My other blog

http://comovivirasi.blogspot.com

I just realized I never posted that here.

A Poll of Sorts

So I've decided to create a second blog to keep y'all posted sobre mi vida en Espana. However, I have a few ideas of what to name this new blog and I want sus opiniones sobre el nombre.
1) Grandes Exitos (great/large successes)
2) La Vida Es un Ratico (life is a moment.)
3) Como Vivir Asi (as to live thus)

So cast your votes and they will be considered accordingly.

How to Enjoy St. Louis

I have recently returned from the great city of St. Louis. I went for the wedding of my childhood friend/surrogate brother, Mark Spencer, to the lovely Miss Susanna Hasser. Since my departure for St. Louis, Susanna's hometown, she has changed her last name, both legally and on facebook, to Mrs. Susanna Spencer. The couple really are perfect for each other in a million different ways ranging from their witty senses of humor to a shared love of the Traditional Latin Mass to a desire to fully follow the command to "be fruitful and multiply" to a love of red velvet cake.
The wedding was wonderful. The bridesmaids wore teal dresses, which looked lovely on all six gorgeous ladies. I know that there is a movie that claims that teal bridesmaid dresses severely shorten the duration of a marriage, but that's a lot of crap. What shortens the duration of a marriage is the intent of the parties entering into it.
Anyway, since we went to St. Louis, my parents and I decided to visit the Gateway Arch on Friday evening. The Arch was beautiful and it really stands as a monument to what Man can do when we put our minds to it.













We also explored the beautiful downtown of St. Louis. I don't have any pictures but I strongly encourage you to go to see it if you ever get the chance. I've added an album just of pictures I took of the Arch and the wedding as well as the riverfront of St. Louis. The Mississippi River has swelled over its banks and has taken over the riverfront of the city. Most of the city is still dry but there was a small area that was underground.
My mother and I also visited Soulard's Farmer's Market. It it was on Seventh Street/Avenue, I believe. It was a great big market with some amazing things and I loved it. There were so many things to see ranging from the standard food and jewelry shops to a pet store and an area that sold food and drinks (Yes, including Budweiser beer).
Budweiser beer was EVERYWHERE. We had hoped to visit the brewery and take a tour but did not have time. That was sad. But almost every restaurant we saw, except the Saint Louis Bread Company, had at least one neon sign advertising Budweiser and/or Bud Light. It was mildly amusing. One of m favorites was a restaurant that had a Bud/Bud Light sign for every professional sports team in St. Louis. It's interesting to see how they can incorporate the Cardinals' logo and the Blues' logo into a neon sign advertising Budweiser.

Now for the amusing anecdotes from the wedding/reception...
The bride has a niece who is about twenty-one months old. Clare, the niece, spent the entire wedding Mass announcing "ALL DONE!" at the end of every prayer. The Mass was at least an hour and a half long...so she said "ALL DONE" a lot. I guess it must mean "Amen" for her.

The night before wedding, my parents and I were heading out for dinner when we ran into the groom's Aunt Karen and her three children: Spencer (7 or 8), Kellen (5), and Tessie (3). (Tessie is NOT named after the famous song about the Boston Red Sox.) Kellen marched up to us while we were chatting with his mother and said, "Who are you?"
We introduced ourselves and asked him who he is. He didn't reply but his mother told us that his name was Kellen. And his little sister, who was running back and forth from the ice machine getting ice for the ice bucket, announced, "I'm Tessie!"

The next night, at the reception, I was dancing with the groom's younger sisters (and two of my good friends who might as well be my younger sisters) Charlotte (19) and Clare (15) when Clare went off to dance with her cousin Theresa. Charlotte and I decided we needed new dance partners so we went off to the steps to the main table where we found Tessie and two-year-old Maria; we asked them to dance and they agreed. I spent most of the rest of the night bouncing around the dance floor with a three-year-old on my hip. We also got good at dips and flips; I had to do all the hard work but she LOVED it and would shriek for more. I occasionally let her dance with other partners.
One of our best dances were with another small child. Tessie loves Maria, Mark's cousin on his mom's side of the family. She wanted to go say hello to Maria, who was with her mother, Lisa. We went over to talk to Maria and Lisa and then the little girls decided they wanted to dance together. In their world, dancing meant being held by Lisa and me while they held hands and we bounced them around to the beat of the music.
My favorite dance was with Tessie and my older brother, Greg. Greg and I had been meaning to dance at some point during the evening and he was partner-less at one point while Tessie and I were bouncing around. A slow song came on, so I asked him if he wanted to join us on the dance floor. He acquiesced and he and Tessie held hands while I held her and he had his other hand on my back in the typical ballroom dance position. It was cute but it was also fun.

