Oh, hello, abandoned blog. You’re still here!
I tell you, joining the #cathsorority conversation on the Twitter has done some good: Bringing this writer back to writing!
(FYI: What is #cathsorority? It’s a bunch of fabulous young Catholic women on Twitter and the blogosphere, try them, you’ll like them!)
So, as my first entry back in the Blogosphere, I’m joining Jennifer Fulwiler‘s happy crew and doing a “7 Quick Takes Friday” post… Here we go, yeah! *cue Notre Dame Band trotting out of the tunnel*
Broken promises are the worst. And I’m guilty of that to the max when it comes to the internet. I always start out with this grand master plan of blogging EVERY DAY and writing #gratefultweets EVERY DAY… 
Well, you can see how far I’ve gotten in the blog area, and I think I made it to 3 days of being grateful for something (THE WORST!). My excuse is that I end up spending way too much time with people in real life, so the internet takes a back seat. And that certainly plays a part. But ultimately, it’s because routines in general are not my forte. I know that they are healthy and good when established and followed with holiness/health/wellness/children in mind, but something in me always wants to rage against the routine. (See what I did there… Oh 90s alt rock, you’re the best.)
I ate a really healthy lunch and now I’m sitting here with a sated appetite, but cravings for chocolate and other evil sugary goodies. Surely, a few pretzels and Nutella won’t hurt anything, right?! *sigh* Curses. Foiled again.
I’ve clearly been out of the writing habit for too long. How do you come up with a thought that’s substantially more than 140 characters?
I’m pretty sure this makes me an old lady, but I’m head over heels for the house shoes I got for Christmas. (Head over heels! I crack myself UP! Or I’ve been hanging with young people for too long…) They’re called Skechers GOWalks. I’m normally an incredibly hot-footed person, so slippers just don’t cut it. And flip-flops/sandals that have the breathability get uncomfortable and/or hurt my back after a while, especially while standing on my tiled kitchen floor for hours cooking. But these things are not only as light and bendy as a flip-flop, but they breathe super well, and don’t cook my feet, as they make me feel like I’m walking on air bubbles. Plus, I can play Just Dance 3 on the Wii without twisting an ankle. Sweet.
Walkin on sunshine, truly.
Praying to conceive has me all over the place, spiritually and emotionally. Trying not to worry that anything is actually medically wrong; dealing with rumors that I’m pregnant on a daily/weekly basis thanks to people in our parish not knowing that my friend Megan and I are, in fact, two different people, despite all similarities; feeling guilty for being this concerned, when there are those who deal with infertility and a million other reasons they can’t have children; borderline-angrily pro-life in a way I’ve never been (always pro-life, never this angry, that is); trying to sift through the encyclopedias of advice on fertility (I’m sorry, but if my caffeine-downing, not-that-healthy-eating mother can get pregnant with me, I’m pretty sure I don’t need to get as extreme as some of these “experts” suggest.). Thank God I’ve been able to start really giving the whole situation up to God. Somehow, my brain didn’t apply all the “in God’s time, not yours” and “God is the author of life” lessons from being a single girl to trying to get pregnant. What really made me turn a recent corner was discovering Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1:11, which I modified slightly and have started praying… (changed only because she was REALLY set on having a boy… and God gave her Samuel (and other children after him)… not too shabby!)
O LORD of hosts, if you look with pity on the misery of Your handmaid,
if You remember me and do not forget me,
if You give Your handmaid a child,
I will give him or her to the LORD for as long as he or she lives.
I know this is a “be careful what you wish for” situation, but uh, having my first-born be a priest, brother, nun, or otherwise having a strong vocation would be an AMAZING grace.
Bill is on silent retreat this weekend with Regnum Christi. Such good and holy men. It’s an Ignatian retreat, so there will be a priest leading the thing, but the guys don’t talk to each other except for necessity’s sake. So shoot up a prayer for the 31 guys going through that tonight through Sunday. One more way that Bill and I are ever-so-clearly on the same page headed in the same direction: I’m going on a Poustinia retreat with St. Mary women in the beginning of March.
I really need to start submitting Edge Nights to national Life Teen. The ones we’ve had this semester in particular have been absolutely fantastic with activities, mini-witnesses, and catechetical focuses (foci?) that we’ve been coming up with above and beyond what is proscribed in the Edge curriculuum. Possibly new news to anyone who doesn’t work with them, old news for those who do: Middle schoolers love the 3 Little Pigs, making things out of pipe cleaners, volunteering to be part of your demo/skit before they know what you’re going to make them do, making up Christian songs parodying pop/rap music, and candy.
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
Of the Holy Spirit 
