Good-bye 2010 And Hello 2011!!!! Bring it on, Baby!

Here it is again... another New Year's Eve. Another evening filled with hope for what may come in the next year. Another night when most everyone sets out on some new resolution to better themselves. Another night....

This year I do not seem as excited as I normally am about the new year. I took a look at the resolutions I made this time a year ago, and felt like a failure seeing as how I did not finish any of those things I set out to do. I set out with every good intention to follow through, and I know I did pretty well for awhile, but somewhere through the year I must have forgotten I made them. So... what does that lead me to do this year? Make more resolutions that may seem far-fetched at the end of the year? No... I do not like that idea at all. So instead here is what I am going to do....

1.) I promise myself that I will make it to Mass at least three times a week...
2.) I promise to make it to confession AT LEAST once a month. No putting it off, because really that is just being lazy.
3.) I promise to keep in better touch with my great friends who no longer live so close by to me.
4.) I promise to try and uplift those around me through little things... maybe little notes, or random uplifting quotes... little things that make them realize how precious they are and how much I love them.
5.) I promise to be more selective about the things I watch on television...
6.) I promise to work-out at least five days a week for thirty minutes. unless I am on vacation where I cannot find a decent place to work-out. This seems to be much more attainable for me than the everyday one I made last year.

Even though I just said I was not totally excited about the New Year I have to take that back because there are a few things I am incredibly excited about.... Moving into my own apartment with my sister, graduating, the Matt Maher concert, retreats I will get to help out with, and also the d.c. March for Life trip I will be going on in just a few weeks. :) Who knows what else will be happening in this new year, but here's to whatever craziness that may ensue. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! Bottom's up! (But also stay safe. :) )

God Can Speak Through Anything... Even Texting.

The past few months, or maybe more like the past year or so has been a tough one for my family. The kind that can wear a person down sometimes. Monday night I had a real heart-to-heart with God about some of these things and other things I have had to deal with. I could not go to sleep ( probably due to the fact that I made Monday my lazy day and did pretty much absolutely nothing, but watch tv. Heck, I didn't actually change out of my p.j.'s till six p.m. because I had to run to the grocery store to grab some ingredients for dinner... yeah, I was lazy) so instead I just had a long conversation with God. The only reason I am even telling my readers this is because of what happened to me yesterday.

I had just pulled-up into my drive-way after a long drive down from Carmel, In.. I was in the middle of texting my friend, who I had just visited, to let him know I arrived home safely when I received this text message..."Life is hard, but a strong person knows how to keep their life in order. Even with tears in their eyes, they still manage to say 'I'm ok' with a smile. God is good. Change is coming. God saw your sadness and said hard times are over." It happened to be one of the random forwards people send so I had to press reply to figure out the number of the person that sent it to me. I found this person's number and went through my phone book to see if I could figure out who sent it to me, but apparently I do not have this person in my phone book. I guess in retrospect I could have replied to the text message to ask who it was, but it is a little late for that now. I do not mind either. It may seem silly to some, but to me that was God telling me he heard me when I was talking to Him and it's gonna be ok. I rather like not knowing who sent it to me after all...

"Thirsting For God"

One of the perks for being a teacher is that every year the families are very generous when it comes to giving presents to us teachers. Among the many gift cards I received I was a given one to Barnes and Nobles. I used it to buy a couple of books, one of which happens to be "Thirsting For God" by Mother Teresa. It is a year book filled with prayers, meditations, and anecdotes by none other than Mother Teresa. I thought I would share today's entry on here with all of you...:)

December 30
(The following quotations is taken from the last letter Mother Teresa wrote on the day of her death)

Let our gratitude be our strong resolution to quench the thirst of Jesus by lives of real charity. Love for Jesus in prayer, love for Jesus in you brothers and sisters, love for Jesus in the poorest of the poor. Nothing else."

"We Are Family!"

Yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Family. Father gave a wonderful homily about families. God planned out who our families would be from the beginning. He gave them to us. They help lay the foundation of who we are.

Families are amazing! They are the ones that know more than anyone else how to bring us back up when we are down. They are there when we need a shoulder to cry on. They are there for the celebrations in our lives. It is the members of our family who we feel most comfortable being our true selves. It is the main reason we take them for granted...We assume our parents, siblings, and relatives will be there for us no matter what. Through thick and thin. That is why it is so easy to feel the worst betrayal when someone in our family does something that hurts us, yet seems to me so much easier to forgive them because they are family. Like the old saying, "blood is thicker than water." In many ways this is true.