I also got to dance with Alexander, another cousin of the groom. Alexander is nine years old and has more energy than the Energizer bunny. He also drank three cups of coffee during the course of the evening. He was bouncing all over the place and I couldn't keep up with him. He wore me out and by the end of the evening, I was exhausted. But I still danced with Charlotte, Clare, and Theresa as much as I could.

On the whole, I had a great trip to St. Louis. I didn't like getting up at 5:30 this morning; that was miserable. And I had two rough flights home. But I made it back to Grand Rapids. And now I have three more days left in this lovely city. Tomorrow, I have a class with a paper due and a quiz. Tuesday, I have two four-page papers due. And Wednesday I have a final exam. That afternoon I'm heading home to Ann Arbor. I'm so ready for this.

How to Get Sunburned in Six Simple Steps

Speaking as a very red person right now, I think I will detail my fantastic day yesterday all while explaining (with pictures) how to get a fantastically painful sunburn.

1) Find a sunny place to spend your day.
Check; we went to the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts for about five hours. It was a bright sunny 90-degree day. And there was very little shade.











2) Walk around a lot.

Check; we went to three different venues and traveled back and forth between them multiple times.
We also saw this really freaky lady.









3) Sit in direct sun as much as possible.

Please note the excessive sun in the picture. This was our third venue of the day.

By the way, I swear these dancers were doing a salute to High School Musical.








4) Wear tank-tops so as much of your body can be burned as possible.

We look cute and are opening ourselves up to getting burned.











5) Stand in lines as much as possible.


Don't we look happy? Here we are standing in line waiting to get henna tattoos.















6) Love every moment of it.


We loved the day. And we got some great bonding time out of it.

Here you can really see the burn beginning on Nicole. Mine is slightly visible but it didn't really become obvious until we got home and my camera batteries died so we didn't really get a chance to document it.












But next week, I'll be back with "How to Enjoy St. Louis." And maybe then we'll be able to see my redness. Or maybe we'll see me as a tan goddess.
Check in next week for my last post from Grand Rapids.

The Further Domestication of Cecilia-Irene

So back in October, our household purchased what we believed at the time to be a nice cut of steak. We were saving it for a nice/fancy dinner. But things never worked out and the "steak" sat in our freezer for months. Finally, about a week or so ago, Christina and I decided that the time to eat "steak" had come. We planned to cook it up on Friday before going out to see "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." It would be a nice dinner before seeing what turned out to be a fantastic movie.
Then, I took the "steak" out of the freezer and discovered it to be a pork shoulder. Unsure of how to cook this cut of meat, I turned to every cook's best friend. And before you could say BAM! we had a recipe for Roasted Pork Shoulder. It was pretty simple, just required some spices, red wine vinegar, and some time marinating in our fridge. We also added some potatoes to give us some vegetable and starch points. Before we put it in the fridge to marinate, it looked like this:














After marinating for three hours, we put it in the oven for three hours. (But we took the plastic wrap off first...not to worry...) The following picture was taken when the roast had been in the oven for about an hour and a half.


Isn't it pretty?


And I mean the roast, not our oven. Our oven is old but faithful.








The roast was finally done around 6pm, when Christina's fiance, Jake, arrived for dinner. He had grilled cheese and rice while we girls had pork and potatoes and rice. (He didn't want to eat meat on a Friday.) But before serving the meat and potatoes, I made it look all pretty because after all, presentation is key.
Now, this is pretty. The potatoes and the pork were very artistically arranged on the platter. (The rice was in another dish.)











I think I'm getting pretty good at this domestication thing. In the past month, I've made lemon-parsley chicken, east bistro chicken (this semi-spicy chicken and pasta dish), and now the pork.

And Prince Caspian was great. I loved it. It wasn't completely true to the book but whatever...

