A Summer of the Smalls

This summer has been a whirlwind of little things.

Coffee and Perkins with friends.
Fishing.
Camping.
Sheephead.*
Biking. Lots of biking.
Applications, resume's, interviews, accepting a job!
Dancing.
Painting Nails.
Crazy cousins.
Inspecting sump pumps for the City.
Celebrating the Holy Sacrament of Marriage.
Fellowship with friends.
Unpacking, re-packing, shifting, loading and unloading.
Young adult group-ing.
Driving. Everywere...in the Midwest anyway.

And I've kept myself the Lord keeps me sane, in the way that only He knows how. But what has helped is this wonderful life planner. For Catholic women out there, it has everything you want in a planner, and more! I'm not a mother, so about 20% of the tools that Nancy has included are not useful to me, but that other 80% sure helps! I keep a planner because it helps me to remember the things that I often forget. And if you talk to my friends or family, they could testify that I tend to forget a lot.

Now that I've put that little plug in, I wanted to share with you some of what I call "the Smalls". Smalls are the little phrases or quotes that have stuck out to me throughout these past months. Lately as I come across something that resonates with my heart, I write it down somewhere and stick it in my planner. Here are the Smalls of my summer:
-- any emphasis made are my own :) --
-- I'll accurately quote the original author where it applies, and if I can remember ;) --

I'd take being single for the rest of my life KNOWING that I can depend on the One true God to love me to the fullest. - from a post on theyoungcatholicwoman.com (follow link to the article...it's a good'un!)

"A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent sweetly communing with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament" - St. Padre Pio

PETER SAID, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I FORGIVE him? as many as seven times? JESUS SAID TO HIM, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. - Matthew 18: 21 & 22

...in the streets & the crossings I will seek Him whom my heat loves. - Song of Songs: 3:2

Do whatever He tells you. - John 2:5

I am the living bread which came down from Heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. - John 6:51

"If you know your enemy & you know yourself, you need not fear the results of 100 battles [because you know how he works; how & when the Devil attacks]. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gain there will be defeat. If you know neither the enemy or yourself, you will succumb at every battle." - Fr. Mike Schmitz

Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do; or Do without. - from one of my new fave websites, theartofsimple.net (follow link to the article...and then go to the "start here" tab at the top!)


Thanks for reading! Maybe you'll start writing down some Smalls, too!

Thank you Jesus, for the Bigs and the Smalls!



*Sheephead is a marvelously complicated card game that reigns in my German family. I have the privilege of joining my parents on their Friday Night Appointment at Grandma and Grandpa's every other week or so. :)

Week ONE

I made it through the first week of school. It wasn't a full week, but it sure felt like it!

The noteworthy?

Our daily Mass attendance is growing fast! My favorite is hearing so many voices sing praise to God during the Sanctus...definitely a beautiful experience! Personally, I believe that many people come to Mass because it's at a possible/practical time: 4:30 pm. My friend disagrees with me (she doesn't like the time at all) but if you think about it, the majority of my peers don't have class at 4:30...so, naturally...

Thursday night, St. Monica Hall had a hall meeting. We talked about the 4 pillars of our floor: Prayer, Study, Community, and Service. Our hall Rector (in the middle of Resident Director and Resident Assistant) covered close to everything that we would need to know about living on this floor. She addressed the question everyone had: "Is this a discernment floor?" She stated that, although we are women of discernment (and always should be), this is not a floor for discernment directed towards Religious Life. She advised us to pray for each other, to help each other grow, and to be there to support each other. Overall, I was very happy with how the meeting turned out. On the flip side, I discovered my lack of zeal to embrace the life of community. This is really hard for me to accept because last semester, I was so pro-community that it was ridiculous! I understand now, in hindsight, that I had high expectations of myself, the floor, and the university. So maybe this is my "punishment"...which I can say with a smile because I know all too well of God's sense of humor! Anyway, to elaborate on my social laziness: After our hall meeting, a few girls gathered and talked among themselves and I went straight to my room to do homework. Today, a beautiful Sunday, I have spent the majority of the day with myself. I'm naturally socially-awkward and shy, so I'm guessing the whole process, like everything else in life, will just take time.

It really bites to be impatient. This reminds me how much I want to start my night class! This first week of school started on Tuesday, which means I didn't have to start classes with my 6-9:30 pm night class. I am thankful for that, because I probably would have suffered death by overwhelm. But week number two will also start on Tuesday, thanks to Labor Day (…I mean…Yay! Labor Day!!...), so I have to miss out on my Catholic Studies course, Documents of Vatican II yet again. I hereby present: Opportune moment to grow in patience # 2. I missed out on that due to the fact that I felt the need to express my disappointment to multiple people this week.

Oh, the little things.

I’m trying to rack my brain for anything else that might be noteworthy from this week, but I am very distracted by the beautiful gift of my surroundings:

\Sometimes I think that the view here at University of Real World is the only thing keeping me from running off to University of Dream World...and then I remember that UDW would cost more than I could make in my lifetime...Oh, yeah, and that URW is part of The Plan and to run off would be detrimental to my life.

Anyway, what this whole week boils down to is: Every part of me is going through some kind of transition. I’m keeping a firm grasp on Christ’s Hand.

Oh, Lord, here we go! Lead the way…