Sunday, July 29, 2007

COUTDOWN COMMENCES

T-Minus


13 days, 1 hr, 38 mins....


I'm SO excited (dun da dun dun)

AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT (dun da dun dun dun)....


WOWie VOW-ie...Batman!


Wednesday, July 25, 2007

I LOVE BEING A PRINCIPAL

I do...I am loving it...so far!

I had an incredible meeting with my middle school faculty about changes in their teaching loads. They were so open, flexible, and cooperative...music to any administrator's ears! It was truly a blessing. I am thrilled to work with them.

I love how welcoming everyone has been. I love meeting new people, prospective families...etc.

Tonight...I figured out something I DON'T LOVE...SCHEDULING...OY! I am forever indebted to Sr. Phyllis, former principal extraordinaire...patient as ever. She helped me figure out the schedule. We have some crazy factors to deal with too, namely our Wednesday school schedule is early release every Wednesday...so that was a challenge. Part-time specialties, making sure everyone meets their minutes...prep periods...YUCK. It was so challenging! I'm glad it's finished. I really worked hard on it and I'm proud that I could maintain my "keeping my heart in the classroom" philosophy through this process. I asked myself for every "weird" scheduling conundrum..."Would I be ok with this as a teacher?" So I hope my faculty understands some of the changes and EMBRACES THEM! We'll see....

Back to loving being a principal...yes...I'm loving it. It's busy and exciting. I'm nervous...but I think I've found a good place for me to minister and to set me off on this next adventure!

I'm SAVORING my HP (yeah right...I'm so freaking tired by the time I go to bed...I can't even READ!) Saturday...my goal is to sit in my backyard and read. Gotta have goals.

Peace out!

Monday, July 23, 2007

M.I.A.--oops!

I just received a comment that said, "One Fun Nun is M.I.A."....sooooo true. I apologize!
Here's the low down on my life the past weeks since retreat...on your mark...get set...GO!

RETREAT!

Retreat was wonderful. I had the most perfect weather, a great director, and I worked HARD! Dawn was fantastic as ever...she's so good at reading people, perceptions, and gives good (challenging, but good) homework. I spent the week reading some poetry and two "folk tales" of sorts that she gave me which really profoundly related to some of the things we were discussing.

I spent time with the folk tale, "The Snake Who Lost His Hiss"...moral being: "Don't hurt anyone...but sometimes you have to hiss". Hmmmm.....I'm still having reflection on that story. Dawn's that good...let me tell you!

The memorable poetry lines that are still vividly with me were:
From Mary Oliver's When I am Among the Trees
"When I am among the trees...I would say that they save me, and daily...never hurry through the world, but walk slowly, and bow often...and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."

I spent most of my days outside walking, walking, and more walking by Lake Michigan. I loved this image of walking slowly and bowing often (um..yeah..two of my retreat themes was "Slow down" and "be good to yourself") and I love the image of being filled with light and to shine!

