"Good-bye To You..."

This past week has been a very intense week for me filled with fear, frustration, hurt, exhaustion.. along with those though I have to say I have also felt loved, safe, and special. I would like to go into all the details of why it has been that kinda week, but it is just too personal to put here. Let's just say an incident occured which really made me take a step back and look at myself. Kind of a soul-searching week I guess you could say.

Sometimes it is good to get knocked off a high horse to remember why you were on it in the first place. Was what I did right? Was I so focused on me that I forgot to think about another person's feelings? I still do not think I have done a despicable act, as an old friend seems to think I did, but I did not handle my situation in the best way either I suppose.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people tend to think a certain way about another person, and no matter how much time passes and how much a person can change, those people will never change their idea of how they first viewed that person. I think that is sad. Yes, some people may never change, but if you do not give them the benefit of the doubt then after awhile that person will probablt just do what is expected of them.

It is also interesting to me how you have friends you have known for years, decades even, and yet they really know nothing about you. Then you have the friends you have been close too for only a few years, or months even, and they know exactly when something is not right just by looking into your eyes. I would love to be as close to my old friends as I am now with my new ones, but it is hard when the friendship is more one sided. There is saying that I have heard, "People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime." Maybe these old friends of mine were supposed to be part of my life for a season. I think it is about time I pray for them, but let them be.

Words Are Powerful

"Words are amazingly versatile. They can be destructive weapons, or they can be agents of peace. We need to build our vocabulary to include those words that edify and encourage others."

"Our Lady of Sorrows"

In honor of today's feast day here is a little background info... :)

The feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1413 as a response to the iconoclast Hussites. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter. It had the title: Commemoratio angustiae et doloris B. Mariae V.. Before the 16th century, the feast was celebrated only in parts of Northern Europe.

Earlier, in 1233, seven youths in Tuscany founded the Servite Order (also known as the "Servite Friars", or the "Order of the Servants of Mary"). Five years later, they took up the sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion of their order.

Over the centuries several devotions, and even orders, arose around meditation on Mary's Sorrows in particular. The Servites developed the two most common devotions to Our Lady's Sorrows, namely the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and the Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours of Mary. The Black Scapular is a symbol of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is associated with the Servite Order. Most devotional scapulars have requirements regarding ornamentation or design. The devotion of the Black Scapular requires only that it be made of black woollen cloth.

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art.^[1]

It is a common devotion for Catholics to say daily 1 Our Father and 7 Hail Mary for each.

1. The Prophecy of Simeon over the Infant Jesus. (Gospel of Luke 2:34)
2. The Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. (Gospel of Matthew 2:13)
3. The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days. (Luke 2:43)
4. The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross. (Luke 23:26)
5. The Crucifixion, where Mary stands at the foot of the cross. (Gospel of John 19:25)
6. The Descent from the Cross, where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57)
7. The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40)

"You Know You're A Proud Hoosier When..."

• You think the state bird is Larry.(as a kid yes for awhile....)

• There's actually a college near you named "Ball State."

• Your feelings get hurt whenever someone points out the acronym for Purdue University is PU.(Not really... considering I am from Bloomington, that one was used quite frequently and it is kinda funny)

• You've never met any celebrities.

• Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.

• "Vacation" means going to Indiana Beach or Holiday World (Santa Claus, IN). (So True!!!)

• At your county fair, you see all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular.

• You measure distance in minutes.

• You know several people who have hit a deer.

• Down south to you means Kentucky.

• Your school classes were canceled because of cold.

• Your school classes were canceled because of heat.

• You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way.

• You've had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

• Stores don't have bags, they have sacks.

• You've heard of Euchre, you know how to play Euchre, and you are the master of Euchre.

• You've seen a running car, with nobody in it, in the parking lot of the grocery store, no matter what time of year it is.

• You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: "Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with."

• You install security lights on your house and garage, then leave both of them unlocked.

• You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows.

• When asked how your trip was to any foreign, exotic place, you say, "It was different."

• You carry jumper cables in your car regularly and your wife/girlfriend >knows how to use them.

• You drink "pop".

• Kids and dogs ride in the passenger seats of cars and the backs of pickups.

• You think nothing of it in spring and fall to be stuck behind a farm implement driving on the roads. You just hope it's not a hog truck >or a manure spreader.

• High school basketball games draw bigger crowds on the week- >end than movie theaters, IF you have a movie theater.

• Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

• Newspapers have international news &headlines on one page but requires six for local sports.

• You can repeat the scores of the last eight NBA games, but, unless the MVP is a Hoosier, you are not sure who he is.

• You can see at least two basketball hoops from your yard.

• The biggest question of your youth was IU or Purdue.

• Indianapolis is the BIG CITY.

• Getting stuck by a train is a legitimate excuse for being late to school.

• You know several different definitions as to what a Hoosier really is.

• Everyone knows who the town cops are, where they live, and whether they're at home or on duty.

• To you, tenderloin is not an expensive cut of beef, but a big, salty, breaded piece of pork served on a bun with pickle.

• You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over his snowsuit.

• You know all four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, construction.

• You actually understand these jokes

"Save Me"

Save Me

Save me from myself, Lord;
Save me from my need
To always run my life, Lord,
To control my every deed.

Save me from my pride, Lord,
My focus on just me;
Help me learn to serve, Lord;
Show me how to be.

Save me from the world, Lord,
When tempting things entice;
Remind me of eternity
With You, in paradise.

I give my life to you, Lord
My every need you fill;
I’m resting in my faith, Lord;
You saved me, and you always will.

By Joanna Fuchs

My Dear Friend, My Piano... :)

As I have mentioned before in previous posts one of my favorite ways to really pass time is playing the piano. If you were to walk by my house and happen to hear the piano playing you would probably be hearing the song "Do You Dream of Me" by Michael W. Smith. It happens to be the one I have been really working hard to learn the past few weeks and I am finally really starting to sound good. My very favorite song to play though is easily Bach's Ave Maria. I know that song by heart and have known it for years. It is like an old friend when I sit down to play it. It never gets old. I enjoy playing up beat music as well, but I tend to play my best when I am playing more heartfelt slower music. I also tend to get lost in it more easily and do not pay much attention to what else is going on at the moment when I am playing it.

There is a quote, "Love is like playing the piano. First you have to play by the rules, and then you have to play with your heart." I have to agree with it wholeheartedly. Love in any relationship can be tricky at first while you are getting to know a person. Learning what makes a person tick, what boundaries are ok to cross and so forth and so on, but after awhile you have to forget about those rules and let your heart guide you.

The video below happens to be of the song I mentioned I am learning... I enjoy listening to it because the melody really is a pretty one.

"13 Things Your Child's Teacher Won't Tell You"

I found this article off the internet and found it pretty true... As a pre-school/daycare teacher myself, I have to say the first, third, sixth, eighth, ninth, twelfth, and thirteenth are all right on!

A look inside a teacher's mind could help you understand lesson plans and maybe even guide your child to perform better.

1. If we teach small children, don’t tell us that our jobs are “so cute” and that you wish you could glue and color all day long.

2. I’m not a marriage counselor. At parent-teacher conferences, let’s
stick to Dakota’s progress, not how your husband won’t help you around
the house.

3. We’re sick of standardized testing and having to “teach to the test.”

4. Kids used to go out and play after school and resolve problems on their own. Now, with computers and TV, they lack the skills to communicate. They don’t know how to get past hurt feelings without telling the teacher and having her fix it.

5. When I hear a loud belch, I remember that a student’s manners are a reflection of his parents’.

6. Your child may be the center of your universe, but I have to share mine with 25 others.

7. Please help us by turning off the texting feature on your child’s phone during school hours.

8. Guys who dribble a ball for a couple of hours a game can make up to $20 million a year. We educate future leaders and make about $51,000 a year.

9. We take on the role of mother, father, psychologist, friend, and adviser every day. Plus, we’re watching for learning disabilities, issues at home, peer pressure, drug abuse, and bullying.

10. Kids dish on your secrets all the time—money, religion, politics, even Dad’s vasectomy.

11. Please, no more mugs, frames, or stuffed animals. A gift card to Starbucks or Staples would be more than enough. A thank-you note: even better.

12. We love snow days and three-day weekends as much as your kid does.

13. The students we remember are happy, respectful, and good-hearted, not necessarily the ones with the highest grades.