"Why Do We Take It All For Granted Until It's Gone?.."

I am sure most have you have probably seen on the news or heard the story about Lauren Spierer, the 20 year old Indiana University student that went missing. It has been a week since Lauren Spierer was last seen. I never knew Lauren, but the fact that she went missing in my home town hits very close to my heart. It's interesting to me how people seem to think things like this will never happen to them until it actually does happen to you. Either you end up being the one missing and you're in the middle of something you wish was a nightmare, but it's not, or you wake-up one day and find someone you dearly loved has vanished and your world gets turned upside down trying to put clues together to figure out what might have happened to that person. My heart and prayers go out to this girl and her family and friends, but after a week of not being able to find her I know the outcome will probably not be pretty.

When something like this happens it makes me want to spend time with those who are the most important to me and remind everyone I love how much I love them and how much they mean to me. I know I try to do that every now and then. I will randomly send them a note or text or card to let them know how special they are to me, but every now and then may not be enough. It's sad that something like a missing person can remind us all that we need to not take family and friends for granted....

Disturbing Commercial

I was really taken back by the above commercial. It rubbed me the wrong way. I understand they wanted something different to catch a person's attention, but they could have done something a little less controversial to do that. I just found the way they portrayed the priest in it was totally inappropriate. We should always remember to pray for our priests to stay strong in their vocation because I am sure there is a lot of temptation out there for them...

Life Is Good, My Friends. Yes, Life Is Good.

Today has been a bitter-sweet day for me. It was bitter because today was the last confirmation class with my small group. It is crazy that two years have already gone by since the first class when we all started our journey. I must say I felt like a proud mamma hen today as my whole group, without me even prompting them, were excited to share with me about the saint they chose and why they chose that specific saint. It made me happy to know that they really did their own research and did not just choose a saint because their name sounded cool. I have become pretty close with these kids and am proud of how they grew in these past two years and I cannot wait to be able to watch them as they are confirmed next week-end. St. Michael the Arch Angel, St. Sebastian, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Catherine of Sienna, and St. Francis of Assisi please pray for these kids and watch over them as they journey through the rest of their life! :)

It was a sweet day as today is Mother's Day and who could have asked for better weather than what we had in my hometown? It was gorgeous and even more appreciated as in the majority of the past few weeks all we have seen are thunderstorms and rain. My whole family gathered together for a wonderful Mother's Day meal of grilled-out steak, baked potatoes, salad, and stuffed eggs. I must say it was all delicious, but I could not finish my plate. I felt so stuffed. My stomach really must have shrunk over the past few months because before I would have been able to eat it all. I was also blessed to see two of my three god-children today, which was a pleasant surprise.

Part of me is very surprised at how fast my week-end has flown by, but the other part is actually very excited to know that in six days it will be my birthday. I am even more excited about it this year as I will be spending part of my birthday at a Jason Aldean concert with two of my friends. I happen to be a HUGE Jason Aldean fan and own all of his albums except his newest one (which is the next cd I will be adding to my collection of music) and so to know I will be seeing him on my birthday is so cool. Along with that, the night before my birthday I will be going out with friends to celebrate, so I won't be getting much rest next week-end either. Go figure!

Prayers For My Nephew, Keegan, Please. :)

Sorry I have been a bit negligent with the blog the past few days. I have been a bit pre-occupied. You see my baby nephew has recently come down with r.s.v.. It is a very serious case and so the doctors had him admitted into the hospital Thursday. R.S.V., for those of you who do not know what it is, is a a respiratory virus. It is very dangerous for children under the age of two. My nephew just turned one a little over a month ago. He also has asthma which makes his case even more serious than others. Add to the fact that he has a double ear infection and you can see how miserable the little guy must be feeling. Right now the doctor told my sister that he wants to keep Keegan in the hospital until he can keep his oxygen level above 88 WITHOUT his oxygen tube. He still needs the tube to keep his level in the nineties, so he will be in the hospital for awhile longer. Please keep him in your prayers. He is so tiny and it just breaks my heart to see him feeling so sick. :(

Because of that I have been spending a lot of my free time with him and my sister at the hospital. Last night the three older boys stayed with us so momma and daddy could be with Keegan all night.

