Mood:  don't ask

I'd like to ask all of you to pray for the family of some of the kids that go to the childcare center where I work.  The other day, the mother was shot and killed by the father of the children and then the father turned the gun on and killed himself. 

The couple had 7 children with an 8th on the way.

The mother was the breadwinner of the family and had just completed college and started her own catering business.  She was doing the right thing for her children.  It's so tragic that this had to happen to her.

The youngest child was in the house for the whole event, the older children were able to flee to safety at a neighbor's house.

Please pray for these children who now have no father or mother.

How do you explain to a child that their mother and father are no longer going to be here for them???

You can read the news coverage of this tragedy here:

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Murder-Suicide-in-East-Price-Hill/8xdECM0Fq0SeC5f6CVd5sg.cspx?rss=30

Mood:  amorous

"Then he said, "I tell you with certainty, unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 18:3

 God comes to us in mysterious ways.  Today at mass, He showed me His love for me through a little child.

Today during mass there was a little girl who sat with her mother a few pews down in front of me. Someone in her family was making their First Communion that mass and there was no room in the pew for her father.  Her father sat my pew next to me.  The girl kept pointing and grunting at her father and would every once in awhile come close to our pew.

My own dad sat in his wheelchair in the empty space in front of me, and I think that the little girl was afraid of the wheelchair or of my dad...(he's not a scary guy) but she wouldn't come close enough to join her father in the pew. 

One time she came up and reached her hand out to grasp her father's hand and he reached back.    This was all she needed to feel comfortable in the church and she spent the rest of the time wandering around.  The father kept chuckling to himself about the antics of his daughter which were quite amusing.  I could tell that he was beaming with love for his daughter.

Isn't God like that father???  He reaches out his hand to us to comfort and encourage us and he is ALWAYS there when we come wandering back up to see Him.  He probably is up in Heaven chuckling at some of our antics too.  AND He LOVES us!!!!  What more can we ask for???

Aren't we called to be like that child???  Isn't it encouraging to be able to reach for Our Father and know that He is there for us???  Doesn't He ask us to be like that little child?  To trust in His promises that he will be with us always.  That little girl had so much love for her father that she sought him out of the crowd.  Aren't we called to search for God above everything else that competes for our time?

Lord, help me to become more and more like a little child so that I can behold you in your glory in Heaven.  Amen

Mood:  chillin'

Wow!  I know it's been awhile since my last post here.  I promise to try not to let this much time pass again.

 So, here's what's new in my life:

I've been a postulant for a half a year now, and I am  loving it still!  Today was the feast of St Julie and also my week to pray, so I included alot of things that were sun-flower-y and also prayers to and about St Julie...she's my favorite Saint, and my patron ('cause I got to pick my own...I'm not named after a Saint...though I go by Anne on occasion...especially on the 'net).

I've been reading the autobiography of St Therese the Little Flower, I've read it before and I really like it.  I want to strive to live as she did...and follow her little way.  I'm really a child spiritually who loves to just sit on her Father's lap and to wrap herself playfully in Our Mother's mantle.

There's a museum exhibit about Catholic Nuns in the United States that's touring the USA.  It's going to start off where I live and I am going to volunteer to man the exhibit.  It sounds very interesting and I can't wait to see it and represent my community there!!!!  Here's the website for it, check to see if it's coming anywhere near you:  

http://www.womenandspirit.org/specs.html

I'll be moving sometime within the next couple of months.  I am soooo looking forward to getting to live with some of the other Sisters, but I'm eternally grateful for these particular Sisters who opened their home to me for the past 2 1/2 years... I can't believe it's been that long!!!

I have a full day this coming Saturday.  I'll be attending a prayer gathering at the Heights (our province house), then off to a work training, and then I get to see my director.

My director is an awesome person.  I feel very comfortable around her.  She even helps me with things outside of direction...unless it's all a part of diretion.

Mood:  chillin'

Ok, I'm slowly learning what I am responsible for as a postulant.  I have to take some theology classes, and I'm looking forward to that.  I also get to take a week-long retreat as well.  I've never taken one that long before...it should be neat...  It will be in July.

