Crazy Monday

Monday's are always a little crazy for me. They usually begin at 4:30am with my alarm going off and my barely awake brain trying to reason staying in bed for just a little longer. This Monday was no different. 4:30 am is not the time to be debating just how fast I can get ready and still make it to church by 6am.

I wasn't very successful this time. By the time I pulled into the parking lot at church it was just after 6:00 and I noticed that my prayer partner's car was not in the parking lot!! So I hustled in as fast as I could so the poor people who had been there since 5:00am didn't start thinking that we weren't showing up. They are kind of used to me getting there a minute or two late, but ever since I finally got a prayer partner it hasn't been a problem. Not so much today.

The highlight of my Monday is spending that one hour of the morning before the Blessed Sacrament. To have that time to spend in the Real Presence of Christ is something I look forward to each week. When I tell people I have to be at Church every Monday morning at 6am, regardless of the weather, holidays, or whatever, they think I'm crazy. But who wouldn't sacrifice one hour of their time once a week to be in front of the Almighty!

The work day was good and I left around 4am to go do some errands. That's when the real craziness started.

First Babies 'R' Us. They could really organize that store better. When the registry lists an aisle number it would be nice if the item actually was in that aisle. And bottles! Oh my goodness!! How many different brands and kinds and sizes! I eventually left with the registry to take time to look it over, decide what I was going to get, and then come back later so I could be in and out. Yeah, right!

Next was a quick stop at Hallmark (I now have birthday cards for family members through March of next year!) and then to Meijer to print off some pictures from my flash drive.

I like the self-serve photo computer there. I went through all the steps and got my pictures loaded and ready to go. I noticed some were quite blurry but couldn't decide if they were actually blurry or if the computer I was using just wasn't showing me a great picture. I decided to go ahead and make the prints. Maybe my brain was still only half-awake! Well, ten minutes last my pictures finished and of course the blurry prints were indeed blurry.

Lesson learned: taking pictures off your Picasa account to print is not a good idea. In particular when you save a thumbnail! Maybe I never really did wake up on Monday?

So it was back to Babies 'R' Us. I finally found something and headed to the check-out. First I was asked if I had a rewards card, or something along those lines. I said no. Then she rings up a few items and says to me again, "did you say you had a rewards card or not?" No, I do not. So then she asks if I want one. No, I have no need for a rewards card, but I do want a gift receipt. (Isn't the fact that I handed her a registry and asked for a gift receipt enough to let her know that I'm not shopping for me!!??) Then she asks if I want something else (their credit card, or something?) so I can save 10% or whatever on my order. Uh, no, again, I don't have much need for anything from this store.

Seriously, I'm buying a gift! There was even a gift bag! I know you have no idea if I have kids or not, but how many times do I need to say no. I really had to bite my tongue to keep from being rude. I succeeded and she handed me my receipts and some coupons, letting me know when they will be good for use. Yeah, I really don't need those either. Guess what else the mom-to-be is getting from me? LOL!

Finally, all errands were done, called hubby to see where he was, and then headed to Chick-fil-A to meet him for dinner. Did you know Monday is kid's night at Chick-fil-A? I didn't. There was a giant cow there and lots and lots of children! I waited and waited! Hubby? Where are you?? He took a wrong turn at a confusing intersection, but he finally got there.

What a day! Mostly successful and long. I went home with the hope of catching up on email and Facebook and doing some Cursillo stuff only to find that we had no Internet. By the time we got it back it was 9:30. It ended up being a long night!

Today, I'm going back to Meijer to try to prints my pictures again. This time I saved them from the original source!! At least I learned something from my crazy Monday!

7 Quick Takes: Trying Something New

It's time for a new adventure. I've decided to join in on the "7 Quick Takes" hosted at ConversionDiary.com. Hopefully I'll get to check out some new blogs and meet some other bloggers!

