Simple Joys

Today I am delighting in the simple pleasures and home joys of life...

...watching four small boys play "battle" as only little boys can

...sharing music (and laughter) with my students

...sending love to my sisters via text (though 700 miles separates us)

...chatting on the phone with my great-uncle and aunt down in Louisiana and being thoroughly entertained by their endearing Southern charm and drawl!

...greetings and hugs to gals at the University choir after not seeing each other all summer

...walking amidst the late summer trees under an azure sky

...watching five beautiful children tonight: giggling over innocent amusements with Miss 9-yr-old and Miss 11-yr-old, cuddling Mr. 4-yr-old and listening to him philosophize

...playing in bread dough with Mr. 7-yr-old and Mr. 4-yr-old, who at one point were constructing a cave and tunnel in it :)

...laying in our new hammock under a round, glowing moon

...just being a child of God.

"...I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly."

(John 10:10)

End of Summer

Every summer I can remember has gone quickly for me, but I think this has to be one of the quickest. The sheer number of things that went on is, to tell the truth, rather dizzying!

I have missed my blog. Thank you to you kind folks that have said you missed me, too. I am striving for virtuous balance in my life; the "holy blend" of prayer, apostolic work, study, recreation, and rest. It amazes me how precious the time is now that one takes for granted as a carefree child.

Lord willing, I will try to work regular posting back into my routine. I have plenty to share from the past few months!

For now, I will leave you with a wonderful quote I just found from St. Augustine, whose feast day is coming up. It sums up a frequent theme of my reflection as of late:

"My love for you, Lord, is not an uncertain feeling, but a matter of concious certainty. With your word you pierced my heart, and I loved you. But heaven and earth and everything in them on all sides tell me to love you."

Photo capture by my sister, Veronica

Out West in Photos, Part 1: Traveling, The Black Hills, and Mount Rushmore

Our gentlemen, cleaning the windshield midway :)

Sarah looks rather cozy, don't you think?? (It sounds better than "squished"!)

"Can you believe all this stuff?"

Driving the the US "Flatlands"... the little dots are cattle!

Enjoying the Black Hills... though the soil was red! We girls had fun taking photos...

...while the boys climbed, of course! :)

A picturesque mountain stream

We waded down it, enjoying simple pleasures

...And Dad had to gallantly retrieve Veronica's flip-flop before the stream took it away forever (tragedy!)

The water was c-o-l-d, but oh! So pretty.

"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..." ;)

A nice big rock-table that Dad and the kids climbed up to (I wasn't with them, but was down near a napping Mom while I kept up with my journaling...)

The hills really do look black from far away

"Somewhere, over the rainbow...

...way up high!"

Mount Rushmore, enveloped in fog! We were there near sunset -- which turned out to be the best time of day to be there. To watch a cloud settle right around the monument was something else.

But we were privileged to catch a glorious sunset, too (that was before the fog came, actually)

Enjoying Dad's treat of ice cream at the Mt.

One big cone: enough for two!

In front of the monument, beautifully lit...

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth,

I just went "out West" for two weeks with my family!

Together at Glacier National Park!

The days before we left were a whirlwind of packing and preparing, and the few days since we returned home have been a whirlwind of unpacking and tackling the numerous phone messages, emails, and all the things that need attending to after being gone that long!

This week is a packed one for me, but I do hope to share (in increments) about our very memorable trip, as well as some of the many photos we took. Anyone care to guess how many?

In a nutshell, in honor of my parents' 25th Wedding Anniversary -- which was August 14th -- we did a "redux" of their honeymoon... driving 30 hours and 4,000 miles round trip to Montana and back, and enjoying incredible natural and spiritual wonders! I didn't break from my writing, though... in fact, I journaled the whole trip in detail -- something I've always wanted to do for a vacation but never had dedicated myself to yet.

So, except a "re-cap" of the blessings here soon!

Finished!

Yay! I'm finished the Suzuki Violin Book 1 Teacher Training Course. These two weeks have certainly been intense... but I've been able to learn and grow so much. As this time in my life our Lord seems to have called me to serve through my love of children and music by teaching it to them. And I love that with the Suzuki program, it's not just about learning to play the instrument -- it's about developing a beautiful heart. Perhaps at some point I'll share a few of the written assignments that I completed as part of the course here, to help better explain the philosophy and approach of this method.

It's so amazing how the days here seem to have sped by, and yet have at the same time gone so slowly! It seems like yesterday that we arrived, and yet it feels like we've been here forever. And we have done so much each day that by the time late afternoon comes, morning seems like a long, long time ago. There were days when I would exclaim "Was it really this morning when we did such-and-such?". Such is the never-solved paradox of time, I suppose! Thanks be to our good God Who gives each moment to us. May we wisely choose how we spend each of them.

