Butterfly Kisses and why I don't keep up with my bl

You deserve a cookie. Yes, you. Why? Well, because you keep coming back here to read about my life even though I am officially a terrible blogger. It's been almost a month since I last wrote. I could try to make up some elaborate, crazy narrative about why I have been "offline" for a month, but honestly my life isn't that intense. I have no excuses. I guess you love me anyway though (that's why you're here, right?) so that's wonderful! 

Despite my lack of good reasons for my mini-sabbatical, I do have one thing which might help you understand this particular aspect of my innate nature as Katie Elizabeth. You see, prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung proposed a "psychological typology" which systematically sorts people into one of sixteen personality types. My type is INFP. Studies show that INFP is one of the rarer personality types, accounting for only 4-5% of the global population. Basically, I'm an endangered species. Read more about my species here. 

Now how does all this relate to my apparent incapability of keeping a regular schedule of posts going? A funny Christian therapist in Colorado came up with a series of prayers which apply to the various personalities. 

My prayer is: "God, help me to finish everything I sta". 

It fits, right? Granted, this blog isn't exactly something that needs to be finished, but I think the idea applies to my delayed writing habits too. 

Before I go on, I want to take a moment to add a word specifically to my Facebook friends:

Dear friends,

First, thank you for reading my blog and my Facebook posts. I am tickled pink. Second, please know that there are some people who come here but don't have Facebook. It is for them and for my own personal satisfaction that I, on occasion, will be repeating things I already mentioned on Facebook. I hope you understand and don't mind the slight flashbacks. Thank you for being beautiful and lovely. Carry on kindly.

Onward! Just in case there are some curious kittens out there who desperately want to discover their personality type, the link is here. And once you find out, see below the appropriate prayer for you.

Click to enlarge.

Now the title of this post should make more sense. (This should be one of those: "I see what you did there" moments.)

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Remember how I have been in training to become a full-fledged crisis pregnancy counselor? Well.....

If that's too blurry to read, it basically says that my boss is pleased with my work and I have "graduated" from training status and am now a 100% whole grain crisis pregnancy counselor! 

I feel like maybe I should rename my blog to be something like "Diary of a Crisis Pregnancy Counselor," because basically that's all I care about sharing with y'all. You probably don't care about my school woes, or my work dilemmas, or even my precious dog memoirs. But that will have to wait till next time. 

If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, counseling young women in their most vulnerable state, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.....I would have laughed in your face. But God works in wondrous ways. And thanks be to Him that I have been given this amazing opportunity to show these frightened women His endless love for them. 

Recently, a friend of mine asked me, "When they are pregnant out of wedlock, do y'all judge them?" It brings great sorrow to my heart that she even had to ask that question, as a result of our failures as a society to show compassion and mercy to these mothers. No. We never judge them for what happened. We're all sinners. Judging people helps nobody. We need to love them.

Not to mention, Jesus sort of commands it: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgments you give are the judgments you will get, and the standard you use will be the standard used for you." -Matthew 7: 1-2

All I constantly think about is:
"Who am I, that the girls that feel despair

would look on me with trust
and let me counsel them?
Who am I, that the God that calmed the sea
would use me as His voice
and calm the storm in her?"

"Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine!"

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Lastly, two quick tales which you may have heard before if you're on Facebook. (Cheer up, you get to re-live the magic!)

On October 14th I was sitting in the Student Computing Center working on a project, when out of nowhere a girl comes, plops down in the chair next to me and promptly exclaims, "You look like you're heading for RenFest!" And I'm totally confused, so I say "Uh...what?" And she says, "Your outfit. It's perfect for the Renaissance Festival!" And I say, "Oh...well, this is just how I dress every day....I guess I was born in the wrong era..." And she looks at me like I'm a weirdo. 

I'm actually 100% sure that I looked nothing like what they wear at the RenFest. Exhibit A:

Nope. Not even close.