~1~
Since we're talking about new adventures, I just recently volunteered for a committee at work. It's that time of year when new appointments are made and although I am still currently chairing a committee, I decided to go ahead and volunteer for a second one. Also, my chairmanship of the first committee is winding down (one more year), so might as well go ahead and start something new. I also think this particular committee may even give me a little more writing experience. I don't know when we'll actually hear about appointments, so it may not even work out. We'll just have to wait and see.

~2~
I'm currently working on a "witness" I am giving next week to my Cursillo community. I'm not nervous ... yet. I probably won't get nervous until I actually get there. In the meantime I'm trying to narrow down what I'm going to talk about. How much background to give? What's too much, what's not? Where are details important, where are they not? How much to talk about pregnancy loss? I'm torn between writing something out and just making notes of key points and talking from there. The first option would keep me within my time frame, the second leaves open the possibility of running too long. I only have 15-20 minutes!!

~3~
Something was different this week. Not quite sure what. The week went by quickly at work and I got a lot done. I think it's been a while since that happened. Like maybe March of 2008--prior to losing our first pregnancy. I can't quite say what's different, but I do like feeling productive and seeing things move out of my office more quickly. Now, if I can just get that productivity to carry over at home.

~4~
Explosion of glass!! Tonight after dinner I curled up in my "prayer chair" in the living room to start catching up on blogs, news, and email (okay, so it's not just a prayer chair, but you have to admit it's a catchy phrase!) while hubby started work on making an Apple Crisp, something he's been talking about doing all week! Suddenly I hear the sound of glass: first a little clinking, then a bit louder, then a "glass juggling" sound, before finally ... CRASH!! It literally sounded like an explosion. Sure enough bits of glass were spread over the kitchen floor and into the dining room, the family room, and the front hall. Two small, one-cup glass bowls broke, the other four survived. I was just so amazed at how far the glass spread! It really was kind of an explosion!

~5~
Another new adventure is starting in my life, but I'm still not quite sure what it is. One Sunday a few weeks ago, the rector's column in the Sunday bulletin intrigued me. He was talking about building a better relationship with God and going on a journey together ... or something along those lines. I emailed him to ask about it and he just asked if I was curious enough to attend a get-together to learn more. So I said OK. This week I finally got an email and the group is starting to form. Looks like about 15 people, we now have a Google Group, a name (Companions on the Journey), and a meeting scheduled for late September. Do I know what exactly this is? No. But hey, while I'm trying new things, might as well add this to the list, right?

~6~
Students are back!! The parking garage I park is now fuller than before. Walking across campus now includes the "dodge-the-texting-students-who-don't-look-where-they-are-going" game. Things are busier overall. I like the quiet, serene campus of the summer. But I do like the life infused campus as well. Fall is here!

~7~
My prayer intentions lately have all revolved around life. I'm praying for a friend going through a very difficult pregnancy; for other friends and family who are pregnant; for all those I know who are hoping to be pregnant one day and those who are waiting on adoptions to come through for them; for all women who are pregnant and considering abortion that they will hear what they need to hear to give their baby life; and I am praying that I too will get pregnant one day and be able to carry a pregnancy to term. So much to pray for!!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope to make this is a regular thing and I look forward to checking out some new blogs through more Quick Takes posts.

The Joys of Home Ownership

When I was single I liked living in an apartment. I had no desire to own a house. If something happened, a fix was only a phone call away. Why would I need to buy a house?

After working for about 4 years I was finally convinced that I should take the plunge. I wasn't overly excited about it, but felt that it was a worthwhile financial investment. Otherwise, I would have been more than happy to stay in an apartment. In looking for a house, I stayed as close to apartment living as possible and looked only at condos or townhomes. And the requirement for the townhome option was that the association had to be responsible for outside yard maintenance, not the individual home owners (i.e. me). My realtor could probably vouch for that fact that my first question at every townhouse we saw was, "Who is responsible for the outside maintenance?"

As I told my husband when we got married: I don't do yard work.


So I bought a townhouse and I was happy with it. I also bought new construction, so I wouldn't have to deal with things breaking or falling apart too soon. Ease into home ownership, that was my philosophy.

