More blogging

I'm doing more blogging over at www.highheelsandgrits.blogspot.com so don't forget to catch up with me over there!

I'll be back here sporadically.

But for now, I'm Living Life to the Fullest!

Jesus Take the Wheel!

The reading today is Matthew Chapter 5:3-12  a.k.a. The Beatitudes
 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you

and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

Rejoice and be glad,

for your reward will be great in heaven.

Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

 

Did you read the above? Or did you skip over it all?  Just wondering...

 
When I hear this verse I often picture a poor little old lady who is meek. She wears torn and dirty clothes (poor), and she is a widow in morning.  She is nice to all people (merciful) and led a good life (clean of heart). 

Do you picture this type of person when you hear the beatitudes or is it just me?
 
Today as I heard this reading in the car ride into work I thought to myself "Why do I think this little old lady is the only person getting into heaven?" I want to get into heaven....why can't I picture myself with these virtues?  
Then I had my Jesus Take the Wheel! moment:  "Holy Spirit, enter my mind and soul, guide my thoughts and open my eyes to the scripture.  I am not a poor widow, but show me how I can be meek, poor in spirit, mournful and merciful."
 
Sounds kinda miserable right?  Why would we want those 'negative' thoughts and feelings.  Well, I think it is in those experiences that we search for God, when we call on God, when we come closer to God. 
 
Where am I poor in spirit?  Do I have poor spirit when I look at society, child education, natural resources, governments, unmotivated parishes? What can I do about it?
Who or what do I mourn? The lonely, the dying, the imprisoned, the lost, the confused?  What can I do about it?
How can I be meek? In my role as a daughter? A sister? A wife? An employee? A parishioner? A volunteer?  What can I do about it?
Who's righteousness do I hunger and thirst for? My own? or others?  What can I do about it?
Am I merciful? Or am I quick to judge and point the finger?  What can I do about it?
Do I have a clean heart? Have I been to confession lately?  Am I making amends with my past mistakes and changing my ways? Or am I confessing the same thing over and over again?  What can I do about it?
Am I a peacemaker? Or am I a shaker? Do I walk into a situation hoping to bring peace, but instead do I disrupt the natural order of things?  What can I do about it?
Have I been persecuted? Or am I in a 'bubble', unexposed to the trials and tribulations of a true martyr?   What can I do about it?
 
With the question ending each of those What can I do about it? the first response is PRAY. As much as I want to change this and fix that...if it's not in God's plan it's not going to happen. 
 

• "Until you are convinced that Prayer is the best use of your time, you will not find time for Prayer" - Father Hilary Ottesmayer O.S.B.
• "Faith without works is dead"  - James 2:20
• YOU are the answer to someone else's prayer.  Do not be afraid to do God's will.  If your prayers are to be answered, someone else must find the courage to do God's will. 

 
 
Read Pope Francis' Homily today (and everyday!):
Eight Sessions from Ascension Press about the Beatitudes the series was in April...but you can still watch Thomas Smith talk you through a spiritual journey with the beatitudes.  SPOILER: He explains that the 8 beatitudes ARE the life of Jesus.  Jesus was meek, merciful and persecuted.  He says FOLLOW ME not in a single-file line...but in his way of life.  BE the Beatitudes like Jesus is.....
 
 
 

Habemus Papam!

We have a pope! Habemus Papam

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina is now Pope Francis I of Rome and the Universal Pope.

As an announcement was made over the intercom at my office Catholics rushed to the library for a live stream of the event.  More than an hour later cups of wine were raised in the air as a toast to our new Shepherd. 

I have never experienced this day before.  Our previous Pope, Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus, was the 265th Pope.  He was elected on April 19, 2005.  Umm, I was alive then.  I was a sophomore in college!  I should have felt what I'm feeling today on April 19, 2005.  But I didn't.

I guess you can never be good at faith.  When you say "you have such great faith!" to someone, you know they are rolling their eyes at you and thinking to themselves "No, I don't."  It's called humility.  But it's also true.  Faith is a practice.  You work at it, you get better at it, but you never accomplish it!  Hopefully on your death bed you will accomplish it.  But holy people, priests, nuns, lay people, deacons....they are all practicing their faith.  (You Yogi's know what I'm talking about).

So today when a Deacon's wife screamed over the intercom "What have white smoke!  We have white smoke!"  I felt like my sister just told me she was going into labor.  (none of my sisters are pregnant.)  But this anticipation of a new life, a birth, an unknown full of love and dignity.  My heart was racing, my stomach was filled with butterflies.  My Lord, My God.  You have come to us.  You have come to your faithful.

