Back to School!

Well here I am, back at Rockhurst. My mom helped me with move-in. It was fun...though I think she had more fun setting my room up then I did. I'm in the townhouses this year, which is kind of a let down after living in a house, but there are only two of us in a four person. Meaning...we each have our own bedrooms and bathrooms. I said four person, but it was a four person (two bedroom, two bathroom with common living areas) set up for six people. We have a lot of space, but that would be freaking crowded! Anyway, the reason for me clarifying is that we both h ave three beds, three desks, and three dressers in our rooms. Can you say overkill. Oh well. It took awhile, but I'm finally happy with the way I have it all set up...I think:) It's pretty cute, lots of color and such, but it'll be a lot better once I bring back some posters and such for the walls after Labor Day weekend. Anyway...all in all I think the year looks pretty promising. I have a lot of free time during the day since a majority of my classes are at night. I'm finding things to fill the time with though, such as a sweet internship at the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph's Respect Life Office and I'm also looking for a work study job...keep your fingers crossed. I'm enjoying things thus far. Senior year is looking good:)

August 14th

Today was a special day for a couple of reasons. My mom's side of the family met at Grant's Farm this morning. There were 36 of us, so not everyone, but a decent showing. The little one's enjoyed the animals and the shows, while the older ones enjoyed the happiness of the little ones and, of course, the free beer. When it got to be too hot to stay out any longer, we moved the party to my aunt and uncle's house for a bbq and watched the Cards/Cubs game. So overall a good day. I enjoy spending time with my family, there are certainly some characters amongst us, the great-grandchildren are absolutely adorable and they're all getting to an age where they start interacting with each other so we had a tiny girl band to entertain us, and we always have good things to eat and drink, like homemade ice cream courtesy of my grandparents and jell-o shots (a staple at any party at my aunt and uncle's house).

Another reason for the specialness of the day was that it marked one year since my dad's surgery. I haven't really talked to specifically here about my dad here, but a year ago yesterday we were told in a whirlwind of events that he had cancer. A year ago today he had a 10 hour surgery because the lung cancer had metastasized to, among several other places, his spine causing a couple of the vertebra to essentially shatter. I didn't realize until later how near he was to being paralyzed. It's been an insane year to say the least. I feel as if I've lived an entire lifetime within it. Right now my dad is on what is called maintenance which is incredibly good, though still not easy by any means. There is a CaringBridge site (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bobfarley) for my dad, kept up by my mom. I went back to the first few entries in the journal and learned that I'm still not prepared to deal with those first days. They've left some lasting mark on me.

This one year mark has caused me to look back on everything that's happened. So much has changed since August 14th, 2009. I've changed. I spent a long time trying to prepare myself for a loss that I wasn't at all ready for, I've fallen in love, lost friends, been blessed with the deepening of other friendships, and I was given the incredible gift of time. I've felt lost and confused. I've been at home in places and with people I never would have dreamed of a year ago. I was shown love and compassion and was able to show the same in turn. I was hurt and lifted up.

There's still a lot of recovering I need to do, but I've learned so much about myself and what I'm capable of...capable of handling...so long as I cling to God.

(With my dad, sister, and niece just a few months after the surgery)

Love and prayers

The Passion

I was just flipping through channels and I landed on Biography. The episode was on Mel Gibson and it just happened to be at the point in his life when the Passion of the Christ was coming out. The controversy over the movie was briefly talked about. Jeffrey Lyons (I guess he was a movie critic or something of the sort) spoke about the violence of Christ's death that is portrayed in the movie, how it was unnecessary, how people who believe in and worship Christ do so because of the good he did in his life, not because of how he died. I almost yelled at the television. Obviously this man does not understand or made any attempt to understand Gibson's Catholic faith. Yes, Gibson is lost, but he had it right with that movie. Yes, Christ did great things in his life, he literally performed miracles, he's the Son of God. But I think just about any Catholic would say that we worship him because he died for us. The bloody, violent way that Christ died is a beautiful gift. It is our salvation. His death was the way it was because of us, the entire weight of all of humanities' sins from all time weighed upon his shoulders. That is what Gibson portrayed in the Passion. Yeah it's violent, it's gory, but it was necessary for our salvation which is what Christ desired, us to be in full union with him. The violence in the movie is necessary and it is beautiful.

Update

Apologies for the lengthy silence. The blog didn't seem to want me to post anything for awhile. I'll try to get caught up quickly, but I'd like to reflect a little on some events from the summer before coming to the present

Dog-Sitting

Some day, in the future, when I have dogs I will not treat them like people. They will not run the house like my sister's dogs do. And I will not stand for them waking me up at 4:30 every morning! That is what I learned from my ten days of dog-sitting. Also that my relationship with my two best friends is truly a gift from God...really, we even have a diagram to prove it:)



Love and prayers that you are blessed in your friendships