The other poem that I loved was also a Mary Oliver entitled: Messenger; here are a few of my favorite lines:
"My work is loving the world...Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still land learning to be astonished...which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes, a mouth with which to give shouts of joy...telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever."
WOW...my work is loving the world...that was a neat image. The still not "half-perfect" hit me between the eyes. Hmmmm....
Dawn also gave me another poem to begin the week, which I hated. Well..ok...I didn't hate it...it was actually a beautiful poem. But I did hate my reaction to it; and in retreat land...that means "ooooh...struck a chord..HA..." In formation land...someone would ask you then, "Gee...your reaction to that is significant..what's underneath that?" Ick...that's all..it's just plain ick.
Finally...to relish my "FUN" and "PLAYFUL" side...I was given the book There's a Hair in my Dirt by Gary Larson (the Far Side dude). IT WAS HYSTERICAL...one of the best things I've ever read. It's all about interconnectedness from an ecological framework; however I believe the point my retreat director was trying to convey was that the matter in which we deal with things (or not deal with them) affects the "ecosystem" that the "issue" is connected with. I'm tellin' ya...I've never worked so hard on retreat! That spirit was on overtime!
I did quite a bit of mandala journaling too. I even have a couple that are kind of pretty! I was proud of myself because I really let go and used that creative space for a release as well as a way to let the spirit speak to me...AND SHE DID..no question about it. I'm not always that open; but when I am, great insights happen; so YAY for me for being open for a change!
How's that for an evasive description of the lessons of the spirit on my retreat??? It was a good retreat...I'm still processing it and trying to make some sense of these insights and how I can apply them for GROWTH (man oh man...I can't believe what I type sometimes).
SPIRITUALITY CONFERENCE
This past weekend we had our annual Spirituality Conference (we do this shin-dig every other year)! IT WAS AWESOME....almost 400 sisters and Associates gathered to listen, learn, and discuss God Centered Poverty. As one Sister I know who is making vows in approximately 18 days and 17 1/2 hours, really enjoyed it because of breaking open our call in relationship to the vows. Sr. Ingrid Peterson, a Rochester Frannie and Br. Bill Short an OFM were our speakers. Sr. Ingrid came to the novitiate and I just loved her then. She was equally as delightful and she and Br. Bill made a nice team. They were really playful and jovial...along with some pretty insightful information.
Some "quicks" I took away: Poverty is about giving to and for not giving up and away. We, by virtue of our vow...vow not to appropriate. We share LIFE in all aspects in common. This gives us a freedom. (Sidebar: Our vow formula is: I will be poor, so that I may be more free to give. oh yeah...we rock!) Several sisters raised the other vows like, "hey poverty's nice, but what about chastity and obedience?" Well Br. Bill and Ingrid had a good time dumping the answer onto the other person.
My reflection was, "If we don't appropriate...and this non-appropriating is at the center of the energy behind the vows, this can be translated to the other two quite simply. We don't appropriate in our relationships with others (chastity), and we don't appropriate in our decision-making (obedience). Franciscanism calls us to have our relationship at the root of our call/life together; non-appropriating draws us to deeper relationship with one another in a healthy way."
Anyway...I was all pumped...vows in less than 20 days...conference on vows...application to vows. VOW ME BABY.....I"M SO READY!
I sat at the most bomb-diggity table ever! It was me, Sr. Mary Ann, Sr. Rosemary, and Sr. Judy (whom I didn't really know...so that was nice to have someone I didn't know there too). THEN my two friends Sarah and Jen who are thinking about Associate Relationship (Well...Sarah is becoming an Associate in September and Jen is on her way too!). AND two women, Deb and Shemagne who are in various stages of discernment for vowed membership! It was great to get the different perspectives and experiences. Not to mention we were the fun table...laughing a lot and having a nice time.
I love the Spirit Conference. I think it's our Girls at our best. So many people come in...we pray, we play, we learn, we sing, we dance...it's fantastic. It was a wonderful weekend. Here's the link if you want to read more:
http://www.sssf.org/english/us-newsSpirituality.shtml They don't have pics up yet with updates...but hopefully that will be coming. Sorry I don't have pictures; sure did bring my camera...sure didn't take it out at all. Oops!
PRINCIPAL-ING
Well this is the primary reason I have not updated my bloggy-blog. I am in the throws of being a principal. In short: I LOVE IT and I'm EXHAUSTED. But exhausted in the best way; I guess. I'm trying to let myself adjust...I haven't been on a schedule like this for a while and EVERYTHING is COMPLETELY NEW...(remember that gentle, slow down stuff from retreat...yeah...it was great...for that week... ha ha). But I'm exhausted in a way that says, "Wow...this is really exciting. I'm nervous, but know I have support and good preparation. I feel like this ministry is a great match for my gifts. I think I can make a difference. And I'm so excited to learn."
I'm trying to get things prepared for school to start; I feel far behind, but my friends tell me I'm still ok. I'm working on the scheduling (OH MY GOSH...it's really a difficult task) right now. Then I will have to prepare for in-service and make sure the handbooks are up to date. It's a lot going on...and I am just SOOOO excited to have those kiddos walk through the door! I'll keep ya'll updated on how things are going.
And now...I must go to my Harry Potter book. For book 6; I stayed up until 2am to finish it the first night. Um...yeah...that's not happening this time...I'm savoring it...and loving every page. I love HP!
That's all I got for now...thanks for hanging in...in my MIA status!

Saturday, July 7, 2007

07-07-07

Today's date is really cool....I just had to have that as the title line.....

UPDATES!! UPDATES!! UPDATES!!

First of all...if you go back and reread Giving Voice Day 3...you will notice that I edited that post with photos and further reflections...I thought that would be easier than writing a new entry.

Well...this week back from Boston was BUSY.

I began officially at Holy Trinity as PRINCIPAL! WOO HOO! It was a full week; meeting people, getting my bearings, paperwork, etc. Sr. Toni came on Thursday to help me set up my office. I can't tell you what a gift that was! I got a big kick out of this...when I was a kid, I'd come to help Sr. Toni in her office and now she was helping me! