Oh, hello!
Unexpected absences from FHOG seem to be the trend of the summer. I'm hoping that trend doesn't continue into the school year, but since it's always unexpected, I really can't say for sure.
So what's been going on with me? Lots. Lots and lots and lots.
Firstly, I took a little mini-vacation to Chicago to visit my dear friend Grace. (Hence the airport/flying posts.) We had a delightful time cruising around the city, visiting all sorts of Churches (come on- we're Theology majors, you set us loose in a city, of course we're going church hopping!), meeting some of her friends, and catching up from the last month of not seeing each other.
When I returned, I jumped back into work. I've been running the Tuesday night youth groups for my internship, which involves preparing a little talk each week. It's been good practice for me, and I'm getting more confident in my abilities as a future youth minister. (Sidenote: many people think that being a youth minister means I'm going to go to seminary to be a minister. Haha, no!) I've also been leading a book study (reading St. Therese's Story of a Soul) and co-leading a Bible study (St. Luke's gospel!).
And in all my spare time (cough cough) I am attending a Bible study with a fantastic group of young adults from the area. We're from a variety of different schools, and it's been fun to get to know them all. And then we always have a Eucharistic holy hour afterwards, including a short talk by one of the parish priests. Having that quiet hour in the middle of my week, where I can just sit and pray without any interruptions is SO necessary.
At the beginning of the month, for 2 weeks, I had a workcation (made up words? Yes.). My brother and his family went out of town for 2 weeks, and asked me to house/cat/garden-sit for them. I was still working the various internships, but when I got home at night, it was just me and the cats. One decided I was a pretty nice person, and was a fan of sitting on my lap. But they're outdoor cats, so this meant periods of time when I would sit in the garage holding a cat as he attempted to get comfortable and would nudge my arm each time I stopped petting him.
I decided that week that I like cats. (Sidenote 2: Grace has the most delightful dog ever, and so I have also decided that I like some dogs. My sister's family also has a new dog. She is tiny - like, 2 lbs tiny. She has contributed to my fondness of dogs. It's been a monumental July in the Allison-and-animals world.)
Otherwise, I've been doing personal writing, absolutely no reading, starting to get hooked on The Office (blame that one on my brother- he owns the first 2 seasons which I discovered at their house...), drinking water voluntarily for the first time in my life, and pretending that yes! I have time to do x, y, and z. Oh, and the beach. I went to the beach for a day. I am now sporting the new style called the "ripe and peeling tomato". That's what 5 hours in the part-sun and 3 applications of sunscreen do to an Irish girl. Meh.
This week, I'll finish up the last week at my admin internship, and hopefully get rested up for 5-day overnight camp with the high school youth group.
It's truly been a summer of growth and learning, in ways that I never could have prepared myself for. But that's a topic for another post.
Unexpected absences from FHOG seem to be the trend of the summer. I'm hoping that trend doesn't continue into the school year, but since it's always unexpected, I really can't say for sure.
So what's been going on with me? Lots. Lots and lots and lots.
Firstly, I took a little mini-vacation to Chicago to visit my dear friend Grace. (Hence the airport/flying posts.) We had a delightful time cruising around the city, visiting all sorts of Churches (come on- we're Theology majors, you set us loose in a city, of course we're going church hopping!), meeting some of her friends, and catching up from the last month of not seeing each other.
When I returned, I jumped back into work. I've been running the Tuesday night youth groups for my internship, which involves preparing a little talk each week. It's been good practice for me, and I'm getting more confident in my abilities as a future youth minister. (Sidenote: many people think that being a youth minister means I'm going to go to seminary to be a minister. Haha, no!) I've also been leading a book study (reading St. Therese's Story of a Soul) and co-leading a Bible study (St. Luke's gospel!).
And in all my spare time (cough cough) I am attending a Bible study with a fantastic group of young adults from the area. We're from a variety of different schools, and it's been fun to get to know them all. And then we always have a Eucharistic holy hour afterwards, including a short talk by one of the parish priests. Having that quiet hour in the middle of my week, where I can just sit and pray without any interruptions is SO necessary.
At the beginning of the month, for 2 weeks, I had a workcation (made up words? Yes.). My brother and his family went out of town for 2 weeks, and asked me to house/cat/garden-sit for them. I was still working the various internships, but when I got home at night, it was just me and the cats. One decided I was a pretty nice person, and was a fan of sitting on my lap. But they're outdoor cats, so this meant periods of time when I would sit in the garage holding a cat as he attempted to get comfortable and would nudge my arm each time I stopped petting him.
I decided that week that I like cats. (Sidenote 2: Grace has the most delightful dog ever, and so I have also decided that I like some dogs. My sister's family also has a new dog. She is tiny - like, 2 lbs tiny. She has contributed to my fondness of dogs. It's been a monumental July in the Allison-and-animals world.)
Otherwise, I've been doing personal writing, absolutely no reading, starting to get hooked on The Office (blame that one on my brother- he owns the first 2 seasons which I discovered at their house...), drinking water voluntarily for the first time in my life, and pretending that yes! I have time to do x, y, and z. Oh, and the beach. I went to the beach for a day. I am now sporting the new style called the "ripe and peeling tomato". That's what 5 hours in the part-sun and 3 applications of sunscreen do to an Irish girl. Meh.
This week, I'll finish up the last week at my admin internship, and hopefully get rested up for 5-day overnight camp with the high school youth group.
It's truly been a summer of growth and learning, in ways that I never could have prepared myself for. But that's a topic for another post.