My skirts tend to cause me problems like that. Or like today, as I was merrily peddling my new bike down the sidewalk on my way to class, when suddenly my bike slows to a halt, not of my choice. I had not pressed the brakes. Rather, my long, flowing skirt decided to do a secret handshake with my bike, get ruefully tangled, and lock up the gears. I was immobilized. The gears had snagged just enough fabric to make it impossible for me to walk alongside my bike without my skirt being pulled down. I literally had no option but to stand there and tug relentlessly at the knot, hoping against hope that it would magically come undone. It wasn't budging. Despair began to sink in. I had class in five minutes, and there was absolutely no way for me to get there. I was paralyzed, unable to move, trapped like a fish in a bowl. The only way to keep my dignity and modesty was to remain there, with my skirt fully ensnared in my gears. Movement in any direction spelled out the immodest and most un-lady-like tugging down of my skirt. 

The only option I had was to pester strangers who walked by and see if they had any solution. And so I did proceed to embarrassingly ask passerby if they happened to have a pair of scissors on them, to cut my skirt out of the gears of my bike. 

After several "Nope, sorry" replies and a handful of "Man...must stink to be you..." stares, I was blessed to find two kindhearted people to help me saw my skirt free with a pocket-knife. 

Just then, I had the great pleasure of noticing my sweet roommates crossing the street to marvel at what I call "Katie's daily conundrum." They giggle at (and/or with) me and take a picture of the quandary. Finally, the pocket-knife cuts through the fabric and I'm free, free at last!! 

Lita and Josh. Heroes of the day!

Until next time, I leave you with this nugget of insight and truth:

Be a Saint!

I never thought that I would be hearing my friends urging me to hurry up and write my next blog post, but I've been pleasantly surprised this week to learn how dedicated a few of you are to keeping up with my entries. That warms my little heart, so thank you for your interest.

To begin, cast your eyes upon this beautiful photograph of Jesus and his mommy. 

This is why Catholics love Mary: Because Jesus loved her first. 

If we can't love and honor this woman--who nurtured our Savior in her precious womb for nine months, who gave birth to the Lord of Heaven and Earth, who nursed the Redeemer at her breast, who taught Jesus how to walk, how to talk, how to cook, how to live as a holy little boy...this woman who lived side-by-side, under the same roof as our Savior and King, and who shared kisses and hugs, laughs, tears, and fears with our Jesus--something is wrong. We should love her because Jesus loves her. We should honor her because Jesus honors her. We should have a relationship with her because she is the mother of our Lover, and without her, who knows if the incarnation would have happened? Do you think it is appropriate to respect and talk to the mother of your boyfriend or girlfriend? I sure hope so. Is Jesus not the ultimate Lover of our souls? So why then would we not desire to respect and get to know His mother, too? Think about it. We do not worship Mary, we simply love her like Jesus does.

Alright, let's go chronologically backwards. We'll start with the present and work our way to the last blog post, to the best of my inadequate memory. So, I just got home from helping a friend of mine with a group project of hers. The project is for a marketing class, and her group is doing some research on crêperies and their customer-base. Basically we just answered some short questions about our perceptions and experiences eating crêpes. It was surprisingly kind of fun! 

Before that, I went to Old Navy because they are having a crazy store-wide sale this weekend and my roommate got some super adorable clothing items, which inspired me to update my wardrobe a tad. I purchased some beautiful new dresses, blouses, and skirts, and I cannot wait to wear them!

Earlier today, at noon, I attended the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and learned a lovely lesson of gratitude, humility, and faithfulness from Fr. J during the homily. But even more wonderfully, I received my Savior into my very body in the Eucharist. Fr. J posed some very moving questions to the people: 

1) Do you notice how many lepers were saved in today's Gospel reading? ....Only one. Ten lepers were healed, but only one was saved because only the one came back to give thanks. Our Faith is a great gift from God, and should inspire in us profound gratitude to the Father who has bestowed such a gift. It is the faith of that one leper which prompted him to go back and tell Jesus "thank you," and it is this faith and gratitude which saves him. The other lepers may have been healed in body, but their souls were still sick. Is not spiritual healing more important than physical healing? The ungrateful lepers may have received their bodies back, but did they lose their souls in their ingratitude? 

