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.

Turning a Page
Now Playing: Rerun episode of Full House
Please pray for me as I start my live-in with the Sisters of Notre Dame tomorrow. I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be ok. I'm actually looking forward to getting to talk with the Sisters that I'll be living with a little more than I have been able to. I only met them a week or so ago.

The day that I met them for the first time, there was a rainbow in the sky. I took it as a sign....a sign that it's all going to be ok.

Happy New Year!
Mood:  a-ok
I just got back from the New Years Eve party at the Heights and it was nice. I went at 4:30 to join them for prayer and then we ate chili for dinner and played games.

We played Chinese Checkers and a game called Sequence. It was really interesting because I was a bit rusty at Chinese Checkers as I hadn't played since I was really little. I'd never played Sequence before today, I don't think. It was complicated.

Only a week until I move in with the Sisters. I'm more excited than nervous now.

I got a new car. It's like the one that I drove when I rented a car and drove to Chardon.

Peace,
Anne

Moving Forward
Mood:  happy
Well, I've finally met the Sisters that I'll be living with. They were very nice. That day was really hectic though. Since I've been packing and moving things, I had nothing to wear. So, my boss found some things that I could wear and I spent some time trying things on. I was quite embarressed about that whole situation. My boss and one of the other Sisters wanted to see how I'd look in everything I tried on. Eep! They told me that I would need to get used to wearing things like suits. Yeah, that's going to take a little getting used to...

Anyways, I do admit what they found for me to wear looked nice. I ended up in a sweater, a skirt, and a blouse.

I was really nervous when I went to meet the Sisters that I'm going to be living with. They seemed nice and I believe that I'll get used to being there. They have a really cute, though hyper, dog. I spent alot of time playing with the dog as did some of the other Sisters around the table.

Before I went inside, we (my boss and I) saw a rainbow. I take that as a sign from God. God is good and everything is under His control.

Peace!

A Light
Mood:  bright
I finally know where I'll be living for the next few months. I'm really excited about it, but I really haven't gotten the chance to meet the Sisters that I'll be living with yet. I could probably only pull one of them out of a line-up.

I'm excited and I'm nervous. What a combination. I've got butterflies in my stomach and a feeling to run, but my prayer has been that since God got me this far, He'd have to hold me down and help me during this part of the journey. I know that He will take care of me.

Anyways, I met with the vocation director the other day...actually she kinda snuck up on me as I was praying in the chapel... Pretending to be the voice of Our Lady and telling me to follow her... Ha! That got me thinking.

I finally got the chance to WANDER in that chapel, something that I'd been aching to do for a long time, but there was always someone in there and I didn't want to disturb their prayers. I got a good look at the stations of the cross in there and they were awesome. There are some very symbolic things in each of the carvings (if that's what you call them) of each station. I really did some great wandering reflection until one of the Sisters came in to pray. I don't like being a distraction, so I stopped wandering when that Sister walked in.

I am excited to meet the Sisters that I'll be living with. I can identify one of them, but the other two names don't ring a bell. I am looking forward to getting to know them all.

So, there's also going to be a dog where I'll be living. That's going to be cool. I hope that I like the dog.

Well, I'll close for now.

A Part of Something
Mood:  chillin'
I got invited to go with the women in formation to Toledo. I think that it's wonderful that I was invited! I'm really excited about it. I will get to see some of the other novices and see who else is in formation. That will be interesting.

I'm still in the process of moving things from my apartment to my parents' house for storage. I'm looking at things to see what all I can get rid of and what I might still need. I'm super nervous, but excited at the same time. I wonder where I will live. I wonder what the people who I will live with are like.

I need lots of prayers.

Strange Dreams
Mood:  happy
Last night as I was sleeping to recover from a sore throat, I had some really interesting dreams.

First I dreamed that I was back in college and I forgot how to get to where I was living. My friend Jessica was with me. I've had dreams like that before, and usually they have to deal with my fear of being lost. While I was looking for where I lived, I lost my silver ring that says "God is Love". I was upset about losing this ring and looked all over for it. I found two similar rings which had sayings about God on them, but not my ring with that particular saying.

Then I dreamed that I was back up in Chardon and the Sisters were having some sort of party. My friend Jessica was still with me and so were some of the members of my family. I dreamed that I was looking for Sr Sandra and I couldn't find her. I dreamed that I just went ahead and joined in the festivities.