Having been officially a postulant for the Daughters of St. Paul for one day now, I am not an expert, but I can offer you a little more insight into what my life is like here:
2 other young women entered with me yesterday and the three of us will be postulants and classmates together. While we don't know each other well yet, my first impressions exceeded all expections. These women are awesome and God is soooooo faithful! He knows what we need.
Alina is 23 and from Miami, FL. She loves to play the guitar, COFFEE, and likes to go dancing with her friends! She and I have already bonded over morning coffee and our lack of cooking experience (praise Jesus!)
Emily is 20 (almost 21- she has agreed to let us take her for her first drink ;) and is the oldest of 12!!! She has the best laugh that is contagious and laughs often! She also plays PIANO and can pick up harmonies really easily. We've already got our first song down in three part harmony between the three of us. Did I mention God is good???
Yesterday, I spent the day with Janet and my parents before saying our "good-byes", though really, these sisters are so flexible we all know I'll be seeing Janet pretty regularly and mom and dad have planned to take us all to the Nutcracker practically already. All the sisters are excited and apparently Emily's sister (the 2nd eldest) is also pursuing a professional dance career! The coincidences no longer surprise me because they are clearly consolations from God. Anyways, my family and I saw "Hairspray" which was really, really cute and perhaps the LEAST vulgar movie I've seen in a while. I would recommend it.
As far as keeping in contact, there is a number here for the postulants that has a voice mailbox for us, which I will email to you all soon. Please continue to email as I will be keeping my hotmail and facebook accounts, even Myspace.
And book your tickets for St. Louis soon! If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask! I love to talk about this order and the Sisters :)
Thank you for your prayers.....I felt them yesterday!!!
We are united in Mary until next time...
Peace,
Julia
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Surrounded by a "cloud of witnesses"
The car is packed, I'm ready to go!
My fam and I are leaving early tomorrow morning to drive 9 hrs or so to St. Louis. We will be having dinner with the sisters tomorrow night!
Yesterday, I was amazed (though God doesn't ever totally surprise me anymore. I know He is going to be giving me consolations like He always does in His perfect way ;) that the second reading was indeed MY verse. The verse I used for this blog and the one that's guided me pretty much since the end of high school.
Hebrews 12:1-3
I love it because it reminds me in the first line that I am not alone. I am surrounded by a "cloud of witnesses". This line often is used to allude to the saints that watch over us in heaven, but I also believe many of you have winessed to me in my life. I also love the verse because it reminds me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, though the road will not always be easy. The theme for my faith journey has always been perseverance and hence the reason I feel this is MY verse!
So I was excited to get that little consolation yesterday at Mass. And today's Gospel reading was the young man discouraged to be told to leave behind his possessions. I have a feeling I will be sympathizing with that young man in a day or too as reality sets in.
Right now though I am good to go, as I was surrounded by a "cloud of witnesses" who encouraged me yesterday and this past week. My friend Laura from NET came up from southern Ohio and we went to Cedar Point!!! We road the NEW ride, the Maverick, and the Dragster 2 times! As well as all the other favorites. It was a really cool day, not too long of lines, and blessed with some holy conversation :)
Friday night my high school friends threw a bbq for me complete with Guitar Hero. I was glad to be introduced to this before I entered, though now I may see if I can get one sent to the convent. I think it would be great for our recreational time! ha!
And yesterday, my parents threw an open house party for all my extended family and relatives. People I hadn't seen in years came out and everyone, for the most part, offered their support.
And lastly, today, I met with the Bishop of Cleveland, Bishop Lennon, who used to be in Boston and was the Daughters' chaplain for 10 years. So not only is he my bishop here in Cleveland, but he has a connection with the Daughters! God is so good! And the Bishop is great. So down to earth and really easy to talk to. We talked for about a half an hour about the Daughters and how great they are, as well as a little about baseball. He remains a Red Sox fan, though he is a fan of Jacobs Field!
So I am grateful for my "cloud of witnesses" this week. I cannot wait for Wed. All of this anticipation and talking about going....I'm ready to go!
So go I shall! Hope to be in touch soon. In the meantime we are united in prayer....
Peace,
Julia
My fam and I are leaving early tomorrow morning to drive 9 hrs or so to St. Louis. We will be having dinner with the sisters tomorrow night!
Yesterday, I was amazed (though God doesn't ever totally surprise me anymore. I know He is going to be giving me consolations like He always does in His perfect way ;) that the second reading was indeed MY verse. The verse I used for this blog and the one that's guided me pretty much since the end of high school.
Hebrews 12:1-3
I love it because it reminds me in the first line that I am not alone. I am surrounded by a "cloud of witnesses". This line often is used to allude to the saints that watch over us in heaven, but I also believe many of you have winessed to me in my life. I also love the verse because it reminds me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, though the road will not always be easy. The theme for my faith journey has always been perseverance and hence the reason I feel this is MY verse!
