw the falling vehicle that landed squarely on top of his truck on the other side of the viaduct. The impact, along with the chemicals, caused a huge explosion and fire, claiming the lives of the van’s occupants and Daniel. And he definitely wasn’t aware that the van (and men inside) was being chased. Vehicles full of local, state, and federal officers, including FBI, US Customs, and Border Patrol, plus DEA officials, were hot on their trail. All in all, out in the desert, in the middle of next to nowhere, I-10 became a roped-off flaming crime scene. Truckers making their way across Texas, on their way to New Mexico and parts beyond, had to detour through side roads to make their destinations on time.

Oddly enough, when news of the accident made its way to the colleagues of the van occupants, a frenzy of emotions took place. Not only had precious drug-making liquids been lost, but four talented pushers and drug designers had died. This made El Jefe and his crew nervous, angry, and vengeful at once. These drug lords first blamed and targeted any law-enforcement official in sight. They then branched out to the fire department and paramedic workers, and finally decided that the man driving the F-250 was really to blame. Since he had died at the scene, his next of kin had to pay. Laurie, oblivious to these intentions, quietly buried her husband of twenty-five years, and made her way back home. She was astounded and completely at sea when she opened her door a day after returning from El Paso, to FBI agents and US Marshals. When told she had to completely pick up stakes and move out of her home, she strongly disagreed. Laurie couldn’t understand why this situation would put her in jeopardy, let alone why her husband should be held responsible just when he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stranger still, since she wasn’t even in the vehicle when the accident occurred, how anyone in his or her right mind would think having a van fall on a person’s truck could be at fault!

The visitors assured her that they weren’t dealing with rational minds. Cartel participants might be thought of as great businessmen, but common sense wasn’t included in their packages. Then the men in black played their trump card, so to speak. If Laurie Lynn did not follow their advice, she wouldn’t be the only one placed in harm’s way. Anyone in her vicinity might be attacked and killed by flying bullets, Molotov cocktails, or speeding cars aimed in her direction. That finally convinced her. All her possessions, along with her collectibles, were packed away and stored. She would just have to make up her mind where she and Jack, her cat, could be safely hidden until such time as the drug lords and their minions could be captured. She chose Evergreen.

Chapter 3

Moving to Evergreen

Laurie’s sons were out of the house and on their own many miles from her present home, and her parents had passed away years ago. So she wasn’t too broken up about leaving her old neighborhood. The property values had fallen tremendously, and her house wasn’t worth what it had been only the previous year. Having the option of living anywhere and still in a daze from all that had happened in the past two weeks, Laurie decided to go where the living would be simpler and the sunsets were breathtaking. Evergreen popped into her mind and lodged there. She was astounded when she was told her old home would be quickly bought up, and she would realize a nice return. She knew that she and her husband had just burned their mortgage papers a few months before the roof came down on her life, but she was surprised to learn that she would have a ready reserve of cash to purchase a new residence. Crazily enough, she found a lovely ranch online with a few acres of backyard and with all the conveniences she could hope for. It was a bit large for just herself and her Siamese, Jack, but it would give her a lot to do to make it her home.

No sooner had she arrived at her