2) If you aren't going to Holy Mass every Sunday, why not? Is God not the most important Person in your life? Do you not have one hour to spare to give thanks to the God who created you from nothing? To worship the God who holds you in the palm of His hand and constantly ensures your existence? Do you realize that the only reason you are sitting there right now, breathing, reading, with a beating heart is because God Himself is thinking about you right now? At this moment, God has you in mind, and He is actively loving you into being. If God stopped thinking about you for one second, if He stopped caring about you for a moment, you would cease to exist. This is quite different from death. Death is our means of passing from this world into eternal life in Heaven, or eternal separation from God in Hell. As Saint Therese said, "Death is no phantom, no horrible specter, as presented in pictures. In the catechism it is stated that death is the separation of soul and body, that is all! Well, I am not afraid of a separation which will unite me to the good God forever." So why not get yourself to give one hour of your weekly time to God? Tell me one thing more important than God. The only proper response reinforces the point. God deserves your time more than anyone or anything else. He desires you to be at Holy Mass not because He needs it, but because you need Him, and you can find Him physically present in the tabernacle and in the Eucharist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I don't know about you, but if I can encounter God in a physical way, count me in. 

3) Don't leave Mass early. It's rude and disrespectful. Fr. J gave a great analogy: What if you are at the movie theatre and you get up and leave before the movie is over? What does your action say? It says you didn't like the movie; it wasn't worth your time. Imagine if the director or producer of the movie was there and they saw you get up and walk out like that? How would they feel? They would be insulted and hurt. When you leave Mass early, you're telling God that Mass isn't worth your time. At Mass, we are given the Body and Blood of God. And that isn't worth your time? Ouch. Try saying that to His face next time. If the movie analogy isn't enough, imagine you're at your birthday party and once you receive your gift, you get up and leave. How would everyone else feel? You only wanted to use them to get something for yourself. Isn't that selfish? It's the same with Holy Mass. God gives us the best gift in the whole entire universe: His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. And you're just going to walk out early after He gives Himself to you, instead of staying until the celebration is finished? 

4) If you don't pray every day, why not? Doesn't God deserve five minutes of your daily time? Can you take a few minutes at the beginning of your day to say "thank you" to Jesus for allowing you to wake up that morning? For the electricity in your house? For a nice, cozy bedroom to sleep in? For the gift of life that the Father has given to you? Offer your day to God. Offer Him your struggles, your joys, your pains, your plans, your hopes, everything. If you don't talk to God about these things, why not? Isn't He worth a fraction of your time? Are you worth His? (See question #2).
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Man, when I get on a roll it's hard to stop. On to another beautiful subject: Hope! 

Last week so many wonderful things happened at the crisis pregnancy center. I was beyond blessed and privileged to witness a 23 week (6 month) and a 19 week (5 month) ultrasound! These unborn kiddos are HUGE! Our ultrasound machine almost couldn't display their whole bodies on the screen at once because they are so big at this stage. But what I did see was breath-taking. The fetuses (note: "fetus" means "little one" in Latin. I am referring to the unborn babies as "fetuses" for no reason other than specificity. Fetuses are babies who live inside the mother.) were so active! They were kicking their mommy's bellies and squirming all around. It was adorable! 

Not the actual ultrasound.

A must share: The woman who was 23 weeks (LMP) along had a powerful story. When we learned that she had not been to see a doctor for any pre-natal checkups yet, and had not been taking pre-natal vitamins, we became concerned for her and the baby. We asked her why she had not done these things yet. Her answer was heart-wrenching. 