Yes, every family is not perfect. Each family is dysfunctional. Each family has their own share of family secrets that no one other than family is supposed to know about. I think with that being said the ones who are not dysfunctional are probably the really strange ones.
I must say that my family truly is special. We are one of a kind. I am so happy I live so close to not only my immediate family, but also my Aunt, Uncle, and a nice amount of my cousins as well.

This Christmas I spent it with the people I just mentioned. We usually come together on Christmas Eve, but due to some changes we celebrated on Christmas day this year. We have a nice pitch-in dinner and then open gifts together. Us cousins tend to spend a lot of time together playing cards, the family favorite tends to always end up being spoons (which is what we are playing in the few pictures below). Spoons happens to be taken very seriously in this family. There have been years when blood has been drawn by someone's fingernails while in the scramble of grabbing a spoon. I remember one year my brother got pulled out of his chair while fighting for the last spoon on the table. Violent, but so much fun!

I should mention that the craziness in my family is not all caused by the people in it, but also our four-legged pets. You see, my family is in fact very much a dog family. There is no telling how many dogs will show-up at a family function. Usually anywhere up to seven... some little and some not so little. The dog in the first picture is the newest addition to our family. Her name is Peyton, named after none other than Peyton Manning. Yes, my family is also a Colt's family.

As crazy as I find my family at times, I would not want them any other way. They each have a spot in my heart, and I love them dearly!!!

"My Grown Up Christmas List

This is one of my very favorite Christmas songs.... Especially now as I am no longer a kid anymore. Even though today is the day after Christmas I did not have a chance to get on here and post it earlier with the all the hustle and bustle of my own Christmas celebrations with my family... I hope you enjoy this song too. :)

My Grown Up Christmas List

Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I'm all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown up christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
and wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree

Well heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth
(there'd be)

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh
This is my grown up christmas list
This is my only life long wish
This is my grown up christmas list

Christmas Around The World

This past month it has been Christmas crazy at work. It is the most fun month for us teachers to plan. This year I decided to put some geography into my Christmas lesson plans. We talked about how Catholics/Christians celebrate Christmas around the world. We also talked about how the guy we call Santa Clause here is known by different names in other countries. It was so much fun! I would pull the world globe out and show the kids which country we would talk about that day. Throughout this month I have been really happy to hear them still saying the names of different countries... Venezuela, Ghana, Japan, France, Mexico, England, Russia, so forth and so on. They will still come up to me to hear why St. Nick is called St. Nick. Why Grandfather Frost got his name. The parents would come up to me and tell me how their child talked about Christmas in the different countries sound like fun. I felt like taking a risk with these two themes because they are a little bit more advanced than for 2 and 3 year old kids, but they rose to the challenge! The parents would come up to me and tell me how their child talked about Christmas in the different countries sound like fun.

Since I decided to teach these types of things I had to do my own research because I was curious myself. I found that the most interesting country to learn about was Japan. Apparently in Japan they do not exchange lots of gifts. They may give a few, but not a whole lot. Instead they focus on Jesus and helping out those in need. They spend their Christmas day helping at homeless shelters and food kitchens, things like that. I wonder how America would change if we focused on others instead of "what I want." It was refreshing to learn about that.

In France the Catholics fast all day long on Christmas Eve. Everyone attends Midnight Mass, and after that they go home and have a big dinner and party with close friends and family. It is interesting to me to know how different they welcome Christmas. It almost makes me want to try fasting on Christmas Eve... Keyword there is almost. I have never been that great with fasting....

Mexico sounds like a fun party. After Midnight Mass certain families choose to be "host" homes while others go around a visit each house...Kind of like how we go trick-or-treating here for halloween. As the guests go door to door there are special songs that are sung between those inside the house and those waiting to enter. They do this till early in the morning. It sounds like a huge party to me.

Since it is Summer at this time of year for Ghana they tend to do most of their festivities outside. They focus more on nativity scenes and before Midnight Mass begins there are Christmas pageants. On Christmas day there usually are barbecues and pitch-in meals, like 4th of July for us. During the night they celebrate with fireworks.

In Venezuela it is also Summer on Christmas. There they have lots of church services they attend throughout Christmas Eve. Their day tends to start of with bells ringing and firecrackers being set off. They go to nine different prayer services and they end with Midnight Mass. After Mass they all share a huge dinner feast together as a parish.

These are just a few of the countries I learned about. They all sound like a lot of fun to me!

Chrismas Movies Are The Best :)

Now that it is the week before Christmas it is time to pull out my favorite Christmas movies..."It's A Wonderful Life," "White Christmas," Home Alone movies, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "The Santa Clause," "The Muppet Christmas Carol," "The Preacher's Wife," "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," "Miracle on 34th Street, and "Little Women" are all on the "to watch" list.

