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.

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.