Fast forward to now. I'm married and living in the house hubby bought when he moved to our current city (before we met) and my old townhouse is now sold and gone. Just in the last couple weeks we have been dealing with several house issues.

First one of the A/C units stopped working. This particular unit had some problems earlier this summer; someone came out and did a fix then but told us that there could be a larger problem. Yeah, there was. We called again and they came back and fixed it and now we have cool air again for our downstairs.

The same weekend that the A/C was out hubby thought he found termites. They certainly looked like them to me too. The day after the A/C got fixed the "bug lady" came to take a look. Turns out they weren't termites but were thief ants. So okay, we can put down some ant repellent, but otherwise, nothing to be worried about.

In the meantime hubby is battling the rabbits. He fixed a broken section of the fence, fixed the gate of the fence (mostly so I could actually open the gate!), and used some bricks to seal up another hole in the fence. The rabbit is still getting in. I told him to not bother for now because there are also baby rabbits in the yard. That Momma rabbit will find a way in as long as those babies are here. Sure enough he discovered where she has been gnawing away at a section of fence in order to get in. So he's conceded for now, but he'll seal up that fence one way or another once those baby bunnies grow up and move out.

Recently we made a list of all the things that need fixing before we get around to selling this house (hopefully, please, next summer!!). First on the list was figuring out why we have some water damage on a wall next to the fireplace. Hubby had me standing outside today with a hose pointing at the chimney while he was in the attic to see if water was coming in.

I stood there with the hose aimed at where he told me to aim it, the wind blowing the water back at me, and hubby calling me on my cell phone to give me further instructions. I kept thinking about how I never wanted to be a home owner. You don't have to do crazy things like this when you don't own a house. (For those who know my on Facebook, you now know why I posted the crazy comment today! LOL!)

After having both the A/C people and an exterminator visit just last week, we'll now be calling a roofing person as well. Who's next?

Do you think I can convince hubby to look into condo living?? No, I know, not likely.

For your weekend reading enjoyment

Have nothing to read this weekend? Or maybe you do, but you want something different? Do you want to find a whole bunch of new blogs to add to your reading list? I have a suggestion that could keep you on your computer all weekend!!

Check out the 7 Quick Takes hosted at Conversion Diary.com. Not only will you get to read Jennifer's 7 Quick Takes post, but there are links at the end of her post to 70+ more blogs with their own 7 Quick Takes!! What a great way to spend the weekend!

I haven't read all the various posts, just clicked on several at random. There is so much good stuff out there. So many wonderful Catholic blogs, spiritual insights, and fantastic people sharing their journey's in life.

I've seen the 7 Quick Takes on other blogs I've followed over the years and have occasionally visited Conversion Diary.com and read her blog as well. I even remember Jennifer's blog under it's original title. But only recently did I finally set up a feed to it so I can get her regular updates. Now I'm considering diving into the 7 Quick Takes world as well. May be fun!

Go on over and check it out!! It could provide quite a bit of great reading this weekend!

Fun at Work!!

Seriously, I'm not joking! I had fun at work today. So much so, actually, that I didn't even get around to eating my lunch until about 2pm. What could possibly have been so much fun, you ask?

Detective work!!


I love playing detective! And I don't get to do it very often. As a technical services librarian I am mostly in the background, cataloging materials so that patrons can find them. And I love what I do, can't imagine doing anything different.

But every now and then, I do get asked something, it's usually a no pressure situation, and I get to have some fun. Today was one of those days.

A music librarian colleague from another institution emailed me this morning. He knew that I had contributed the clarinet section of a publication that is coming out later this fall and he was hoping that I was also a clarinetist and would be able to help him identify a piece.

He was cataloging a student recital from 2006 which contained an encore piece that was not identified on the program. Unfortunately the file he sent me wouldn't open. After some back and forth and me contacting my IT department I learned that the file needed to be open in Quick Time. Luckily for me my iPod Touch has Quick Time. So I opened my email on it and got the file to play.