 The classes I will take start in June and I'd be taking one or so in the summer and a few each of the other times they are offered.

Sr N's back home now, but not teaching full time yet.  I'm just glad she's here!

Mood:  don't ask

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

 And that's just putting it mildly.

 One of the Sisters that I live with was taken to the hospital this past Tuesday, and she's still there.  They had to do surgery on her.  Miss her alot.  Can't even begin to explain how much.  Feeling kinda down about that.  She says not to worry, but that's like telling a bee not to buzz...

My monthly gift from mother nature just came...  I'm not a nice person when that happens.  Though I try to be... I need to stay away from people when that happens...or else they might lose their heads...  One of the grandparents who hold the babies at work was talking too loudly during naptime and the babies were waking up.  I told her so...and she turned around and told my other coworkers that I told her...and that I need to respect my elders... DANG WOMAN... wanted to bite her head off at that point, but refrained.  Proud of myself, but don't really care for her at the moment.  How does anyone expect these babies to sleep if everyone's being so LOUD...

Came home to bad smell...the dog had peed somewhere.  Sister doubted it and told me she didn't smell anything...it was driving me crazy it was sooooooo strong a smell.  Nearly bit her head off...  I need to learn not to do that...guess it's one of those things that comes with experience... Just not sure when I'll get this so-called experience...

Saw a good movie today.  It was called "Speak" and was about a girl who was raped and didn't tell anyone...she finally couldn't take it anymore after being abandoned by everyone...and told her story.  I read it as a book when I was in college, good book, good movie!

I'm giving up chocolate and chat rooms for Lent.  Not sure if that will last very long.  Sister told me to give up chocolate.  Might be able to do that longer than giving up chat.  Perhaps I should give up biting people's heads off...

The SNDs redesigned their website, and my picture is on it!  www.sndky.org   I'm in the vocations section.

I miss Sr N sooo much and wish she was out of the hospital.

Mood:  a-ok

Well, Wednesday will be my last day with my little sister from the children's home.  She's going to be put into foster care.  I do pray that they will keep her because she's been bounced around too many times already.  I'll probably take a few months off of volunteering at the children's home, but I don't think I can stay away forever.  Those kids need adults in their lives to show them that they are worth something...they've already had so many bad experiences with other adults in their lives who have abused, molested, or neglected them...they need good role-models.

Well, I'm off work again today, I got in a few hours though, so that's not too bad.  I wonder if work will be open tomorrow....  You see, the sewer backed up and flooded the floors, so it's really stinky there and it's not good for the children.  We'll see if I'm working tomorrow or not...hopefully they can get things fixed and the carpets replaced.

On a brighter note, I've started running Vocations Chat on ECatholic2000.  I open the vocations room whenever I can because I like to talk with people who are in various stages of their discernment.  Perhaps I'll see you there sometime?  www.ecatholic2000.com

Peace!

Mood:  chatty

Well, I'm off work again today because of the streets being ice-covered.  Not that I'm complaining...  So, I'm taking the time to get some of the chores around the house done...mainly my laundry, and cleaning a shower curtain that has this elusive mildew on it that won't scrub off.  Someone suggested that I bleach it, which sounds like a good idea, except that means that I've got to put it in the washer because I really don't want to make a bigger mess.

I get to go to the Heights tonight!!!!  I'm soo excited!  I LOVE that place.  A Benedictine Sister is going to give us a talk about community living, and it sounds like it will be AWESOME.  We're going to have pizza for supper.  Don't get to have pizza alot at the convent, so this will be a treat.

Mood:  not sure

I was off work yesterday because of the snow.  When it snows around here, people tend to freak out.  I enjoyed my day, though.  Got my chores done.

Don't know if work is closed today or not because either the phone system is not working, or no one is there to answer the phone...  Either way, I won't go in until I know what's going on for sure.  It's a skating rink out there...with all of the ice on the ground.  I spent nearly a half an hour trying to hack my car out of the frozen popsicle it had become.