At long last...

For the past several weeks, I have been stressing out about one thing. I had yet to receive my formal acceptance into la Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. I'd been accepted into the program here at GVSU, but not in Spain. I had hit the point where my prayers went something like "Jesus, make me more like you. And could I please get my letter from Spain ASAP? Help me to become a strong holy woman of God and get into the University of Deusto..." I think you get the general idea.
I was so worried/stressed that this morning, I had my housemate Christina check my email for me. I knew the acceptance letter would be coming soon and I knew it would be coming to my email. But I couldn't handle one more day that dejected, rejected feeling of checking my email in the morning and seeing nothing from Spain. And then Christina opened my email account and said, "So, do you want me to read the email to you?" She started reading it to me and then she let me look at it. It was an amazingly peaceful moment.
So now I'm filling out the questionnaire for family housing. I'm hoping to live with a family; maybe even a Catholic family but that's probably too much to ask. But I'll keep praying. It probably won't be prayers along the lines of "Father, make me a strong, holy woman of God and please let me live with a Catholic family."
Pero, ahora, estoy feliz con el hecho que puedo asistir la Universidad de Deusto.

My left foot-paw!

This past summer I attended Campus Outreach Academy (COA), a program run by University Christian Outreach (UCO) to train and form good Christian leaders to evangelize on today's college campuses. This was a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful that I went. During numerous prayer times those two weeks, we heard many prophetic words and scripture passages telling us to prepare for times of sorrow, struggle, trial, and suffering. Sitting here on my couch in Grand Rapids and looking back over the past year, I've really started to realize that my many struggles these past nine months have been spiritual warfare more than anything else.
First, in September, there was my bout with walking pneumonia. This was a stressful time and in some ways changed the way I prayed and the things I requested of God.
This was followed by several months of simple, occasional health issues related to anemia, a migraine here or there, and stress/winter related fun.
Then, in January, I went to the UCO Winter Conference. And, as I realized the other day, I haven't been completely physically healthy since then. My migraines got to the point where I had a few that I thought were going to kill me. Then, my breathing problems, which turned out to be allergy-induced asthma rather than bronchitis, came along. And then, there was the long and painful saga of my left leg. (Side note: For some reason, I was just reminded of a comment a friend of mine once made that went something along the lines of "Identity crisis, my left foot-paw!" She was referencing this excellent series of children's books.)
My leg crisis began when I fell on the ice on my way to the bus-stop after work one jolly, cold night in February. I heard a distinct pop coming from my left knee but being in a hurry and rather tired, I thought nothing of it and headed home for the evening. My knee continued to hurt for a few days but I chalked that up to the fact that I was working six to eight hours a day most days that week. And I had spring break a few weeks later, so my leg seemed to heal and I went back to my normal life.
Unfortunately, my leg did not heal. Instead, I frequently found myself in pain after walking or running for a long time. This situation worsened as time went by and I started finding myself frequently packing my knee in ice. And Greg and Kyle frequently began pressing me to go see a doctor. So finally, right before finals week, I consented and made a doctor's appointment. The day after I finished my last final, Kyle's twin brother, Alex, drove me to Ann Arbor, and then Jenny Pink drove me to the doctor's office. The doc ordered an MRI and said I was looking at one of two situations. Either I had a torn meniscus (which would mean surgery and weeks in bed) or a sprained LCL. So, I made an appointment for and MRI the following Wednesday. And then I began wearing a knee brace and starting using crutches to hobble around the world. Then, I had my MRI and the following day found out these shocking results: sprained ACL (not too bad, just means I need physical therapy when I move back to Ann Arbor in late June) and arthritis.
Yep, I have arthritis. So I'm going to spend the rest of my life struggling with arthritis.

And yet, I know that in all of this, God will be with me and love me and support me.
More on this story later...I'm tired but I'd love to tell you about the ways that God has used this situation to bless me in the past few days.

If we can't even get along amongst ourselves...

