Reflections

________ At the beginning of the year, I was officially diagnosed with endometriosis, something I have suspected I had but never fought for a diagnosis. Any doctor I would mention it to would say, let's wait to verify, we don't want to cut you open to find nothing in there. Why suffer the recovery to not find anything? You probably just need to drink more water (which to be fair is TOTALLY true). Unfortunately, the only way as of now to diagnose a woman with endometriosis is

________ Last weekend I escaped to the "wild" mountains of Pigeon Forge. The planning and prepping for 20 people who were all coming in from states away was finally complete, and all that was left was to put names to new faces or catch up with friends I haven't seen in years. The pieces came together, everyone had a hard time saying goodbye come Sunday, and no one went away hungry. A successful weekend in the bag! I was sitting on a couch the second evening, next to an old co

________ After writing blogs for just over a year I asked myself, why am I writing blogs? It isn't necessarily a gift of mine, and I know so many folks who are better at writing—even more grammatically correct—than myself! Why can't I also share my creative designs instead of only written reflections? Then I remembered, it's MY blog! I can make up the rules as I go for the content I create. From now on I will be sharing reflections and design tips IN ADDITION to sharing some

________ As difficult as 2020 was overall, there was still some good that came out of it, specifically a novena that changed my attitude towards prayer. A typical novena lasts for nine days, but this one lasted for nine MONTHS! You were to begin day one on the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25) and end right before Christmas day, reflecting on the nine months Mary carried Christ in her womb. Although it took many years for some of my petitions to be answered—still waiting on

________ " " St. Joseph How could someone with so few recorded words—none to be exact—speak volumes to the heart of the Church? Through his action and love. This doesn't mean that St. Joseph was a "yes dear" kind of husband that we see so often, or that he was a side character not worthy of a spotlight. He had a HUGE role in protecting the Holy Family from all of the outside forces and enemies who would rather see the Christ Child snuffed

________ My parish priest reached out to me back in January and asked if I would consider being a young lady's sponsor for OCIA (formerly RCIA). Without hesitation I quickly said yes and was thrilled to finally experience what the formation process was like at our parish. Like so many OCIA programs world-wide, our OCIA group has seen significant growth over the years in individuals wanting to either become Catholic or receive the remaining Sacraments of Initiation (ie Euchari

________ This past Friday was the 52nd annual March for Life in Washington, DC. My mom and I have attended the March on and off since 2006, sometimes with family and friends, and sometimes just by ourselves. Sometimes we would join a bus group and do a day trip there and back, while other years we would make it a mini trip to catch up with friends in the area. Rain, snow, sunshine, torturous winds, we've marched in them all. When I was younger it seemed like a great opportuni

________ I always used to think it was silly to have a New Year resolution. I didn't want to make a promise to myself that I would quickly break in two weeks. I always thought, this will be the year I learn x or try to do more of y, but would soon find myself falling right back into old habits and waiting to try again next year. Sounds like a 365-day Lenten failure to me. I haven't replaced my outdoor patio area yet. I hit snooze one too many times and eventually turned off m

________ This Advent I decided to actively do something to prepare my heart for Christmas, so I joined my parish book study. We're reading "Christmas at the Nativity" which is a compilation of Pope Francis's reflections on various aspects of the nativity, and was published exactly 800 years after the first nativity setup was introduced by St. Francis. Over the years it has become a staple centerpiece for Christian families, including the donkey and oxen, shepherds and wise me

________ If you don't know, I'm a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan. I love the constant themes of hope and light, the relatable characters, the overwhelming Catholic undertones, even the world of Middle Earth itself! That's why it shames me to think it's taken me this long to talk about what I got to do a couple months back. This summer my cousin and I took a roadtrip to Chicago where we FINALLY experienced Lord of the Rings the Musical! We have been dreaming of this moment our ent

________ Each morning my grandma would routinely pray her rosary with her cup of coffee, and when she passed in 2018 my mom picked up this habit and took it one step further. She wrote down a list of names she wanted to pray for to help her quickly make it a habit to recite a daily rosary. Of course our immediate family made the cut, as well as her siblings and my dad's, friends and family members who had fallen away from the Church, neighbors, individuals from our parish, in

________ In 2022 I was blessed to be part of a year-long project called Awaken the Saint, where we shared a 3-minute reflection on a saint of the day in both podcast and video. Before I began the project I thought to myself, how are we ever going to be able to provide an entire year of content, let alone enough content for 6 months? What I surprisingly—and rather quickly—came to realize was that there weren't enough days in 10 YEARS to talk about each saint of the Church! A s

I attended the 10th National Eucharistic Revival Congress July 15-21 and I have SO MANY THINGS TO REFLECT ON!!! I won't flood you the reader with them all at once, but I will be releasing reflections over the next couple of months. Please enjoy, and let me know if you were also there and what your thoughts were! ________ I really wasn’t ready for just how many people would attend the Eucharistic Congress. I knew The goal was to fill Lucas Oil Stadium as much as possible—it ca

I attended the 10th National Eucharistic Revival Congress July 15-21 and I have SO MANY THINGS TO REFLECT ON!!! I won't flood you the reader with them all at once, but I will be releasing reflections over the next couple of months. Please enjoy, and let me know if you were also there and what your thoughts were! ________ I had so many uncertainties about going to Indianapolis for the Revival Congress. I’ve attended Catholic conferences before, and even enjoyed my fair share o

________ I was born and raised Catholic. My mom was heavily involved in our quaint West Virginia church, which meant my dad, siblings, and I were also heavily involved. I was an altar server for many years, went through Religious Ed until receiving Confirmation, and I even had a part time job as the parish music liturgist and cleaning staff. Surprisingly enough I didn’t find my personal relationship with Christ in my Catholic faith, but rather I found Him through the Methodi

Photo by Veranda Studio, 2018 ________ On June 16, 2018 Joseph and I vowed to love and care for each other until death do us part. We met in college at our Newman Center, and got married in the church where we were heavily involved during our undergrad years. This Sunday marks our sixth year of marriage and I want to take this moment to reflect on what I've learned living out our vocation. We haven't mastered the art of a "perfect marriage", but we know that beyond a doubt—de

________ Life doesn't slow down for anyone. I worked in ministry at a parish, and whether or not we were ready for the weekend we still had Mass that needed celebrated, parishioners who needed informed and greeted, and volunteers who needed to be organized and (oftentimes) corralled. It never slows down. Life doesn't even slow down at home. I would catch myself staring at yet another overflowing sink of dishes, thinking one of these days they'll be self-cleaning and I'll neve

________ I recently started diving into the world of infant photography. It's been so much fun, but I definitely have a long way to go before I can call myself a pro with those little blessings. I love seeing their small hands, reaching out to be comforted. Their tiny feet are flailing about as we try to keep them still for those "little piggy" closeups. Their giggly smiles that long for a calming response, while trying to figure who in the world is taking their pictures when

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae; Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentesin hac lacrimarum valle. Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria. This song has proven to be a huge part of my prayer life, and by no means is that a complaint! Before my husband and I

________ I was blessed with the opportunity to study abroad in Florence during the summer of 2016. I loved every second of it, and if it weren't for the fact that I love being able to see family I would've seriously considered making Europe my new home. One thing I couldn't get over while I was there was how deeply integrated into the secular world Christianity was, and still is to this day. Yes I know that back when they were built, churches were part of any citizen's life t