Then I got stuck again, I didn't recognize the work. Of course, I suspected that I probably wouldn't recognize it, but my hope was that someone I knew would. Yet I persevered and with the help of one of our student workers (who is also a clarinetist) we took a guess at the composer, did a little searching online and in our catalog, pulled a few pieces off the shelf, and did some listening and score reading. I found it pretty quickly after that. Also found a CD of this composer's works and sent it to our music librarian to order for our collection.

I was so proud of myself for actually being able to help identify this piece of music. I was certain that if I could just get the file to open I could send it to a few friends who are more active in their clarinet playing and teaching than I am and one of them would know. But only being able to get the file to open on my iPod forced me to exhaust all my resources first. I'm still amazed that we found it!!

That was my fun today!! Overall, this was a small accomplishment, but it felt like a lot more. I not only helped someone else out, but I managed to accomplish a lot of other things as well today because that feeling of success carried over into everything else I as doing.

I'm glad I could end the week well, but I'm also glad the weekend is here. Time to relax and renew!

God's Blessings in the Every Day

Do you ever wonder at some of the blessings you receive in your life? For me these are usually the big things. My husband, my job, my faith, a roof over my head, my wonderful family, etc. But there are so many other things too. Every day there are blessings bestowed on us that we don't even recognize as such! Lately I've been trying to focus more on those little things. Where are the little blessings in your life?

For the past several weeks I've been trying to post at the end of the week with the blessings I've received that week. Or, where I have been unable to recognize a blessings, at least mention some sort of good news or other accomplishment of the week. That's what this post is as well, but I'm trying to find those small things this time.

So what were the small blessings in my life this week?

• On another blog that I follow, the author offered to pray for any of her readers and asked for intentions in the comments of her post. So I posted. She then sent me the sweetest email and offered to do a novena with me. I was so touched and got all teared up when I read her message. How amazing that someone who is pretty much a stranger would do such a thing!! This was truly a blessing this week. (I'm tearing up just thinking about it!)
  
• We had a day of cool temperatures this week. It was amazing! I love how God gives us these little breaks from the heat. And I appreciated it so much more than usual probably because one of our A/Cs had been out for several days. It hadn't just been hot outside, but also inside! Loved that foretaste of the Fall weather to come!
  
• I participate (mostly as a reader, but occasionally as a poster) in an online Catholic Moms forum. I've started posting a weekly thread there for everyone to share their good news or blessings of the week. It has been so great to see all the positive things going on in other people's lives and to celebrate those things together!! For me, starting that post each week has, in and of itself, become a blessing for me. It's so uplifting and been so helpful to me as I struggle to understand God's plan for my life.

So those are the little blessings. I've had some other good news this week as well, the biggest one being that as of Monday I am now about 12 pounds less from where I was in mid-June (and finally wearing some clothes I hadn't touched in way over a year)! The other two things were getting the A/C fixed and learning that what we thought were termites were actually thief ants. Yes, there is such a thing as thief ants (and I've been reflecting on that concept and may have something more to say on it soon--stay tuned!).

Let me here from you! What are your small blessings this week? Or big ones! I'll take anything. Post using the comments link below. (If you comment on Facebook, add your comment here as well for all those who aren't friends of mine on FB, we want to be able to share our blessings with everyone!)

God's Love is like rescuing Baby Bunnies

For the past several years we have had a nest of baby bunnies in our backyard. Two years ago we even got a few pictures of them once they were out and moving around. Last year, we found the nest, but never saw the bunnies. This year we had one again in the spring and again I don't remember seeing them, but then a second one popped up more recently. Two in one year. Yes, bunnies do reproduce a lot!

Those little bunnies get scared quite easily and once they get scared, they want to duck for cover. Unfortunately, on occasion, that has led to one or another of them running for cover under the lawn mower when they hear that big scary noise coming. Totally NOT where they should be going. Luckily, I've never had to witness this tragedy, just heard about it from my hubby.

