Right before my dad passed away in 1998 from pancreatic cancer, we really started digging into Medjugorje because he was very into Our Lady of Fatima and Lourdes. We started reading about Medjugorje together.

I found the Wayne Weible book, and I was really floored that nobody had talked to me about this before. I’m thinking, “I should know this. If this is really going on, I need to know about this.” 

This is when I was 16 to 18. I was really fascinated by Medjugorje, but I wasn’t really listening to my parents, pretty much every day smoking weed and skipping school. I was the youngest of five kids.

My dad wanted to marry me off. He wanted to make sure I was okay. I think he felt like he needed that peace of mind. I had been dating a Jewish guy. I married him, and it was not good. We got married in a synagogue, we had a priest come, but it was not right. It was never right. 

My grandmother had given us a few grand when she died. I told my mom, “I’m going to go over to this Medjugorje.” It was in my heart to go there even though I was still smoking weed and doing all this stuff I shouldn’t have been doing. I was still like, “This is cool. I want to find out if this is real.” 

I told my mom, “I’m going over.” She got freaked out by it. She felt like she had to come with me because she was scared. 

We came in 2000. I saw Fr. Slavko and then I went home and he died right when we got home. I saw him in the flesh. He gave a talk to us. 

We saw Vicka over at her place down the street giving kisses, and she actually blessed me. We got to see Marija in an apparition. I climbed Mount Križevac. I did everything. I just knew this was a special place, and this really is as special as they say it is. 

The seed was planted. It grew and grew and grew when I got home. My husband was doing a lot of drugs and I didn’t want to be in that lifestyle anymore. It was almost immediate. I didn’t want to live that life anymore. What I experienced was so beautiful and then I came home to that. It was very quickly from light to dark.

It wasn’t like anything earth-shattering happened to me here. I didn’t see the sun spin. It was just that feeling that this was a powerful place and I really believe that this is real. If this is real, then I really want to change who I am. I really want to change what’s going on in my life. But I always had a good foundation, thanks be to God. I have a good family. 

I love Our Lady, and slowly it just grew and grew. I became very open with how much I love Her. People always just knew that about me. 

Three years later I asked for a divorce. I went to school to be a nurse. I was by myself for a while. I was like, “I need to figure out what I really want now and wait for the right person.” I worked with people with traumatic brain injuries. 

Since then, I have always felt very strong and tight with Mary. I really just needed Her. I didn’t feel like I needed to be with a guy. It was good. 

When you feel like that, then the right person comes along usually. I met my husband. He was absolutely crazy about me, and I was crazy about him. It was magical. He was Catholic. That was a prerequisite. 

We have three beautiful children.

It’s a real blessing to be here with my brothers. It’s been so fun. They’re excellent brothers.

A grace for me personally would be climbing the mountain and really feeling at the top of that mountain that I needed to surrender this whole thing over to God. My brother, Peter, has this tumor and as a nurse, I have been, with his wife who is also a nurse, fighting for him to save him. It’s been really hard on us. Every single person I see at work I ask to pray for him. It’s been like my full time job to try to save him. That’s a lot of pressure. It’s not my responsibility, but he’s my brother, and I love him.

When I climbed that hill, I felt very strongly, “Maisie, you’ve got to let this go. I’ve got this, whatever happens.” I got to the cross, and I just lost it. I lost it pretty hard, like, “You’ve got to take this. I’m giving him over to You. If he goes, then You take care of him. I can’t carry this anymore.” I can’t do it without Him. That’s how I felt. 

That was my biggest personal grace.

Things I saw for Peter, like running into Mario, Vicka’s husband. He came up to us and grabbed Peter by the hand and said, “You’re going to be okay. You’ve got strong eyes.” Little sweet moments where everything feels like it’s going to be fine. Even if it’s not fine in the physical sense, he really just wanted that spiritual healing. I feel like he’s gotten it. 

Being able to watch those graces for him, it was very special for us too.