There are such great messages in the classic Christmas movies... I wish the majority of the mainstream movies are still like that today, but sadly they are not.

Here are a few of the more memorable quotes from these movies....

"Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings, Love Clarence."
~It's A Wonderful Life~

"I know I don't deserve a Christmas, even if I did do a good deed. I don't want any presents. Instead, I want to take back every mean thing I ever said to my family. Even if they don't take back the things they said to me. I don't care. I love all of them... Including Buzz. I know it isn't possible to see them all. Could I just see my mother? I'll never want another thing as long as I live if I can just see my mother. I know I won't see her tonight, but promise me I can see her again. Sometime. Any time. Even if it's just once and only for a couple minutes. I just need to tell her I'm sorry."
~Home Alone 2~

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"
[Linus picks up his blanket and walks back towards Charlie Brown]
That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
~A Charlie Brown Christmas~

"Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing."
~The Santa Clause~

"It's all right, children. Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it. "
~A Muppet Christmas Carol~

"Just because you can't see the air doesn't keep you from breathing. And just because you can't see God doesn't keep you from believing."
~The Preacher's Wife~

"I'm glad he took our presents. You can't hurt Christmas, Mr. Mayor, beacuse it isn't about the... the gifts or the contest or the fancy lights. That's what Cindy's been trying to tell everyone... and me. I don't need anything more for Christmas than this right here: my family."
~How The Grinch Stole Christmas~

"Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles."
~Miracle on 34th Street~

"If God wants me with Him, there is none who will stop Him. I don't mind."
~Little Women~

The Christmas Story Told Through Facebook

It's the Christmas story "Facebook" style. It is actually interesting. Check it out.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=58212845#!/video/video.php?v=1573735336164&oid=160636703764&comments

Living In Denial... Finals Week? What Is This Finals Week You Speak Of????

This week my town has been a winter wonder land. It started on Monday and then really hit last night. It was a nice surprise to wake-up and find out I had a snow day. The weather has kind of helped when it has come to our finals week, but my friends and I have still found random ways to post-pone our studying even with all the snow on the ground. Saturday ice skating... Monday evening we had pancakes where we ended up making snow people out of butter because we did not want to study... Tuesday, hanging-out with my sister for her 21st birthday...Wednesday some of us played out in the snow after our adoration time and made snow angels... and today we made a ginger bread house. Still finding time for studying, but putting it off as much as possible. It is strange to me how all college students seem to find the most creative things to do while procrastinating on studying. Strange, but fun too.

Procrastinating... I know there is a quote that says, "Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." Well if that's the case than I must be an expert at it! Why is it that procrastination comes so easily. Because it is a part of laziness... I don't really think about that so much as something that is a sin, but if I think of it in that way it is sort of. I mean Laziness is part of sloth which is one of the seven deadly sins. Now I am not saying that procrastination in itself is a deadly sin... just when we put things off that we need to do spiritually... Here is a little something that I read which made me think about how even though we all can lead busy lives, we can all still be lazy when it comes to our spiritual growth...

Most people think of sloth as laziness, not doing much of anything, but just sitting around doing nothing. Many people stay busy most of the time but don't do the things they should, putting them off for later. They may be staying busy so they have an excuse.
Sloth (or acedia) is a kind of spiritual laziness (as opposed to mere physical fatigue or depression). It means not making it a priority to do what we should, or change what we should in ourselves. Some people might call it apathy, which means a lack of feeling.

Some Of My Favorite 2010 Memories Caught On Film

These are a few photos from this past year off of facebook... This brought back some great memories...

From top to bottom and left to right....

1.) My K20 small group in our meeting room. I grew very fond of that room. My small group was the BEST!!!
2.) My nephew's baptism... when I became a "godmommy." :)
3.) Two of my kid's from my daycare over the Summer. Love them!
4.) Part of my K20 small group... at pancakes night for spring finals week. Miss them!
5.) Me and some of my favorite girls!
6.)Rascal Flatts concert!!! :)
7.) 4th of July with my family... waiting for the parade.
8.) Me and my sister. :)
9.) Me and two of my favorite guys at my birthday dinner! Good times!!!
10.) St. Paul's camp-out in the Spring semester.
11.) 4th of July with the little guy... waiting for the fireworks to begin.
12.) Me and Chuck Wicks.. Enough said. (those of you who have never heard of him should check out his song 'Stealing Cinderella')
13.) Confirmation I retreat just a few months ago. Good times.
14.) Thanksgiving with the family
15.) The group of people at my birthday dinner. I have some of the BEST friends in the world. :) I am a lucky girl.
16.) Two more of my favorite guy friends that I hang-out with all the time at St. Paul's.

