Long Time, No Blog!

Hello family and friends, it has been quite some time since I have last sent out an update/posting...since before Thanksgiving in fact...so of course, things have happened...

I have taken some time over the past few weeks trying to play catch up...So if you want to, have fun and browse, otherwise, I just want you all to know that I hope you are well!

Just for a quick update, I am having the best semester of my career. My students are respectful, honorable, enjoyable, and best of all, quiet! Although, I did have to threaten today to my last block class that they did not want to meet Ms. D from the fall semester. They got quiet pretty quickly, I guess I built a reputation for myself last semester...the teacher who yelled a lot! :)

Since school is going well, I find that I am much more at ease and at peace this semester. I am staying busy as always with school, Collaborators, apostolate, sports leagues, catching up with friends, visits home, trying to consistently run, and working on spiritual resolutions.

To my family, I miss you dearly. To my friends across the country, I hope all is going well!

Love to you all,

Lauren

My Godsons

God is good not only because He has blessed me with two handsome Godsons, but also because their birthdays are close together, so I can't forget them! (Just kidding!)

Happy Birthday to Ben, my eldest! (March 7th)

Happy 1st Birthday to Issac, my youngest! (March 10th)

I love you two!

Lenten Reflections

Here are just a few [random] passages that have struck me this Lenten Season. I find myself often reflecting on how much God loves us, and yet how much I fail to recognize His Love (or take it for granted), and His will in my life, and how much Joy I can have knowing that He is mine and I am His. This is true for all of us. Remember, let yourself be loved and known by Him who died so that we may live.

"Nothing is ever quite what we anticipated. There is the interplay of circumstances on our desires. It makes known to us what is God's will for us; and so we give up in our desires what does not fit in with God's plan for us, content to do as He wishes."

~Father Bede Jarrett, O.P.

"With my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and passion, I was constantly away from the place where God had chosen to make home. Coming home and staying there where God dwells, listening to the voice of truth and love, that was, indeed, the journey I most feared because I knew that God was a jealous lover who wanted every part of me and all the time. When would I be ready to accept that kind of love?...God showed me the way...to return home and to look for God where God can be found--in my own inner sanctuary."

~ Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son

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To those who turn to him today, Jesus continues to offer healing and strength. I encourage all of you to place your trust in him, and to bring before him your hopes and your needs, for yourselves and for your loved ones. May the Lord grant your prayers and pour out upon all of you his abundant blessings."

~Pope Benedict, following Angelus on 2.15.09

“For now I just want you to be with me and discover that…I am good, and I desire only what is best for you. You cannot find that through guilt or condemnation or coercion, only through a relationship of love. And I love you.”

~The Shack

"The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. ... Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about...when infinite joy is offered us... We are far too easily pleased."

~The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis