Before I start my Quick Takes I want to say I had the priviledge of meeting this lovely blogger for coffee/tea Thursday afternoon. She happened to be in town and it worked out that we could meet for an hour. It was short but it was worth it. Also thank you to all those who prayed for me during the month of July! Oh an remember to head to Jen's for more Quick Takes :)
1.
I have been helping out with Vacation Bible School for our parish. I have been running the crafts or better known as the "imagination station" along with a visiting Discalced Carmelite Brother. It has been fun and cheesy but I was surprised at how tiring it has been. I haven't worked with children in over a year and it was fun to do it again but man am I tuckered out after being on my feet for 5hrs. Br. D and I have had fun talking about the awesomeness of the Latin Mass and being sarcastic about the cheesy songs the kids sing. This was my first time helping with VBS and I think I would do it again! The theme this year was standing strong for God and to my surprise seeing the kids grow in their faith has helped me to see some things in my faith journey more clearly.
A couple of funny hick ups that have happened have been when Br. D said the word "stupid" in front of the kids twice and said something to the effect that the kids were "killing us slowly" because they kept pushing our tables and us against the wall giving us less room to walk around. Then as I was sharing the story of Mary and how young she was when she was pregnant with Jesus one of the kids brought up teen pregnancy and said "some people have babies at 16 still" I think I said "oh ok Z thank you for sharing but we are not talking about that right now and that is not quite the same thing" oh kids, gotta love them they are so honest!
2.
This week during VBS I realized how much I missed working with teens and working on a collective ministry team. Doing NFP and CrMS stuff it is usually just me and JJ or me and the other practitioner at our parish. I kind of miss a bigger team to bounce ideas off of. The DRE and Confirmation coordinator asked JJ and I if we would teach confirmation this year, we originally declined because of NFP stuff but we are kind of reconsidering. We did let them know we would love to be involved with the teens somehow we are just not sure about committing to a weekly thing.
3.
Speaking of commitment, my friend T asked if I would be willing to babysit/nanny my goddaughter and her sister two days a week. Naturally I said yes! We just need to work out which days I would do it. This would work out pretty well with my schedule with my clients because I usually see most of them in the afternoon/evening plus I would get to use my child development skills that are just sitting in my brain and not being used. I miss working with young kids but I don't know if I would want to go back to a teaching setting in a center or school so this would be perfect to get my feet wet again.
4.
Our house is crazy right now! They are painting and fixing some stuff which is great I just wish it was done before we moved here. They have been working on it for a week now, thank God for VBS that is getting me out of the house. I just feel bad for JJ because he has been here at home while the guys are working on the house. I was here with him for 2days last week and I almost went crazy. It's like you are home but you can't really relax, you know!? It is all suppose to be done today and I hope it is!
5.
After much consideration and some tears JJ and I decided that we would stop charting for this cycle. There have been a lot of things that have been frustrating me about charting and medical treatment that we felt it best to take a break at least for this cycle. One of the major things was our Dr. not getting back to us for about a week when we needed a prescription for a time sensitive medication to help ovulation this cycle. Well we missed the window and took it as a sign that we just needed to stop. So as of yesterday we are no longer charting and I am no longer doing my observations. I don't know how long this will be for, if it's just this one cycle or if we are stopping treatment before the end of the year timeline. We trust that God will let us know!
6.
Speaking of stopping stuff, I have felt a pull from God to fast from blogging. So I will not be blogging for the rest of August, maybe longer. I really feel like God wants to spend more time with me and He wants me to continue to write but not in such a public setting. JJ and I talked about it an he agreed that it was a good idea. I will probably still read some of your blogs and comment when I can but overall I need to take a step back. There are a lot of things that JJ and I need to discern and decide about which will be easier to do if I am not blogging. I am overall trying to have less screen time. It is hard because I love this community but I know that this time away will be fruitful! I will be praying for you all and if you need to contact me you can email me :)
7.
Speaking of prayer JJ and I will be going to Alabama next Saturday! We will be visiting EWTN and the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery for a pilgrimage/vacation. We are so excited to go and we would be honored to pray for your intentions! You can leave a comment with your intentions, send me an email or if we are face.bo.ok friends you can send us a message with your intentions. We will be having two awesome priests as our chaplains for the pilgrimage and we are getting to travel with friends! If you live anywhere near the Birmingham area, it would be awesome to have a blogger meet up :)
God bless you all and God reward you!
