Waiting for Patience

I have a confession to make: When I first started as the Middle School Youth Minister at St. Mark, I didn't know what the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit were or how many fruits there were ... and I was the Confirmation Coordinator. I didn't learn those things until about 30 minutes before my first Confirmation Parent/Candidate Sessions a year and half into the job either. And I did not actually learn all twelve fruits until about 3 years ago. These are just two of the things I make my students memorize and learn now. Yesterday, my 8th class of Confirmation Candidates were just confirmed. My team has changed. My level of responsibility has changed. My parish has changed. My job has changed. And my understanding of the Sacrament of Confirmation has changed. This year's group was prepared by some adults, some teens, a nun, and me. Quite the group! I cannot believe that I've seen almost 600 students confirmed. Through it all each class has gotten better and bette...

For More Quick Takes, visit  Conversion Diary ! 1. Well, I downloaded the new iOS 7 onto my iPhone 4S - and I'm so glad I did!  I really like the new features especially in the camera and the notification center (both the top one and the bottom one).  I like it most especially because I feel like I got a brand new phone without paying anything - except the 4 hours it took me to update last Wednesday!  The price I paid to have it on the day it came out! 2. Roommate and I have participated in two book clubs in the last two weeks and I'm not sure what I think.  I've been trying since I met MG to start a book club, but I can't get anyone who's willing to read the same kinds of books I want to read and have the same regularity of meetings I want.  I've tried restructuring my wants - and I'm still coming up empty handed.  Anyone participate in one or begin one who's willing to offer some advice or encouragement?  3. Roommate and ...

I'm showered, my bags are unpacked, and all of my dirty clothes are in the laundry.  The pilgrimage is over, but the mission has just begun. The Holy Father's final words on Sunday were: 1) Go, 2) Do Not Be Afraid, and 3) Serve.  This is the mission from the theme to the entire week, "Go and Make Disciples of All Nations."  I feel more prepared to do this than any other time in my life.  I also feel more compelled.  There were a few things that happened this week that opened my eyes to the other side , if you will.  On Saturday after we got to the secure line of armed guards at the end of the beach, we saw about 7 to 10 people who were protesting the Church, Brazil, and the Pope.  They are upset about women priests, the perspective on gay marriage, and other things.  What baffles my mind is that they aren't Catholic, and don't want to be - so why the protest?  But anyway - it brought to mind the fact that so many people truly have no idea w...

For More Quick Takes, visit  Conversion Diary ! - 1 - What a week - I feel like I say this each week; I'm not sure why my life is so dramatic sounding when nothing great really happens.  I mean, seriously - how can this be?  I think that I create drama wherever I go ... like Pig Pen a little bit:   I am trying to remove this aspect of my life, but it's super difficult, so I will press on and try to remove the crown (ie: drama queen crown). - 2 - I think that Spiritual Direction can help me with this and will discuss it with Monsignor when we meet later today. ... I'm really done, just tired - so I'm going to just post some memes they did at Faithful Servant today while I wasn't there! - 3 -  Well this one is from Francis ... but now... - 4 - This one is from my small group - about me: - 5 - This is the cutest little girl: - 6 - This guy is GREAT ! - 7 - And this kid has the cutest little face: Go to Je...

1.  Faithful Servant: It's a week long retreat hosted by my Diocese of youth and adults to learn and practice leadership skills.  This week we have 55 adults and teens.  It's been great - last night I came home to work for a few days, but I'm going back tomorrow night after work.  But some crazy things happen there, so these are my favorites: 2.  Christopher: one of my kids during the lip sync contest on Monday evening.  He and another boy did something with Part of Your World  from The Little Mermaid .  It was just delightful.  In this video - he's the tall one! 3. One of the topics I presented on this year was Consensus.  This is where the group decides what is best for the group and takes a consensus rather than voting.  This way everyone's opinions are part of the process and all are involved.  The activity was finding one flavor of ice cream with 6 toppings to have as a treat at our Skit Bonanza on Thursday even...

Tomorrow begins our annual Faithful Servant retreat for the Dioceses of North Carolina!  That means it's time to make some healthy snacks to bring along! On the agenda: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites and Amazing Granola (one of the moms brought this for us last year and I just stumbled upon the recipe tonight! Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites I saw this on Pinterest earlier, but was deceived by the person's comment below the picture.  As I put in the ingredients she said: 3 ripe bananas, 1 1/2 cups of Oats, 3 TB of Chocolate Chips, and 2 TB of PB - it was super wet  so I added 1/2 cup of white flour. They turned out pretty delicious - try it out at home! Mash 3 Ripe Banannas Add in 2 TB of PB and 1 1/2 cups of Oats Mix it together and add 1/2 cup of flour  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes! Then Enjoy!  My recipe got 25 - making each cookie just 44 calories!  Pretty good for a sweet snack :) Granola Next Up, Granola! You'...