So I found this news story on Yahoo today and it just made me so angry. If, as both sides say, the church is shared under a "status quo" relationship, why do they need to fight about who gets to use it? Can't they just make up a schedule that says "Armenians get the church from 8am to 10am and the Greeks get it from 11am to 1pm"?
I understand not wanting others to interfere with what you're doing, but this is just ridiculous. We need to find what similarities we have and cling to them rather than letting petty ethnic or political differences divide us. We all serve the same God and we need to honor that rather than living with our eyes fixed on our differences. We are here to bring others to Christ, not to tear each other down. We need to unite under the banner of Christ's love, not focus on differences.

More on my health...

So this past Thursday after classes, my dear mother picked me up from my domicile and drove me home to Ann Arbor. Aside from spending some quality time with the Sneezes and Miss Jenny Pink, I made time in my busy social calender to visit the doctor. The visit revealed a few things. I do not have bronchitis and have not had it for several months. Instead, it would appear that I have allergies (seasonal as well as to things such as dust and mold) and these allergies are creating an asthmatic situation in my lungs. Thus, I am not nearly as close to death as was previously suspected. I am on more medications than ever...I think four is an all-time high for me although no where near as high as many people I know, especially those over the age of seventy.

This news is, in my opinion, pretty much fantastic and calls for a celebration. I think the best possible way to celebrate would be to study until my eyes fall out of their sockets and write as many papers about inane topics as possible all while preparing presentations on topics about which I don't give a darn. After this, I will take difficult tests about things that I may or may not care about, depending on the subject matter at hand. After these examinations, I will give myself ten days to relax and then I will go back to the old grindstone and take two classes for six weeks. And then I will rejoice in the coming of summer.

But for now...check out these pictures of a west Michigan spring that I took while wondering GV's campus last week.

This is the pond behind the library looking out towards the performing arts center.












Spring has sprung...













Have a lovely week!

My guardian angel has blue eyes

So I have a little tale to tell y'all...
Last Saturday night, I was hanging out with my friends Mark, Lauren, Nicole, Clarissa, Kyle, and Alex at Mark's apartment. Around midnight, I started feeling a little weird so Kyle decided to round up the troops and take me home. Once he had Alex (his twin brother), Clarissa, Nicole, and I settled in his mom's van, he starting driving. We'd made it about a minute or two from the apartment when my breathing became weird, gasping almost like a scream. It apparently sounded like I was hyperventilating. So, Kyle asked me if I wanted to go home or to the hospital. I very insistently (and stubbornly and stupidly) demanded to go home. So Kyle drove me home. Once home, Clarissa rushed me into the house where my roommates and that good-old-fashioned paper bag trick did us all a few favors. Then I went to bed...
Monday morning, I called my doctor back home who told me to come in as soon as possible. Thusly, I made arrangements for my mom (who is on spring break this week) to come pick me up today and take me home to see the doctor. The nurse also told me that if anything funky happened with my breathing between Monday and Friday to immediately get my butt to urgent care.
Then came yesterday. My breathing had been a little painful all week but yesterday afternoon, inhaling and exhaling had become a painful, burning process. So, after my 3:00 to 4:15 class, I made my way across campus to my 4:30-5:45 class. But while sitting there before class, I shot Kyle a text message telling him about the burning breaths thing. He responded that he could take me to the hospital if I wanted; just let him now. And he was leaving campus at 5:00. It was 4:34 then.
I considered my options and said a quick prayer before gathering my things up and running out of class while frantically dialing Kyle's number. We agreed to meet at Kirkhoff ASAP and I started walking while he started driving. He and Mark were waiting for me when I got there and they drove me to the hospital. As we drove, he called his wonderful mother who told us which hospital to go to and even offered to make the half hour drive down from her house to the hospital to help out.
As it happened, someone had alerted Noelle, my roommate, to the situation and she alerted my brother, Greg. They came to the hospital but then we decided just to have Greg stay with me and Kyle would take Mark and Noelle back to my house where they were all expected for dinner. Greg stayed with me through hours of questions and waiting and watching other people get checked. He waited while I had a chest x-ray taken and then while we waited for two hours for it to be read. Then came the verdict.....BRONCHITIS. So they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic or two and an inhaler. But of course, they discharged me at 9pm so we'll have to wait a bit on filling them. I'm still going home today to see the doc tomorrow, by the way.
But afterwards, Greg took me to the end of the UCO meeting. And that was great, seeing all these people who had been praying for me. Afterwards, we went to Applebee's to get me some dinner; it was 10pm and I hadn't eaten yet. Before we left, Kyle (who has blue eyes, by the by) gave me a hug and told me not to do anything stupid...
It was an amazing experience, realizing that while being sick sucks there are people around me who love me and care about me. They were such a sign of God's presence in my life yesterday. And it was one of those days where I felt like my guardian angel was inhabiting the body of someone near me. And yesterday, that person had blue eyes.

