Life.
This month has been a bit of a crazy ride. Perhaps the biggest curve ball God threw my way was that I was "let go" from my youth ministry position. I went into Father's office to give a big presentation about a fundraiser I wanted to kickstart for the youth group, and the meeting ended up being...well, not about that at all. The parish is going to go a different way to save money, as its debt is still looming. I will be finishing through the end of April with the kids. It was a good learning experience for me, and will surely aid in my future career development...I feel worse for the kids. There just aren't many opportunities for the youth in our area outside of their schools, and very little for catechesis specifically after they are done with confirmation.
I also willingly let go of my on-commission part-time job. I am no good at sales, the prospect of making phone calls drained me more than anything, and it was not contributing to us at all. I was holding on to it for job security, but even though there aren't many theology type of positions, I feel better about prospects in this city than where I was when I first started. Further, my volunteer position is on a hiatus. I may pick it up again this summer, but after a bit of a burn out from running on full steam from three part-time jobs and school and volunteer work and actual married life, I'm taking a bit of a breather from it.
So it's back to the drawing board and figuring out what I want to do. Realistically I won't take on a full-time position till I'm done with school work. The part-time position affords me the flexibility to dedicate more time to school, along with other chores and still getting a grasp on this whole marriage thing. While I will keep my ears, and heart, open to any flexible part-time positions, in the mean time I am simply letting go...or at least attempting to do so. This upcoming May/June we will hopefully be moving to a near-by apartment complex that is a bit more secure and easier to access, so I'm looking forward to having a better place to enjoy going outdoors, and picking up some of my real hobbies again. I haven't been very gracious to myself in not allowing myself to do that since graduating. I've been slowly practicing music again when I get the chance inside the churches I frequent. I'd like to pick up documenting and merging my family trees again. Christmas break gave me a taste of what reading for fun was like. I need to allow myself to develop myself in these areas.
So pray for me as life continues to work itself out. Also, my dear dear friend, for whom I helped put on the baby shower, is in labor, or possibly had the baby earlier this morning. Please throw up some prayers for her and her family that all are safe and sound.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Dare I say it? Round four...
Out my window: The 50s and 60s are in sight! Woot!
Clothing myself in: jeans, purple top
Around the apartment: Yes, you read the title right. I was getting excited that I wouldn't be getting sick in February. I had colds in November, December, and January. Except, as I told my mom, my stomach decided that it had missed out on all the action, so it decided to have a party of its own. This particularly nasty stomach bug originated at the preschool. I haven't had a stomach bug as severe as this since probably my freshman year of college. I was pretty incapacitated...Matt came home early the day I was sick because I lost so much fluid that I was nervous of getting dehydrated and woozy. How does this regard the apartment? As with every other time I get sick, the apartment goes with. Matt does great with helping me keep up with chores when I'm down and out, but my little corner of wherever I set myself up, usually the couch or recliner, gets surrounded with my stuff.
The hubby: As shown above, the guy is great and patient, as always. It's wonderful to journey through Lent with him this year.
In the kitchen: Nothing too terribly exciting...oven tacos will be tomorrow. Our parish has a shrimp boil every Friday of Lent that Matt likes to help out at, so we go there each week.
Crafting: merp.
Learning: Synoptic Gospels: Ending the Gospel of Mark, beginning Gospel of Matthew
Fundamental Moral Theology: my next couple of assignments are coming up in the next couple of weeks (there are only six assignments through the whole semester, two every 4ish weeks)...catching up on some Aquinas reading from a couple weeks ago, listening to class notes
Reading: not too much...
Watching: We recently went to see Old Fashioned in the theater. I know people have strong opinions one way or the other usually in regards to "Christian" movies...I think in the past couple of years I've come to a middle of the road with them. Most of the time they are cheesy and the acting can be sub-par, but you know what? If it's between that and the smut that's out there, gosh darn I'd like something decent to see! Of course I'd like to see more well-rounded, great Catholic movies that don't have to label themselves Catholic but at the same time deliver a Catholic message (The Jeweler's Shop, Of Gods and Men, Les Miserables, A Man for All Seasons, pretty much anything from this list), but movies like that are few and far between.