And can I just say how totally awesome the Church is?  Say what you want about 'old fashioned' and 'tradition'.  But three points:

1. NO ONE KNEW who the next Pope was going to be.  There was no leak, only respect.  There was no amount of money for the first news station to translate or get the first photo.  The Church doesn't need money.  It needs faithful Catholics.  The media had to have video, facts and figures on all 115 cardinals who where in the Papal conclave.  For once the media didn't get to make up the news.  They had to work, research and be prepared.  I think that's called journalism.  I'm not sure, I was only the producer of my high school TV station...
2. It took 2 days.  It wasn't on our time.  It was on God's time.  US Presidents start lying to us, I mean running for election, two years before they are elected.  What a waste of time!  Do your job right and you'll be elected!  The Church picks the leaders from all over the world, all demographics, all walks of life to cast a vote on the new leader of the Church.  Why?  Well, because contrary to politics, the Pope is the boss of the Cardinals who are in charge of the Bishops, who lead the Priests and the Deacons...etc. It's a hierarchy, they obey and it works.  But really the only job of the Pope is to pray for the Church.  Cardinals, Bishops and Priests are going to do what they need to do for their faithful, and the Pope just keeps praying they do God's will.  Our president prays on what?  National Prayer Day?  Actually, I know the Texas Legislature prays before every meeting, so maybe our government does pray.  They just don't put that in the news.
3. and  Latin is back.  Pope Francis I is from Latin America.  So believe it or not this means he is an American Pope!  Maybe not YOUR version of America.  But he's an American pope.  And there are a lot of people in the United States of America who can relate to him.  South Americans and Central Americans are already saying "He's like me!". Embrace it.  Another kind of Latin is back too: the Latin language!  When the world needs a universal language, I can very well see Latin becoming just that.  The Cathedral in my town have many portions of its mass in Latin.  It makes the ceremony seem very universal, which is that the Church is.  Universal.

Next time there is a pope elected, which will totally happen in my lifetime, I will have learned Latin and Italian so that I can listen to our Pope and understand his message.  Even though, this time, I was listening through a translator but still felt his message of peace, humility and evangelization. 

Visit the National Catholic Register to see what happens behind the scenes of the papel election. 
Also, boycott main stream media when it comes to your faith.  The  Da Vinci Code is fiction.  The Secret is FICTION.  Don't base your faith (or lack there of) on stories.  The Church has a huge network of apologetics who study the Church and can answer all questions and concerns.  Get your information from: http://www.catholic.org/  an up-to-date, seriously hip and informational website.   And pray often!

O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all Your faithful people, mercifully look upon Your servant Pope Francis I, whom You have chosen as the chief Shepherd to preside over Your Church. We beg You to help him edify, both by word and example, those over whom he has charge, that he may reach everlasting life together with the flock entrusted to him. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Living Life to the Fullest and praying for Pope Francis I.

If I had a penny for every time....

If I had a penny for every time Budget Savvy Diva posts a great deal on her blog - well I wouldn't count the pennies, she helps save much more than that!

I few deals that are running out soon!

RedBox 10 days of deals - ENDS 2/26

Each day between now and 2/26 you can text the word DAYS to 727272 to get a Redbox Rental Code. You could get one of the following:

A 50¢ discount on your first rental day of any disc

Rent one DVD and get another one free for your rental day

Upgrade from a DVD to a Blu-ray Disc for free for your first rental day

and some games...see Budget Savy link for more information

 

FREE 8x10 photo print on canvas - ENDS 2/28

• Perfect for wedding photos, bridal portraits or family photos!

FREE Paper

• Who doesn't need copy paper or printer paper?  Done.

FREE Subway - 3/11-3/16

• Free Subway sandwiches to the select few.  My west Texas region doesn't qualify, but maybe your area does!

Tresemme OoLaLa!  Exp. Tomorrow? 2/20

• $3 off a bottle of Tresemee product.  I just happen to use this on my hair, so I watched the commericial, downloaded the coupon app and got my coupon!  Now I just need to find a CVS.

Add Budget Savvy Diva to your Google Reader so you can get her HOURLY updates on deals near you!

Living Life to the Fullest, and saving a little as I go!

-Rachel

Holy Spirit Moment

source

Holy Spirit Moment (def): When the Holy Spirit is placing people, things and experiences in your life that you cannot avoid and feel called to act on.  (not to be confused with a coincidence it is more of a God-instance.) 

This just happened.