A Tragic Wound

Last night, I finished reading Orientale Lumen, John Paul II's Apostolic Letter written in 1995 to make the centenary of Orientaliom Dignitas. Towards the end of the letter, John Paul II offers some thoughts that I found very interesting in light of recent discussions I've had about the future of the Eastern Catholic Churches. I think a lot of people think that Byzantine Catholics will eventually become part of the Roman Catholic Church, using the Roman Liturgy and accepting Rome's authority in all things.
I think, on the other hand, that is far more likely that if the Byzantine Catholic Churches are ever made part of another Church, it will make far more sense to join them to the Orthodox Churches. John Paul addressed this in Orientale Lumen when he wrote:
"It has been stressed several times that the full union of the Catholic Eastern Churches with the Church of Rome which has already been achieved must not imply a diminished awareness of their own authenticity and originality. Wherever this has occurred, the Second Vatican Council has urged them to rediscover their full identity...These Churches carry a tragic wound, for they are still kept from full communion with the Eastern Orthodox Churches despite sharing in the heritage of their fathers. A constant, shared conversion is indispensable for them to advance resolutely and energetically towards mutual understanding. And conversion is also required of the Latin Church, that she may respect and full appreciate the dignity of Eastern Christians, and accept gratefully the spiritual treasures of which the Eastern Catholic Churches are the bearers, to the benefit of the entire catholic communion; that she may show concretely, far more than in the past, how much she esteems and admire the Christian East and how essential she considers its contribution to the full realization of the Church's universality."

I think that a lot of people, at least of my acquaintance, are not aware of the history and traditions of the Byzantine Catholic Churches and our connections to the Orthodox Churches. I also think it is important to recognize the traditions of the other Churches. We all need to learn about each other and work together to help the cause of unity along.

New Name, Same Girl

So I've changed the name of my blog from "Somewhere Only We Know" to "A Light of the East" a name that I took from John Paul the Great's 1994 Apostolic Letter "Orientale Lumen" which means "The Light of the East." I've decided that being a member of that East, with my desire to share my love of Eastern Christianity with others, I would change the name of my blog to suit my purpose.
I was raised Byzantine Catholic. My dad is an ordained deacon in that Church. And I love that Church deeply and passionately. It is my home and my heart. And I want to share this East, this frequently forgotten "lung" with the rest of the Church. JPII liked to refer to the Eastern Catholics as "the other lung of the Church."
And with life in the Church moving the way it is, I think it is really important for me to stand up for my church and share my faith with others. The church is hoping to move towards unity between East and West and I am hoping to be a voice of that unity. I think that being Eastern Catholic puts me in an interesting place in this world. I have many Roman Catholic and Protestant friends; I even have a few Orthodox Christian friends. But I have few Byzantine friends, especially my own age. And I have been exposed to both East and West, and yet my Church is a bridge between the two. This allows me a unique perspective on the Church. And it is this perspective that I want to share with the world.
I will continue to share my life with you, especially once I go to Spain in the fall. I will even continue to share my bizarre news stories with you. But I will also attempt to share a bit of my Orientale Lumen with you.
Christ is Risen!

Christ is Risen!

First off, I'll say that I was unable to take any pictures of any actual liturgical services that I attended last weekend. However, they were all wonderful. Friday night we had more than enough adventures for one weekend trying to get to and from Good Friday services. Saturday morning, my dad, Greg, Mark, Susanna, and I had Jerusalem Matins at home due to weather. The rest of the weekend went according to schedule.
If you are interested in seeing videos of Eastern Catholic services, check out this. It's the YouTube account for St. Elias (Elijah) Ukrainian Catholic Church in Brampton, Ontario.

