7QTs on Obscure Holidays, Painting, & Old Family Photos [22]

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Last weekend I drove up to Ft. Collins to celebrate Shelby & Calvin! They are getting married in just about a month, so we had a Colorado Bachelorette party.

This is a hot mess. Everyone looks hilarious.

We went to a wine & paint night and it was SO FUN! Look at all of our trees! We're basically professionals. The most stressful part was getting started, but look how good of a job Ann did!!

Shelby & Calvin have been dating since I met them at UNL last year. They are both beautiful and joyful people who desire nothing more than to love Christ. I am so excited for them to unite in mission to continue to grow in holiness & to make Christ known!

 

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Last night I got to babysit Soph while her parents went to their "Families of Character" group. We had so much fun at the park: slides, swings, "gotcha," pretend picnics, chasing bugs, and watching ducks.

She told all of my housemates many times how much fun she had all night, except right when her parents got home. About two minutes before they walked in the door, Sophie and I were laying down going to bed, and I was telling stories. When her Dad got home, she told him she was sad and that she cried. This was only because I had just told her (at 10:15 pm), that we could not get up and read another book. Ugh, kids.

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Wednesday night I went to a gathering for the Drake Regional Alumni Board. The RAB (I love acronyms) plans and runs a few events a year and recruits other local alumni to attend. It was really great to be around other Drake grads. I was the youngest one there (worst) by a few years, and the oldest grad was my friend Kendall's dad.

My favorite part was recognizing that sure there is a typical Drake student, but there is also a typical overly involved Drake student (and that is 100% me). It was fun being around other Drake grads who have the same tendency to get involved in everything. It reminded me of my Panhellenic friends.

LOOK AT THESE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE.

I'm excited for this board (committee?) and to get to know other Denver Drake grads!

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Next week I begin another cross-country traveling adventure. Kansas City, Lincoln, Omaha, Nashville, & Ave Maria, Florida are the one list. I'll also make connections in Chicago, Atlanta, Fort Myers, & Indianapolis. All we need is a quick flight to the west coast to really make it a cross country adventure.

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Yesterday was national siblings day. Please enjoy this gem from my 4th grade birthday (what the heck is up with my hair):

and this other gem of Steph & me ringing in Y2K!

I love everything about this picture.

Speaking of Steph, she is on the Relay for Life committee at SLU & their Relay is tomorrow! I'm so proud of her - she has raised $802.67 for cancer research. My family is in St. Louis to attend the event (& I'm super jealous).

#crying

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Speaking of obscure holidays, today is National Barbershop Quartet Day. We sang a lot of barbershop quartet in 7th and 8th grade. Goodtimes. Please enjoy this video in honor of this very important day:

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A few times I've mentioned the St. Catherine of Sienna Spiritual Gifts Inventory. Yesterday. FOCUS brought in Sherry Weddell, the founder and author of Forming Intentional Disciples, to lead us through the workshop. It was amazing and so fun. My team took the inventory last year, but it was a whole other ball game to hear them all explained by Sherry with insight on how we can use our charisms to evangelize. I'm excited to take the next step and explore these gifts/charisms in more depth.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

April Goals: Create More

Every week when I make my schedule, I always try to work in time to write. And even when it makes it onto the calendar, it is one of the first things that I am willing to move around. Which usually  means I don't end up doing it.

Do I need to write to successfully do my job and get through life? No. But writing gives me life, it energizes me, it helps me process information, and it allows me to become more self aware. I think these are pretty important things. So in April, one of the main things I want to do is write more. Maybe I won't be writing publishable things, but I want to dedicate time each week to sit down and write.

I have also really enjoyed playing my ukulele. I'm still pretty bad, but that's what practice is for, right? Playing the ukulele gives me a chance to sing, and puts creating music back in my life.

As I was reflecting on these things, I realized I just miss time to create. So with that in mind, I set 3 Goals for April to help me create:

1. Play the ukulele three times a week for a half an hour.
   
2. Sit down two times a week for at least an hour and write.
   
3. Create something beautiful once a week. An image for this blog. A song. A craft for my wall. A card for a friend. A friendship bracelet. Just something.

Here's to investing in myself, my spiritual gifts, and hobbies that give me life. 

Here We Go

here we go, one more time, everybody's feeling fine, here we go now...

Alright, alright, I'm a slacker when it comes to writing. I can't even begin to tell you how many times writing and planning for writing ends up uncrossed off on my to do list. I could blame it on being busy or so many other things, but when it comes down to it, I was just slacking.

Many times I would start to write again, but then question of why am I doing this would come up...so I would stop. It is so easy to highlight the perfect parts of my life as I'm writing, but that's not reality. Last year there was a lot of suffering coupled with my joy and I wasn't sure how to articulate it without feeling fake. So even though I really wanted to write, I just didn't.

Jesus and I talked about it, and I'm going to start writing again. Here's why:

1. To document my growth during this "critical decade"

Seriously, every few months I look back and feel so different than who I was before. The decisions we make in our twenties will effect the rest of our lives (seriously. that's one of the reason's I'm a FOCUS Missionary). With such rapid growth and change, it is nice to have the means to document it so I can look back and see where I was compared to where I am now.

2. To share the light of Christ and the beauty of His Church through media as a part of the New Evangelization

My relationship with Jesus is very intimate, but every good gift that He gives is meant to be shared. Jesus loves us each uniquely and personally, but He gives us the gift of others to encourage us in our walks of faith. If my journey and relationship with Jesus can help someone else, then heck yes I want to write about it!

As I've fallen deeper and deeper in love with Christ and His Church, the more I've desired to share this love. We are called to do this in all ways! I talk about Jesus in my real life and my social media life. Why not share this love via the bloggosphere!?

3. Spiritual Gifts Inventory 

One time last year I thought about completely deleting my blog off the internet, and then I got a letter from an old college friend. She had been watching The Tudors, and had become fascinated by the beauty of the latin prayers of the Rosary that Catherine, Henry VIII's first wife, would pray on the show. This compelled her to research modern day examples of people living out their Catholic faith. I received one of the kindest letters I've ever received from her, telling me how she had read through my old posts and was inspired by the work I was doing with FOCUS. So after that, I decided I should probably leave this up.

That experience with my friend coupled with the results from the St. Catherine of Siena Spiritual Gifts Inventory that I took last year further convicted me that I needed to step up my game and start writing again. This was one of the coolest tests I've taken. It takes real situations from your life and simply points you towards some of the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit that you could have. It is meant as a way to encourage you to pursue some of them more deeply to see if this is a gift God has given to you to bring others to Him. Writing was one of my top potential gifts. If God has given me the ability to inspire others to draw close to Him through my writing, then I will write. "Let us use the gifts given to us by grace..." - Romans 12:6

4. To stay connected with my mission partners and friends

Yup. Stay tuned for thoughts on my mission, Jesus, friendship, and all other kinds of good, random things. Enjoy this picture of me and my friend Megan in bear costumes:

I can't wait to tell you about the ministry fair.

5. To push myself

I love writing because I love critical thinking and analyzing. Writing consistently will give me a formal outlet for this and will allow me to use my voice. It will help me to fully develop my thoughts and opinions and practice expressing them in a formal manner.

So there it is! We're going to try this again more consistently.