More of my beloved Sisters are joining Facebook...welcome to the age of technology...  I think that it's awesome that they are willing to try it out at least.  Now to get them into the tech-savvy circles...

I guess I'll keep trying the phoneline at work...perhaps I'll get ahold of someone eventually.

Oh, almost forgot to mention, the gathering of people in formation up in Chardon went really well!  I got to meet the other three postulants and compare notes.  There was a couple of feet of snow up there and some of us went tobagganing with the novice director.  It was really neat.  The vocation director that I worked with, along with a sister who used to be my boss came up for another meeting seperate from ours, but they drove by when we were playing in the snow.  They got to stay for supper that night, and I'm glad that they were there.

Two of us postulants had our pictures taken with the habit...mainly there was a tailor's mannequin there that had the habit on display, so we pulled it in front of ourselves and it looked like we were in habit, minus the veil of course.  In the picture, you can tell that's what we did, but I think it looks really nice "on" me.  It makes me want to ask to wear one even more.

I bought myself some nice jumpers that I'm going to start wearing.  I wore a black one to our province day gathering and one of the sisters told me that I look more and more like a postulant. 

Mood:  not sure

Did you all hear on the news about the air plane that went down and landed in the Hudson river?  Yes, that pilot is a hero, there's no doubt, and God was on his side.

Here's one of the news stories online in case you haven't read anything about it:   

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090116/ap_on_re_us/plane_splashdown

The people were praying.  That brings many emotions and many thoughts.  I'm glad that these people reached out to God.  And people remained calm...what grace!

This is very inspiring.

There's only a couple of hours before I'm supposed to meet the others in the breezeway at the province house.  I am super excited about going to this formation meeting, and I'm going through my last-minute checks to make sure that I hopefully don't forget much.

The pipes at the house froze...and burst.  That's not good, but there are people here working on them as we speak.  I'm glad that there are people out there willing to lend a hand in minor catastrophies like this.

The dog has been in his cage for the whole morning so far.  I can't let him out or he might try to bite one of the people working on the pipes.  I feel bad for the dog, but there's really nothing I can do for him... Can't let him outside, it's just way too cold.

My duffle bags are sitting on the chair next to me as I type.  I try to travel light, hopefully I packed enough to stay warm at least.  I'm also taking some things to do on the trip, mainly a book and my artwork.  I started a Marian picture before Christmas, but haven't had the time to work on it.  Perhaps I will get it done...or get a good start.  It's a pencil drawing of Mary holding Jesus; but I haven't put any faces on it yet.  Of course, the heads are there, just not any features on the faces.  I may also color it once I get the faces on.

Mary is my favorite subject to draw.  I love to draw Mother Mary holding her beloved Son.  I've got a collection of some of my Marian drawings on my website.

I'm debating whether or not I want to take a copy of one of the other pictures that I've drawn to one of my Sister friends up where I'm going.  The picture is of our foundress, Sister Aloysia and a child.  If you go to my website, it's the first picture you'd see.  I'm debating taking her a copy of that...

Mood:  happy

Well, I am going back up to Chardon at the end of this week.  I'm very excited about it.  I'm going with a few others for a formation gathering.  I'm a little nervous because our provincial will be going too.  I'm looking forward to seeing the others there and to learning some more about the charism of the community.

 I got to help plan the prayer service for Friday night, but I think I took over the planning too much.  The Sister that I was working with was nice in the fact that she let me do what I thought would be good.  I really did try to take her input, but maybe in my excitement, I may have gone a little over-board and taken over.  I need to not let that happen in the future.

Thursday is my night to cook, and I was also going to get my car repaired that day (hopefully), but I don't know how that's going to work out.  I hope that it doesn't clash too badly with community time...

 I've slowly come to realize that I need to focus more time on my community time, so when some of my committments come to an end, I don't think I'm going to try to prolong them any more.  I know that the Sisters want me to take some classes, so that might strain the community life a little with the local house, but hopefully it will be more acceptable than just me persuing my interests.