Starting the Wedding Frenzy
Mood:  d'oh
Now Playing: Listening to the TV at my parents' house
It's the start of the wedding frenzy... Eeeeek! This afternoon, I have to go with my mom and sister to one of the bridal showers that is being thrown for my sister. There's a total of about three or four of them...then there's the bachelorette party and then the whole wedding thing. I know a wedding is a happy occasion, but why all the parties? Can't they all be thrown into like one or two parties? And do I have to take a gift to each one? I think if I do, my budget's gonna be blown.

Yes, don't get me wrong. I'm happy for my sister and her fiancee, but um, like I said before, why can't they just combine all of the celebrating into one or two parties?

My sister's wedding is in September. I have plenty of time to prepare for the day that I have to be attacked with make-up and have my hair done at the beauty parlor. Then I have to wear a dress that cuts way too low in the bust area for my preference. I am NOT looking forward to that day. But it's what my sister wants.... I'll just have to put up with it for a day.

I wonder when I'll hear back from the provincial as to if I can move in with some of the Sisters. I think it might be awhile.

My friend Renee and I are planning a road trip up to Chardon to go see our friend Sister Sandy sometime in September. We're planning on renting a car and driving. It's about a five or six hour drive. We're thinking about asking Sister Judith if she'd like to join us. That would be really fun!

We Live We Love
Now Playing: We Live we Love -- Superchick
Here's a good song to reflect on. I just downloaded it. It's by a group called Superchick.

"We Live"

There's a cross on the side of the road
Where a mother lost her son
How could she know that the morning he left
Would be the last she'd trade with for a little more time
(so she could say she loved him one last time)
And hold him tight
But with life we never know when we're coming up to the end of the road
So what do we do then
With tradegy around the bend

We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love
We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

There's a man who waits for the tests to
See if the cancer had spread yet
And now he asks why did i wait to live til it was time to die
If i could have the time back, how i'd live
Life is such a gift
So how does the story end?
Well, this is your story and it all depends
So don't let it become true
Get out and do what we were meant to do

We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love
We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is stormin
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day
Is a gift somehow, someway
And get our heads up out of this darkness
And spark this new mindset and start on with life cuz it ain't gone yet
And tragedy's a reminder to take off the blinders and wake up
(to live the life)
We're supposed to take up
(moving forward)
With all our heads up
Cuz life is worth living

We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love
We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

Jesus in my Pocket
Now Playing: nothing--too late for music!
I carry a rosary in my pocket. Not exactly sure why I do that, but I've done it for as long as I can remember (it started sometime after highschool when I started discerning)... I don't know, is that one of those funky nun things or what? Do any of you all carry around rosaries in your pockets or purses? I have a really cool one from Jerusalem. It smells like roses. I would like to get one that's made from real rose petals, like the ones that are attributed to Saint Therese, the Little Flower.

Anyways, one of the toddlers that I work with found out that I carry a rosary. She was looking at the necklace that I wear and noticed that there is no Jesus on the cross that I wear. (I wear a cross that was given to me when my grandfather died, a miraculous medal, and a medal of Saint Julie Billiart).
She asked me where Jesus was, and I told her that he wasn't on my cross necklace, but I showed her the rosary that I carry (one of the plastic ones) and showed her that Jesus was on it. Now every time I see her, she asks to see the Jesus in my pocket. LOL -- Out of the mouths of babes.

Wide Awake
Now Playing: nothing--my parents are sleeping and I don't want to disturb them
Today my sister's shih tzu dog jumped up on my bed and licked me awake. I don't know what woke me, the jumping part or the licking part. Daphne (the dog) even dug me out when I pulled the covers up over my head. I looked at the clock and it was 9 am, so I figured that I might as well get up. I've got to take my car in for an oil change today and I also think I'm going to go over to the thrift store and see if they have any cool things. I've got a 5 dollar coupon for 5 dollars worth of whatever I find for free. Can't beat that.