Bringing me joy: I have some parents that are really getting on board with youth group and getting kids to come...the beginning of Lent...part of my Lenten prayer was to get back on-board with spiritual direction. My spiritual director from college is our parish priest, but I just haven't felt quite right in asking him about spiritual direction again, plus he's really busy keeping the school up and running. For a new priest, I know that's a lot to handle. In any case, I got to thinking in the past couple of weeks that the Apostles of the Interior Life are up here in KC, so I decided to contact them and begin. I technically have a spiritual "mentor," a lay woman who went through their courses. She's a wonderful lady I'll be meeting with regularly. It's a bit different from having a priest, but I know some great priests and bishops have lay women as spiritual directors, so I'm excited for where this will lead.
Thinking about: This past week was long...my car has some funny engine noises that we're trying to get addressed, and then on Thursday the rear driver's side window was just shattered...it didn't look like there was any breaking-and-entering, nor was it hit...it was just evenly shattered all the way across. I'm a bit peeved with the car right now...just minor issues that, altogether, add up quite a bit, and when we would like to focus on student loans so that we can get out under that debt so that we can look at houses sooner than later, it's just a plain annoyance.
Pictures to share:
Clothing myself in: jeans, purple top
Around the apartment: Yes, you read the title right. I was getting excited that I wouldn't be getting sick in February. I had colds in November, December, and January. Except, as I told my mom, my stomach decided that it had missed out on all the action, so it decided to have a party of its own. This particularly nasty stomach bug originated at the preschool. I haven't had a stomach bug as severe as this since probably my freshman year of college. I was pretty incapacitated...Matt came home early the day I was sick because I lost so much fluid that I was nervous of getting dehydrated and woozy. How does this regard the apartment? As with every other time I get sick, the apartment goes with. Matt does great with helping me keep up with chores when I'm down and out, but my little corner of wherever I set myself up, usually the couch or recliner, gets surrounded with my stuff.
The hubby: As shown above, the guy is great and patient, as always. It's wonderful to journey through Lent with him this year.
In the kitchen: Nothing too terribly exciting...oven tacos will be tomorrow. Our parish has a shrimp boil every Friday of Lent that Matt likes to help out at, so we go there each week.
Crafting: merp.
Learning: Synoptic Gospels: Ending the Gospel of Mark, beginning Gospel of Matthew
Fundamental Moral Theology: my next couple of assignments are coming up in the next couple of weeks (there are only six assignments through the whole semester, two every 4ish weeks)...catching up on some Aquinas reading from a couple weeks ago, listening to class notes
Reading: not too much...
Watching: We recently went to see Old Fashioned in the theater. I know people have strong opinions one way or the other usually in regards to "Christian" movies...I think in the past couple of years I've come to a middle of the road with them. Most of the time they are cheesy and the acting can be sub-par, but you know what? If it's between that and the smut that's out there, gosh darn I'd like something decent to see! Of course I'd like to see more well-rounded, great Catholic movies that don't have to label themselves Catholic but at the same time deliver a Catholic message (The Jeweler's Shop, Of Gods and Men, Les Miserables, A Man for All Seasons, pretty much anything from this list), but movies like that are few and far between.
Bringing me joy: I have some parents that are really getting on board with youth group and getting kids to come...the beginning of Lent...part of my Lenten prayer was to get back on-board with spiritual direction. My spiritual director from college is our parish priest, but I just haven't felt quite right in asking him about spiritual direction again, plus he's really busy keeping the school up and running. For a new priest, I know that's a lot to handle. In any case, I got to thinking in the past couple of weeks that the Apostles of the Interior Life are up here in KC, so I decided to contact them and begin. I technically have a spiritual "mentor," a lay woman who went through their courses. She's a wonderful lady I'll be meeting with regularly. It's a bit different from having a priest, but I know some great priests and bishops have lay women as spiritual directors, so I'm excited for where this will lead.
Thinking about: This past week was long...my car has some funny engine noises that we're trying to get addressed, and then on Thursday the rear driver's side window was just shattered...it didn't look like there was any breaking-and-entering, nor was it hit...it was just evenly shattered all the way across. I'm a bit peeved with the car right now...just minor issues that, altogether, add up quite a bit, and when we would like to focus on student loans so that we can get out under that debt so that we can look at houses sooner than later, it's just a plain annoyance.
Pictures to share:
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| I walked into my youth group room last Sunday, and voila, this pool table was in there! Pretty neat that someone donated that for the kids. |
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