Lots Happening!!!
Mood:  a-ok
Wow! There's been alot going on the past few days! First, over the weekend, the Sisters of Notre Dame had a celebration to celebrate one hundred years of their academy (Notre Dame Academy here in Covington) being in existence. We had lunch and then mass. Lots of the Sisters were there, including most of the Sisters from the Heights. The bishop also came and said mass. During his homily, he talked about getting more vocations.

After mass, there was cookies and lemonaide. The provincial superior invited me to meet the bishop and introduced me as one of the people discerning with the community. The bishop quoted Shakespere (spelling?) and told me to "Get thee to the nunnery" LOL!

Then on Tuesday night, I couldn't go to mass because there was a standoff a few houses down from where I'm currently living. It started around 3:00 pm and ended at around 9:30 pm. Supposedly there was a man there who had stolen an arsenal of guns and was in his house. The police called in the SWAT team and this was all happening right in front of our house. It was interesting to watch, though a couple of the Sisters went outside across the street to talk with the neighbors who were outside their houses. I was too chicken to go all of the way over there (it was only across the street though).

I also invited the provincial superior (her name is Sr Marla) over for dinner sometime when I'm cooking.

Anyways, that's what's been up with me.

Peace!
Anne

Just Thinkin'
This is another entry from work. I've got a few minutes to write for a little bit, so we'll see what comes of it.

This weekend was really cool. On Friday in the evening, my friend Renee came over and we went to see our friend Sr Joanne because Saturday was her birthday. We took her a hyacinth. It was a pretty pinkish-white one. It smelled wonderful. I was allergic to it and it gave me a headache, but the plant was still really pretty. We also got one for my local community at St John's. The same color and it, too, smells awesome. My car smells like hyacinths as well because we used it to transport the plants.

We then went to the Florence mall after eating really quickly at a Waffle House. At the mall, I bought a t-shirt that had Alice in Wonderland on it for about 5 bucks. It was a great deal! Those shirts usually go for around 20 bucks each.

Then on Saturday I went skating with my friend Mindy. That was also really fun.

On Sunday I went out to eat and then to mass at Mother of God church with Sr Suzanne. I had a blast!

Just Chillin'
Mood:  chillin'
It's Saturday! The Sisters that I live with are all at Province Day at the Heights for discussion and I'm home alone with the dog. I'm not with the Sisters because what they are discussing doesn't pertain to me at the moment so I didn't have to be there.

I've been busy so far today, just taking a little bit of a break to do some things online. I did some shopping earlier for groceries and also did a little cleaning.

I've also did some working with clay and may post some pictures of that later. The clock on the church tower is now ringing 12 noon and I think around 2:00 I'll drop by my parents' house and attend mass with my dad around 5pm. The dog is barking at the bells which ring out the Angelus at this time every day. I've come to get used to it and I rather like it.

My first week with my new work schedule has been really great so far. I really like getting off earlier...perhaps now I can take a day for cooking.

Peace!

Parties!
Mood:  party time!
This past Sunday was my friend's first vow ceremony. This is the first profession of vows that I've seen in this community that I'm discerning with and I thought it was an awesome thing!

I went up to Chardon with some of the other Sisters from down here (in Covington)on Saturday. Chardon's near Cleveland in case you're wondering...it's about a 5-6 hour trip for us.

My friend did a liturgical dance before her profession and what I got to see of it was awesome.

There was also another friend of mine up there to see the profession. This was the second time that I'd got to see this particular friend, so I was happy!

The day after we came back, the other Sisters that I live with and I went to a surprise birthday party for another Sister. It was also an awesome experience.

Pondering
Mood:  chatty
There is so much floating around in my head right now. I've got to blog to get it all out so that I can see where I stand. Most of it is good, but there are some not-so-good things floating around in there too.

Let's see. First, my mom gave me a haircut when I asked her to just trim things up... She cut waaaaaaaay too much off. My hair used to be in a bob, now it's much shorter and it looks somewhat like Julie Andrew's cut in The Sound of Music...except I don't have bangs. EEK! I'm not even so sure that it's cut evenly. The Sisters that I live with said it looks cute...but not sure if they were just trying to be nice. My own blood sister had to pause for awhile before she told me that it looked ok....now what does that tell ya?

Second, work's not been so smooth lately. I'll have to give it to my boss for remaining remotely sane during the past few months. She's been dealing with alot...being understaffed is just the tip of the iceburg, I think. I admire her for that. Me...I sometimes lose my cool under too much stress. Especially the week before my period. I hate PMS! It's the only time that I have to really watch myself because anything and everything that I say at that time could potentially be sharp. Just got to make sure it doesn't come back to bite me.
And lesson plans? I'd been writing them weekly until one of the other teachers said that she felt left out, so we agreed to alternate every other week, which she hasn't been doing. Then we decided to alternate every other month. That hasn't been happening either. So what do I do? Guess I could just put up my own plans like I'd been doing before she ever said she felt left out. But then again, I don't know if I should do that or not... My boss wrote that there's possibly someone else that she can hire to help out in the room that I'm in. Woohooo!!! That's what I've been praying for since I got into that room in September. I hope that it works out. I can't wait to go to work tomorrow to see if that person will start work tomorrow too!
The weather reporters are predicting more snow. I don't really like snow because I hate driving in it. I don't even think that my workplace closes for snow.

