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

Where to now, God?
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Gonna Make you Sweat -- Music Factory
Wow! Time goes fast! It's near the end of my second week at Holy Trinity. I like it there. I'm still in the infant room and the babies are soo cute there. My boss kinda told most of the workers that I'm discerning a call to religious life with her community. I have mixed feelings about this. I'm very nervous about it because I don't want anyone at work thinking that I'm being treated any differently. I admire her enthusiasm though, too.

Anyways, the vocation director will be back from her retreat on Saturday or Sunday, and I'll hopefully hear from her sometime around then or this coming week.

I'm going to the festival that the Sisters are having at the Heights. My friend Renee is coming with me. It should be fun. The vocation director told me to tell my boss to put me to work at the festival. That might be interesting, but I'd rather decide that when the date of the festival comes instead of before then. Because I'm not sure how I'll feel that day. Plus, Renee might not want to work.

I'm really excited to hear what the vocation director has to say about the few things I e-mailed her about.

My boss is doing well in health, thank God! She invited me to one of her family functions and it was nice to join her for that.

Please pray for me and for my friend Sister Joanne.

Peace out y'all.

God leaves me Breathless
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: Peppermint Twist
Hi everyone!

I love my new job! Monday will be the start of my second week there. So far, I've worked with the infants the most then the toddlers then the schoolagers. I've also been going across the street to the convent where my boss lives for evening prayer. I totally like it there.

Eep! I actually e-mailed the vocation director (who's on retreat now) and asked her what the next step is for me. I still have that homesick feeling for the Sisters and the prayer. I hope her response will be favorable. I won't know for another week or so though because of the retreat, though so I'll try not to think of it until I hear from her.

She wants to start up a chat room for people who are discerning a call to religious life as a Sister. I think that it would be a good thing for her to do and she's asked me if I can help her do such an endevor. I'm excited about it! I can't wait until she gets back so that I can ask her what her ideas were on a chatroom, and what kind of committment she'd be willing to put into it. I think it's awesome that she asked me and I've love to help with that kind of thing.

Pray for my new boss. She had a biopsy on Friday. I hope that she finds out that everything is ok. I can't wait to go into work tomorrow and ask her how she's doing.

Today I hung out with my friends Renee, Sr Joanne, and Sr Mary Carol (who are Sisters of Mercy) that are my friends from the Tuesday night mass that I attend. I had alot of fun. We went to visit a priest and we played Poker and I won five dollars. I didn't know we were playing for money. LOL.

Peace out!

God is Good!
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: nothing because it's too early for music
Well, it's going to be day three of my new job and so far I really like it! For the summer, I'll be floating around any of the rooms that they need an extra person in. The first day I was there, I worked with the school-agers and the preschoolers and then the toddlers. My second day, I worked with the infants and then the toddlers.

My boss has been inviting me to evening prayer with the Sisters in her house and I really have come to like praying the Divine Office. When I left that first day and yesterday, I have gotten that homesick feeling for the Sisters and the prayers. It's the same homesick feeling that I had when I got back from Cleveland. I'm nervous, but I think that this may be where God is calling me. I am also very excited.

My boss gave me a book to read about the congregation. It's called "Soli Deo" which means God Alone. She told me that it might be easier than that 500 plus page one that I borrowed from the vocation director. I plan to read both.

The vocation director is in Mexico right now, helping out in an orphanage. I'm really excited for her and I really want to hear all about that when she returns. She's got a week of that and then a week or so of retreat and then she's back and I can call her.

Peace!

A Day of Treasure Hunting!
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Listening to the TV in the background at my parents' house
Today my friends Jeff, Jessica, and I went Geocaching. To see more about it click on the link.

Briefly, Geocaching is a treasure hunt with real treasure and a real hunt! You have to have a Geopositioning System (GPS) though. We went hunting for three stashes today and only really located two of them. I left a pocket cross in one of them and took a sticker that I put on my car (I'm a huge fan of bumper stickers).

I'd highly encourage you all to look into Geocaching if you have some free time to take on a new adventurous hobby. For those of you who don't have GPS systems, you can do the same thing with Letterboxing. Here's the link to the letterboxing site of North America.