Yesterday, hubby decides it's time to mow the lawn. I warned him to watch out for those little bunnies, but he assured me that they were still too small to be out of their hole. Well, he came in a few minutes later to let me know he had been mistaken, they were out and roaming around the yard.

I tried to convince him to not mow, but he insisted it had to be done.

So, we found a large aluminum bucket and I put a towel on the bottom to make the bunnies feel more secure. We found three in the yard. They were so tiny!! Their little ears were probably no more than a half inch tall and their whole bodies were about 4 inches long. They were trying to get up on the bottom beam of the fence and kept falling down. Obviously they were not totally steady yet. It was really cute.

We managed to catch two in the bucket (took a lot of coaxing) but the third wedged himself pretty tightly behind the corner post of the fence. So we had to leave him and hope he stayed there.

I left the bucket in a shady spot on the patio until hubby was done mowing. I came in as he started mowing and I looked out the window just in time to see the head of a tiny little bunny running across the yard away from hubby and the lawn mower. Thinking it was the little guy who had wedged himself into the corner, I went back out to catch him.

That little sucker did not want to get caught!! He put up quite a fight, with his little ears twitching in fear. "You just didn't know what's good for you," I told him. I was trying to keep him from harm and he kept wanting to run the other way!

I finally got him into the bucket with his other two siblings. I also checked the corner of the fence again and sure enough there was still a little bunny there too. So there were four total, or at least, four I could find.

But trying to round up those little bunnies to keep them safe while the yard was being mowed got me thinking some about God's love for us and, more importantly, our response to Him.

Think about it. God loves us all, you and me, and yet often we reject that love. He wants the best for us but we often turn away from that and think we know best. He tries to save us from harm, but we often run the other way. Whether it is with our fertility (using birth control, sterilization), premarital relations and/or living together before marriage, abortion, pornography, and so on and so on. We live in a relativistic society, where if it "feels" right it must be okay, where we can claim to be following our conscience so we must be doing "right" even when we don't have a properly formed conscience, and where the common thought of the day is that what is right for one isn't necessarily right for another which really ends up meaning that there is no right or wrong.

This line of thinking just separates us further from God's will for our life. The question we should be asking is: how often in our every day lives are we turning away from God, running in the other direction because we think we know best?

Just like those little baby bunnies. Sometimes God puts us on a path that looks a little scary or challenges our preconceptions of who we are or where we think we are going. At times like these we need to learn to trust God because he always has our best interests at heart.

In the end those bunnies were content in the bottom of that aluminum bucket. Their little ears stopped twitching and they calmly waited for what was to come. Once the yard was done and I released them they didn't run off (admittedly they were probably in a bit of shock), they just sat in the grass at my feet eventually getting up to quietly go back to exploring the yard. They no longer seemed scared.

I think trust in God does that to us too during those challenging times of our lives. Things may look scary, but we have to trust God; we go where He leads us and in the end we are no longer frightened of those challenges that were placed before us.

I'm trying to work on this more. I need more prayer time in my life to open myself up more to a better relationship with God, to also listen so I can learn His will for my life, and to recognize His love in all things. My biggest challenge right now is finding that time, or maybe the more accurate way to put it is making more time, for prayer.

I still don't know God's will for my life, but with more prayer I hope to be led down the right path, hopefully with more trust than fear.

Assumption and New Catholics

Mass this morning was great! Mass is always a special time, but there was something extra special today about it.

First it was the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. This feast day always falls on August 15 and this year, because it is a Sunday, it takes priority over the usual Sunday readings. How awesome to celebrate the Assumption of Mary into Heaven on a Sunday!! I love the hymns we sing (Hail Mary, Gentle Woman is a favorite of mine) and the readings are fantastic (the section on the Woman and the Dragon in Revelation and of course the Visitation from the Gospel of Luke including the Magnificat). Anyone visiting a Catholic Church today who is not a Catholic and has a misunderstanding of the Catholic devotion to Mary may well come away believing that there is some truth to the myth that we worship Mary.