So I was excited to get that little consolation yesterday at Mass. And today's Gospel reading was the young man discouraged to be told to leave behind his possessions. I have a feeling I will be sympathizing with that young man in a day or too as reality sets in.
Right now though I am good to go, as I was surrounded by a "cloud of witnesses" who encouraged me yesterday and this past week. My friend Laura from NET came up from southern Ohio and we went to Cedar Point!!! We road the NEW ride, the Maverick, and the Dragster 2 times! As well as all the other favorites. It was a really cool day, not too long of lines, and blessed with some holy conversation :)
Friday night my high school friends threw a bbq for me complete with Guitar Hero. I was glad to be introduced to this before I entered, though now I may see if I can get one sent to the convent. I think it would be great for our recreational time! ha!
And yesterday, my parents threw an open house party for all my extended family and relatives. People I hadn't seen in years came out and everyone, for the most part, offered their support.
And lastly, today, I met with the Bishop of Cleveland, Bishop Lennon, who used to be in Boston and was the Daughters' chaplain for 10 years. So not only is he my bishop here in Cleveland, but he has a connection with the Daughters! God is so good! And the Bishop is great. So down to earth and really easy to talk to. We talked for about a half an hour about the Daughters and how great they are, as well as a little about baseball. He remains a Red Sox fan, though he is a fan of Jacobs Field!
So I am grateful for my "cloud of witnesses" this week. I cannot wait for Wed. All of this anticipation and talking about going....I'm ready to go!
So go I shall! Hope to be in touch soon. In the meantime we are united in prayer....
Peace,
Julia
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Getting Started
Hi, friends! Hopefully this blog will be the new home of many wonderful insights, memories, and stories for all of us to share and give glory to God. I will humbly try to post any tidbits or tales that I have in order to keep you updated on my new life living with the Daughters of St. Paul in St. Louis. Feel free to comment and post yourself! This is a group effort. And as always, it is in Him that we are united and share His Goodness and glory!
So my parents came and picked me up in VA on Sat. Aug 11. We packed the truck and cars in record time (no, I did not have enough stuff to fill all three vehicles. Please- I'm trying to detach! The previous week was devoted to donating my wares! But I ended up taking my car back to Ohio to sell back to the dealer, etc., etc...and so we each ended up driving a vehicle back to Ohio). I am currently chilling in Elyria still giving much time to organizing, sorting, and getting rid of clutter. The physical clutter has been decreased to a minimum, but the clutter in my mind still currently exists. I'm hoping to make a retreat day sometime this week, perhaps on the Feast of the Assumption. Our Lady always hooks me up and helps me out. I'm sure she can handle taking some prayers up with Her as we honor Her assumption into heaven.
Until then, I sort through the stuff I've acquired over the years and hope to spend time relaxing with people I love. So far I've achieved this by seeing my partner in crime, Cathy, and favorite former co-choir cohort, Christina. I went to an Indians game today too. They played the Yankees and I reflected on how my last memory of a Yankees game was getting kicked out of Yankee stadium with CUA's Senior Class. Needless to say, this match-up was much more mild. We're chill here in Ohio.
So that's it for now! I hope to hear from you all and I hope this serves as a good tool for all of us keeping in touch! I still have my MySpace account right now, but I'm debating getting rid of it. One social networking tool should be enough for the convent and right now it's all about Facebook :)
See you online!
Peace,
Julia
So my parents came and picked me up in VA on Sat. Aug 11. We packed the truck and cars in record time (no, I did not have enough stuff to fill all three vehicles. Please- I'm trying to detach! The previous week was devoted to donating my wares! But I ended up taking my car back to Ohio to sell back to the dealer, etc., etc...and so we each ended up driving a vehicle back to Ohio). I am currently chilling in Elyria still giving much time to organizing, sorting, and getting rid of clutter. The physical clutter has been decreased to a minimum, but the clutter in my mind still currently exists. I'm hoping to make a retreat day sometime this week, perhaps on the Feast of the Assumption. Our Lady always hooks me up and helps me out. I'm sure she can handle taking some prayers up with Her as we honor Her assumption into heaven.
Until then, I sort through the stuff I've acquired over the years and hope to spend time relaxing with people I love. So far I've achieved this by seeing my partner in crime, Cathy, and favorite former co-choir cohort, Christina. I went to an Indians game today too. They played the Yankees and I reflected on how my last memory of a Yankees game was getting kicked out of Yankee stadium with CUA's Senior Class. Needless to say, this match-up was much more mild. We're chill here in Ohio.
So that's it for now! I hope to hear from you all and I hope this serves as a good tool for all of us keeping in touch! I still have my MySpace account right now, but I'm debating getting rid of it. One social networking tool should be enough for the convent and right now it's all about Facebook :)
See you online!
Peace,
Julia
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