She said the reason she had not had any pre-natal visit or taken any vitamins at any point this far in her pregnancy was because she was not intending to have the baby. She was going to have an abortion. In fact, she had already gone ahead and scheduled the abortion appointment at the Planned Parenthood in Houston. A date and an appointment time were set for her baby's life to end. On the day of the abortion appointment, she was getting ready to leave--putting on makeup, getting dressed, preparing to walk out the door, etc...when suddenly, she felt the baby kick. This was the very first time that she had felt any movement from her unborn child. The kick, she said, was strong and hard--unmistakable. At that moment, feeling the fetus kick, she said she knew she would never be able to abort this baby. She cancelled her appointment at Planned Parenthood! All it took was a swift kick in the gut from her fetus, and then the scales were removed from her eyes and she saw that the fetus growing in her womb is actually, in fact, a little human person. Thanks be to God! 
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A few more things I wanted to share, which you may have seen already if you're on Facebook. But they are worth seeing again:

1) Have you ever been asked, "Are you saved?" and had a hard time knowing how to reply? Well, here is a nifty little response that might help you out next time you get asked that.

You could say, "...as the Bible says, I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also currently being saved (1 Cor. 1:18, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13)."

Pretty awesome, right?!

2) Read this.

3) Do not buy Girl Scout cookies this year, unless you want to support abortion. "Girl Scout cookie season will be here in no time. Since we know that Planned Parenthood has long standing ties to the Girl Scouts, we of course won't purchase their cookies. But sometimes we may want to say something...say why we aren't buying the cookies. But what do we say? And do we say something in front of their parents? Well, now you don't have to say anything." Abby Johnson has created a one page information sheet that you can fold up and quietly give to their parents. Hope it helps!

http://www.abbyjohnson.org/girl-scoutplanned-parenthood-link/

4) This is a beautiful song. Enjoy it!

God bless you!

Cold Front and Crazy Dreams

It is 68 degrees (F) and I'm loving this weather! 

And I have a new bike! I just got home from work, and I rode my super sweet bicycle there and home because I only live 0.7 miles from my job site.

Basically I was this girl, plus about sixteen years:

"Whaddya say, hooray! Put up your hands and say, 'ding ding!' Hah hah, hah! what do you say? Going fast! Hah hah hah! I don't care, I like it. It comes down to being like it. What do you say? I HAVE A NEW BIKE! What do you say? I have a new bike!" Oh, man. She's great!

Anyway, let me catch you up on recent events. I have decided that I will not blog on the weekends (unless I have something super awesome to share), and I will not blog the day before an exam. Thus, the last time you heard from me on here was Friday, because I had an exam today! Ahhhhh!!! But have no fear, because guess what?

I passed! Whoop! Actually, I even got a good score! Thank you to everyone who said a prayer for me. With your prayers, God's grace, and my brain, everything went smoothly. Three cheers!

Bliss, sweet bliss!

Alright, so Katie had an exam which went well. What else happened since Friday? Well, for one, my roommate had a funny dream with me in it. She told me I could share it with you, so here you go: 

The dream: We're at daily Mass. We're listening to the Word of God and pondering the Scriptures, thinking, praying, cherishing. Transition to the liturgy of the Eucharist. The priest and the Holy Spirit cooperate to perform the profound miracle of transubstantiation, providing for us the Body and Blood of Jesus--the Eucharist. We pray the Pater Noster, the Agnus Dei, the "Domine, non sum dignus," and then the best part of Mass comes upon us...time to receive Jesus! 

We are next to each other in the line to walk forward for Holy Communion, but my roommate sees something strange in my hands. What is it? It's a pint of ice cream! And I'm just chowing down, in the middle of Mass, before Holy Communion! What!?! So my roommate says, "Katie! What are you doing?!" And I reply, "Eating ice cream..." And she says, "Don't you want to receive Jesus?" And I reply, "Yes..." And she responds, "But you're eating ice cream! You aren't fasting!" And what, pray tell, is my reply? 

"I don't like that rule. I think it's dumb. Why can't I eat ice cream and receive Jesus at the same time?" (Remember, this is only a dream!)