Tonight while I was holding him (he let me hold him for about 20 minutes before he wanted his mom back) my sister took a video of him. We got him to dance a little bit. I would put it up here, but facebook videos just won't work like that for some reason. If you would like to see it just click on here.

Just Some Prayer Requests.

Hello readers. I just wanted to say I will be away this week-end helping chaperone a Confirmation II retreat. My own small group will be attending and I am very excited to watch them open up even more this week-end. Please keep us all in your prayers. :)

Also one of the girls in my small group will not be able to attend the retreat this week-end because she is having surgery done on her shoulders. This girl is a cancer survivor. The reason she had to have surgery is because the chemo ended up messing with her body so bad that only surgery can help it. She will also have to have hip surgery done later on this year as well. Please keep her in your prayers. She may be cancer free, but she still has a long road to recovery to go through. Her attitude throughout all of this has really inspired me. I have learned a lot from her and probably more than I ever helped her learn in the past few years. She is amazing!

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!!!! :)

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. :)

Parents Let Public Vote About Whether They Should Keep Their Child Or Abort...

This just makes me sick to my stomach.... This story made the news tonight. I am appalled about this. The fact that they won't even think about adoption as another option is the most selfish thing I have heard, and yet people here in America have had abortions over giving up their child for adoption more than I care to think about. Their reasoning is just selfish..."If I am not going to have this baby, no one else is going to take care of it either." It is depressing to watch this happen.... This is another reason why we must keep praying and fighting for an end to abortion.

Couple Creates Web Site Poll: Should We Have an Abortion?

News by Mark Berman Opposing Views
(7 Hours Ago) in Technology / Internet

A Minneapolis couple is struggling with the decision of whether or not to have an abortion. But instead of deciding for themselves on what is right, they set up a Web site to let the public vote on this life-altering decision.

Pete and Alisha Arnold said they launched www.birthornot.com because they are "unsure" if they want to have their first child.

Alisha is now 17 weeks pregnant and people have until December 7 to cast their vote. That's two days before the 20-week cut-off line for a legal abortion in Minnesota.

The couple said the vote will "influence their decision heavily." The latest results show an overwhelming 78% voting to keep the baby, with 22% voting for an abortion with more than 16,000 votes tallied.

Alisha writes on her blog:

I'm not convinced that I want to change the status quo. I feel that as I age I've actually gotten more selfish and set in my ways. I'm afraid that I will eventually regret starting a family and 'settling down.' I fear that the constant pressure to be the perfect wife and mother while maintaining a full-time job will eventually cause my brain to implode and lead to a nervous breakdown.

They say their poll is uniquely American, writing:

Voting is such an integral part of the American identity. We vote on everything from the best singer on American Idol to who the next leader of the free world will be. Wouldn't it be nice to voice your opinion and have it actually make a difference in the real world? Why not vote on whether to continue or abort an actual pregnancy?

The couple is denying claims that this is some sort of a pro-life publicity stunt. They told Gawker, "We are taking this very seriously. It's definitely not a pro-life campaign, we believe in a woman's right to choose.

One visitor to the site posted a comment that perhaps said it best:

If you're dumb enough to let random strangers on the internet decide the fate of your family, then you are certainly not mature enough to be parents. You need professional help.

I'm Gone...

For the week-end that is. I will be spending this week-end with an old friend of mine in Ohio. I probably won't have time to blog while there. I do promise a few entries when I return on Sunday though! Please keep me in your prayers, as this is actually the first time I have gone on a road trip without anyone else with me. I know my mom is secretly freaking out about this, so the more people praying should help ease her mind. lol

"What About Now?"

This past Sunday was an eventful one for me. I was even more excited because it was the day of the first meeting for another retreat leadership team I am on... Surprise, surprise. Me helping lead another retreat. It is another Antioch retreat, which is a week-end long retreat for high schoolers. Right now our leadership team is rather small, which makes me somewhat worried, but even with that small amount I feel as though somehow it will all come together. I am praying for a few more people to volunteer to help-out so as to take the load off of all of us having to give two talks each.

