7 Quick Takes Friday – Light and Darkness

1. There is little I can say on the Newtown tragedy that hasn’t already been said.  (I didn’t blog about it the day of because DH and I were traveling cross-country that day.)  Pray that our lawmakers find the wisdom to prevent things like this from happening again.

2.  Have you seen Minor Revisions yet?  If you haven’t, go check it out! It’s good TV!  I might even be able to get DH to watch the next episode… we’ll see.

3.  It’s the Friday before Christmas and I really should be more excited.  Right now, the only thing I’m excited about is having today off and spending most of it finishing up all the errands that piled up while I was out of town.  I suppose I’d be more festive if I didn’t have to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Well, this is what I get for A) taking a job in a 24/7 industry and B) asking for Thanksgiving off.  The work needs to be done and I don’t mind going to do it – DH and I don’t have family nearby, so it’s not as if I’m missing much at home – but, ugh, right now all I want is a nap.

4.  OK enough whining.  Here’s Larisa!  I’m her Guardian Angel and wouldn’t it be lovely if she could find a family for Christmas?  If you’re interested in adopting her, contact me and I can assist in fundraising.

 

5.  Maybe someday I can talk DH into having a Nativity Set.  Right now the closest we get is an Advent calendar with a picture of the Holy Family.

6.  Incidentally, what’s this I keep hearing about Advent calendars with chocolate in them?  I never had such a wondrous thing!  I feel gypped.

7.  It’s Friday, so we need a song!  Here’s one of my favorite Christmas carols: “Carol of the Bells” as performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra.

For more Quick Takes from Jen and others, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes – Fall, Glorious Fall!

1. Yes, I’m still blogging.  I got caught up in another writing project and that gave me a bit of writer’s block as far as the blog is concerned.  Sorry for slacking off!  I’ll try to do better.

2.  Anybody know of good resources for learning to sight-read music?  I’ve only ever been able to learn a song after hearing it; just looking at the music and trying to discern the melody from that is like reading ancient Greek to me.  My choir has limited rehearsal time, so sight-reading is a must.  The frustrating part is that I can actually determine the notes and the key signatures, but the way that translates to a sound totally escapes me.

3.  Yes, Jen’s encouragement to participate in 7QT was what got me to post this.  And yes, I’m late – I was a bit under the weather on Friday.  Thank you, Jen, for keeping this open till Monday!  (I don’t care if I don’t get the gift card; I just needed a kick in the rear to get back to blogging.)

4. As the title of this post implies, I love fall.  Love it, love it, love it!  October is the most beautiful month of the year where I live.  The temperature is perfect, the sky is blue, the trees are changing colors, and I can see God everywhere I turn.

5. Only 37 days until Thanksgiving!   Due to work and the whims of my mother-in-law, I haven’t spent Thanksgiving with my family since 2009.  My family, being Irish Catholic, really lives it up, and it isn’t quite the same as spending Thanksgiving with DH’s subdued family.  ;)  (Even DH agrees with me on this one.)

6.  Of course, the down side of getting Thanksgiving off is that I’ll have to work on Christmas.  I told the person in charge of our schedule that I didn’t mind so long as I could get to Midnight Mass.

7. It’s not Friday, but we need a song anyway!  This song is a little spooky and will hopefully put you in the mood for Halloween.  Here is “Harvest Moon” by Blue Oyster Cult.

For more Quick Takes from Jen and others, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes Friday – Wake Me Up When September Ends

1. Survived my first two weekends in the church choir!  I know that sounds weird and overly dramatic, but I would like to remind you that “weird and overly dramatic” is my middle name.  Also, I hadn’t participated in a choir for over a decade and I was terrified of making a fool of myself.  Mercifully, I didn’t.  It helps that I joined the most laid-back of my church’s choirs.

2. I’m thinking of ending the Prayer of the Month series and starting a Hymn of the Month series.  Part of the reason I’m thinking of this is that I’m stuck for ideas on the prayer series – Jen at Conversion Diary already did the Our Father, and LeAnne had a great series on the Prayer of St. Francis (to which I contributed).  Any thoughts on hymn (or a prayer) you’d like to see?

3. Wednesday was an important holiday: National Talk Like a Pirate Day!  It occurs on September 19th each year, so mark your calendars for the next one!  :)

4. Saturday, September 29th is another important day: National Drug Take Back Day!  Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic in America, and most users start with pills they find in their own home or a relative’s home. Have meds you’re not using?  Click here to find a take back location in your area.

5.  Did you know that you can change your language preference on Facebook to English (Pirate)?  Try it some time.  It’s pretty funny!

6. Cultivate Wines has chosen Reece’s Rainbow as a contender for a $50,000 grant!  Click here to vote for the orphans! And don’t forget to tell your friends!

7. It’s Friday, so it’s time for a song!  Here is a song you might know and don’t realize: “Hotstepper” by Ini Kamoze.

For more Quick Takes from Jen and others, visit Conversion Diary!

Sponsoring Redux

To see the story of why I became a sponsor in the first place, go here.

There have been some big shakeups in my sponsoring family lately, so I thought I’d post a quick update about my current sponsorships.  If you’d like to pray for my sponsored kids or elderly, please do so!  Here are the people I’m currently sponsoring (all names changed):

Julio, an 8 year old boy in Guatemala.  Julio is the second youngest of a large family and likes to read and play ball.