Her face.

And yes, in the dream, the horrible version of myself did in fact receive Holy Communion! Oh, the horror!

Why, might you ask, did my roommate have such a crazy dream about me? 

Two reasons:

1. I love the Eucharist.

2. I love ice cream.

Well, and the fact that it is quite difficult for me to follow rules that I don't agree with. For example, the "mandate" that every person needs to buy healthcare that includes coverage of contraception and abortion-inducing drugs. I don't agree with that rule, and I'm not going to follow it. Ever. 

Now, the dream is not accurate because I do agree with (and love!) the fasting rule that we have. Fasting before Holy Communion is so beautiful, and I'm so thankful for it! But I think the dream is a funny portrayal of my stubborn nature. 

N.B. Okay, so I embellished the dream story a tiny bit, but did not alter the essential parts!

In other news, one of my three bosses quit her job today, two weeks after our previous boss quit the same job. Must be one tough job, right? Please pray for her and her family. Her name is "J."

Tomorrow I volunteer at my local crisis pregnancy center! My favorite time of the week!

I will leave you with two things. First, the beautiful responsorial psalm from daily Mass today:

Psalm 130(129) De profundis

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice!

O let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleading.

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,
Lord, who would survive?
But with you is found forgiveness:
for this we revere you.

My soul is waiting for the Lord.
I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for daybreak.
Let the watchman count on daybreak
and Israel on the Lord.

Because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption,

Israel indeed he will redeem
from all its iniquity.

Sound familiar? If I remember correctly, that psalm is closely related to somebody's blog title. Hmm...whose blog could it be?

Second, because you're a beloved child of God, please take two minutes of your hectic life and let your worries fade away as you watch this delightful short video about a baby squirrel.

P.s. I was riding my bike around campus today and this little squirrel dude totally tried to trip me! He was chilling in the middle of the sidewalk that I was crusin' along, and I shouted at him to watch out and I even rang my bell, but the little fella just wouldn't get out of the way! I almost had another wipe out! Don't worry though, I maneuvered around him. The little prankster...

Seven not-so-quick takes

Seven Quick Takes Friday is a post-format designed (I believe) by Jennifer Fulwiler. Basically, it is a faster way to write a blog post and it gives short-ish snippets of each Friday's happenings. I'm usually sort of long-winded, so I'll try to keep things succinct today!

-----#1-----

Every Friday I have the unfathomable privilege of volunteering at my local crisis pregnancy center. Seriously, if you are looking for a way to serve Jesus and really help people, consider volunteering at your local one also. Let me describe today to you.

I arrived at the Center at opening time, 9:00am. The only staff member there was our sweet nurse. The others would arrive shortly. I moseyed on over to the kitchen where I used our Keurig to prepare a cup of pumpkin spice coffee. The smell was heavenly. I returned to the reception area and began working on the task of folding pamphlets. A few women started trickling through our doors, but they weren't here for pregnancy tests. At the Center we have many resources for pregnant women, including a baby store where they can get baby or maternity items for free. They were here for this reason. Then at 10:15am our first pregnancy appointment arrived. I'm still learning the ropes, so I shadowed my co-worker as we counseled a young woman and performed her pregnancy test. Every single time I volunteer, I am shocked all over again at the immense privilege that is given to us with these women. We are entrusted with creating a safe haven for them to hear the result of their pregnancy test. We are responsible for encouraging her, supporting her, loving her, and giving her confidence that she really can do this. Sometimes, we are the only people in her life who are telling her that she is strong, she is capable, and that we are here for her when it gets rough. What a gift! 

Her test was positive. This young woman did not have the support of her partner, the father of the baby. They aren't on speaking terms, and he wants nothing to do with her or his baby. She brought her best friend into the counseling room at that point, for a shoulder to lean on.

