Waiting for Patience

I've been thinking a lot about control lately. How much I want to have it in conjunction with how few things are actually in my control. I don't know about you, but this is a huge point of contention for me in prayer. I want certain things in my life, I don't want to have to wait another 10 years or even 5 years to be married and have a family. I wrote about this a few weeks ago when I was trying to love my crazy life rather than fight against myself ( check it out ). It's come up even more this week though with work and life and Lent. That's really the sticking point for me now. Lent 2016. There are so many things I cannot control in my life. My metabolism, my family, friends, boys, my parish, plus a million and one other things. So I'm trying to discipline the things that I do have control over so I can more easily embrace the things I don't have control over. I can control what I put into my body and whether I exercise every day or not. I can do som...

--- 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...

--- 1 --- Happy Friday the 13th to You! & Happy 30th Birthday to me! Well, I can't say that I'm excited to turn 30, but I can say that I'm excited it's my birthday! Yesterday we celebrated at work and our receptionist (the resident cake maker) made this for me! It was SO delicious - Salted Caramel Latte Cake ... and each bite was like having a nice warm latte in the middle of the afternoon! It's from Annie's Eats if you want to make it! --- 2 --- Earlier this week I had a small revelation in prayer that I wrote about ... if you missed it check out " Simply, That's How " with a mix of me, Papa Frank, and Therese. --- 3 --- I'm one post away from finishing my Latin & Me series. It's been so good for me to reflect back on this journey as I'm turning 30. The Katie who turned 25 wouldn't even have thought the Katie turning 30 would be who she is now. I guess that's how it always is though, right? We ca...

--- 1 --- Last weekend I did a little decorating - putting up some pictures downstairs in the living room and finally hanging the amazing Congo map MG got me for Christmas. Another Wall full of a story! The adjacent wall has a bigger story too, if I haven't shared it with you before... All photos and things from my trip to the Congo. The frame in the bottom right now has a photo in it as well. The fabric in the upper left is a dress that they purchased for me that will be admired more on the wall than in my closet! I also put these curtains and frames up in the guest bedroom - which makes me SO happy whenever I walk up stairs. That side of the house looks so put together! A happy place, rather than a drab place, for guests to hang out in while they stay. --- 2 --- An interesting quote from Matt Walsh  I found the other day about when he and his wife finally walked into a building they didn't know what was inside. It was a new Mega-Church - reminds m...

--- 1 --- This has been the uneventful eventful week. Why you ask? Well yesterday was a snow day (and I still didn't write my quick takes or even work on the future weeks of the Latin & Me series, ugh! So it was eventful in the morning to make the declaration that there would be no events that day. I type that out and it's so ridiculous I should probably delete, but I won't because I don't have too much to say on this chilly, snow free morning! --- 2 --- Another installment of my journey toward the more traditional roots of the Church published yesterday . I wrote about how I started receiving communion kneeling rather than standing. One of the comments was that the EMCs at her parish have a really hard time giving communion on the tongue and are even sometimes confused. I can definitely relate. This is why, whenever possible, I try to get in the line for the priest. They seem to be the only ones who can get it right all of the time! No offense to anyone...

--- 1 --- Well I missed the link-up with the Not Alone Series Gals  this week, so I'm going to write about my Spiritual Reading books for my Quick Takes and make this a Double Take! Prompt: What are some of your favorite or go-to books, devotionals or even blogs that help encourage you in your spiritual life? I don't know how great I'll be at giving suggestions, but I do have a few in my mind to share about, so here goes nothing... --- 2 --- I've written about this book before , but in recent memory it's been very helpful. Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence . The author discusses suffering a lot and how we get to where we are in the Spiritual Life. Some areas are a lot to take in, that all things are necessary and desired by God for our good. That's hard to handle a bit when we are thinking about bad things that happen to us. Overall the Lord wills the good in our life - the good that will get us to Heaven to be with Him for eternal li...

--- 1 --- Well Hello there Quick Takes from Friday but now on Sunday! A day late and a dollar short I am this week, but still wanted to post as I feel like much has been happening around these parts! So here's to living the Friday dream on a cold Sunday morning! --- 2 --- This week we finished our sixth week of a Living your Strengths  small group in which I was participating. (if you're new to the LYS idea, check out this parish's explanation) I don't think I wrote about that, but it was really interesting the first couple of weeks, and the final few weeks felt like we were saying the same things over and over again. I have a natural talent for this that I'm acquiring skills in to turn into a greater strength. I've known my top five since the first year I worked at Saint Mark (my previous parish and job) when we were all required to take the test before a staff retreat. I am (in order): Input, Connectedness, Belief, Arranger, Achiever. To quickly ex...