Jude, a 12-year-old boy in the Phillippines.  He is the youngest of a large family and wants to be a teacher when he grows up.

Bob, a college student in Uganda.  Bob hopes to be a lawyer someday.  He should finish school in 2016.

Isabel, a college student in Guatemala.  She wants to be a social worker when she graduates.

Rajesh, an elderly man in southern India.  Rajesh likes to garden and play with his grandchildren.

And I still keep my former sponsored students Darweshi and Margaret in my prayers.  I hope that they can return to school someday and that their futures are bright.  I also pray for the repose of the soul of the first elderly I sponsored, Indira.

And that’s my CFCA family!

7 Quick Takes Friday – End of Summer

1. Bad news on the sponsoring front: a few weeks ago I wrote that I was concerned about my sponsored college student, Margaret.  In June, she wrote that just had a baby and wrote that she was worried about child care issues and financial aid.  Tuesday, I got a letter from CFCA with “Important Information” written on the envelope in bold.  You sponsors know what that means: your sponsored student has left the program.  Please pray for Margaret and her baby.  Maybe someday she can go back to school.

2.  This is the second time in the last month that one of “my” kids has dropped out of school. I really hope that the next time I get a farewell letter it’s because my sponsored student has graduated.

3. However, I do have some good news: Last week I asked all of you to pray for my friend W, who wrongfully lost her job. W’s boss begged and pleaded with upper management, and as a result W got her job back! Deo Gratias!

4. In my town, parties are being thrown almost nightly.  Bars are running ridiculous drink specials.  The incidence of minor car accidents (alcohol-related and otherwise) is up.  Music is blaring in previously sedate neighborhoods.  Yes, that’s right, it’s late August in a college town.  The students are still working through the initial excitement at being away from parents and the weight of the school year hasn’t hit them yet.

5.   Because of the drought, my carrots are half-dead.  I found a bunch of caterpillars feeding on them and thought, “heck with it, let ‘em eat.”   Maybe I’ll get some good-looking butterflies later.

6.  I hope all of you have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!  I’ll be working the  entire time, so eat some hot dogs for me.  :)

7. It’s Friday, so it’s time for a song!  The title of this Friday’s song is something I haven’t seen very much this summer.  I give you:  “Rain” by Madonna.

For more Quick Takes from Jen and others, visit Conversion Diary!

Sponsoring Update!

I announced last week that one of my sponsored teenagers had, unfortunately, dropped out of the program.  Since I’m spending less money on alcohol now, I decided to sponsor not one but two more teenagers in his place – Bob, a college student in Uganda, and Isabel, a college student in Guatemala.  Bob wants to be a lawyer and Isabel wants to be a social worker.  Please join me in praying for them!

Sponsoring

“Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’” – Matthew 25:37-40

One chilly evening in 2008, I went to Mass in an unfamiliar city.  I was out of town on business and the only way I’d get to Sunday Mass was to attend an evening Mass at my destination.  I worry a little when I have to attend Mass at different parish than the one I usually attend; mainly, I’m concerned about having to listen to some of this claptrap.  Little did I know that attending that Mass would change my life.

That weekend, a priest from the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging gave the homily.  He spoke about how CFCA had been founded by lay Catholics who wanted to make a difference and how CFCA improved the lives of children and elderly people all over the world.  He spoke of how CFCA didn’t merely provide handouts, they gave families a hand up – providing both education for the kids and job training for the parents.  Kids aren’t booted out of the program at a certain age; they can stay in until they graduate from college, trade school, or whatever their educational goal is.  And he pointed out that CFCA didn’t just help children, they helped elderly people too.  In developing countries, there’s no such thing as Social Security or Medicare, and the elderly often have to fend for themselves.

I thought about all the blessings I have and I thought about the verse above.  After I returned from my trip, I signed up to sponsor an elderly woman in India.  Indira* and I exchanged letters and over the next few months we became friends.  I wrote her about my job, my husband, and the snow at Christmas, and she wrote me about her children and grandchildren.

After about a year of sponsorship, I received a letter saying that Indira had passed away.  I miss her, but my sponsorship journey is far from over.  Along with the letter, I received a postcard from CFCA asking if I’d like to continue  my sponsorship and if so, return the card and check whether I’d like a child, a teenager, or an elderly person.  A few weeks later, I received information about my next sponsored elderly, Rajesh*.

A little over two years later, I’m still sponsoring Rajesh and I look forward to his letters greatly.  I didn’t stop with him, however; after I paid off my student loans, I picked up Margaret*,  a college student in the Philippines.  I love hearing about how Margaret is doing in school and what her brothers and sisters are doing. Rajesh is a gardener like me and I like hearing about all the things he grows. I’ve enjoyed sponsoring Margaret and Rajesh so much I recently added a 3rd sponsorship:  Darweshi*, a teenager in Kenya.

Reflecting on my CFCA experience, I knew that I would be a blessing to the people I sponsored, but I didn’t think they’d be such a blessing to me.  Rajesh, Margaret, and Darweshi aren’t just random people; they are a part of my family.  Getting a letter from one of them is the highlight of my week.  I pray for them and I know that they pray for me, and I hope that Indira is in heaven praying for all of us.  Becoming a sponsor is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made; if you experience it yourself, you’ll understand why.

“Love can build a bridge between your heart and mine.  Love can build a bridge, don’t you think it’s time?” – The Judds

*All names have been changed.