We gave her information for low-cost health insurance and we told her about all the resources we have for her and her 3-week old baby (ETC). We encouraged her, loved her, and prayed for her. Then my co-worker instructed me to complete the appointment on my own, without her assistance. This was an important step for me because it was my first unsupervised interaction with a client. My job was simple: Make copies of her paperwork, return them to her, and walk her to the front desk to schedule her free ultrasound in two weeks. All were successfully executed. 

She informed me that she is planning to keep her baby, with or without the support of the father. She wants to give her older daughter a little brother or sister. Please keep her in your prayers. You can call her "B."

-----#2-----

Oh my goodness, I'm so bad at this succinct-ness thing. But that was worth it, wasn't it? Okay, this one will be short. 

We all know about the government shutdown. What you may not have heard is that because of the government shutdown, some priests who contract with the Armed Services to provide pastoral care for the troops have been threatened with being arrested if they try to celebrate Holy Mass (or any of the Sacraments, like Confession) on base. This is a pretty horrendous outright violation of the First Amendment, which is supposed to guard our religious freedom! God have mercy on our government. In you, O Lord, we take refuge. In your justice, set us free. Hear us and speedily rescue us!

-----#3-----

Have you ever wondered if we're doing any good by being on the sidewalk?

My friends and I praying. Spring 2013.

Sometimes our pro-life work is so overwhelming--almost too overwhelming. Then God sends us encouragement like this (click the underlined word to reach the link).

“If you’re trying to talk me out of this abortion too bad…I’ve already decided.”

Sidewalk Counselor Ashley shares an amazing life-saving story from yesterday!!

Thanks to the Central Texas Coalition for Life for sharing this. 

-----#4-----

Today is the Feast of St. Francis! You know what that means: the blessing of the pets! I almost forgot about it, but luckily my roommate reminded me. Rorey received her second blessing of St. Francis. I neglected to take photos this time, but here are some snapshots from her blessing last year.

She was a little nervous! "Mom, hold my hand!"

Posing with her buddy, St. Francis.

-----#5-----

I have an exam in Geography of Latin America coming up fast. It's on Tuesday and there is so much to study. I'm quite overwhelmed. If you could pray for me, I would appreciate your generosity. 

Go away, Latin America. 

-----#6-----

Do not be like Miley Cyrus. Be like Katie Prejean instead. Twerking is unhealthy and gross. There is a better way to dance! 

"Friends don't let friends twerk." Truth. 

-----#7-----

Did you know that the Bible talks about foxes? 

"Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom." -Song of Solomon 2:15

"And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.'" -Luke 9:58

"Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, 'Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!'" -Nehemiah 4:3

"O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts." -Ezekiel 13:4

Wait, what? Fox prophets? What do foxes say? 

Have a great weekend! 

Birthday Blessings

You guys will never guess what happened to me yesterday!

Go ahead, guess! 

"You got a parrot?" Nope.

"You saw Pope Francis?" Awh, no, I wish!

"Somebody shot paint balls at you?" Nuh-uh. 

"Your dog learned to do flips?" That would be so cool, but no. 

Do you give up??! Alright, alright I'll tell you. Are you ready? 

................I received the holy stigmata!! 

Your face right now.

You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Behold the photographic evidence:

Note the inflamed hole in my palm.

Sigh. Okay, you're right. It's not the stigmata. So what could it possibly be, then? 

Now, this is a story all about how my life got flip-turned upside down. And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, I'll tell you how I became the girl who flew through the air. <End song> As you may or may not know, I have a children's razor scooter that I typically use for transportation to and from class. My campus is not car-friendly, so nearly everybody bikes, walks, or skateboards around campus. Bikes are expensive, walking takes longer, and I don't have nearly enough balance to ride a skateboard, so I chose the cheaper option of buying myself a $24.99 scooter at Wal-Mart. 

It has served me pretty well in the two semesters I've used it. Pretty safe, very fast, and super affordable! What more could you ask for? Well, you could (and should) ask for knee pads, in case of dramatic crashes like the one I experienced yesterday on my birthday. 

