I love pictures of these two together. It's holiness touching holiness here on earth. : ) As part of my weekend away, we watched the movie Mother Theresa, which I highly recommend. It's realistic, comical, and most of all, it will make you want to move to India and be a missionary at this exact moment. I give it much higher reviews than the Therese movie. Trust me on this one. : ) At least give it a try....

Decafmusic. I think that is probably the farthest thing from the appropriate name for these two (and I suppose that's the point). They are absolutely hilarious! Too bad I had to watch it alone. If you've ever done anything with youth ministry before, or have given a thought to lifting your hand off of your lap....enjoy! This definitely makes me wish I was at the Vegas conference...
P.S. my favorite part is from 1:55-2:11...which I think is repeated throughout...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfrqAqShfQ&eurl=

A new look. Well, it's almost the New Year and I really don't like the color pink (it comes and goes in stages). So, it was time to give the site a little bit of a boost of brightness. : )

Today I downloaded one of the best (and most addicting) computer games ever, Snood. Check it out at http://www.womgames.com/index.php. I can't believe some people have never heard of this! It definitely got me through those summer high school and college jobs....

Oh! Fun kid game I played with the 3's class today. Line up sets of chairs behind one another to look be the "bus", "train", etc. (man was it funny to watch them carry their chairs!). Have index cards with holiday stickers on them (2 cards with each sticker). You need an even number of players... Place a card next to each seat, say "go", and then have everyone find the person with the card that matches theirs and sit next to them. If you play with older ones, eliminate the last kids to sit down. With younger kids, everyone "wins". Repeat.

Heels were definitely invented by men. Yes, I'll give them the fact that they look cute and give you some height (much need in my case), but gosh darn it, who the heck would invent something so uncomfortable? After about 10 trips either up and down the stairs with bags of clothing for the Marian house and/or to the elevator with the same bags, my feet hurt. : ( And these are my comfy, low heels. Obviously not invented by someone who had to actually wear them.

An Advent pondering: "Look at the example of Mary. When the angel of the Lord comes to her, she doesn't say, 'Behold, I am sufficient to raise the Son of God. I have what it takes.' Rather, Mary said, 'Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word (Lk 1:38). Mary does not say she is adequate to the task, but rather, she is available. That is what God asks of us."

-Kimberly Hahn

God has a sense of humor. So last night Catherine said to me "Maybe....you should read that book," (the one about choosing a Good Husband) which was followed by a lot of laughter. And today, I am searching the internet I find this book called "How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk (Jerkette)". Go check it out: www.nojerk.com. Are you kidding me? This must be a joke....or maybe the joke is on me and God is speaking loud and clear. Maybe I'll have to go back and look at those notes from last weekend....

Overview of the week... Wowzers. The past week flew by for sure. I have an exam creeping up on me in Catholic Biblical School tomorrow morning, I had a meeting for my 2nd grade teacher's on Monday night, Wednesday I chaperoned the youth ministry's volunteer project at Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas, Thursday was the Diocesan St. Nick's luncheon (yay for only half a day of work and getting to eat lunch with my Haley and Drew!), Thursday night was XLT (yay for getting to see Ryan O'Neill and hear him give an amazing talk!), Friday I went to Mass with my favorite class of 3-year old's (I definitely needed my kid time), did some Christmas decorating, then in the evening Haley, Colleen and I had a yummy dinner, decorated Christmas cookies and watched the new Pride and Prejudice (since Haley and I hadn't watched it this month), and yesterday I tried to organize my life a little, read up about grad. schools, served at Mass, and then went to a dinner party at Breanne's with yummy food, a much needed conversation with Catherine (thanks!) and a hilarious game of Cranium (I snorted a lot because I was laughing so hard, my team lost, but we definitely won the prize of being the most comical---I'd be on the Dinuzzo team any day!). Phew! I am pretty sure that's a run-on sentence. And now you know why I don't have time to ski even though I live in Colorado! : ) I hate to break it to you, but this week is looking similar to last week, so I wouldn't count on me posting away!

Tomorrow is my last session of religious education for almost a month. I have pretty mixed feelings about this. While I love to the lull in the busyness of all the people that I get to serve because it gives me time to catch up on administrative tasks, I get pretty sick of sitting in an office by myself pretty quickly. : ( I'm one of those people that needs that balance between the two. Speaking of...it's 8:42am and people are going to start drifting this a' way..... gotta go!

It's Monday. Everyone have a great week! Last week was not-so-great for me, so I am determined that this one is going to be better. (I'm pretty much certain that I won't have time to think about it if it stinks anyway because I will have all of Tuesday and Friday night to think about it---otherwise, I'll see ya around town, literally!) I think it's about time that I get to reading that book on "Boundaries" that is sitting on my shelf...and that I need to figure out some better way of discerning the next step in my life. Haley and I went to a Discernment Day on Saturday and it was good, but didn't quite have the "ah-ha" effect that I wanted. I still feel torn in about 10 different directions....and she admitted in the car on the way home that she can see that. So...I think that brings me back to square 1. *sigh* You never know what tomorrow will bring! And the week could hold anything, because after all, it is Monday...

