Patience

I was reading though today's Lenten Reflection on EWTN, and this is what stuck out to me the most:

"I asked God to grant me patience,
And God said, "No."
He said patience is a by-product of tribulation.
It isn't granted - it is earned."
(part of ...and God Said "No" by Claudia Minden Welsz)

That's right - I'm working on having more patience. And as much as I really don't like this, I love it. It is a good reminder to take joy in our suffering and offer it up to the Lord.

I also had this thought - is the lack of patience quite often just a lack of trust in the Lord? Your thoughts?

Searchin' Safari

Yea for Search and yea for some of the best friends a girl could ask for! Everytime I see this group of people - and all the rest of the gang from WWU's Catholic Campus Ministry - I am reminded of how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends.

So just a little shout out from me to you! :) Love you and God bless!




Picture: 2005-2006 Peer Ministers (minus Ian)

Fat Tuesday!

Ok, so I'm actually not all that excited about Fat Tuesday. I am all by myself house sitting in Carnation, but what a good opportunity for homework! :) I'd like blow it off for one more day since it IS Fat Tuesday, but I don't think I can justify waiting for Lent to put my nose to the grindstone, when I've been slacking so much already.

Anyways, what I am really looking forward to is Ash Wednesday and this Lenten season. I especially like this year's biblical theme: They shall look on Him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37) . What a great verse to reflect on!

I hope you all have a wonderful evening! Happy Fat Tuesday! You are all in my prayers! :)

Three Creeds

Ok, so I knew about the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed, but why didn't I know about the Athanasian Creed?!? Seriously, sometime in my nine years of Catholic schooling don't you think someone could have mentioned at some point that we had more than two creeds?? Honestly!

Well, I love it! Here it is:

Athanasian Creed
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith, except a man keep whole and integral, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. Now the Catholic Faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. For such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, the Holy Ghost uncreate; the Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet, there are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensibles; but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet there are not three Gods, but one God

So likewise, the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Ghost is Lord. And yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord.

For, as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord; so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made by none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is before or after the other. None is greater or less than another, but the whole three Persons are co-equal and co-eternal together.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore it is necessary unto eternal salvation that he believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the world; and Man of the substance of His Mother, born into the world. Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Godhead as touching His Manhood. Who, although He be God, and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven; He sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At Whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their works. And they that have done good shall go into everlasting life, and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.

This, then, is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.

Lasi(e)k

I'm kind of a blog slacker! I'll try to be better! ...including "linking up" soon, Tom. :) I feel like I should finish school first before committing too much time to my blog though.

So anyways, I just wanted to shoot an update out there and let you all know that Friday I had my lasik and lasek done!! ...yes that's lasik AND lasEk. The lasek was on my right eye and they actually cute open a flap before shooting the laser in there. Fun, huh!? It wasn't really too bad at all. The worst part for me was when the stuck the spring type thing in my eye to prop it open. It was quite uncomfortable and I couldn't manage to keep my other eye open either time to take the pressure off of the eye being loaded. Sorry, that was kind of confusing.

I am recovering now and it sounds like all is going well. My right eye is taking longer to heal because of the lasek and the "fog" is just now starting to clear up. My left eye is coming along nicely and it seems like each time I wake up I can see a little better. Since I haven't been able to nap during the week like I was this weekend though my eyes have been quite strained and unfocused by the end of each night. Please keep me in your prayers! And thank you to those of you who were praying for my surgery and recovery already!

So what can I say? Life is good. :) Valentine's Day was fun...I'll save the details for my next post and hopefully throw a picture or two up, too!

And oh, here's my quote of the night...

"To be deep in History, is to cease to be Protestant" - John Henry Newman

I've been listening to these GREAT cd's from Lighthouse Catholic Media. I'm just loving it! I was given about 20-30 of them...so if anyone wants to borrow, do let me know! Or if you are wondering about Lighthouse Catholic Media...or bringing it to your parish...I will hook you up with a rep. to talk to your priest!! :) It's pretty much awesome I've decided. (Tom...he should be coming your way soon. He is processing out of the AF here pretty quick and will be spending a lot more time with his LCM work... I told him my parish and yours were on top of his list!)

Sensaria

Have I told you yet how much I love Sensaria! Seriously, it's great! I just had my fifth party repping for the company and it's so much fun. The products are amazing, women get a fun night with just the girls, they pamper themselves, and are encouraged to just take better care of themselves. And it is my belief that when we take better care of ourselves, we take better care of others! I just love it! :)

So thanks to those of you who have been so supportive! Do enjoy your products! :)

Babies, Engagements, & UFC

...that's a normal combination right!? :) It really was a great weekend!

Eleanor was a blast all day Friday as she has started standing up all by herself. Yea Eleanor! She's pretty darn cute about it, too. Half the time, she gets half way up and starts clapping in excitement and then falls down! :) The bigger news on Friday, however, was that Ann Marie and Eric are expecting again...so Eleanor will be a big sister!

Then before I made the treck home, the Swenhaugen family stopped by which was a delighful surprise. Little Perry was there so we got a little wrestling in - always good times! And Stacey...HUGE! (no offense Stacey...but c'mon, there's a baby in there!) You should definitely check out her month-by-month pictures on Jaden's very own website!

Next it was down to Vancouver to catch up on the life of everyone who works at Nautilus. Sometimes I feel like I work there when I visit... But I don't. And I never have. Josh is fun as always and I think becoming progressively more gangster. :) I'm proud of him! Angie and Seth are engaged and so I got caught up on all the details! Man I need to hang out with that girl more often. I love my UFC, but I'll be honest. The fights were a little lame. And Lutter - seriously!? Sad times! He didn't make weight for his title fight! Who does that!? The next big night should be great and since it's on my dad's birthday, I'll be local...so who wants to come and watch with me!?

Fights aside, it was great to see everyone and quite interesting to talk to religion with a bunch of guys drinking beer amped on UFC. :) Definitely quality people that can handle all of that. My favorite quote of the night was probably this: "OH! You're CATHOLIC! So you aren't even CHRISTIAN then!!" Wrong...but hey, great teaching moment. :)

The weekend finished up with an early drive back up from Vancouver, Mass and breakfast with Greg, quality time spent with the D'Angelo family, Mass again, youth group, and dinner with CORE. Pretty great way to wrap up my weekend! Not to mention that Greg loaded me up with some great Catholic reading.

Hope you all had a great weekend, too!! :)

Motivation

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do... the body is never tired if the mind is not tired." -General George S. Patton

I love this quote! But here's my problem...how do I accomplish my task when my body is all "antsy in my pantsy" (bonus points for you if you know what movie that is from) and rearin' to go, but my task doesn't not permit any such active behaviors? Seriously, I sit down to write a paper and I turn into a little ADD kid! I write a paragraph, maybe two, and then feel the need to get up and walk around (or check my email again...even though I have a little thing that beeps at me when I get a new one). I even do this when I'm babysitting and have nowhere to go in the house! Don't worry - the kids are sleeping. I'm not neglecting them.

Feel free to send some motivation my way...or perhaps even some incentives! :) Just kidding, but seriously...incentives anyone? Ok, maybe you can just say a quick prayer for me! Thanks. :)

Ok, back to homework! Here I go!

PS After two posts, I'm officially one of THOSE bloggers. Is anyone's day any better now that they've read about my inability to do hmwk? Most likely not, but go ahead and read the above quote one more time, write it down, and apply it to some part of your life...or just go for a really long run!