I feel like I've been living with these Sisters for years, when in fact, I've only been here for a month. I fit in so well here. I think this is where I belong. It seems like a dream come true, but I'm still a little leary of it because of what happened with the last vocation director I talked with... That's in the past, but every-once-in-awhile I still think about it.
Please pray that I can totally let that go. I don't need it interfering with where I'm at right now.
My friend Renee gave me a bracelet for my birthday. It tells the life of Christ in beads. There's a star charm on it that stands for the star that lead the three wise men who are represented as three yellow beads...there is a wooden bead that stands for Jesus being a carpenter and a fish bead, twelve ring beads for the apostles, a cross, a dove for the spirit, and many other beads that each represent something different. It's a really cool bracelet and I really like it.
My Godmother gave me some costume jewelery. I'm not quite sure what to do with it... Guess it's the thought that counts. I have to remember to write her a Thank-You card for it.

Well, better close for now. I feel I've been talking enough. Take care and God bless!

Taking a Break
Mood:  lucky
Am I called to be a Sister of Notre Dame? I'm not 100 percent positive, but it feels very much like home. The vocation director talks of me entering the community perhaps this summer if everything goes well...she talks of finishing the Discerning Heart sheets, then of the paperwork after that...and then of the psych evaluation...scary... I get butterflies in my stomach when she brings it all up, but it feels like the right thing...whatever that might be. I really love this community, but I'm still taking things slowly.

Anyways, I feel very blessed to be with these Sisters.

Last night I was able to go over to see where the vocation director that I've been working with lives. I've never been over there before and it was really interesting. We played dominoes. Had lots of fun!

Almost a Month!
Mood:  celebratory
I've been in community for my live-in for nearly a month now (since the 7th of January), I really still feel like I've been here longer than that. I really like community living, the Sisters are all so wonderful.
This past Friday was my birthday and they took me out to a pizzeria called "Venice on Vine" which is run by two Sisters from other communities (SNDdeN and a Dominican Sister of Hope)...as a job training program, if anyone is curious to read anything about it, just google "Venice on Vine" and "Cincinnati". I had a really fun time. I was allowed to invite along the vocation director and we all crammed into one car...there were five of us total. Then after that we came home and played a game of Dominoes. (I came in second place).
Yesterday (Saturday), I fixed chili and had a friend come over to the house to eat dinner with us. I again had a blast!
Pray for me on Wednesday as I meet again with the vocation director to continue with "God Grant me a Discerning Heart", which is a series of reflection papers for discernment...or at least I think that's what we're going to talk about...I don't know for sure.

Thinking
I'm at work again, so this will be a pretty small post. Just wanted to let you all know that everything's going great! My birthday is next Friday (Feb 2nd) and the Sisters are going to take me out for pizza. Hope we don't have pizza that afternoon for lunch at work...Fridays are usually pizza day.

Please pray for the father of my boss. He's in the hospital.

Peace,
Anne

A Snowy Day
Mood:  a-ok
I'm writing this entry from the school that's next door to where I live. It's where the other three Sisters that I live with work. It's called Prince of Peace school.

Having a little trouble with the school's firewall blocking things...at least I was able to unblock this blog so that I can write every-now-and-then perhaps. I always have before work.

Things have been going awesomely well for my first two weeks of my live-in. I feel like I've always been with these Sisters...it's a rather strange feeling at that because in truth, I've only been here for a couple of weeks. The vocation director has been itching to get over here for the first time since I moved in. The other vocation director that this particular province of this community has has already been over to play dominoes with us. Dominoes is the game of the Sisters of Notre Dame...at least down here in Covington, Ky. I won the last game we played, which was rather surprising to me because the Sisters are really REALLY good at the game. I think it was more like beginners luck.

Anyways, the vocation director that I've been working with will be coming over on Wednesday for dinner and to talk with me and the Sisters I live with. I'm looking forward to talking with her.

Last weekend I was up in Toledo with the Sisters in formation. It was awesome because I got to meet the other novices besides my friends Sr Sandra Maria and Sr Judine. They are all an awesome bunch. I also got to meet one of the postulants. She was also pretty cool.

Well, I'm going to close for now. Perhaps once I get the pictures from Toledo back from Sr Sandy, I can post a couple of them up here.

Peace!

With My Sisters
Mood:  a-ok
Ok, so I'm writing on my break from work (which isn't very long to say the least). I've moved in with the Sisters and sort of had a baptism by fire so to say. My first day there was Sunday of last week and I've only been there a week. This past weekend I was up in Toledo with the Sisters in formation and those who are in charge of formation. Some told me that I just "made the cut" to make it to the gathering as it's only for people who are doing live-ins through Junior professed Sisters. Anyways, I had a blast!

The Sister that did the talks was from their Chardon Province and her name is Sr Melannie Svoboda...she's written many books and was an awesome speaker to say the least.

Well, gotta go. Break's over. Will write more later.

Here's a picture of the group that gathered in Toledo.