All We Like Sheep

That's always been my favorite part of The Messiah. I love the idea that if you just look at the words, it seems like we're saying that we like sheep when really Handel (and an Old Testament prophet) is comparing us to sheep that go astray only to be found by The Shepherd who will break their legs and carry them around on His Shoulders until they learn to stay close to Him.

Well, it's Holy Week. I suppose it's fitting that it would be during Holy Week that I would have to spend most of my time writing papers. Today I have a paper about the effects of divorce on children due. Tomorrow, I have a paper about "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf due. And a week from today, I have my huge child development paper due. My goal is to have it done by Thursday so I don't have it distracting me when I should be focusing on praying and church services.

This year, my brother was asked to help cantor the Thursday evening service at the church we attend in Grand Rapids. He agreed and so we will be attending the "Twelve Gospels" service at St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Grand Rapids. I've never been to this service before because most Byzantine Catholic parishes hold this service during the day on Good Friday and I'm always helping my mom with things around the house then. However, St. Mike's is holding the service on Thursday night and so Greg and I will be attending the service. Basically, it's a service that consists of reading St. Matthew's Passion, then St. Mark's Passion followed by St. Luke's Passion, and just for good measure, St. John's will conclude the evening. There are a few other prayers during the evening but the primary focus is on the Passion accounts in the Gospel.

Greg and I will be heading home after the 12 Gospels. Friday night, we will be back at our home parish, Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic Church in Livonia. Here we will attend Good Friday Vespers with Burial Procession, an Eastern tradition. The basic idea behind this service is that it is Christ's funeral. At the end of service, we "inter" the Shroud of Christ in a "tomb" at the front of the church. The Shroud will remain there until Resurrection Matins on Sunday morning. The Shroud has an icon of the Body of Christ; around the edge of the shroud is written "The noble Joseph took down Your Most Pure Body from the Cross and wrapping it in clean linens laid it in a new tomb." The evening concludes with the veneration of the Shroud by the faithful while the cantors sing "Having suffered passions for us, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us."
After this, Greg and I along with our friends Mark, Susanna, and Charlotte will head home to explode Peeps in the microwave.

Saturday morning, my dad, Greg, Mark, Charlotte, Susanna, and I will head to St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church in Detroit for Jerusalem Matins. This is primarily a service meditating on Christ's saving act of salvation and how he is the fulfillment of countless Old Testament Prophecies.

Sunday morning, we will attend Resurrection Matins, which obviously celebrates the Resurrection of Christ. This is followed by the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which is pretty much normal except for a few things. The Gospel, which is John 1:1-18, is read in English, Greek, old Church Slavonic, Arabic, and Latin as a symbol of the proclamation of the Gospel to all the nations. After the Gospel, the deacon proclaims St. John Chrysostom's famous Easter homily. After this, we all go over to the parish hall, where the priest blesses our Easter baskets filled with traditional Slovak Easter foods such as egg bread, egg cheese, sausage, and hard-boiled eggs. (Okay, so we might like eggs.)

At some point next week, I'll try to put up some pictures of what this looks like.

When I look to the sky...

I'm home on spring break, which puts me at being about halfway through the semester. It hasn't been a hard semester academically but it has motivated some serious thoughts on a more personal level.

1) My cat was diagnosed with thigh cancer in early January. He's still alive, and thoroughly obnoxious thanks to the steroids he's taking to help with the swelling in his thigh. They make him hungrier than normal, but he isn't being fed anymore than normal. We might send him off to hang out with Barry Bonds...

2) I'm starting to deal with the more practical details of preparing for Spain and while it's not a lot of work, it does keep me reminded that in six months, I'll be living in a foreign country, far from everything I know and am used to.