How interesting then that today should also be the day that we welcomed four new members into full communion with the Church. The honor we give to Mary is often one of the hardest things to accept for those either converting to Catholicism or coming into full communion with the Catholic Church from some other Christian faith. The myth that we "worship" Mary is pretty strong out there.

As I took everything in this morning I was really moved by it all. Can you just imagine the pleasure Jesus gets from seeing us honoring His Mother? Can you see Him smile as we sing her hymns and recount the story of her visiting her cousin Elizabeth? I imagine that Mary herself is probably embarrassed by it all. But that's not surprising, it is she who always points us back to her Son, isn't it? But we know that we need her and her intercession as well, so honor her we must. She will never let us lose site of what is most important. And that reason alone is even more reason to honor her.

And on top of all that, to also welcome four people into full communion with the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church! The decision to convert or come into full communion must certainly come with challenges (rejection or criticism from family members, friends), but those who persevere and take that step have received graces through God primarily, but also through the prayers of Mary and the other saints as well as (I'm sure) many people on earth. So how happy must Mary have been to see us welcome these four people fully into the Church on her feast day. I can just see Heaven overflowing with joy today! How awesome is that!!

Sunday Mass is always a joy to attend and commemorate the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. To have it also coincide with a Marian feast day just adds another level of greatness to it. And then to combine all that with the welcoming into the Church of four new members ... well, words just can't begin to describe it. Today was truly a blessing for those who received their confirmation and first communion and were welcomed into the one true Church. But I think it was even more a blessing for the rest of us who got to witness their joy and confirm for ourselves our own commitment to our Catholic faith.

Through the prayers and intercession of our most Holy Mother Mary, may more people feel called to look more deeply at the Catholic Church and desire to come into full communion with God's Church. May God continue to bless His Church and continue to draw His people to it!

Follow the Leader

I've added the "Follow" feature to my blog, over on the right side of the page. I had been thinking about it for a while but had never bothered adding it. I finally gave in today. So if you're interested in "following" me (does this make me your leader?) click the button on the right and you'll be added as a follower of this blog.

As far as I know, you need to have a Google/Blogger account in order to become a follower. It's possible there are other ways of signing in, but I don't know what they are. Those of you who are familiar with the Follow feature will know better than I.

For all you Google Reader users out there, does becoming a follower of a blog automatically add that blog to your Google Reader? Any that I follow show up in my Blogger screen and then I also usually add them to my Bloglines account. So I guess I'm wondering if Google Reader will make things a little simpler. All feedback is welcome!

Happy following! Hopefully I'm not too bad of a leader. LOL!!!

Weekly Successes

This past week seems to have gone by in a fog. I honestly don't remember much about it. But I know I got something accomplished this week and certainly there have to be some blessings somewhere, right? Well, let's see what I can come up with.

1. As of Monday I hit the number 10!! Yep, I've lost 10 pounds since mid-June! Quite an accomplishment for me. I'm still hoping to lose at least another 5 in the next few weeks. But for now I'm just happy to be where I am.
   
2. Some things don't seem like blessings at times but are at other times. Funny how that works. That happened to me this week. Probably due to the weight loss, I actually was able to see on my chart a rise in temperature (if you chart you know what that means!), a long luteal phase (15 days!!), and this week my next cycle started!! The disappointment I have felt in the past when this has happened wasn't there this time. Part of me thought there could be a chance at a pregnancy, but I knew it was slim. But that's okay. The fact that I've had a 15 day luteal phase only two months after my D&C is amazing! Definitely seeing some benefits from the weight loss.
   
3. Lastly I discontinued feeding posts from this blog into my Facebook Notes page. Some of the posts were showing up a week or more after they had posted here, so it just didn't seem worth it. So instead, I'll keep the blog separate from Facebook and my friends who like to see my blog posts will just have to come here. I actually had been meaning to do this for quite a while but wasn't sure how hard it would be. Turns out it was just the click of one button. Easy as pie!!

So what are your successes or blessings this week? Leave me a comment to let me know!