To my immense pleasure, yesterday it rained cats and dogs here at school. I love the rain! When it started pouring down in cascade-like sheets, my heart exploded with joy! I opened my window, sat on my bed, and just delighted in the smells, the sounds, and the sight of a mid-morning rainstorm. I consider it to be God the Father's gift to me on my birthday. He knows His daughter so well! It was the perfect present, and I figured that was the best thing I would receive from anyone. 

I was wrong. 

The rain was bestowed upon us sometime around 11:30am. At 1:30pm I left the house and headed to campus for class. I used my scooter, as always. I did not, however, remember to take into account the effects of water on concrete. I was merrily scooting along, zipping past walkers, nearly in stride with bikers, still contemplating the joys of God's gift, when suddenly I was airborne. Before I processed what was happening, I slammed into the concrete, hard. As I laid there, embarrassed out of my mind, the last three seconds started to make sense. There was a wide crack in the sidewalk that I underestimated. I thought I could handle it, no problem. Nope. I was going faster than I thought, and the concrete was slick. The back wheel of my scooter caught the crack at just the wrong angle, and dislodged me forcefully. I got about 2-3 feet of air, so that's cool. People definitely saw it happen. The guy walking behind me caught up to me as I was sprawled out on the ground and asked me if I was alright. I told him that I was okay, except my pride was a little wounded. But that's always a good thing, isn't it? I thought I was being truthful to him, but when I got to my classroom I realized I was wrong. 

I was climbing the stairs to the building when I saw red out of the corner of my eye. I did a double-take and realized it was blood--my blood--rushing down my leg. Then the pain came. It's weird how adrenaline immunizes us for awhile, until we see the danger. I went inside and searched for someone to ask for first aid, but everyone was too busy. I went to the restroom and washed off the blood that was racing down my shin and cleaned out the dirt that was in the wound. I was running a few minutes late for class, so I just grabbed a handful of paper towels and held them on my knee for the duration of my professor's lecture. I took pictures of my wound (just for my readers), but they're a bit graphic so just suffice it to say that it was really quite bloody. 

See, I thought that God our Father had given me the best gift on my birthday, but I think this accident might have been an even better gift from Jesus. After it happened, a well-known phrase amongst my friends popped into my head: "There is no humility without humiliations." We were taught this mantra by a holy woman, and we have continued to use it on occasions such as this. Being thrown off my scooter certainly was humiliating, but I really think the skinned knee is worth a little help growing in this virtue. Strangely enough (or not at all...) I have been asking Jesus for help with this virtue lately, and it should be no surprise that He has replied generously. "Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and the door shall be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) 

And so I thank God my Father for the beautiful rainstorm, but with a smile, I thank Jesus for an even better gift: the chance to grow in humility. I imagine Jesus winking playfully at the Father, gently teasing Daddy that His gift to me "wins" this time around. I wonder what they have in store next!

Now, for memory's and fun's sake, here are the beautiful gifts from others that I received:
-My roommates so generously helped me clean my room (especially "S")
-Two kind-hearted friends gave my dog a bath for me
-My roommates made me pancakes, eggs, and pumpkin muffins for breakfast!
-They also folded one load of laundry for me
-My loving parents got me a new laptop because my eight-year-old one died
-Friends, roommates, Mom and Dad had dinner with me and shared laughs
-I was blessed to speak with a beautiful nun on the phone
-Did I mention my parents came to see me?! 
-Many hugs, well-wishes, and spiritual sacrifices offered for me 
-My dog gave me snuggles
-I received from God not only joyous rainfall and a delightful humiliation, but also the very Flesh and Blood of my Redeemer at Mass. I could never ask for more!

This morning my parents had one last surprise for me. Because of my scooter crash, they so generously bought me a new bicycle to ride to campus! While I was in class they went to the store and got it, and left it in my living room for me to see when I returned home this evening. It is perfect! It's not a speed-bike or a fancy, complex type, but that's good because I need more simplicity in my life. Behold my beautiful bike-mobile! I'm ridin' in style. 