"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" :)

Tonight I must say I finally feel as though Christmas is right around the corner... This week-end my dad, sister, nephew, and I went to pick-out our live Christmas tree. It is a family tradition we have had... to always have a live one. We usually go to the same place every year to get it too. Normally we drive out and walk around till we find the perfect one and then flag down someone to come and cut it down. This year was a little different because it was raining when we went to pick it out, so instead we chose one of the pre-cut ones in the barn. The tree farm always hands out free hot cider and hot chocolate for everyone as a thanks for buying from them.
Every year when it comes to decorating the tree I somehow end up being the one who helps my dad put the christmas lights on it. He gets very picky about his lights and I suppose that is why no one else likes to help him. He is a perfectionist and it is funny for me to watch him get all flustered... "Teresa, don't step on those lights!" "Teresa, what happened to the string of lights I just had. Why are they now all red and white!!!" "Teresa, are the lights synchronized. They have to be synchronized or it just is not going to work." The usual saying every year. It would not be the same without them though.
We then all have fun with the whole family decorating the tree. Every year my dad makes us all handmade wooden ornaments as part of our christmas stocking stuffers. I have one from every year since '89. They are precious to me. That is what the top picture is of... one of the ones my daddy made me.
After all is said and done we then have a toast with egg nog. Now I am not a huge fan of egg nog, but I will always partake in our family tradition. :)
Now that the Nativity scene is out in our front yard, and the house smells of pine because our Christmas tree is all nice and pretty I can honestly say "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." For me anyway. :)

Life Does Not Revolve Around Me

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day ("who really ought to get a job") is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day That of all the gifts you give us Lord, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity.

Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

Working for God on earth doesn't pay much......but His retirement plan is out of this world.

I received this prayer from a friend of mine on facebook. It really does put things into perspective. It is interesting to me how quick we can be with people while waiting in traffic and such. We live in such a fast-paced world and I know I need to remind myself that life should not revolve around me and should not be paced to just my own needs. Everyone has their own problems and issues... just because I want things to go faster or slower does not mean that everyone else cares. In the grand scheme of things I really should take the time to say a quick prayer for the person who is annoying me by moving like a turtle or speeding like a demon. I know that might help me keep my own cool too.

A Poem About Antioch 2010

We were called together
To somewhat "get away"
From our stresses and burdens
We are here today
To get to know God
And deepen our love.
A not so long distance relationship
With the man above.
I thank you for what you have done
and what you will do.
I'm glad you came to Antioch.
I'm glad to have known you!
~Andrew Brinkman~

The above poem was written to me by one of the retreatants and I thought I would share. It is really a nice poem. :) Gotta love it!!!!

"My Year In Facebook Status" 2010

My First Communion :)

The above picture is of my first communion class. I stole it from my friend's blog. I am the fifth kid from the right in the front row.

Looking at this picture really makes me realize that God will place people into your life at the best times. My really good friend, whom I stole this photo from, ended up receiving three of the sacraments together; First Communion, First Reconciliation, and Confirmation. Funny thing about this is the fact that we did not know each other at all throughout those years. I mean I remember seeing him around during Confirmation classes, but not at all from the other two sacraments. It was not until we were both in college that we met on a retreat and really got to know each other. I just find it a bit interesting to think about, myself. :)

I'm "Alive Again!"

This past week-end I spent with an amazing group of high schoolers leading a high school retreat... Antioch 2010, "Alive Again." I have worked on four of these Antioch retreat now, and I have to say I think we finally got it right this time. This team of leaders had each attended many deep and life changing retreats, whereas in the past not everyone had... it makes a huge difference when the leaders all have the common goal of wanting to make a powerful retreat experience. It was a very special week-end.

Within the team I also believe we each ended up giving the most perfect talk topics for us to reach these kids on a deeper level than before. I gave the one on "homecoming," otherwise known as the confession talk. I must admit all these years I have kind of known I should give this talk, but this one has always scared me. I opened up more deeply than I have ever really wanted to for a group of mostly strangers. It was an incredibly humbling experience for me and to be honest everything that came out of my mouth I know was from God. I fought the talk, and I ended up winning. I know that because one of the kids came up to me after my talk and told me that she had made up her mind before the retreat that she was not going to go to confession, but then after hearing my talk she changed her mind... I talked about my own "homecoming" story. I focused on how as we go to a doctor when we are physically ill we should go to a priest for confession to help our soul get well... Just like a doctor needs to have all of our medical history to best know how to help us get better the priest needs to know everything to give us the spiritual medicine and advice to help us get better... How it is time to take a good look at ourselves because every single person has something that we want to keep hidden and are ashamed about, but to really be touched and heal and really come closer to God it is time to come clean about those things in a safe environment. How waiting in line thinking about what we will tell is ten times more terrifying than actually saying it in the confessional. It is the most worthwhile thing they can do for themselves on this retreat... There was way more than that, but to be honest I do not remember everything that came out of my mouth.