3) This one is probably the biggest thing I've been dealing with of late, but it requires a bit of explanation. On Good Friday 2003, I was diagnosed with migraines. For a fourteen year old girl, this was hard. I was put on a prescription daily "preventative" called Propranolol, which was to prevent migraines. I took this medication and struggled through migraines for about two years. While on a retreat on April 2, 2005, I was prayed over for healing from migraines and they left. I lived a migraine-free life from April 2, 2005 until December 21, 2005. That day, while spending time with some friends and celebrating the start of Christmas break, I had my first migraine in eight and a half months. Since then, I've lived with migraines that can often last for days and that have become more intense and more painful and more frequent with the passing of time. I've tried to treat them without prescription medication however, of that, that has become impossible. In the month of February, which is by the way the shortest month of the year, I had five migraines.
I know my "triggers": light and sound/noise. And I know that caffeine helps me. But it's hit the point where I need more. So this morning, I saw my doctor who put me back on Propranolol and added Imitrex to my life. Now I have a more powerful resource than a cup of coffee or a couple of Excedrin migraine tablets.
I've been asked why I don't want to be prayed over for healing in this area of my life. And believe me; I've thought about doing that. But I've been praying about it and I feel that isn't what God wants to do with my life right now. At some point, He may want to work in that direction with my life, but right now, He wants to do something else with my life. I know that God uses sufferings to bring us closer to Him and to work in our lives, so I'm going to trust that there is something God wants to do in my life right now and He is working through my migraines to accomplish it.

That's my life right now. It's not exciting or dramatic, but God is working in it. And maybe someday, I'll understand it better.

L is for the way you look at me...like I'm crazy

O is for the only one I see....reading this.
V is very very extraordinary...in that it's Thursday.
E is even more than anyone that you adore...but why you would adore me is beyond me...

Happy Feminine Mind Control Day! I hope it will treat you all wonderfully. Eat lots of chocolate (providing you didn't give it up for Lent) and make sure to get back to work on a diamond-studded chocolate shoe as soon as you have the time.

Back to Before

So the gorgeous flowers you can now view to the right of my "eloquent" postings was taken on my coffee table this past Saturday. The beauties were given to my household by our neighbors this past Friday. The guys live two doors down from us and are in a Christian rock band. I guess they had a bunch of vases of flowers like this from a photo shoot and our mutual landlord suggested that they give us a vase of them. So late Friday night (while I was elsewhere) Jerry brought the flowers over.
If you examine the picture closely, you'll notice the presence of several tie-dyed roses. These roses were $30 per stem, imported from the Netherlands. I'm sitting here now looking at the flowers and they make me so happy. I love flowers and these ones are just so colorful and cheerful.

Beyond the flowers, my life continues in its usually drudgery...I'm working something like 20 hours this week, which is busy but really good. I need the money. I was sad, very sad, to see the Patriots lose, but I guess that it's a reminder that no one is perfect.
Feminine Mind Control Day is quickly approaching. I can't wait for it to end; I'm sick of all the pink and red crap in the stores.

Read it and weep!

This announcement was found on the website Grand Valley State University.
All campuses and regional centers of Grand Valley State University are closed today, January 30, 2008, due to severe weather conditions. Only essential employees report to work.

I'm enjoying my wondrous snow day. I hope you're all having a great day too.

News of the best possible sort

So yesterday I mentioned that my application to study abroad at the Universidad de Deusto en Bilbao, Espana was pending approval. Well, as of today, that is no longer true. I have been accepted to study abroad from September to December of 2008 at the Universidad de Deusto. Bilbao is in northern Spain and is home to the Guggenheim Museum as well as many other beautiful buildings including several gorgeous churches, which I intend on visiting. Also, included among Bilbao's sister cities are Pittsburgh, PA in the U.S.
My classes in Bilbao will start on September 2 and go until December 12. So I'll be gone by Labor Day weekend. I'm going to be taking four or five classes focusing in Spanish Language and Culture. Apparently, the climate is relatively temperate and this is not a place with winters like ours; their average temperature in December is 10 degrees Celsius. So umm...I'll be leaving my winter coat in Michigan, thank you very much.
I'm so excited!

What is this world coming to?

Okay, so classes started today. I'm taking 18 credits, which is 6 classes, but one of them is online and Lauren is in another one of them, so life is beautiful. But I was sad to return to classes this morning because it meant the end of break. I've loved my break; it was great. I watched movies, drank coffee, hung out with friends especially Jenny Pink, and had an amazing weekend at the UCO/SPO Winter Conference in Columbus, Ohio. God is still good.
But then I returned to class this morning. Although, apparently, this poor Mexican child had a much harder time dealing with that concept than I did. I would NEVER glue myself to a bed to avoid school. It sucks but it's not THAT bad. And then he had to go to school anyway. That was not worth the trouble involved.

In other news, my study abroad application is now being processed, so please keep that in your prayers.