Waiting for Patience

Plans Don't Always Turn Out Like You Want... Everyone is now shaking their heads in agreement and thinking, what in the world could you write that would be insightful. I'm thinking the same things. I think this a lot when I read articles on Verily one of my favorite online magazines. The topics about the single life on this quick google search make me always think, "now the secret to embracing being single, the secret to understanding why God has me in this place of being in between." This is just a sampling of the last year or so: 8 Secrets to Savoring the Single Life Single and 30: How I Stopped Waiting for a Ring and Started Living a Great Life The Advice I wish I could have Given to my Single Self You're Only Single Once, So Embrace it while it Lasts Get a Healthier Attitude Toward Being Single with a... Things Happily Coupled People Say to their Single Friends Being Single is What you Make of it, to Make it Positive 5 Reasons I'd Rather Be Sin...

Y'all, I have eaten a lot of apple pie during my three decades of living. My dad has two apple trees in our backyard and we ate a LOT of apples as kids. He makes pies by the dozens and freezes them for later. So when I heard a story on NPR or an npr-esque podcast last week about the best, flakiest pie crust ever, I knew I had to try it. So tonight's "friendsgiving" at a friend's parish young adult group was the night! Two recipes mixed together for the best apple pie I've ever eaten (not to boast too much). Oh and this recipe gives you a chance to use up a little bit of that vodka we all have lying around in our freezers - or is that just me? And yes - the vodka makes the crust so, so flaky - so don't flake out and skip it! Now a beautiful picture and the recipe so you can be the talk of the party for your amazing apple pie! The Best Apple Pie Recipe Prep: 60 minutes, Fridge: 45 min to 2 days, Bake: 50 min Crust : 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unb...

I've been meaning to write about this subject for weeks - and after four conversations this past week with this exact topic with friends, I'm even more convicted to write about it. Also Not Alone Series  posts begin again next Tuesday with Rachel and Lindsay  (new hosts!!), and I want to get back into the writing groove. Because I like sharing, I think I have something to say (at least to myself, future Katie, to look back on), and I'm looking for new stress relief so get ready! I have a tendency to over-analyze things - which if you know me in real life you would never  think! So over the last 18 months of being present in the online dating circle, I'm giving it up. I've also spend the last few weeks reading the beginning of this book by Aziz Ansari (it was only $3.99 so I splurged). He and this other guy Eric did a lot of research about Modern Romance  and are bringing it back to the people. The book puts in writing a lot of the things I'm experiencing i...

Tonight I had to run to Harris Teeter for some snacks to serve my very good friend Father Emmanuel from the Congo and the family who's hosting him tomorrow evening when the come over. I've been in my PJs (ie: shorts & a t-shirt I typically wear only to bed) since I got home from the 5pm Mass. When I pulled into the parking lot I noticed Sister E's car there and texted to see if she too was at HT. She was and we got to see each other for the first time in what felt like months. It was so great to catch up. Our really great conversation ended with me crying in the middle of the HT parking lot. Although it ended in tears, it was a really great conversation. I've been having some trouble lately with the cross I've been given to carry. The single life with a deep desire to be married with children. It seems like everyone else has all of these things that I want. I see how I am incredibly blessed by God. I know this. He takes such good care of me. Like just the we...

--- 1 --- Wow readers it has been quite a while since I've written anything at all and the last thing I wrote was just a bunch of pictures so that hardly counts - but you seem to be coming back day after day to read what I wrote. I'm back ... for now, I can't make any serious commitments. I want to, but I can't. Instead of boring you with a first I did this, then I did that sort of quick takes, I'm going to relay the things that I've learned in the last 3 weeks. The last time I wrote was my last day on the job as Office Manager. So I've learned lots of things these past three weeks at my new job.   --- 2 --- The most glaring thing is that I don't think I handle stress as well as I thought I did. Not that I experience it all that often, I'm very blessed that I don't really get easily stressed out (not in the past few years anyway). It usually manifests itself with being really tired, but not getting enough sleep. But these past few w...

--- 1 --- Well, I promised I'd share some photos from my trip to Texas, so here we go! This is the view from my Aunt's porch. As soon as we got to the house on Tuesday, I had to sit outside and take in the view. I remember it being amazing, but it was even more incredible than I recalled! We spent a lot of time out here on the porch!  The fire and the View!   --- 2 --- One day we went into San Antonio to the Aquarium (not amazing), the oldest cathedral in Texas (beautiful), the riverwalk (lovely), and dinner at the Tower of Americas (delicious)! cute little sea horsies Just amazing - they have confession every day all day long! How cool! The view at dinner - from 63 stories up! Celebrating my birthday with Aunt Char & Uncle Joe --- 3 --- Another day we took a drive to see the wildflowers. It was like they bloomed just for me! They said it's been a few years since they've been so beautiful - and this year did not d...