We spoke too soon. On Saturday, as we left IHOP, the remark was made "Isn't it supposed to be winter?". The sun was beating, you barely needed a sweater to stay warm, and we were headed to get Carmel and go to the park. And then came Wednesday morning...and after a snow day and quite a bit of wind and falling fluffy stuff, we are in a state of white bliss here in Colorado! Today the sun is shining and the sky is a crisp blue, so we'll see how much of our 6-8 inches are left by the end of the day. Stay warm! : )

The Bachelor: Rome. Well, folks, there must be something that we're all missing (or at least everyone I watched the show with). Prince Lorenzo chose Jen at the end of the season, much to our surprise. A pillow clencher for sure! I was definitely favoring Sadie, but I had an inkling that he would choose Jen anyway. Good luck to him dealing with her Papa! Quite a frustrating episode---if they showed that guy sobbing in his blue shirt one more time I think I was going to throw a pillow at the TV and turn off the show! (it was cute & maybe touching the first time, but every commercial break for 2 hours gets to be a little much)

No more TV until Thursday when we get to see what unfolds on Grey's after the intense confession of Dr.Burke and Christina.... My bet is that Derek Shepherd gets Chief of Surgery. Or will they throw us through a loop and give it to Addison Montgomery? Oh...now that would be intense.

My new favorie treat! The newest edition to my work stash (but not for long!)- I definitely suggest that you try them this holiday season. : ) They're very similar to Girl Scout Peppermint Patties, but better!

I'm back.

For reals this time. Thanks to a long weekend and Thanksgiving break I've finally had time to stick to that New Year's resolution of keeping in touch with everyone. (sorry... : ( ...I've not been so good at that) After many conversations about how my blog is missed by those in my family who are internet savvy individuals and the situational detachment from my friends, I've decided I need to get back on here.

Today wasn't too exciting. It's the first day back after Thanksgiving....how many days until Christmas break? : ) Speaking of Christmas, the presence of Christmas lights and music are sending me into a flurry of joy. No joke. I think my co-workers think something is wrong with me. I already got a comment on my funny smirk today, and we're still in November!

This isn't really my story, but it has to do with one of the kiddos at our school, so I'm stealing it from Colleen. It'll probably make "story of the week" for me. Second-grader A was reading the creation story from the Bible during religion class. (yeah, when it starts out that way you know it's gonna be good!) Second-grader B needs some explanation. He's a pretty imaginative little fellow who is sometimes out of place because he does quirky things. Well, this second-grader B decided that he was going to "act out" the creation story as it was being read. Imagine a classroom full of children listening attentively, while one child reads, and another (who is supposed to be attentively listening like everyone else) begins to wave his arms in the air as the sky is created, move his hands around his mouth as God speaks, and make wave motions with his arms as the water gushes upon the earth. *sigh* If only I had been there.... (but we decided it's better I wasn't because uncontrollable laughter would have occurred)

Here's another cheesy, yet sort of heart-warming kid story. (compliments of the Christ the King homily yesterday) A little boy is at the doctor and he is throwing an absolute fit about having his examination. He doesn't like all the instruments that the doctor has with him and he will not allow the doctor to even touch him. The doctor tells him "I see Elmo coming out of your ear!". At this point the boy lets the doctor to use his instrument to look into his ear. His next comment is "Oh my goodness, did you know that Oscar the Grouch is living in your nose?", so the little boy allows him to examine his nose. "Cookie Monster! Did you see Cookie Monster in your mouth?" and the doctor can then put that odd-looking popsicle stick in the young boy's mouth. The doctor then says to the boy, "You know what? I think that Barney has snuck into your heart!" To which the young child responds "No way! Jesus is in my heart. Barney is on my underwear!"

YAHOO!!!!!

Congratulations Lauren & Chris!!!!!
: ) : ) : )

My best friend just got engaged!

(a wonderful reason to be in Pittsburgh for the weekend! : ) )
P.S. I think you qualify as an adult now... ; )

Quote of the week:
"We knew it was going to be different (being married), but we didn't know it was going to be this good! Everyone should do it." - Ms. Catherine

Lessons of Yesterday. The problem with these is that they would have been more useful ahead of time! : ( However, they can still bring humor to our lives, so here we go.

1. Papercuts from cardboard boxes hurt. Pay a lot of attention when moving heavy boxes of books.

2. I am stubborn. I do not like to make two trips, let alone three trips. Therefore, when moving the entire year's Religious Education book order from the lobby to upstairs I decided to do it in two trips with the utility cart. I realized this was probably not so smart when it took to "heave-ho's" to get the second load out of the elevator.

3. Don't settle for better over the best. What a conundrum! There may be something or someone present who is inherently good for you. However, this doesn't mean that this is the best for you.... I can't elaborate more right now or I might go into hives....

4. It can hail in Colorado in July. (this was odd to me because it usually hails in Pennsylvania in the winter) We're not just talking little bits, but "the size of grapes" as Breanne explained.