This year I volunteered to give probably the most challenging talk I have personally ever given. It is the confession talk. I will be getting into some interesting things in this talk, some very personal things. It will be difficult because I try to avoid talking about these things just because I am not like the person I once was in a lot of ways. It is also intimidating because I have to make confession seem not so awkward to go to... I personally like going to confession now, but I do remember a time when I hated it. I am sure a few of the retreatants will feel that same way, so I have to kind of do a "promo" talk about confession. I think I am up to this challenge.



This year's theme song will be,
"What About Now?"
by Daughtry...

Shadows fill an empty heart
As love is fading,
From all the things that we are
But are not saying.
Can we see beyond the scars
And make it to the dawn?

Change the colors of the sky.
And open up to
The ways you made me feel alive,
The ways I loved you.
For all the things that never died,
To make it through the night,
Love will find you.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?

The sun is breaking in your eyes
To start a new day.
This broken heart can still survive
With a touch of your grace.
Shadows fade into the light.
I am by your side,
Where love will find you.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love, it never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?

Now that we're here,
Now that we've come this far,
Just hold on.
There is nothing to fear,
For I am right beside you.
For all my life,
I am yours.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?

Send "What About Now" Ringtone to your Cell

"Kid's Say the Darndest Things" #9

Javi: Mommy, I want to go to church. Can you take me to church.
Javi's Mom: Ok, Javi, I will take you.
(She takes him to St. Paul's and sit in the front of the church)
Javi's Mom: (Leans over and whispers) So why did you want to come to church, Javi?
Javi: I want to thank God for my little baby in your tummy.

How precious is that!?!?!

Another C.O.T.A. Kid Here In Bloomington

I know I have mentioned way back in some of my earlier posts about why Children's Organ Transplant Association is close to my heart. If you would like to know why you can click here. Anyway this is another one in need of a kidney transplant. They are needing to raise $50,000 dollars for this young man. They have raised around $15,000 dollars right now. If you want to know more about him or donate money or volunteer your time to help fund raise at all you can click here.

A Traveler's Prayer

O Almighty and merciful God, who hast commissioned Thy angels to guide and protect us, command them to be our assiduous companions from our setting out until our return; to clothe us with their invisible protection; to keep from us all danger of collision, of fire, of explosion, of fall and bruises, and finally, having preserved us from all evil, and especially
from sin, to guide us to our heavenly home.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

As I mentioned in my post below I am headed off to Memphis, Tennessee this morning. A fun eight hour drive there... and an eight hour drive back on Sunday. It should be a fun time with my family who I have not seen for about two years or so. Please keep my family's safety in your prayers as we are away this week-end. :)

Participating in Sacraments of Initiation

I had yet another pretty busy week-end to say the least. Yesterday happened to be my second oldest nephew's first communion. It was so adorable watching the kids in their outfits. Sadly, I was not able to pay attention to the whole entire Mass. My older sister asked me if I would take care of my baby nephew so she could be fully present and attentive for her son's first communion, and as if I would say no to holding the baby. I guess though it is appropriate too since I will be officially his Godmother in two weeks. :) I missed out on a good fourth of the Mass though. When I was able to fully pay attention I noticed how much work the the teachers and the children did in preparation for their big day. I am pretty sure each child was able to participate whether it was through reading or bringing up the gifts or singing for it. It was really sweet.

Being the good hopeless romantic person that I am I enjoyed Father's last thing he mentioned before closing the Mass. He told the fathers to keep in mind that the next time they walked their daughters down a church aisle dressed like they were would be when they give them away in marriage. I knew that priest is a softy underneath. It was cute. I am pretty sure all the girls in the church "ahh"ed after he said that.

Today was a bitter-sweet day. It was the last confirmation class of the year. The topic was all about prayer and personal holiness and the speaker did very well. He kept the kids attention which is always a great thing. I was a little sad to know that the next time I see some of the kids will probably not be until the fall. I really have enjoyed my small group this year. I've got some good kids. :) After class was my brother's confirmation rehearsal, and I was his stand-in sponsor. I believe the rehearsal lasted a little over an hour... and that seemed like a very long hour to me. Please keep my brother in your prayers as he will be Confirmed next Sunday. :)

All in all I suppose my week-end was spent in a very cool way... participating in the three different Sacraments of Initiation - Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation, in one way or another.

Kairos 20 Here I Come!