Trek through the Swamp

My main form of exercise is walking. I walk on the treadmill at the gym, take evening walks with my ever patient husband, and sometimes take morning walks in the neighborhood (often alone, sometimes with hubby, often because there isn't time to make it to the gym and back). Friday night we went for a long walk and hubby mentioned that we should do the 4-mile loop around the outskirts of Masterson Station Park sometime. I immediately suggested that we do so the next morning.

He was reluctant at first, but then I pointed out how the weather was cooler and that if we went early enough in the morning it would be really nice, even a bit chilly. So he agreed.

Fast forward to 7:30am this morning and we were on our way out to walk the trail around the park. The sidewalk into the park is only a couple blocks from our house. And sure enough it was a bit chilly out. We finally headed into the park and started down the trail.

The last time we walked this entire trail was before we got married, so maybe 3 and a half to 4 years ago. But we have walked portions of it (the portion closest to the neighborhood) many times. So everything was good as we started ... well, most everything.

Since it was so early the grass was damp and the sun wasn't yet high enough to start drying out the dew. Not long into our walk I could tell my shoes were getting pretty wet. We had maybe walked a half mile when my toes were also starting to get a bit damp as well.

By the time we made it to the road that brings cars into the park my feet were pretty wet. Hubby's were also getting wet, but not quite as bad. My shoes have some mesh fabric on them to let your feet breath. Unfortunately it also lets water in too!!

After crossing the road we couldn't find the trail. This is a very big park. There are soccer fields, a dog park, a roller-skating hockey rink, jumps and practice areas for horses, picnic shelters, and an area where sheep dog tournaments are held. And you can be at one of these places and not see any of the others. The place is huge. So the trail around the edge is hard to pick out at times.

After a bit of searching we decided to walk down past some of the soccer fields and hopefully pick up the trail. Eventually I think we did find it. By which time my feet were soaked!!

From that point on nothing looked familiar and the trail was almost impossible to see. Even when on the trail (we think) the grass was very high, leading to more soaking of the feet as well as wet grass clippings up and down my legs. There were many times when we found ourselves looking over the rolling KY hills wondering where the trail had gone. It was amazing how you could be on it and then it suddenly disappear!! Thank goodness we were just in a park or we might have been seriously lost!

One note of interest, we did at one point happen upon a large stone with a plaque on it. The plaque indicated that on that spot Bishop Asbury held the first Methodist service this far west of the Alleghenies, in 1790. I'm guessing that he is who Asbury Seminary is named for.

Once we finally found the last portion of the trail we were back on the neighborhood side of the park. Even this didn't look quite like it used to because of new homes that had been built. Those houses hadn't been there the last time we did this (over 3 years ago!). At that point we decided we'd take the first exit from the park back into the neighborhood and just walk home from there. Luckily it came earlier than expected. Part of that newer section of the neighborhood had a path out to the street, so we took it.

I've never been so happy to be back on a sidewalk! My feet were completely wet and I'm sure I had a half inch of water in my shoes. Definitely felt like we had trekked through a swamp. It was a bit of a sloppy walk back to the house. Once home we took shoes and socks off on the porch and left it all there to dry in the sun. Even several hours later my shoes still weren't totally dry, but certainly a lot better.

What a morning!! After that long walk through what felt like a swamp at times, we decided a good breakfast was in order. So after some scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast we were very content.

What a way to start a weekend!! At least I got in my exercise for the day.

Small Blessings

1. The chance to spend an evening with faithful Catholics, sharing how we are working on our piety, study, and action; followed by a beautiful witness on how God is working in someone's life.
   
2. A clean desk: old papers tossed (recycled, of course), surfaces dusted, important papers filed away, remaining items reorganized. It felt like a weight had been lifted!
   
3. A wonderful husband who loves to cook and tries to be as helpful as possible while I try to lose weight. Love that!
   
4. For having lost a total of eight pounds (roughly) as of last Monday!
   

What are your blessings from this past week??