I recently returned to West Texas after 9 days away visiting friends, family, or and a work CE course filled with phenomenal individuals.  I took in the River Walk, my friends new perfect baby, 3 nights on retreat, 3 nights in Dallas surrounded by family and friends at my Bridal shower and many family dinners.  On my last day I lost it. As I'm saying good-bye to my family tears are swelling up.  Do I want to leave?  No.  Am I ready to leave? Yes.  I love this 'city' life, I am forever grateful for this life and these people who love me so very much.  And I love them more than they know.  But my West Texas, my small town is so quiet, so clarifying, so spiritual, I am anxious to return.

Holy Spirit moment #1: Returning to San Antonio, indulging in parts of my past life there, and not -feeling - complete. 

Holy Spirit moment #2: Talking to my dad about his retirement.  His fear for the future and having a small income and then his realization that life isn't about money.  It's about family time and personal growth.  As I explained my small town offers both of the above, he encourages me to continue on my journey.

Holy Spirit moment #3:  Coming back to my small town, and falling right back into church, church community, and my prayerful time with my fiance and God.

Holy Spirit moment #4:  Listening to a recently retired University president who reiterated all of the above:
He shared:
--"I spent my life reacting to the reaction and not searching or even acknowledging the quiet whispers"  Why does it have to be a bang?  Why do we only feed the squeaky wheel?  There are people in our own lives who need just as much help and support, they just aren't asking for it
 --"My life is full of blessings.  I need to recognize the blessings in the good and in the bad.  I need to be grateful."  AMEN! 
 --"There is so much personal growth that is dismissed because it doesn't fit with the status quo.  Don't follow the crowd. Follow your heart!  If you follow your heart it will lead you to a life of love.  Love of your family, Love of your neighbor, Love of your job, Love of your Life"  Not all loves bring material goods.  (Not all jobs pay well).  But all loves bring personal and spiritual growth.  We are not put here on this earth to live forever on this earth.  EVERYONE DIES.  And the sooner we come to terms with that the less we will take for granted and the more we share.  Sharing our time with family and friends, sharing our gifts of leadership or compassion, sharing our goods through gifts and donations. 

source

I strongly feel God is telling me (through these Holy Spirit Moments) that I need to be comfortable with the minimal.  I need to be aware of my blessings and be grateful for them.  I need to be an example of Christian stewardship by giving my time, talent and treasure to the church.  It's not easy, but the reward will be priceless. 



In conclusion, I have always wanted to be a benefactor.  I've always wanted to give my money away.  But in order to do that, I needed to make money.  But the more money I made, the less I would give away.  Funny how the Devil works.  Today I make less than I did waiting tables at age 16, but I have worked to give over $1 million dollars in grants to our Lubbock Diocese.  That is what wakes me up everyday, not MY paycheck, but the gifts I can give to God's people through my talents. 

Are you having Holy Spirit Moments?  Say a pray right now that you have the courage to listen to God speak to you.



What are you reading?

What are YOU reading??

I just finished a book I had always been interested in.  The title is "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo and his son Colton.

 

If you are interested in what's going on in Heaven or if Heaven even exists, I suggest reading this book.  If you don't believe in Heaven and think this is a scam, I suggest you read this book.

 

It is incredibly easy to read.  I read it to my fiance while we were driving to Dallas.  It was a 6 hour drive, I was reading aloud and we were able to finish the book!  We did get to Dallas and sit in the car for a couple of chapters because we just couldn't put it down.

 

So this little boy has to have emergency surgery and he has what on earth was a brief experience, but in Heaven it was a lengthy experience.  An experience full of meeting passed on relatives, including a sister his mother had miscarried, that he never knew about and his grandfather.  He had never met his grandfather and when his dad showed him a picture of his dad at an older age Colton didn't recognize his grandpa.  But when shown a picture of his grandpa in his 30's Colton immediately recognized him.

 

My favorite story is this book isn't even about the main character.  It is about the face of Jesus and the little atheist girl who drew His face at the age of 4.  Her painting of Jesus Christ is now the backdrop of my phone, so I can see His face everyday! 

 

I'm sure you can find this book at your local library but I highly encourage you to buy it and pass it on.  I've already passed my copy on.  This book is written by a Christian pastor, not a Catholic family, but Catholics are Christian!  And he does mention the Virgin Mary at the end of the book in the comments, for the assurance of Catholics. 

 

Enjoy and God Bless!

 

 

 



Unplugged

photo credit: edikenkoy via photopin cc

That title is misleading....you may think my blog posts haven't been delayed because I 'unplugged' myself from the internet.  Actually, it was the exact opposite.  I only have the internet on my phone (instead of at the house) so I've been plugged into my phone for months.  Looking at pinterest on my phone...do you have the pinterest app?  It's amazing!!  I'm playing Words with Friends with my fiance and checking Instagram every 30 minutes.  I've also been watching YouTube on my phone for the first time...election parodies and Catholic videos. 

