Home again, home again, jiggity jog...

Wow, what a week!  So much for a nice, quiet, summer!  It's been a fun one, though.  Last week, I had the privilege of chaperoning for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Girl's Youth Camp in Wisconsin.  It was wonderful - and exhausting.
I went into this experience entirely unsure of what to expect.  Also, I might add, everything my siblings told me to expect was wrong.  I was told (by my siblings) that chaperones got to sleep in the house.  Not true.  I was also told that the mothers and legal-age chaperones got wine after hours.  Also not true.  Actually, the disappointment of the truth in these matters was greatly lessoned by the fact that the chaperones were allowed to use the indoor bathrooms, unlike the poor campers who had to use porta-pottys.  Ah, the simple things in life!
As I said, it was a wonderful week.  Things were a little different this year, or so I understand.  The group of 90 girls was divided into 8 teams, and each team had its own chaperone.  I got the green team, which was pretty much an awesome group of girls.  My biggest regret is that I wasn't able to get to know them all better, as we were very busy with things like olympics and silly olympics and talks, and drying out our tents.
Yes, we got rained on Monday night and Tuesday morning.  Actually, it was more like poured on.  I don't think there was a single dry tent in the place.  I was lucky - only my blankets got wet.  Many girls had there bags soaked, as well as sleeping bags and pillows.  I didn't hear any complaints, though - other than those tempered with laughter.  A couple of wonderful volunteers spend the day Tuesday drying everyone's things out, enabling dry beds by Tuesday night.
Activities of the week included Olympics, with competitions like a soccer relay and tug of war (green won the tug of war!) Silly Olympics, with a sack race,  horseback riding, and a cooking contest.  I did get to help with the cooking contest, and had a blast.  Iron Chef, here I come!  My team, as I said before, was awesome.  We didn't win the cooking contest, but everyone made a good effort.  Next time we'll get it!
The best part of the week was the talks.  Everyday we had Mass in the morning, with a homily, and there was a formation talk after breakfast.  We were constantly reminded of the dignity and importance of women, and how much we can teach the world.  We are all called to be mothers, sometimes spiritually, sometimes physically.
One of the talks was on Our Lady of Guadeloupe.  There is so much symbolism in the image that I never knew about!  For example, did you know that the color of her veil was a color reserved for the Emperor, under pain of death?  Or that the angel below her was one of the Aztec gods?  I would go over all of it, but I think it may be better kept for another blog post :)
One of the greatest gifts of the week, I hope received by all, was the gift of good, true, friendships.  I made new friends, got to see some "old" friends (who I met last month at the Sursum Corda camp,) and was blessed to be able to reconnect with a very old friend, whom I had not seen in about six years.  I made some young friends, and some older friends, and the best part is knowing that these are people who will pray for me, (and who I will pray for,) and who I will hopefully meet again - if not here, than in heaven.
This is a prayer that one of my fellow chaperones shared:

Morning Prayer

Grant, O Lord, that none may love Thee less this day because of me;

That never one word or act of mine may turn one soul from Thee;

And ever daring yet one more grace would I implore: 

That many souls this day, because of me, may love Thee more. Amen

Sursum Corda Young Adults Camp - Part One

Yes, I survived the weekend - even the driving.  It was glorious.  We even had perfect weather.
Between my sister and I, we took LOTS of pictures - 1161, to be exact.  Of course, not all of them turned out, but I'm sure I can find a few to post ;).

Our journey started with a trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, just outside of Green Bay, WI.  It is the site of a Marian apparition in 1859, which has been recently approved by the Church - the only approved site in the United States.

Mary asked Adele to teach the children "their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments." Adele started a school and a chapel. 

  The candles were in the crypt below the chapel, built on the site of the apparitions.

There was also this beautiful pieta statue.  If you look closely, you can see crutches in the background, from those who have had favors granted.











As promised, I lit a candle for my family, friends, and readers.

We happened to be visiting on the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, making these statues in the main chapel even more meaningful...and a bit of a surprise!

The main alter has a beautiful statue of Mary and the Child Jesus.  On one side of the chapel there is a display with a statue given to Sr. Adele for processions (and still used today!) and two reliquaries.  One (center) contains wood from the trees Mary appeared on, and the other (right) a piece of the Blessed Virgin's veil.

Outside, they have a field with the Stations of the Cross in the center, and the mysteries of the rosary around the outside.  I really liked the way they did the rosary.  There were five banners, and on one side would be the first mysteries (for example,) and the other side had the fifth, so it didn't matter which side you started on.  Between the mysteries there were a couple of shrines and benches to stop and pray, such as this small grotto.

Another beautiful little spot was this Fatima shrine.  The statues are just gorgeous!

So concludes the first stop on our journey.  We had to drive a few hours south to our hotel, and we did a little shopping for some lavender lotion.  The mosquitos were very healthy - and hungry - in Wisconsin!  I also bought some awesome sandals :)

Good-bye, Charlie

    I intended to talk  about the weather today- after all, it isn’t very often that Minnesota has triple digit temperatures, the highest in the country, only to plummet 55 degrees in less than two days.  Unfortunately, my plans were changed this morning, due to the somewhat unexpected death of my dog, Charlie.

    I say somewhat unexpected because I knew two years ago that Charlie wouldn’t have a long life.  He was diagnosed with a heart murmur when he was about nine months old.  The effect it would have was unknown, but it generally meant a shorter lifespan.  He did surprisingly well with it, though.  He never had any of the potential problems like a cough or tiring easily.  Most of the time he could keep up with Dutchess, no problems.  But this morning, it finally hit him.  I noticed he was having trouble breathing, especially when he lay down, and he wasn’t eating.  I called the vet, and they said to bring him in.    I think he wanted to die at home, because he was gone before we got off our road.  It was good in a way - he didn’t suffer much.  He never had to watch everyone running around and wish that he could play too.  He never had problems getting around.  

    It was harder, I think, for my younger siblings, even though Charlie was my dog.  Maybe it’s because I’ve lost pets before.  It’s part of life.  You’re sad, and you miss them, but you learn to be glad for the time you had with them.  I had to loose a lot of pets before learning this lesson.  There were times I swore I would never have another, because it wasn’t worth loosing them.  I know now that it better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all.  These lessons carry through to life, too.  We loose family members and friends, sometimes forever, sometimes just for a while.  Sometimes the loss is expected, and we have time to say good-bye.  Sometimes it comes as a shock.  It can be tempting then, too, to say never again.  It can be hard to try again.  People, like pets, take a lot of work and time.  The more you put in, I suppose, the more you get out of either.  But people, like pets, sometimes don’t care how much you do or don’t do for them- they just love you anyhow, because you are you.  

    I don’t plan on getting another dog right now, because I know I am too busy.  But someday I will have another, and I hope it’s a Newfoundland like Charlie.  Only I will get a female next time, because it will make breeding those awesome Golden Newfie pups a lot easier on the mom.  Until then, I’m sure Charlie will pop up in a few stories and maybe even a poem.  We’ll see.  

    We buried Charlie up on the hill, under a tree, near his daughter, Lucky.  One of my brothers even made him a wooden marker, chiseled in wood.  Maybe we’ll make him another out of cement, too.  He was a big dog, and won’t soon be forgotten.

On Education

This is my last full official week in my pursuit of higher education.  Next Tuesday, I graduate with an Individualized Studies Associates Degree in Small Business Entrepreneurship.  In other words, I shall be FREE to actually learn again ;).  I have enjoyed most of my classes, and will miss many of my instructors.
I considered not posting anything this week, due to the two portfolios, two projects, and two final exams I still have to have done by Tuesday, not to mention the third final due Thursday. And then there is my mind which is ready to explode or go on strike, and keeps wanting to speculate what the future will bring.  In other words,  I am insanely busy at the moment.  BUT I didn't want to neglect my readers, so here are some of my favorite quotes by G.K. Chesterton on Education:

“No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete.”


"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.”


“Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”


“Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know.”