Project Gabriel

My friend, Maria, is the new Gabriel Project coordinator at my parish and she has been hungrily searching for more volunteers and doing a great job! She has me signed up. :)

I am called to help those who are in crisis pregnancies because I feel that I can be as pro-life as I like but until I help those out there who are willing to go through the struggle of adding a pregnancy to their already complicated lives then I am just a bystander. I know Matthew will be willing to help me and be involved. I haven't been trained yet and I will go to a training session next weekend. I know that I will encounter frustrations and distress but I am going into this not seeking rewards or even believing in seeing the fruits of my efforts. I hope this will lead us to more fervent prayer and less restlessness.

I want to do as my friends, Sharon and Adam, do. They live their faith. They live a Christ-life life and set an example to their children. I wish I could have found a faith-filled life sooner. Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty, so ancient and so new. Late have I loved Thee. ~Saint Augustine.

I know my parents have volunteered in the past. My mother and her friend cleaned the church every week when I was small. I recall smelling the pledge and other cleaning solution as they wiped down the pews and polished the brass. But when we moved to Kentucky she no longer did that. I am grateful to have those faint but surfacing memories of crawling around the pews quietly in the sanctuary and talking to Christ with my child-like prayers. She has been the one who cleans and irons the purificators for Mass for longer than I can remember and that is a beautiful way to serve the Lord. I think they are scared to do anything more outside of their comfort zone and thus gave me a sheltered life. There are many blessings in that so I do not complain (too much).

It is very easy to get me to do something at church. It is where I want to be.

I pinch...

When Matthew and I first started dating he showed me the Honda crab commercial and ever since then we've had a long standing joke. Whenever I feel like scaring or annoying him, I lean towards him and creepily say, "I pinch" and he shudders and cries, "Nooooo!"

It's cute. Maybe you have to have been there from the beginning to understand.

So........

I pinch.

Cincinnati and the 80s

I like to fondly think about those days when I was very small and I lived in Cincinnati (we moved to Kentucky when I was five).  Because those four-plus years were the only years in my life that my family has lived together as one.  My sisters were in college and worked at Kroger.  My brother was in high school at La Salle.  I remember stories where Denise would bribe me to be good with orange tic-tacs and I was so gullible!  Orange tic-tacs?  Come on!  I should have gotten something better than that.

My dad worked all the time and so he liked spending evenings with me.  I didn't like to go to bed if he was still up so he would let me sit on the couch with him and I would fall asleep and then he would put me to bed.  On weekends he would run a lot.  He liked running.  I would sit on the front steps of the house waiting for him to come back from his run.  I followed him around when he was home.  I was his "honey-pot" and he showered me with love.

Denise is my oldest sister who wanted to teach me everything.  I could read at a very young age and I read all the time.  I had so many children's books that she bought for me.  I am probably where I am today because she invested so much time in making sure I knew how to read and spell.  I'm still pretty sure that she is the one who taught me to tie my shoes.  It makes me wonder what did my mother do?

Melissa was studying court reporting and was clickety-clackety typing on her little typewriter to practice her wpm.  When she couldn't play with me she would take the special kind of paper that they use and make a small notebook for me to draw things for her.  It was amazing.  I miss those days.  And, I think that is the reason I fall in love with office supplies.  Don't take me to Office Depot, I will leave with my hands full.

On Fridays, Denise and Melissa would work at Kroger until midnight.  I would be in my crib and waiting for them to come home.  The minute they opened the door I would call out, "Wissa?!"  She still laughs to this day about those times.  They always brought home a treat for me and I was excited to have them home.  Despite having two amazing children my one sister says the best thing that ever happened to her was my birth.  My parents attention was from then on focused on me and my siblings could breathe easier and get away with more antics.

My mom was/is not the most patient person but she did an amazing job of coming up with projects for me to do to not get bored.  I had all kinds of crafts!  And in school I had the best ideas for contests and won several science fair awards.  I do owe it all to her.  She had the idea, convinced me of it and gave me the background I needed and then stood back and let me accomplish what she had in mind.  What a manipulator...

During bible study once the question was put out:  What is your first memory of church?  Mine has to be playing in the pews during the week.  My mom and her best friend volunteered to clean the church during the week.  I got to go with them and explore Saint I's.  I loved it!  I had to be quiet but the place was dark, cool and empty.  The smell of furniture polish and the echoes of my mom and Kinross' discussions are still in my head somewhere.  Church was fun, even at that age.  Maybe that is why the community of faith means so much to me, I had it at a very young age.

We have a very old pinball machine.  When I was little I could not put my hands on both buttons at once.  Melissa would stand on one side and control one of the pinball knockers and I controlled the other.  So when my mom wanted to get rid of the pinball machine when I was in college I cried and threw a fit.  I don't want to give up those days nor anything that is still around from them.  Dad understood and he has made my brother store it in his basement because one day I am going to have that pinball machine and my family is going to play it and create memories.

My brother teased me a lot so I tried hard to either annoy the crap out of him or to stay away from him.  He would be irritated that when his friends came over to "hang out" they would want to play with me and my pound puppies.  Having such a younger little sister is a novelty and other people understand that even when the older sibling doesn't.  The most annoying times he would either accuse me of pooping my pants in front of the family at Thanksgiving (or every other holiday for that matter) which would send me into a fit of tears as everyone, and I mean everyone thought it was so funny.  I was hurt that my loved ones would laugh at me.  I do find it amusing now.  I can mature....

Robby also used to get me into trouble.  He would try to convince me of something that wasn't true and I would always yell, "Nuh-Uh!" and he would say, "Yeah-huh!  Go ask Mom!" and I would trot out to find Mom.  "Mom, is the moon made of cheese?" and boy did she get mad.  I think it happened all the time (no wonder she had no patience).  I wanted to prove him wrong and she would just yell at me and yell at me.  Robby thought it was the funniest thing ever.  That still makes me narrow my eyes when I think about it. 

In conclusion?  I have nothing.  Just a bunch of random memories that pooled to the surface.  Maybe it defines me a little more and explains my behavior and idiosyncrasies.

*Note:  Please keep in mind that my memories are just that, memories.  Not necessarily denoting fact but my mind's rendition of what I remember and what I got out of the experience.  I also have had these stories told to me from others' points of view that my own may be misconstrued.