Once Again...it's been a while...

Hello Family and Friends!

I guess the lack of blogging is a good sign that life has been eventful and entertaining!

I would like to share some of that with you.

I just finished my second year of teaching and am quickly approaching year three at the same high school. This year is promising because I will have the same preps all year and I have already taught the courses previously. So my aspirations this semester are to hold my students more accountable, to do a better job of getting to know my students, and to improve the curriculum I have implemented.

On that note, this summer's primary goal is to get a jump start on my Master's Thesis Project. I have decided that I am going to do a study on the correlation between student motivation and teacher-student relationships. To do so I am going to have biweekly conferences with my students. As I finalize my approach I will share more later on this.

So basically this summer my time has consisted of relaxing, working on my thesis, and traveling, seeing friends and family, oh and procrastination (I can't tell a lie).

I hope that you all are doing well too!

God Bless, Lauren

Below is more of a photo story of what has been going on!

Let's take a glimpse...

27 years...

For my birthday, I spent the day with several friends in Kansas City...

The day began with Mass followed by a play date with Katie, Joachim, and Isaac Burton and with Kristi and Gianna Dennihan...

After playing all morning, Jenni Bence took me out to lunch and TCBY!

Then Sarah and I took a tour of a few churches around town followed up with an italian dinner at Lidia's downtown...

At the conclusion of dinner, we had a small gathering of guests for ice cream sundaes....

Guests present: Michelle, John, Annie, Mike, Ryan, Katie, Joachim, Isaac, Kelly, and Dan

oh and let's not forget the dance party!

Thanks for everyone for your thoughts, prayers, flowers, and calls on my birthday!

Cheers to 27!

Recent Favorite Quotes!

"What is important is that each of us begins to trust in our own beauty and our capacity to do beautiful things"

~Becoming Human

"To be human is to accept ourselves just as we are, with our own history, and to accept others as they are. To be human means to accept history as it is and to work, without fear, towards greater openness, greater understanding, and a greater love of others. To be human is not to be crushed by reality, or to be angry about it or to try to hammer it into what we think it is or should be, but to commit ourselves as individuals, and as a species, to an evolution that will be for the good of all.

~Becoming Human

"Let us thoroughly persuade ourselves that God can be found everywhere without effort, because he is always present to those who seek him with their whole heart, though he may not always cause his divine presence to be felt."

~Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade

"To fall in love with God is the greatest of romances, to seek Him the greatest adventure, to find Him the greatest human achievement."

~St. Augustine

"The gift of wisdom leads us to peace: the interior peace of the soul who, having tasted God, gives itself to Him without reserve, in complete surrender to His divine will; the serene peace of one who, seeing God in all things, accepts the hardships of life without being disturbed, adoring God's providence in all....

All Christians are children of God by grace, but here we are considering the special reward which we might call a superabundance of the grace of adoption, an experience by which the soul not only knows, but even feels and tastes that it is a child of God. It is the savory sense of divine filiation which is born in the soul under the influence of the gift of wisdom. 'The Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God' (Rom 8:16); these words of St. Paul become a living reality, a delightful experience; the soul feels itself called a child of God, not by men, but by God Himself; no audible voice speaks to it, but the more it feels drawn by God and enjoys Him in intimate union, so much the more does it feel that He is its Father and that, in very truth, it is His Child."

~Divine Intimacy, 314.2

Snap shots of KC!

Liberty Memorial, home to the National WWI Memorial

City View from Liberty Memorial

Union Station and Western Auto

Sunset behind Boulevard Brewing Co.

City View from the Boulevard

KC's best BBQ located in a gas station!

Fountains at the Plaza

Old Merriam

CCS Golf Tourney

Catholic Challenge Sports is a league of young adults who enjoy recreation. Through this league I have participated in flag football, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, kickball, and now miniature golf.

My teammates, the Schwallers, their friend, and I were team Golf Terms. Though we thought we may have a running for the theme contest, we ended up winning the tourney for our skill instead. For a game of best ball, we tied for first with a score of 15 under par. However we had to play one extra hole to see who the first place team would win the title. My teammates entrusted the task to me. So I competed against the other team, for a hole that felt much like the PGA, with the crowd standing by in silence anticipating each stroke. Somehow, I managed to win it for the team, even though my first "putt" landed off course!

It was a fun night and a good reminder that a game of putt putt can be great entertainment!

Team GOLF TERMS: Back 9, Hole in One, Handicap, and Driver

(aka: me, Justin, Kelly, and Dan)

Madison

For the fourth of July weekend, Jessica and I flew into Madison, WI to spend a few days with Kelly Watters. It was a great weekend and I am sold that Madison is a great city! We walked around campus, the downtown area, the Capital. We enjoyed the city market which encompassed the squared block surrounding the Capital building. We enjoyed the two Terraces of Lake Monona and Lake Mendota, and enjoyed catching up!

I have to admit that Dane's Circle Crop Wheat may outdo Boulevard Wheat!

Kelly and Jess

The Three of Us

View of the Capital from Lake Monona

City Market

For the 4th, we traveled just outside of Madison into a nearby town of Sauk City to watch the fireworks atop a bridge over the Wisconsin River

Kelly, Jess and I went on our last day to the Terrace at the campus union which overlooks Lake Mendota. There to our surprise we ran into Theo, our high school friend, and Laura!

Lake Mendota Terrace

Taking a look at the Observatory Outlook point on campus, which overlooks Lake Mendota

I had lunch with Renee Ann Poulin, a fellow promised Collaborator

After my time with Jessica and Kelly, my high school friends, I ventured over to Emily and Ben Beier's home, two of my college friends. Here they are with their daughter Moira. I spent a few days with them in which we enjoyed good ice cream, beer (we partook in beer on the campus terrace), looking at the local gardens, good walks, and great time to catch up.

Here's a close up of sweet Moira!

Madison was a great way to welcome the summer season and to spend time with good friends!