Other than the team members helping make this retreat amazing I have to hand it to the kids themselves. They rose to the occasion... all the challenges we put to them they did. As a small group leader my favorite part is watching how the kids come in the first day versus how they leave on the last day. The change is amazing. A good third of the retreatants came because they were offered some confirmation service hours by helping out cleaning after meals and preparing meals and being in charge of the ice breakers. These kids obviously came just because they thought it would be an easy way to get most of their hours out of the way. They had no idea what they were walking into. A few of them were in my small group and the transformation from not really into this to completely all in was awesome. They let themselves be open-minded and open to God which is the true key for a retreat to work.

I am truly in awe with the whole week-end. God is really amazing. Knowing I was a part of that makes it even more meaningful for me. The whole group came out of this week-end feeling "Alive Again!" It is a retreat I know I will never forget. Thank-you for all who did pray as I asked. I am more grateful than you could know. Praise be God!!!! :)

Time To Try And Show God's Love

As I have mentioned very briefly in the first paragraph, quite a bit of my attention this week has been focused on my family. A lot of different things have happened and it all just makes me sad. Tonight as I sat here I looked over at the little quote for the day calendar and this it what it said...

"God knows about the family. He invented it. God designs and intends the family to reflect His love. Your family may be fractured. You can begin a restoration process in your family by showing God's love."

I needed to read that. It hit me in a strong way. "Showing God's Love." A friend of mine wrote a post last night on acts of love. Charity is something I do need to work on. Even though I am frustrated in a lot of ways with some members of my family I know enough to know they will not respond to a lecture. So I am going to do something a little different. Instead I am going to show God's love by being more charitable towards them. It is not going to be easy, but I think it should be done. It is small, but it is a start.

"When I act as charity bids, I have this feeling that it is Jesus who is acting in me; the closer my union with him, the greater my love for all the sisters without distinction"
~St. Therese of Lisieux~

Just A Little Side-Tracked Lately

I must admit, I am usually on top of my game when it comes to scheduling and not forgetting things I have scheduled. This week, however, I have somehow messed up a number of things. I know why I have had my mind on other things, but that is still no excuse when it comes to missing meetings and such. My mind has been going from work, to school, to more family issues than usual, to hanging-out with friends, the retreat on my mind, my talk that I will be giving. It is a lot to think about that it is no wonder I forgot about a confirmation facilitator meeting I had tonight, which I am very sad I missed considering it was going to be focused our Confirmation II retreat that I am helping with. Not really one I needed to miss.

Tonight I was praying with the Antioch retreat team for the week-end to go smoothly. We prayed a rosary together. After that we talked a lot about last minute details that needed to be smoothed over. It was a productive time. I am pretty confident this will be a great week-end. I hope that I am right about that.

So my lesson learned for tonight... Always check my calendar before saying I am free for a spontaneous get-together.

So Much To Do...And So Little Time

This week has been my spiritual preparation week for the Antioch retreat I am doing. As a spiritual bouquet for the two dozen retreatants who will be attending I have decided to do a number of things. I started my week off with fasting. Not at all an easy endeavor, but so far I have been doing great. Though I must say my stomach has been growling now off and on for three hours. Not at all a fun feeling, but I am very strong-willed and stubborn. Once I decide to do something I will do it no matter what. I also made it to confession this week to prepare myself even more to help lead the high schoolers closer to God. I spent my Holy hour with Jesus in Eucharistic adoration and prayed about this retreat among many other things in my life that I need to give to God. Tomorrow evening along with the many other last minute things I MUST get done in preparation for this upcoming week-end, the team and I are meeting together to pray about the retreat for about a half hour or so.

There is so much I have to do left to leave for this retreat with a free mind. I have to get some laundry done, clean up my room, polish off my retreat talk out-line. I need to remember to print off directions to the retreat center. I also need to do my work-out, because I won't have much free time for that at all on the week-end. Obviously I have to pack for the trip. That has to be done. Add in work all day for the next two days and there is not that much time to get everything done...with sleep included that is. The only reason I am typing this last paragraph out is because it is to help remind me of what I need to do.

Those of you who happen upon this post within this week I would appreciate prayers for this retreat week-end to go smoothly. The more prayers the better! Thanks very much. :)