However, my 4G's of data are running out quick!  I have 2 weeks left and I've already used 3.2Gs.  Oops....So this weekend and more so yesterday I turned off the data on my phone.  I could only receive text messages and phone calls.  I couldn't check pinterest, instagram, facebook or even play words with friends.  And guess what?  I got so much accomplished!!  I rearranged my desk, I cleared off the kitchen table, and cleaned the living room.  I did the dishes and even had time to listen to a Dani Johnson call.  As Dani says, focusing on what's in front of you  can lead to success.  Avoid the focus on what's behind you, what's distracting you and what's causing your problems (laziness, excuses, bad attitude).  Instead commit and focus on your one or 3 goals and make them happen. I've definitely been allowing a LOT of outside influence in my life lately.  But I'm confident with my spiritual life better than it's ever been (and improving daily) I can focus on some back burner goals I've had and really bring them to fruition!

I hope you can too!  You can hear what I heard from Dani here: http://www.danijohnson.com/2012/part-1-refresh-refocus-redirect/  FREE TODAY (Tuesday 10/30) ONLY. 

Memory Lane

The other day my JM and I went down memory lane.  We took out his family photo albums and revisited his childhood. 

It was tons of fun and hilarious that him and his brother (a.k.a. best man) look so similar I couldn't tell them apart as kids!

Hello Sumo baby!! That is a BIG BOY

This innocent face fools no one... Look at that hair!  It is totally the 70's.
Groovy man!  I do love his eyebrows...I hope our kids get his and not mine

I LOVE this photo...in a tux with crazy beautiful hair.
I think this photo may have been taken the year I was born.  Crazy!
Now he has no excuse not to wear a tux at the wedding!

This probably looks like him more than the other pictures

Then there were those awkward teenage years.  I won't share those with you out of respect for my future-husband....

I hope to share some of my baby pictures with you soon!

-Rachel

Engagement Party

Such an awesome weekend!  Leadership day at work followed by a quick flight to Dallas for our engagement party!!

I'm so busy we'll start with a photo post and then follow up with actual stories later...

Got my new ring!!!

Pinterest worthy decorations!!!

VERY 'spirited' toasts!!

The host of the party - an AMAZING woman we are SO BLESSED to know

On her chalkboard pantry door... nod to our wedding website

Our "Tip Jar" - we had a blast reading these tips the next day.

Engagement Story

I can finally share with you our engagement story.  I wrote it the day after the enagement, but we lost the camera with the engagement photos.  And we all know no blog is complete without photos....so we found the camera, got the photos on the computer and I am sharing them with you now!

The Story:
    For Lent the Man and I have been praying the rosary once a day.  It's AMAZING.  It's better than yoga!  I sleep so well and I have NO worries...so with each decade of the rosary you offer a special intention (a decade is 10 Hail Marys - the 10 beads you see together on a rosary).  The Man and I often pray for those close to us, family, friends, marriages, single people, babies, pregnancies, work, weather, health, etc.  Everything you worry about during the day you can offer as a special intention.  We can kinda tell how our day went based off our special intentions.  So one day the Man prays for marriages and people getting married and engaged.  I'm sure he was praying from the heart and didn't realize his over thinking girlfriend was reading into his prayer.  Gosh, I'm awful!  But we keep praying, finish our rosary and talk about what our plans are for the weekend since he's coming to town.
    He wants to have a date night so we can get dressed up and eat sushi.  I tell him we have an engagement party to go to and my sister's birthday is that Friday so we might be celebrating that with her.  Not too sure if date night will work - more like Sunday date afternoon?  I'm usually the one making plans and he's always along for the ride and I love that.  But he's insisting we go out on a real date.  We're always doing a family thing or a friend thing and if we every spend time alone it's eating pizza in our sweats with a movie.  I agreed-we were due for a date night.
    He comes in LATE Thursday night.  So we wake up Friday, go out to breakfast (I have the morning off) and then I go into work at noon.  I'm gabbing to my receptionist that I think he's going to propose because he was dropping all these hints.  Turns out I left my phone at home so I need to have him bring it to me.  I call and catch him off guard.  I ask him what he's doing and he says he's at the store.  So I'm thinking...Oh really? The diamond store?  The florist?  Are you buying rose petals to lay all over the floor?  Are you buying champagne and doves and a harp player and, and, and!!!  Yes, I'm that girl.
    So 'that girl' comes home from work to an apartment that looks just like it did when I left.  I am so disappointed.  I'm thinking ok, maybe I read into this date night thing too much.  I always hear girls saying that before their husband proposed they were acting really weird and really nervous and the Man was just being his normal self.  So I start getting ready for our date night. 

