The Art of "Don't Worry..."

We have been planning a road trip to the LA Religious Education Congress since the event in 2019 when we flew to California.  Planning a road trip in late February of any year can be dicey, at best. With multiple mountain ranges to traverse, winter driving can be tricky and fluid. One minute it can be clear and cold and the next a full-on blizzard. 

If you don't know me well, I used to worry about everything. Notoriously about things that I had no control over (i.e., the weather). I am also not fond of snow covered and/or icy roads. So deciding to road trip with my dh and two friends, well, it could've been extremely stressful. 

Several years ago I learned a very powerful lesson about giving it to God and then letting it go. We took a road trip to Pensacola for Christmas (yes in December). I was also finishing my degree and instead of consuming energy on worrying about the weather for our upcoming trip, I decided to try something new. I prayed that we would have good weather for our trip to Florida and then a remarkable thing happened - I was able to let go of that worry and concentrate my energy on my coursework.

Our departure time arrived and I was calm and carefree - no worries for this girl! That was pretty awesome but the miraculous part was we had beautiful (albeit cold) weather the entire trip to Florida. I am talking blue skies and sunshine the entire time. The return trip was exactly the same until we arrived Idaho and then we did have to contend with some snow.  But it was December in the Pacific northwest!

My point is this - I let God take care of the weather as I do not have that super power (although for all those years I think I thought I did). God wants us to pray and He wants to give us what we pray for.

So fast forward to the present. A trip from Washington state to southern California in February. Early in the planning stages, I prayed for good weather for our trip and then didn't worry about it again.

We are about 4 hours from home on our return trip, we have had beautiful days, sunshine and blue skies, and absolutely perfect roads. No snow, ice, and not even wet. God has poured out His blessings on us and made this trip, at least for me, memorable and extra special because I could focus on the trip itself (such beautiful country), our faith and our relationships instead of unduly worrying about something completely beyond my control.

May God bless you in a similar way so you foster and feed new and existing relationships while you can.

RE Congress 2020

We have started our drive home early this morning. Leaving the southern California craziness and ginormous number of people is not breaking my heart. I much prefer the slower pace and fewer people in our south central Washington city. We should be back home tomorrow afternoon.

A lot of people don't like the Congress for reasons of their own; however,  if the Congress taught me anything it was tolerance and love. While the Congress may not be for everyone, it has something for everyone and it includes everyone. 

Learning to listen to and for God's voice; to see His face in the homeless, the impoverished, the "invisible" ones and to acknowledge them by a smile, a few words, or simply eye contact; and hearing that while ministry is very important, living our faith, building relationships with God is paramount. We must strive to be merciful, forgive, & love all so we, too, can become holy and join God in heaven). 

This Congress was a growing and learning experience for me. I hope I can inspire others in our parish to "Live Mercy Be Holy"  God bless and Holy Spirit parish, we will see you soon. 

#recongress #livemercybeholy

Second Day

Today was the second day of the #RECongress and the workshops were amazing. Father Leo was so entertaining while teaching is much about the sacrament of marriage. He also renewed our vows and blessed our rings before it was all over. His talk was a keeper (we purchased it and is safely on a key drive). The workshop immediately following lunch was with our friend, Sherry Weddell from Catherine of Siena Institute (Called and Gifted). Her perspective and stories are interesting,  informative, and hope filled. She is a blessing. Two workshops tomorrow (Fr. Tony and Valimar Jensen - saved the best for last) and then the closing mass at 3:30 PM. Please pray for our safe trip home and God bless you. 

Live Mercy, Be Holy

This is the theme of this year's congress and it is very much words to live by. The music from the opening ceremony was specifically written for this event and is beautiful. We all went to several different sessions this morning so our lunch talk was very animated and showed our revived passion for our faith. Blessings to all. More tonight. 

LA Congress

We are once again given the blessing of attending the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, CA. Currently, we are waiting for the opening ceremony to begin. The arena is packed, noisy, and filled with the spirit. We have great hope and expectations for another energizing, love-filled experience at the Congress. We are surrounded by several members of our parish family and already enjoying those relationships. 

That's what it is all about, you know, relationships! Our relationship with each other and especially with our God! More on that kater. Until the next break...good morning and may God bless each of you.

