Halloween

Grandpa and Whoopi

I have to share a little bit of my family's tradition....well my grandma got hold of these nun "costumes." Honestly, I am still not sure of their origins, but they are fantastic, and if you know my mom, any of her friends, my aunts, or myself, you may have been in a sighting of these great habits!

For Halloween, my grandpa, the prankster that he is, wanted to enter a Halloween costume contest at his residence. He convinced one of the nurses to dress up with him as nuns! They were the champs! Check out these pics!

And here are some of his cheerleaders!

My sister Robyn

My grandma and Aunt Lynn

My Cousin Mary Came to Town!!!

My cousin Mary Murphy, an 8th grader at Visitation Academy in STL, came to Kansas City to play in a field hockey tournament. I was able to go watch her play a game on Saturday and cheer her on! It was great to see her and watch her encourage her teammates! It was a surreal experience having her in town. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit too long, but it was great to see her!

I love you Mary!

Mary is the 6th jersey from the left, #18!

Job well done Mary! Go Defense!

Collaborator Weekend

Friday night, before the Collaborator meeting on Saturday, Jessica and Aubrey traveled into town from Wichita. Sarah and I joined them for a dinner out! We ended up enjoying some drinks and dessert too! Jessica and I enjoyed a rather large, dare I say pint size, Long Island Ice Teas. The night was full of laughs and a good time to be in each others company!

On Saturday night, after the Collaborator meeting, some of the younger crowd headed out for drinks also to spend time in friendship and community.

I am blessed to have many great people in my life.

CCS Flag Football

So I committed myself to the Catholic Challenge Sports flag football league. I was excited for it because it would be a fun outdoor activity on Saturday mornings, particularly at a central downtown area location. We played at the foot of Liberty Memorial (a WWI memorial). However, I found myself exceptionally busy and only able to make it about 60% of the time....I think I am finally understanding the rules and having a sense of all the action around me, now that the season is over! That's okay, it was fun anyways!

Next season....Dodgeball!

Hee Haw Hoedown

Howdy Partner!

I recently attended the 2nd Annual Hee Haw Hoedown with the young adult community here in KC. It was a lot of fun. We spent the evening out on a ranch with a BBQ Dinner with live music, followed by square dancing, hay rack rides, a bonfire, attempting to lasso, two-stepping and just being in good company. Here's a glimpse at the evening....

Live Music...The Burnt Ends


Many came in western attire, but no one could beat Ryan 's

Square Dancing, with a caller and all!


Sarah has mad lasso skills. In fact, she lassoed me two out of three times. This next shot was her best! Look at the shock on her face!

Here's some live action from the attempt before....



My friends Carrie (the organizer of the Hoedown)

and Jean on a hay ride!

My friends Katie, Adrienne, and Michelle

The Trifecta...Myself with Michelle and Sarah. The three of us will be bridesmaids in our friend Sasha's wedding in January!

It was a fun evening!

PHS Homecoming Parade

This year I am serving again as co-sponsor of the Freshmen Class Executive...proud sponsor of Class of 2012! We had our homecoming weekend with the theme of New York Night City Life.

I think :)

Our freshmen created cardboard paintings of New York's night skyline and we then attached them to Christy's, my co-sponsor, truck. Here are just a few pics. We started about a mile or mile and a half from school and finished the parade at school.

Some of the Exec Council's members

My most favorite float of the parade, although I am not sure how it related to the theme! They had live bluegrass music and all!

The view at the close of the parade, which is also our view from the front of school.

Congratulations Panthers on your win at Homecoming!

Sweet Home Alabama Reunion!

For several months now, there has been talk of a Bama House Reunion, with the original five. We had difficulty coordinating our calendars, but to our surprise we were able to make it happen. Sheena came into town from Chicago in order to promote Mercy Works to KU students, the organization she has been part of for the past few years. So we took advantage of having her in town since the other four of us currently reside in KC.

Sheena, Jenni, me, Anne Marie, and Katie

We spent our time together in the park with Katie's boys, then we had an "Alabama" dinner with some of our fondest memories...margaritas and chili! This was followed by an evening of memories, laughs, and catching up with each others' lives and a slumber party at Katie's.

These girls are dear to my heart and have greatly impacted my life, particularly during my college years!

Cheers to great friends, roommates, or should I say FROOMATES!

Here's to our friendship and reunions in years to come!

What a weekend!