Topic for this week is whatever we want, so I thought I'd write a little bit about a book I'm on a launch team for :: All Groan Up . I've been reading this guy's blog for a while now. It's full of funny, inspiring, and great content. I especially think about his explanation of OCD ... Obsessive Comparison Disorder. (not to diminish people with clinical OCD tendencies) I don't know about you, but I tend to look at someone else's life and compare and contrast to my own. However, I typically only see the ways that hers is better than mine, she has accomplished more of my goals than me, and is overall happier than I am. Objectively, I know this isn't true. The self we put on Facebook, Instagram, and even this little 'ole blog is our best self. I don't tend to write to you on the days when I'm practically having a nervous breakdown, crying my eyes out because I don't know what to do with my life, where I'm going, or if I'll ever...

What does it mean to be a friend based in Christ? Do Christian friends hold each other higher? Do we hold each other accountable? How do these friendships differ from non-Christian based friendships? Do they differ? Is one better than the other? Oh, Christian Friendship! How difficult to attain sometimes, but how necessary for life to go smoothly! In my opinion, anyway. I've been blessed to have many friends in my life, many fantastic friends in fact. I wouldn't have made it through High School with my faith intact without Stephanie, Erin, and Ashlei. We had an amazing opportunity to meet many friends from around the Diocese at a retreat called "TEC" - to encounter Christ and "JTE" Journey to Emmaus. I was blessed with some amazing experiences with these ladies and couldn't have made it without them. They were better than any other acquaintances I had during the same time in my life. Moving on to college, I had friends who were just as great...

I've been thinking about this topic for a while, knowing my own journey which I wrote about at length the past few months as well as where people are. While visiting with my family in Texas last week the subject came up again and I was silent because I'm not exactly sure how to articulate what I really think. I was saying how I prefer to attend Mass in the morning rather than Saturday evening vigil. There's nothing wrong with the Vigil, but for me, I like morning Mass - which is a new development in the last year - I used to sleep in and go at 5pm on Sunday evening. Don't get me wrong, I still love sleeping, but morning Mass is different than Sunday evening Mass. Anyway, someone said they prefer the Saturday vigil because it's more casual. They can come in their jeans, sneakers, t-shirts - no judgement if it's been a few weeks or months since they've been there. Overall more casual - and that frankly the Lord doesn't care what we where, just that we...

A couple weeks ago, we set to challenge ourselves! What did you decide on and what did you end up doing? Was this a fruitful experience for you? Why or why not? A few weeks ago the NAS topic was Challenges  - challenging ourselves to do more, something different, etc... I didn't write because I as I noted the week after St. Joseph had been kicking my butt with an answer to my novena intention. I'm sure you all know about the Pray More Novenas  reminders (but if not - totally check them out - it's an excellent way to increase your novena devotions). I've been receiving the emails for a while now and love the monthly devotions and new saints, novenas, and opportunities every month. In preparation for the Feast of St. Joseph (one stand up man), I began praying the St. Joseph Novena on March 10th with more than 70,000 of my closest novena loving friends. I have had a pretty strong devotion to St. Joseph for a while. In November of 2012 a very close friend was goi...

Have you ever had people in your life who have expectations of what your life is like, as a single person? Do friends or family ever make assumptions about your life simply because you're unmarried? Did you ever have expectations about being single which turned out to be different than the reality? How do you manage the expectations of others with the reality of your day-to-day? Boy I have a LOT of thoughts on this ... hopefully they will be written coherently and not all over the place! There are two questions here: Do I have expectations of what the single life is? AND Do others place expectations on me because I'm single? Although I think the prompt is really getting at the latter, the former is more of a big deal for me right now and has been on the last fifteen years of my life. So I will get the easy one out of the way and then deal with the more difficult. Do other people have expectations of me? Yes, of course - I have them of others. Do they interfere ...

We're more than half way through Lent... how's it going?! What did you decide to give up/take up? Did you make any spiritual goals? How have you grown thus far and how do you hope to make the most of the remainder of the season? I missed last week for the link-up (and a bunch of blogging / writing stuff) because St. Joseph's been kicking my butt with his response to this month's Novena! More details to come, but prayers for courage and patience from y'all would be much appreciated. I am back this week and excited to talk about penance - well, not really - but happy to discuss Lent. Last year my Lenten sacrifices were much greater than this year. I went to Mass on Ash Wednesday and then promptly gave up my cell phone, got on a plane to a country with only one flushing toilet and a serious lack of electricity and went from there. When I came back to the US, I gave up coffee for the remaining of Lent which was really difficult with the jet lag and overall...

Over the course of the last six weeks , I've been sharing my journey from "no latin ever" to where I am now. I wanted to conclude with why I think preserving, attending, and cherishing the Old Rite of the Mass is important. This can be applied to anything we do in the Mass actually, so even if you don't want to attend a MEF or don't have one around, this can apply to your Mass going experience as well. I try to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form in my parish when I can, but this amounts to maybe 2 times per month, maybe. So that's 2 out of 25 Mass experiences a month, not even close to a majority, not even a number that is statistically significant. However, appreciating the Mass in this form has helped me to appreciate the Mass in the Novus Ordo  as well. Why? Because it is beautiful. I was thinking of this verse from Philippians 4:8 as well: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pu...