He was taking pictures of me getting ready.  He's never done that before.
This was kinda weird so maybe I should have caught on

I am starting to hate getting dressed up just because our relationship is so relaxed it's almost awkward to be all fancy in front of him, it's just not us.  But I get dressed up and when he sees me his eyes light up and the look on his face is priceless, so I guess dressing up is totally worth it. 
     For Valentines Day we stood in front of my fireplace, put the timer on the camera and took pictures together.  It was a cute idea and I'm so happy we did it for our first Valentines Day.  We weren't dressed up on Valentines Day, so he wanted to take pictures this time since we were dressed up. 

     So after the pictures the man is like "Oh, I have a present for you" so of course I'm thinking Yay!  Engagement!!  Then he hands me a Victoria Secret bag and my excitement goes from a 10 to a -3.  Seriously Victoria Secret?  boo. This is a present for him, not me!  So I open the bag and it's a pair of jeans I had left in New Mexico with his brother over THANKSGIVING, that I finally got back!  I freakin love these jeans so I'm super happy and now ready for dinner.  If it's not going to happen it's not going to happen, but yay for him remembering I really wanted these jeans back asap. 

   Then he says "No, I got you a real present" and he hands me this crystal swan with a red rose and a red ribbon.  It's incredibly romantic (just like him) and it's very nice. 

 So I say "aww, this is sweet thank you babe" and then I look closer and I see IT.  There IT IS.  Everything goes quiet and I loose all peripheral vision.  I'm focused on one thing and one thing only.  My beautiful and perfect oval diamond ring!!!  When I look up he's on his knee asking for my hand in marriage.  I'm so happy!!!!  I tell him to take that ring off the ribbon and put it on my finger!  I didn't cry, probably because I was so caught off guard (and hungry) but it was the perfect engagement.  He totally knows my personality and knew that I was expecting something so tricking me was very clever of him. 

See how hidden it is??

It's really hard to take a picture of a diamond.  flash vs. no flash

   We're both beaming from ear to ear and I'm looking for my phone so I can text and call everyone.  I want to tell my parents in person so I tell them the next day, but my friends were super happy, much happier than I thought they would be.  I was expecting "about time!" or "duh! we totally knew" but I got calls, texts, tears, screaming, and one even got drunk off excitement? (or loneliness) and called me 10 times since I couldn't answer at dinner.

He's trying to get an 'after' shot, but I'm on the phone!! 

Thanks for reading this story!!  I hope you enjoyed it!  I sure did!!

Now back to wedding planning!!

Laughter is the best

This guy is hilarious.  Last night we had a huge giggle fest.  Let's just say I was taking myself WAY to seriously and he was being a gentleman by keeping his mouth shut.  Then, he bursts out laughing explaining to me that how silly I looked being so serious.  Instead of getting upset I burst out laughing too! Thinking, why be serious when you can be fun!

This story may be a "had to be there moment" but I'll share with you:

I HATE bugs.  This weekend we were at a party that used old potato bags as the table cloths.  Well there were flies ALL OVER the tables because they still smelled like dirt or potatoes, I have no clue.  It was so gross for someone who hates bugs like me.  Well last night there was a fly in the house.  I was trying to ignore it, but I couldn't take it anymore.  So while JM is sitting at the dining room table I yell "FLY! DON'T MOVE!" I grab a hand towel and slowly creep over to the fly.  I start slowly moving my arms, winding up for the big hit.  JM says I was licking my lips looking like a crazy lady.  I ended up killing the fly and being so proud of myself.  Then I look at him and he's cracking up!  He starting mimicking what I was doing and he looked hilarious!  I had to laugh.  I wish I could find a youtube video as an example.  Just visualize one of those old black and white movies with the batter winding up and taking himself way too seriously and when the ball comes he misses and everyone laughs.  That's what happened.  I looked ridiculous and he couldn't help but laugh....and I couldn't help but join in!

He saw the funny in the moment and I'm laughing just remembering that moment!

I'm so blessed to have this goof ball by my side for the rest of our lives. 

What have you laughed about recently?

Living life to the fullest and laughing along the way!

-Rachel

Engagement Photos

We got the photos!  Some of these I stole from our proof on Sara's website because I am too impatient to wait for the DVD of the high res photos. 

If you want to read details about the photo shoot see my previous post.  If you want to see the photos, scroll down and enjoy!!

Love this one.  We'll have to revisit with our kiddos and take this a a yearly family photo!

All copyright Sara Miller with Photographs by Sara.  Isn't she amazing?!  Love love love!

Can't wait for the wedding!