This past weekend was quite enjoyable. After a rapid fire two weeks of non-stop activity, little sleep, a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, I was rewarded with a day off of school after having parent teacher conferences both Wednesday and Thursday evening. With my day off, I decided to tackle my to do list that has been lingering for literally over a year! So Friday, I knocked a few things off my list, went out to lunch with some of my colleagues, and spent an evening of leisure with my friend Jenni B. Then Saturday I enjoyed the day by attending morning Mass, playing flag football downtown, followed by being kidnapped by two of my friends, and then that evening we got dressed up to attend Winefest, a fundraiser for the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center.

Saturday, my friends Michelle and Sarah kidnapped me for the afternoon. We attended time in prayer and went to confession. Then the rest of the afternoon they pampered me before Winefest. They treated me to a massage and then we all got ready for the evening.

Sunday was strange but great! I awoke and went to Mass and then upon my return I felt totally depleted....I think finally my craziness of the past two weeks, and the aftermath of the massage caught up to me. I literally rested all day! That is unheard of for me...but it was wonderful. I took a long nap and then went to the park for recreation in the evening. It was a great way to spend the Sabbath and rejuvenate for the week...even if it wasn't by choice!

Okay, I have bored you with enough detail, but I do want to leave this on one note. For all of you who have some role in my life, I love you and cherish you. I can never be grateful enough for what you do for me, even just by being in your presence!

God bless you all!

Love, Lauren

2nd National CYJOY Conference

“The Holy Spirit desires unity, he desires totality.
Therefore, his presence is finally shown above all in missionary zeal. Anyone who has come across something true, beautiful and good in his life hastens to share it everywhere, in the family and at work, in all the contexts of his life.”
~Benedict XVI

Last weekend, September 19-21st, I attended and particpated in the 2nd National Meeting of the Collaborators of Your Joy. As I have mentioned before, Collaborators is a group that meets monthly with the religious order, the Apostles of the Interior Life (AVI).

Within the Collaborators is a small group in formation who will take promises to this lay movement. We are currently preparing for our promises which will take place on January 1st, 2009.

This conference was centered around the Apostle St. Paul since the Pope has declared this to be the year of St. Paul. The conference offered talks, meditations, the Sacraments, fellowship, and of course entertainment! Below are several pics of the weekend. Near the end you find several pictures of the entertainment. I will explain more below!

The participants in front of the old stone chapel at Holy Trinity, Lenexa, KS.

The Apostles of the Interior Life. The reason why we all desire to be Collaborators of Your Joy!

Troy Hinkel, MC for the weekend, speaker, and Collaborator.

Mike Scherschligt, speaker and Collaborator.

Sr. Elena, AVI

Taking it all in!

The Sacraments

This was the most beautiful hour of adoration I had been to!

And now onto the ENTERTAINMENT....

The family, those who are taking promises with the Collaborators, put together a skit titled, A Collaborator Carol. This was taken after A Christmas Carol. Basically, I played myself as a teacher who woke up one morning and had a terrible day. I overslept, my students were discipline problems, and so I headed to a bar to drink my troubles away. But as the Carol goes, throughout my day I ran into several people and ghosts. I constantly found myself running into the sisters who asked me what the purpose of my life was. Then when I went to the bar, I ran into a bar tender who had just met another sister and he suddenly became a Collaborator of Your Joy. As he tries to spread the joy, I met the Ghost of the Past. He asked me, "What is your story?" After meeting with him, I ran into the Ghost of the Present. She invites me to a Collaborator Party, there I find myself surrounded with joy, but can't seem to find joy myself. At the party I run into the Ghost of the Future. He caused me to overhear a coversation of the sisters who said it was a shame that I never found joy. I then pleaded to the Present to help me change my ways. He sent me back to my bed, where I found myself awake on the same day, realizing that I had just dreamed all the aforementioned interactions. This caused me to change my ways and become a Collaborator!

I have a video footage of this, however it is too large of a file to download, so hopefully the pictures suffice!

These are my rowdy students, please notice Mike in the background with his grimace smile...

Drinking my troubles away...



Dozing off...


to be rudely awaken by Ghost of the Past. The video is far better, but little did I or the crowd know that Mike was not going to awake me by knocking as planned...rather he decided to dump a large pitcher of warm water on me!


The Collaborator Party, where the joy was busting out in dance by the Collaborators.


After this skit, several witness talks were given. Following the talks, Jessica and I wrapped up the evening with a little yodeling! She shared about our time with the Apostles while visiting Cortina, Italy this summer.


The video says it all...


but here are a few stills for you!

The Aftermath!

My roommates once a month! Jessica and Aubrey come and stay with me on the weekends we have collaborator meetings!

Even if you were not able to be there with me, you were with me there in spirit. To each of you who receive my emails, you are a blessing in my life an bring me much joy! Thanks for your support and love!

God Bless,

Lauren