The next big event around the corner for me is speaking (tomorrow morning, no less) at the Illinois State Fair. If you remember to offer a prayer for me sometime around then, that would be so appreciated. I'm going to be doing an Extempore Speech -- meaning I'm handed a topic when I get there and 45 minutes later, have to speak on it. Definitely a practice of The Rebelution's motto "Do Hard Things". :) You see, through all my years of public speaking with 4-H, etc. I always said I would/could never doing an extempore speech. It's now my final year as a 4-H member, and I decided for the county contest in Feb. that I would tackle the thing I "could never do". It ended up being a great experience and... I was selected to go to State Fair. So it's the whole nine yards now. :) I am going to have to speak on a current event (will be handed three from a hat to choose from) -- I just hope it's something I'll know what to say about. :) I'm actually looking forward to it, though...the exercise of pushing yourself "outside your comfort zone" is so freeing -- and so good for learning how to trust Him more. I'll be sure to update here on what happens...

Now, it's off to pack my bags!

A Sunrise Update

I don't have the seconds for anything more than "Buenos Dias" and "Que tenga un buen dia"! Most mornings here the sky has been rather overcast when I wake at 5:30, but this morning I was [pleasantly] startled to see an orange glow across the sky when I opened my eyes...a lovely sunrise. It hasn't lasted long (almost gone already), but oh! What a treat.

May your day be full of the glow of the Master!

Greetings from the Point!

Well, today I finally got an internet connection set up here at Stevens Point! There is so much I could write, but it's 10:30 right now and 5:30 tomorrow morning comes early. Last week was great but intense. It's like we're on a little "musical planet" here!

The absolute best part is that there are some lovely churches nearby, and one that has a daily 6:45am Mass (hence the rising time) which works perfect for us to walk and get back in time for classes. We've been blessed with gorgeous weather, bright, vivid days, and beautiful calm nights. It drizzled a bit today, but that was still beautiful.

Oh, and I have to clarify, since I was informed on the first day...what I'm doing is technically called teacher training and registration (not certification). Apparently, it can't offically be termed that because of the structure of the course. They said that only in Europe is it set up to be legitimately called "certification". Even the faculty here are not "certified" (though many have their Masters or more in Music and they are of course trained and re-trained)... interesting, hmm?

If this week is anything like the last, I can't promise I'll have any time for posting, but whether I do or not...Pax Christi!

The Hills are Alive

with the sound of music. Or at least, UW-Stevens Point will be! In a few hours, I'm off to the American Suzuki Institute and when I come home two weeks from now, Lord-willing, I'll have my Suzuki Violin Book 1 Teacher Certification. I'm very excited... just not quite fully packed yet. :)

"I want to make good citizens.

If a child hears fine music from the day of his birth

and learns to play it himself,

he develops sensitivity,

discipline and endurance.

He gets a beautiful heart."

—Shin'ichi Suzuki

Don't know anything about the Suzuki method? Click here for an introduction!

~ ~ ~

I'll have the laptop with me, but am not sure how much time I'll have in between classes, observations, reports, and concerts... however, I'll do my best to squeeze in an update here or there!

Pax et bonum!

Home... and Faired Out :)

It's a term we use around here. There are only so many days one can take of a Fair, you know? Even if one is working almost the whole time. :)

Jesting aside, my sisters and I just came off of another great week of volunteering at the Fond du Lac County Fair Farm Bureau Women's Food Stand in Wisconsin with Grandma and Grandpa. Being there again, it almost felt like we'd never left! (I said the same thing at Ave Cor Mariae Camp this year, though...evidence of how speedily time goes by from one year to the next, I suppose). This experience for us at the Food Stand is one I hope to tell to my grandchildren about someday. Or maybe, take them back there to work, if it's still going! :) Despite the long days (6:30 in the morning till 8 or so at night), and the sometimes-sore feet, we look forward to this every year. It has something to do with the joy of service, the satisfaction of hard work, the sweetness of volunteering one's time and energy for a good cause, and of course, the pleasure of making others happy. Offering a smile while working the cash register or taking orders seems to evoke a "waking up" response from the person across from you... "Have a nice day" and "Enjoy your meal" take on new meaning when you say them several hundred times in a day! I would try to really mean that, too -- not just rattle it thoughtlessly. What a difference!

I could write tons more, but I really think the snapshots we took say it best...

Note: I just got a chuckle out of the fact that when glancing back at my last year's post after the fair, I also mentioned "hoping to tell my grandchildren" about this. What can I say? It will always be a dear memory!

Sarah, poised and ready to fill an order

"Scrambled eggs there, ma'am? No problem!"

Sarah takes orders, and I fill them

Me making pancakes...there were times we couldn't flip them fast enough!

Grease that pan well...

Pour them on...

A plate of the finished product!

A photo Veronica took while all of us stood at the top of Grandpa and Grandma's hill, praying the Chaplet and enjoying the blue sky and breeze (one of those where she extended her arm and took it!)

Veronica had fun taking photos of Sarah on top the hill... I thought this one was neat

In between working, we did get a few breaks to stretch our legs and walk around the Fair. :) And we bought these pretty cotton/wool blend homemade capes made by a family from Equador...here's a view of the cranberry-colored one

Grandpa and Grandma, at 87 and 80 years old!

More to come...