Both letterboxes and Geocaches are hidden in areas all over the world!

Why God?
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Shackles -- Mary Mary
Why do I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about Religious Life? I don't know what else I can do right now about my decision about Religious Life. Yes, I've come to a decision, but has God? I'm nervous and scared and happy and excited...all mixed up. It's a strange feeling.

The vocation director said that she wanted to tell my new boss to ask me to join them for community prayer. I'm excited about that possibility, but I'm also a little nervous. Since she is my boss, should that line be crossed? Wasn't my idea, but the vocation director's. Eep! This is just one of those things that I'm going to put in God's hands. Whatever God's will be done here, I'm out of it.

I will be starting my new job on the 19th and I'm really excited about that. I know I have to go in early so that I can get some things smoothed out. I'm just getting myself prepared now.

Today I see my spiritual director. I actually have some things that I need her to help me with. I want to locate a specific passage in the Bible where it tells about Jesus's followers living in community and holding all things in common. That passage has been speaking to me, and I want to locate it so that I can spend time reflecting on it. The vocation director and I spent a few minutes looking for it, but it was in vain because neither of us could come up with where it was located in the Bible. Do any of you know?

I also have a friend who wants to take a deeper look at the Bible. I want to do so with her, but I'm afraid of leading her into anything. I think I will ask my spiritual director what I should do in this instance. We were hoping that the Bible study that the vocation director started for Lent last Lent would carry over, but so far that hasn't panned out.

I get to see my grandma later today. I'm excited about that!

Prayer requests:
For my friend who wants to know God better
for the mother of the vocation director
for friends who have asked for my prayers

Amen!

Free time is Ticking Away
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: If I was a Rich Girl
Well, I talked with the vocation director yesterday. I wanted to tell her soooo much, but I got really nervous and didn't get to tell her half the things I wanted to tell her about. So much for that. I don't know why I was so nervous.

Yesterday I got the book about the foundresses of this community. It's a book made for children and has a really nice story in it about how God put His dream into Hilligonde and Elisabeth's heart to found this community. It's a really cute little book. The vocation director that I met when I was in Cleveland sent it. With it she sent a little note hoping that I'd find the book inspirational. I've already read through it several times and I really like it because it touches my heart. I can't believe how close to my own dream the dreams of the foundresses were. It's kinda scary to think about. That book is called "Hilligonde's Dream"

The vocation director that I'm working with let me borrow one of the books off her shelf about the community. I'd seen the title of the book at various different places, but I was not sure what the book was about. So, I asked to borrow it and she said that it's a history of the province that I am discerning with. I am very interested in learning about it. The book's title is "Their Quiet Tread". Though, glancing through it, it looks to be a history of the ENTIRE community. This is going to be an interesting read, I can tell. I just hope that the wording of the book is not dry. This book is more than 500 pages long. It's going to take awhile to read it as I am a slow reader, but this book will go with me wherever I go. This is an older book, printed in 1955.

But, I won't start reading this one until I am finished with the one that I'm currently reading. It's about a nun's escape from Communist Slovakia. This is an OLD book. It's called "The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia". I'm almost finished with it! When I am done, I think this book is worth passing on and I'll pass it to a friend.

Peace out y'all!

Just Thinking
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Shatter my Image -- Dolly Parton
Yesterday was great. I hung out with my new boss through the Jubilee mass (they had it during a regular mass time and there were lots of other people there too). We sat in the back so it was kind-of hard to really see much of anything. There were 8 Sisters celebrating their Jubilees.

The party afterwords was interesting. Everyone was invited who was at the mass. I tagged along with my new boss for a little while but then she left so I started to just talk with people who I recognised. There were some Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur there too so I talked with them for a little bit.

I also talked with some of the associates and also a Sister who was living in Rome. She was there when the pope died. It was awesome to talk with her and listen to what she had to say. The vocation director introduced me to her.

I also helped clean up when the party was near over.

I see the vocation director on Wednesday. I have sooooo much to share with her going all the way back to when I was in Cleveland. I hope there's enough time for it all.

Today I've spent most of the day cleaning and then I will drive down to the Heights to pray with the Sisters.