Hey Ya'll,

Just wanted to let you know that I am going away again this week-end, so my blog will not be updated for a few days... I am going off to a retreat for myself, which is something that I need to do I think after this past year. I need a little refreshing I guess you could say. The thing about this particular retreat that is driving me crazy is the fact that us retreatants have no idea where the retreat is going to be held. There is a bus that will be coming to pick us up and take us to our destination, but we will not know where that is until we get there. It is part of the fun I guess. Please keep us all in your prayers. I will have a lot to write about once I get back from this week-end. Retreats usually do that to a person. lol

Also this week-end as I am on my own retreat, my parish's youth group is having their own annual retreat this week-end. Please keep that group in your prayers as well. Thank-you!

Gone to Tennessee

Hey All,

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days... My brother apparently has put another virus on our computer... My parents are making him pay to get it fixed this time, so hopefully he will think twice before looking at whatever he was looking at... I have been very busy with getting ready for my trip this week-end so I have not had as much time to go to the library and blog....

My little cousin is getting married on Saturday down south. A lot of family is flying in from out of town and so it will feel like a family reunion... Please pray that all goes well and we stay safe. I will make up for the lack of posting as soon as I get home. :)

Prayers please...:)

This week-end I will be gone out of town to help out with the Confirmation II retreat this week-end. Please keep these kids in your prayers for this week-end. :) Thank-you!

Gone on Retreat

I just wanted to apologize for the fact that there will be a lack of posting for the next few days. I will be away on a retreat. It is the one that I have been helping to plan for the past few months now. Please keep all of us in your prayers because I am sure we will all need it! I myself am giving a talk on prayer tomorrow night, so if you'd like I'd greatly appreciate prayers for it to go smoothly and the right message gets across to the youth coming if anyone thinks about it. There will be posting about this retreat sometime when I get back!!!

How it all went....

Since I could not make it to the Eucharistic procession last night I have been "bugging" friends on facebook for details about it, and here are some of the things I heard.... Thank goodness everything went off so well! :)

Loralee: Oh no!! Get better sooooooon :)
The procession was AWESOME! We had WAY more people than anticipated, and kept printing out more and more programs. We began with Adoration, then sang a song on the way out, followed by alternating rosary decades and songs (Latin & English) during the procession. But we finished about halfway around the block, so then one of the friars started the Chaplet and we sang a few more songs on the way back to the church. We concluded with Benediction and the reception!
What was really awesome was the way people just stopped and watched as we went by - it was quite majestic with the Knights of Columbus and everything. We had candles and flashlights to see the words by and the Eucharist was illuminated throughout the procession......wish you could have been there!

Me: yep... I've been sick with it now for about five days. Trust me, if it weren't for the swine flu there was no way I would have missed it for the world! How many people? Do you have pictures? Did Kyle come down with some other seminarians??? How did other people react?
Ania: like almost a hundred i think :). the criterion came so there will be pictures and my mom took some. and yes kyle came down with two seminarians. :) yay people asked a lot a question. i'll tell you all about it when you get better!

This is so not cool.......

I'm feeling much better then yesterday... spent most of my day yesterday asleep in bed. I also no longer have a fever, but every part of my body still aches terribly. I guess the main thing that I hate about having this flu is that the Eucharistic procession that I have been looking forward to for the past month is happening this evening and I have decided not to go. I do not want to make myself worse considering I do not have health insurance, plus I do not want to potentially make others sick by being around them tonight. This is really hard for me because there are going to be some people there who I have been looking forward to seeing, but there is a reason I got sick at this time. I guess I'll be staying home tonight and praying here for everything to go nicely. It's all I can do... Please keep those who are going to the procession in your prayers as well. I am sure they would greatly appreciate it! I think I may take one more day off of work to make sure I am really ready to go back without potentially getting myself sick again because I went back to work earlier then I should...
I think the strangest thing about me being sick this time is that I really have not wanted to eat anything... for those that know me, not wanting to eat is a sign of me being really sick. Even with strep throat I still get extremely hungry, but I've had to pretty much force myself to eat this time... the only time I don't want to eat something is when I am sick with a stomach virus, but that's understandable...
I am now going to go lay back down because I don't have much more energy for anything else at the moment.