Mood:  don't ask

So much has been going on the past few months.  Basically I'm on my own again, but still have this deep yearning for community life.  I don't know what it means, but I'm sure that there's a place out there for me.  Now I'm just waiting on God to show me where to go from here.

This past week I've experienced a loss of sight.  The doctors are miffed at what the cause might be.  They tell me that my eyes are healthy so it must be something on the optical nerve.  It's all a bit scary for me as I'm not seeing things as I should.  Waiting to hear back from the doctor is a looooong process.

Please keep me in your prayers.

 Yesterday was the feast of the canonization of St Julie Billiart, who is my favorite saint.  She was blind for a short time in her life.  Someone told me to pray to St Lucy. 

Mood:  quizzical

I spent time reflecting with Mark 4:1-20 today and I wonder what kind of soil I am.  Sometimes I am afraid that I am the rocky ground with little soil.  The seed of God's love falls down and springs up really fast, but there are no roots.  I don't want to be this kind of ground.  I am trying so hard to establish my roots.  I don't want the Word to spring up to new life and die within me because of lack of roots.  

I want to be the fertile ground.  I want to be able to support and maintain new life.  I want the Word to take firm root deep in my soul, so that I, like Our Lady, may give a resounding YES to God throughout my lifetime.  God knows that I can't do this alone, so I must lean on Him, grasping on for dear life.  I feel so unworthy to be called by God to consider Religious Life.  Will I be able to stand on the shoulders of these AWESOME women who have come before me?  

I want my roots to entangle with theirs.  I want to grow with them and IN them so that I might be able to carry on the DREAM of the congregation.  God will be my guide, for with Him, nothing is impossible.  Not even the dream of one so unworthy.  I want to carry God's love to others...to be the fertile soil in which others will one day entangle their roots with mine and bring forth the Kingdom of Our Beloved.

God help me to firmly establish my roots in You.  Amen. 

My community put out an AWESOME video for vocations!

 https://www.youtube.com/user/SistersNotreDame

These women are so on FIRE!  Beautiful! 

Mood:  caffeinated

What does it mean when a memory of an event randomly comes up when you're praying?  It happened to me today, and all I can think is that God had wanted me to remember that particular event for a reason.

**  DREAM  **

I was walking along the labyrinth at the Mercy Center in Detroit.  I was following my director.  She was ahead of me and when she finished, she rang the wind chime at the end...

Flash forward to me almost complete on the labyrinth...

I reach out and ring the chime according to her direction.. I'd never done this before... (walk a labyrinth with a wind chime to ring at the end)...  This was all my memory allowed me to remember for this particular prayer...

So, I took that as God wanted me to pray for my director and her continued guidance to His will.

Amen 

Mood:  amorous

I spent a wonderful weekend last weekend with all of our women in formation nation-wide!  It was AWESOME!

Here's an article about it:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100123/NEWS10/1230372

Mood:  caffeinated

Ok, so I made a youtube video with the bobble head nun that I won at the Sisters' auction the other night...  Hopefully none of them will kill me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1YfzY17L_E 

Mood:  happy

I wonder what it would be like to experiment making youtube videos to promote vocations to religious life.  I've already made one to showcase the grounds at our provincial house convent which you can find here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cCGJ0Pr7ew

I am so proud of that video, but I want to do one with people in it.  Our provincial superior asked me when I was going to do one with pictures of people, so I guess I'll start thinking about putting one together like that.  I want it to be for my specific community, but I'm willing to put pictures in there of Sisters from the other provinces.  There is one in particular that I find rather stunning.  It's of a Sister who is holding a little baby.  I am sure that this Sister is not part of our province, but I REALLY LOVE that photo.

I think I am going to start collecting pictures.  I want most of them to be my own work so I don't interfere with any copyrights or whatnot.  But we'll see.

In my first video of the grounds at Saint Joseph Heights, there is only one picture there that is not my own...  And that's the one with the reflection of the building in the pond.  I tried my hardest to get the right angle in my own pictures to do that, but to no avail.

Wish me luck and tell me what kinds of pictures you might like to see of my Sisters and the grounds.

PEACE! 

Mood:  energetic

I went to the provincial house for their New Year's Eve (eve) party tonight.  We had a light supper and then went for prayer.  After prayer we came back downstairs and played hand bells.  I really enjoyed playing the "A" note on the bell, though mine was so big, I had to be careful not to hit the table with it (or anyone else for that matter).  The music was really nice.

Then we had more food and an auction with play money.  There was a bobble head doll on the table that was made for one of the nuns.  It was made to look like her in habit.  It was the last thing that was bid on, and I saved my money until last.  One other sister was trying to out-bid me, and when I got to my limit of money, many of the other sisters chipped in and gave me enough to out-bid Sister!  I was soooo excited!!!

Mood:  bright

This week is our Provincial Chapter.  Pray that everything goes well for our Province and for the Sisters who are a part of the chapter planning.

I will be going to the New Years Eve (eve) party tonight with the Sisters.  Right now I'm dog-sitting at the convent where I lived from 2007-mid 2009.  Since the Sisters are all at the province house, I'm bouncing back and forth between where I currently live and where I used to live in order to keep the dog company...or maybe it's the other way around.

I'm really excited to be going to the New Years Eve (eve) party because I will get to see all of the Sisters again... You know, it really starts to get a little lonely when you're used to seeing at least 6 other Sisters during the day.  The Sisters are going to have an auction among themselves and our associates that will be present.  We are all supposed to bring some prize for the auction if we want to participate.  It sounds exciting!

I wanted to share this story with you about a Christmas miracle:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/christmas-miracle-mom-and-baby-die-then-revive-17357728

Isn't God good?

For actual New Year's Eve, I'll be up visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Columbus.  We'll be going to a near-by science museum.  Sounds exciting!  I haven't been there since I was really little.  

Mood:  happy

Last night is the first time in a long time that I have actually had a dream that I can remember.

I dreamed that I was with my friend Kelly at the motherhouse of her religious community and there were lots of younger people there who were preparing to enter or become novices in their own religious communities.  In the dream, there was one big ceremony for everyone.

All of the women were in line and they were receiving the medals/crosses of their communities.  I was going to be receiving the cross that I'd wear as a novice.  When it came my turn, something interrupted the ceremony.

When whatever it was that interrupted was taken care of, they came back to me and gave me the cross.  I was SOOOOOOOOOO happy.

Then I woke up.  Wonder what the meaning of this dream is?