Can't believe that the weekend is nearly over. Didn't it just start? Oh well, just takes me one week closer to the next time I meet with the vocation director. That's not so bad. AND I get to see my boss this week! I wonder how her retreat went.

I will be able to go to the Children's Home this week. I've got to remember to take the sketch pad that I promised one of the boys. Wonder if I'll remember. I'll also take in some of my dolls for the girls to play with. They'll like that.

Well, I guess I'd better get a move on. My parents aren't awake yet, but my sister and her fiance have left for church. I wonder if I can take the dog with me during my oil change. Guess I'd better not try.

Dang Modern Technology
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: the TV at my parents' house is on...my dad's watching it
I'm at my parents' house on my mom's laptop writing this entry at the moment. I've been trying to get Yahoo Messenger to work because I like going into their chat rooms sometimes when I'm a little bored just to see what people are up to. Well, the stupid thing won't let me sign in at all. ARGH! Good thing that my AOL messenger can run, I'm talking with a friend at the moment who's visiting her groovy sisters in New York (Hi Renee).

I'm still waiting to hear from the provincial of my groovy sisters to see if I can move into a house of discernment. I think that it could be awhile before I get a response. No big deal, I'm not sweating it. The vocation director sent me two reflection pages to reflect on. We're still going to discuss them one at a time, though. The next one that I'm reflecting on is about Friends. The one after that is about God. The previous one was about family. Anyways, these are thought-provoking.

Monday my boss should be back from her retreat. I can't wait until she's back. I've really missed her. She's told me that I can go to evening prayer with the Sisters at the provincial house when I want to, and I've done so before. I just have to remember to ask where it's okay for me to sit. I think there's "assigned" seating over there and I don't want to take any of the Sisters' seats. The Sisters who are at the door most of the time are starting to recognise me. So, I don't think I'll need to explain myself too much anymore.

I'm about to give up on this Yahoo Messenger thingy and throw the computer out the window...err...maybe not throwing it out the window, but this is bad... All I want to do is sign onto chat... ARGH!

Just Thinking
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Do your chain hang low? Young Jibbs
Check this out! This is the Vocation Director that I work with. Isn't it cool? I copied it from the website of the Sisters.

On Sunday, July 16, Sister Jean Marie showed her true athletic talent when she threw out the ceremonial "first pitch" at the Cincinnati Reds game at Great American Ballpark. Sister Jean Marie was invited by Great American Insurance to throw out the first pitch. The day coincided with the induction of three former Red's players into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. Many who saw Sister's throw thought she did a better job than the Hall of Famers!


Anyways, just thought that was kinda cool.
On to the next topic. I was at a church for a talk on Darfur and the genocide that's going on over there. The talk was given by Nick Clooney (father of George and brother of Rosemary). He talked about how it's effecting families and how mothers have to sometimes make the choice which of their children to save. An example he gave of this is that the mother could carry the 2 year old child and the 13 year old child could run as fast as he could, but that left the 5 year old child to fend for himself. That particular mother went back to see if she could find her 5 year old son and she only found his head.

He concluded by stating that any help that can be given would be great. I didn't have any money on me at the time. I wonder if Christian Children's Fund is over there? He said that there are lots of organisations over there trying to help these people. Here are a few websites for you to look at:

www.crs.org
www.savedarfur.org
www.MillionVoicesForDarfur.org

What is going on in Darfur right now is the same thing that went on in Rwanda a few years ago. We need to help stop this. We turned our backs on Rwanda and millions died. Will we do the same to Darfur? I hope not.

The church that I went to is called Mother of God. I loved that place! There were many things to look at and reflect on. I'll have to go back there sometime when there's not something else going on so that I can just wander around and look. I had a feeling that the Sisters had been there...and sure enough, I went home and looked it up in the book that I'm reading. They ran the school...though there hasn't been a school there in forever.

Well, I'm waiting for word from the provincial to see if I can move into a house of discernment.

Also, it was awesome, the 2 vocation directors came to Tuesday night mass. I was soooo happy to have them there!