January...Still Hangin' On

I don't know if anyone else noticed but January is taking a very long time. January seems to have been going on and on...for at least a year now. 

My sister, niece, and I got new tats on the 3rd of January in memory of our other sister who passed 2 years ago. They are sunflowers - her favorite flower - on our ankles. While it hurt some, it was a great time for us to honor Belinda. 

My tat is relatively all healed but yet it is still January! 

My co-worker and I have completed several items on our to-do list this month; however, while there are still many more projects left to complete, it is still January!

Our parish has been blessed with another deacon! We had one deacon newly ordained just last month. Then this month a transplanted deacon from Idaho had his paperwork finalized and began his deacon ministry at our parish. It was just a few short weeks ago that my dh was serving at all three weekend masses. Now he is only responsible for one. We have some additional "us" time which is lovely. However, this still January....

Don't get me wrong. Time usually seems to fly by...especially when it comes to birthdays...but January is simply dragging on and on like a bad movie.

Maybe there is a lesson to be learned from this....what could God be trying to tell this hard headed woman? 

Perhaps that each minute, each hour, each day, each week is important and we should cherish each and every one like it is our last!! 

Happy New Year - 2020

Well, Advent has come and gone - Christmas season is nearly done. I am very sad that I will soon have to take down my Christmas tree and box up the outdoor nativity scene. I did finally display it outside - as it was intended - as I have been very apprehensive about putting it out on our front deck. We have a Ring now - so that helped with my decision - but also I decided that it is a beautiful way to show what we believe is the reason for Christmas - Christ. Unfortunately, no one asked why the baby Jesus was not in resident in the manger until Christmas Day - I love to explain that to non-Catholics! I love the Catholic faith including all of the traditions that have been passed down through the centuries and everything that I've learned this past year.

I have stopped making new year's resolutions as such - they are pretty pointless and rarely ever amount to anything significant. My husband and I have begun a journey to healthier living/eating but it didn't begin in January but in October. Yes, we struggled through the holiday parties (didn't attend some just to keep away from the temptations) and attended those that we simply could not pass up. We also hosted Christmas Day dinner with the family and survived! Our secret you ask? To make a plan. Think about it prior to the event and figure out what you are going to eat or not eat. Our plan usually included eating on plan all day - eating what we liked at the party - and then returning to our regular eating habits the very next day. The biggest thing to remember is to not beat yourself up over what you ate - just start fresh after and don't look back. And besides a few bouts of minor stomach distress, I can say we came through it carrying less weight than we had coming into it.

The thing that I find absolutely amazing is that I have tried many times to loss weight and lately nothing has worked (not even initially). So I was pretty depressed and not physically feeling very good at all - this was my very heaviest weight ever. This protocol/plan works (I am not going to name names here but if you are interested, just ask me) - but it is expensive. For the first phase, you eat a lot of veggies, lean meat, and their packaged food. Decent food - we have transitioned into eating lots more veggies - which I am sure has really helped. But we have stopped consuming dairy, bread, some veggies, and all fruit (these will be reintroduced at a later date). I, thankfully, get a discount on this protocol which makes it at least a reasonable weekly amount. It just makes me sad that getting healthy and eating healthy (not just on this program but in general) is more expensive than eating fast food, junk food - basically sugar and carbs. There is something wrong with this scenario.

I was raised in the era where breakfast cereals were GRRRRREAT! and white bread was the best thing since.....well, white bread. My mother worked her entire adult life and raised my brother and I alone for a few years. It was easy and convenient to use packaged foods - and while she could cook liver and onions for my brother (he loved it - I hated it), she was no Julia Childs. We were raised on sugar and carbs. It is no wonder that our bodies end up craving these so much!

So that's what I am doing - not just for the new year but for the rest of my life. I am eating healthier, losing the excess weight (and I am feeling so much better). Soon I will be able to start more strenuous exercise - I am actually looking forward to that! Right now my caloric intake is not enough to do much more than a bit of walking. Some people are blessed with an amazing metabolism - some not so much. But each person can treat their body like a temple and do the best you can for it and to it.

May God bless you and your family this beautiful time of year - and Happy 2020!