Family Weekend

My parents came in town this weekend for Family Weekend at Rockhurst. It was nice, we didn't do a lot of the things that we could have signed up for, but we've done it before and it was just nice to see them. We went to 75th Street Brewery for dinner and after ran to Price Chopper, not only to get me some groceries (because my parents are awesome like that), but also to get some beer (because my parents are really awesome like that!). Gabe's whole family was in town so they came over to watch the football game and belatedly celebrate my birthday with us. My mom made a s'more cake, which was absolutely delicious, and we had chips and salsa, ice cream and cake, peanuts and m&ms, and, of course, beer. It was a fun night, we talked about sports (by we, I mean mainly the men) and politics, ya know, the fun stuff. It was really enjoyable. There were even fireworks!

Sunday morning, we did go to the brunch. And that turned out to be totally worth it because I won the raffle for the $1000 scholarship! I mean, I was the 6th name called, but hey, not my fault none of them were there:) It was amazing how few people realized that raffle existed.

Love and prayers

Welcome to Life

Well, this is it. I'm 22. I'm dealing with a great array of emotions. While I'm always excited for a birthday, this one just seems to have an entirely new meaning. I have no more major birthdays to look forward to, 21 was the last. I'm (hopefully!) in my last year of college, my next birthday I'll have to be out in the real world...currently I have no idea where I'll be...much less where I WANT to be. Not that that really matters much:)

I have to be a grown up now, but I'm not sure how to be or that I want to be. My life is looming over me, I'm staring it down the throat, and I want to turn tail and run back! If only I could.

Love and prayers

Fresh Heir

One of my cousins is a mucisian. He has a band, the Drew Mantia Band, and he's pretty awesome...not that I'm biased or anything. If you think about it, check him out (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Drew-Mantia/10080101236). Anyway:), he has a good friend, Nick, who is actually in a relationship with another cousin, who also has a band, Fresh Heir. Fresh Heir had a show here in KCMO this weekend, in Westport. Drew came in with them to play with the band. Gabe and I went and it was a lot of fun. Fresh Heir has a jazzy style, which I thoroughly enjoy and a couple family members were there. It was nice getting out and having a good time, I feel like I haven't gone out much recently, which is craziness considering how near Rockhurst is to Westport, Brookside, Power and Light and so many other areas that are really fantastic. Oh well. All in all it was a great, and much needed night:)

Love and prayers

Labor Day Weekend

The weekend was a wonderful escape. Gabe and I went to his family's place outside of Fulton, MO on Friday. I really rather enjoy hanging out with his family. They're very different but still so similar to my own. Then Gabe and I travelled out to The Country on Saturday.

The Country. My grandparents bought some land in southern Missouri in the 60's (I think). Near Ironton and Fredricktown on the St. Francis River...never heard of any of those? It's all good, no one has:) It's nothing fancy, just an old trailer that the men added a back room and porch onto years ago in the middle of the woods, off an old gravel road. My uncle bought it from my grandparents a few years ago. He added all these new amenities like running water and satellite tv. It's madness! Down the hill, through the woods is the river. Up river is the deep end where we can float and swim. Down river are the rapids. Now don't go picturing anything intense...when we were little kids we went down the rapids like little water slides. We also went rock hopping up and down the river.

This weekend we were having a bit of a family reunion. Saturday, though, there were only a very few of us. But it was nice. Gabe and I went canoeing and swimming, but only for a little bit cause we got freaked out by snake in the water. We spent plenty of time over on the rocks though. We did a little hopping and then just sat with our feet in the water. The family went to mass in town where a 96 year old priest who has to be reminded of the date and gets through the mass in about 20 minutes is the only thing allowing those people to have mass at all. Sad but beautiful at the same time. Later that night we had a bonfire and Gabe and I roasted some marshmellows. Unfortunately though, my allergies had been acting up really badly for the past week so I took a couple Benadryl causing me to keep dozing off, even in the middle of conversations. So we went to bed earlier. We slept out on the porch; despite the cold mornings, it's the best place to sleep, listening to the insects and critters, waking up to the cool air in the early morning when everything is pale.

Gabe left early that morning. He wanted to go home to spend a little extra time with his own family and go to their a fair his Church was having. It was sad he had to go before the rest of the family came, but it was awesome that he came 3 hours to spend one day and night down there. He knows how much I love the Country and wanted him to be there, though. That's just like him:)

The rest of the family came down and we spent the day doing things such as drinking, floating and drinking, playing games and drinking, eating s'mores drinking...you get the picture:) It was an all around fun day. Monday morning I headed back to St. Louis with my sister and her family and then headed back to Kansas City. It was nice to get back at school, but I was definitely sad for the weekend to end.

Love and prayers

Our Father...

I've been thinking a lot about prayer recently...though, as ever, not implementing the practice nearly as much as I need to. There are all these different forms that prayer can take. I honestly don't know many formal prayers, certainly not as many as I would like to know. I've always tried more for the conversational form of prayer. I've been recently discovering the beauty and honesty of the formal prayers of the Catholic Church, though. I'm not sure how I started thinking about it, I guess it was during a bit of a prayer draught, but I began to wonder about the best way to pray. I don't think there is necessarily a "best way" for something like prayer. God desires our hearts, our openness to Him. So how can I ensure my own openness. Well...I can't. I wish I could and I try to, but I so often fail.

Anyway, back to prayer...

I've begun to contemplate the Our Father. Light Bulb! Jesus taught it to us. Christ himself gave us this prayer. I've always said the Our Father frequently, but I guess I never really thought about the perfectness of it. God knows our hearts far better, more deeply and intimately, then even ourselves. He knows our prayers and desires. I've started praying the Our Father holding this knowledge in my mind, trusting that He'll answer the prayers of my heart, in accordance to His will, as I say these words that once touched Christ's very lips. So now I know when I'm at a loss in my prayer life, I will always have Our Father to support me.

Love and prayers