Peace,
Anne

A Time for Waiting
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: the sound of the dryer upstairs
Hello everyone! I know that the time between these entries has been getting bigger and bigger, it's just that I have been doing so much and taking the time to write an entry doesn't seem so important anymore compared to other things that are on my plate.

I asked the vocation director if I could move on to the next step, which is, I think moving into a house of discernment to live with the Sisters. She said that she had to talk with the provincial about it and the ball is in the provincial's court as to if I can do this at this time or not.

I've been working on the chat room that the vocation director asked if I could help her with. That's going to be in God's hands because I don't want to do anything about it because it's a chat room of the community's...not mine.

I'm also still reading the 500 something page book that I borrowed from the vocation director. It's interesting. (It's a history of the congregation).

The vocation director wanted to come see me at work sometime. I think that would be nice.

She also wants to sit in on a session between me and my therapist. I have mixed feelings on this one. I think it will be ok though.

Peace,
Anne

Countdown
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: The Macarena
Hi everyone!

Thought I'd make this short entry. I will see the vocation director on Wednesday and I plan to ask her about the next step. I hope that I'll be able to move into a house of discernment. The only thing is that they don't really have one right now. I wonder what it would be like to live in a house of discernment with the Sisters. I really feel drawn to this community, and I want to spend more time with them.

Please pray for me. I spent a few hours talking with my boss and she was a great help to me. I hope that I won't be so nervous when I talk with the vocation director.

Peace,
Anne

Everything at Once
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: Absolutely nothing
This has gone so fast that I can hardly keep up with myself. On the 4th of July, I went to a picnic/festival hosted by the Sisters of Notre Dame and my friend Renee and I walked around and saw all of the sights to see. We both bought icecream cones and just spent time browsing and listening to the music. I got to request the DJ to play the chicken dance on his keyboard and he did and Renee and I danced to it. We even saw my boss, who was sitting taking food orders, dancing bits of it while she sat...tee hee.

Anyways, that was fun. In the meantime, the vocation director e-mailed me and asked if I could help them set up a chat room for women who were discerning a call to religious life. I got that set up in no time and it's waiting on some approval and some minor details to get done. I'm soooo happy about it. I can't wait to train the Sisters to take it over and help participate in chat.

I get to see my friend Debbie tomorrow, she's a Franciscan Sister. I've known her since she was a postulant. We're going to probably go to Eden Park and hang out.

If any of you are interested in joining that vocation chat group run by the Sisters of Notre Dame, please let me know. I'll get around to posting the URL soon.
Please pray for a friend of mine whose father is dying. Also pray because one of the Sisters just died.
Take care.

Waiting
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: Too early for music
Well, I'm waiting to hear back from the vocation director. She gets off her retreat today so I don't think she'll e-mail me today at all. I want so much to call her, but I feel that I should probably hold off on doing that for a little while too just to give her some time to catch up with everything that's been piling up on her desk since she took off.

I wonder what she'll say about the chat room that she wants me to help set up for people who are interested in Religious Life. I'm super excited about the possibility! And I'm really honored that she would ask me to help her in this endevor.

On Monday, it will be week three for me of my new job. I still like it alot. They got a new stroller for the infants and it's a quad seater. I think that the babies will really enjoy having it and the toddler room has borrowed it at least once too.

I'm currently plant-sitting for my parents. I get to come home on the weekends and also in the middle of the week in order to water my mom's plants. Woohooo! Not very exciting. I wish my parents would hurry home.

Anyways, I've got a friend here with me who was also looking at religious life at one point. I know that she had been talking with the Benedictines at one point.

This 4th of July I have off work! I'm going to spend time with my friend Renee and we're going to go to the festival that the Sisters of Notre Dame are having in Covington. I'm looking forward to that. Think I want to stay away from my boss and the vocation director then because they might put us to work...lol, but then again, that might not be a bad thing. I like helping out with things.

Well, take care everyone.

Peace!
Anne