Some Favorites for this week: 1. I found a super cute pin that lead me to this great Sugar Free Mom's blog and made these (my actual muffins that I made from a pin that were not a pinstrosity ): They are my new favorite snack.  Her recipe is in the link...I tweaked it a little substituting only honey (1 cup), Soy Silk Light instead of 1% milk, and put the 'toppings' of blueberries and walnuts right in the batter.   Delicious! 2. Speaking of favorite blogs - I love  Pinstrosity!  They have crazy pics like this... That's a real shame about that pin - I really wanted to make myself some mac'n'cheese in a mug in the microwave! 3. I also get a huge kick out of this website of common woes... Passive Aggressive Notes ! Every time I read one I think "I should have thought of that when so-and-so did such-and-such." 4. New Roommates!  I got one this week and I'm still excited!  It's been almost 5 days, so we might be in the ...

The other day I saw this photo from a friend on facebook: And it got me thinking about the vocation crisis in our country - and what can be done.  It's also a follow-up to some thoughts I had about this article I found about a month ago. This year there is one guy being ordained a deacon in the US, another in Italy  and a guy being ordained to the priesthood.  There is a serious issue!  We are doing something wrong, or something else not enough.  So I got to thinking about what can be done to bring more men into the priesthood. The first issue is even bigger than the number of men in the seminary - it's that boys aren't even thinking about joining the priesthood.  In our diocese, teens were asked "have you ever considered a vocation to the priesthood or religious life?" and they responded overwhelmingly 'no' - 75% of youth.  This is an issue - our children aren't even considering this as a life decision! So what can be done?  I th...

For More Quick Takes, visit  Conversion Diary ! - 1 - My life has become full and blogging has apparently taken a back seat.  Not a bad thing, except that the things that have been filling my life up include cleaning the bathroom and assuring the kitchen is looking good!  I really dislike the big cleaning jobs, I should really be better at the regular cleaning up.  I purchased a swiffer wet for this purpose, but am terrible at following up!  So, this week cleaning the apartment had to literally be put on the calendar and one major clean down: bathroom (and subsequently the bedroom was vacuumed)! - 2 - How Cindy knows exactly what to write, I will never know.  But this week's post about Fantasy Relationships really hit home.  Last weekend I was with the teens on retreat and we were just having this conversation late Saturday night when we should have been sleeping.  They think they are in these amazing relationships with boys that have nev...

For More Quick Takes, visit  Conversion Diary ! A few short quick takes for this week... - 1 - I've decided and entirely embraced bloglovin' as my new google reader.  I actually like it more, if that's okay to say.  I enjoy going to the actual page of the blog to read it so I get to see all of the great designs people have up!  So Follow my blog with Bloglovin! - 2 - Played kickball last night, and we won again!  We are officially undefeated!  I've never been on an undefeated team before and I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty stoked about it! - 3 - This weekend is our Annual Diocesan Youth Conference so I'm headed up to Black Mountain for the weekend with Sister and the youths. - 4 - Sr. Edeva is our new youth minister, since I abdicated my position back in November (I was on the bandwagon before Benedict)!  She's doing a fabulous job.  She likes hanging with the kids and they seem to like her as well! - 5 - Work has been super bus...

There's this thing in the south that no one tells you about when you move here - people are OBSESSED with snow!  It's so weird, strange how they only see the happiness of it all and the horror and sadness that comes afterward.  Now, I might be being a tad bit over-dramatic, but read about what happened on this Saturday's snow. It was a warm 55 degrees on Friday - I walked outside without a coat on even!  Saturday there was a threat of snow and when a few flakes came down in the morning mixed with rain the teens began the obligatory flip-out "It's SNOWING!"  Nothing even stuck to the coldest of areas on the ground. Then in the afternoon it really did begin to snow - and it is pretty...wet, packing snow makes for a beautiful fall.  Check it out: The kids were even able to have a snowball fight with Father Kauth before Mass...more pics... After Mass they were even able to make a snow man, well, all things relative - a mini-snow man: But no ...

For More Quick Takes, visit  Conversion Diary ! - 1 - Just saw some AWESOME news (relative to Television anyway)...One of my absolute favorite shows from childhood was Boy Meets World .  So much so, that last year, I watched almost the entire series in 20 minute increments while waiting for Ashelyn to get ready in the morning before taking her to school.  NOW, I see a post of Facebook from one of my teens that they are producing a sequel!  Yes, you read me right - Girl Meets World and she will be The Matthews' daughter.  Already on the cast are the goofy, adorable couple themselves, Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel happily reprising their roles as Cory and Topanga. ( according to this article ) Can't wait to watch this and see if their 'happily ever after' lived up to the standards in my mind!   - 2- Writing of TV, I watched Bones on Monday night and fell in love even more with Booth!  I know, he's married in real life and even in a fu...

For More Quick Takes, visit  Conversion Diary ! Life is crazy and sometimes just really terrible...like the world is caving in...  So this week, 7 Quick Takes - Quick Pic Style!  No numbers, just captions... crazy teens who changed my wallpaper while holding my phone for me in the bathroom. my project of the week - all of those 'unknown' keys into organization! crispy kale chips! YUM! shrimp, spinach, mushroom pizza on a waffle maker crust a beautiful sunrise on the way to get Ash! ecard to perfectly describe my assistant at work some great KofC guys singing 'Be a Man' go see Jen and company for more inspiring takes!