It's yellow with pink flowers! So cute! It even has a bell.

Thank you, everyone, for making my twenty-second birthday beautiful, joyful, and truly memorable. I am so happy that God has put each and every one of you into my life! 

Lesson: Ask God for everything! He meant what He said in Matthew's Gospel. 

We exist from the moment of conception, not the moment of birth. Today I am 22 years and 9 months old. Our system of dating age needs to change. 

My roommates decorated my door with streamers.

But there is an even better thing to celebrate today, and that would be the Guardian Angels!

"Angel of God, my Guardian dear..."

"Even though we are children and have a long, a very long and dangerous way to go, with such protectors what have we to fear? They who keep us in all our ways cannot be overpowered or led astray, much less lead us astray. They are loyal, prudent, powerful. Why then are we afraid? We have only to follow them, stay close to them, and we shall dwell under the protection of God's angels." St. Bernard on Guardian Angles

"See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and heed his voice. " Exodus 23:20-21a 

(Thanks to my friend "C" for the quotes!)

Let me do as I said I would and explain why I titled my blog "Lord, hear my voice." As you probably noticed, my URL address is in Latin. "Domine, exaudi vocem meam." This phrase is part of a beautiful psalm-prayer of the Church, Psalm 129/130 (depending on which translation you use). 

This psalm is traditionally known as the De profundis. It is "a prayer of a sinner, trusting in the mercies of God." It is the sixth penitential psalm.

The Psalm begins:                                                           Translation:
"De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine.               "Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord.
Domine, exaudi vocem meam.                                  Lord, hear my voice.
Fiant aures tuae intendentes,                                     Let thy ears be attentive
in vocem deprecationis meae."                                 to the voice of my pleading."

Why did I choose this for my title? Quite simply, because it is very dear to me and it applies directly to my life. I am a sinner. I need God to listen to my cries. Of course He listens all the time, but I'm sure you know that sometimes it seems like He isn't paying any attention at all. This psalm shows our humanity in that we are not always able to sense or even trust that God is lovingly lending His ears to our pleading voices. 

At certain points in everyone's lives, we reach rock bottom. Some of us hit that point more than once. This psalm was for me the very cry of my heart when I was in that place. Deep down, in the darkness, in the depths of despair, I cried to God. I begged Him to hear me, and to pay attention to my desolation. I wasn't able to feel Him because the depths of desolation were so deep. God heard me. 

What He did next was unexpected. He sent me my Mother. Rather, our Mother. Sometimes children just need their mommy, and He knew she was exactly who I could cling to. A Mother's embrace is unparalleled, and oh, how she held me. I prayed this prayer often:

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;                             Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy;
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.                               our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
Ad te clamamus                                              to thee do we cry
exsules filii Hevae.                                                             poor banished children of Eve
Ad te suspiramus                                                                to thee do we send up our sighs
gementes et flentes                                                            mourning and weeping
in hac lacrimarum valle.                                                  in this valley of tears.

And I knew I would never be alone. Not only did I have Jesus, but now I knew I had my Mother holding my hand every step of this life. No matter if we are laughing, mourning, singing, or weeping, our Mother remains at our side with Jesus. Knowing this healed me.

There's always more that could be said, but I think that suffices. 

Now on to the family pictures! I'm a bit imprudent still, so there are dozens to behold. 

The cool cats who helped God make me!

Grandpa and Grandma (Requiem Aeternam dona eis, Domine)

Behold! Yours truly! (With Gus)

My adorable little sister

And they grew up!

Katie's First Holy Communion. Nanny is here!

My nephews and niece :)

My niece is the cutest thing!

My brother, sister-in-law, and newborn twin nephews!

Oh my gosh, STAHP! Can't handle it.

My puppies. Simon (left), Rorey, and Tony. 

Thanks for visiting! See you next time. (Me and sister)