5. Always have a mattress pad cover- you never know what might happen. Last night Carmel got ticked that he wasn't "in on the party" (as in with the guests) and you can use your imagination from there. Yuck. I was not a happy mama. Sleeping on the couch for a night isn't all that bad...

6. It would be really cool if God would reveal the time of significant events in our life to us. Like "Hey, just in case you were wondering, on May 20, 2007, you're going to meet your future spouse" and..."FYI- that whole death thing, don't fret it! Do whatever you want because you're gonna go until your 98!" Although, at the same time there would be a lack of surprise in that too...but you've gotta admit it would be sort of cool.

7. Cinnamon and sugar tortilla crisps are yummy! : )

Ok...that's enough. I think seven is an awesome number so I'll stop at that. I think the rest of my realizations yesterday don't need to be public knowledge. You'll just have to ask. : )

Rain, rain, go away! For some reason it has been raining excessively in Colorado for the last week. God knows that I don't like the fact that everything gets brown here in the summer, but he sure is doing a lot to make up for it right now! Luckily, they are predicting sunny, blue skies for the weekend. : ) : ) : ) In the meantime, I am running out of fun things to do on rainy days. Anyone have any good ideas? Now remember, I said they had to be fun.

Mission Trip to Mississippi: Before I forget...there are 54 youth and adult leaders from Saint Peter's on a Mission Trip in a place called Bay St. Louis, Mississippi this week rebuilding from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina this week. They say that the devastation there is beyond their imagination. I found some pictures of where they are at http://www.pbase.com/dbphotos/hurricane_katrina .
Please keep them in your prayers!

Pick up line of the week:
Would you like to Defend Marriage with me?
(we admit that we got the idea from a bumper sticker)

Whoops! I disappeared again. It has been a fun, but busy month. (I feel like I repeat those words about every six weeks...) I'm sure you've realized that it is summer and with summer comes my desire to do anything and everything. (I've come to realize in the last two weeks that is not always a good thing!) So, in between "previously scheduled events" I have been keeping myself quite busy here in Colorado Springs. In between, we had a Totus Tuus (similar to Vacation Bible School) at our parish, and I've been to a few weddings. Coming up we have a trip to Waterworld, more softball (hopefully I won't be wounded this time), a potluck at my place, and vacation to NY and PA in August. They say time flies when you are having fun, and I can assure you that it does!

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings!!!! It's such a beautiful thing to watch your friends get married. It is wonderful when you get to share that special day with them. Here are some pictures from some of those recent days. : )

The Klein/Martin Wedding, June 17th in Phoenix, Arizona

Jenny and Aaron

Sarah, Danielle, Aaron, Jenny, Katie, me, and Alison

It was so hot in Phoenix, I was about ready to jump into that fountain! (no joke!)

Wedding #2: The DeKler/DiNuzzo Wedding, July 3rd here in Colorado Springs

Catherine and Dave

Happily Married!!!!

Haley, myself, Breanne, Mary Francine, Chris, Sarah and Rosie

Mission Possible. About 95 youth accompanied by adult chaperones invaded Colorado Springs last week with the mission of serving the poor, elderly, and less fortunate. They normally live on the outskirts of town and spend their summer days working, playing, and lounging. Last week, their steps took quite a different pace and I found myself jogging along with them.

Basically, we slept on a church floor all week (leaders included), ate meals there, split into groups of 10-12 during the day for service work, attended daily Mass, and embarked on a "fun" adventure each evening. My group of 10 ranged from age 12-17 and we found ourselves at a shelter for homeless teens, the Soup Kitchen passing out socks & toiletries, doing yardwork for an elderly woman, making meals for a half-way house, doing church chores, and doing upkeep on a labryinth for a local group of Religious Sisters. PHEW! It was a fun week filled with many lessons for all. (and a large excuse for my lack of blogging ; ) )

We did have a break in the evening for Wal-mart shopping (where the kids bought all the food for the week- with lists of course!) **on a side-note, I don't think I ever want to go with that many teenagers to Wal-mart ever again!**, to Joyrides (my 1st time Go-cart racing), and the Wave pool (you won't believe it, but I had no energy to get in!), and Narnia movie night with yummy popcorn and ice cream : ). No pictures yet, because I refuse to put a digital cameras on a worksite around kids! You'll have to wait for the real film to be finished and developed...

While it was fun to be a kid again, I was glad to return to the world of adults and finish unpacking my apartment. It's slowly being decorated and getting put together...bit by bit. Carmel is now home from prison, pretty well behaved and without any tatoos or piercings (for those of you who were concerned). We both got a little banged up on Sunday at my Softball Game...Carmel didn't see the ball coming and I didn't react quick enough...I got a line drive right into my thigh....it's becoming quite a pretty bruise.

Now I'm off for a long weekend in Phoenix for the wedding of my friend Jenny. Yay for vacation!
I'm sure there will be pictures posted soon from that trip. I'm excited for a fun girl's weekend. : )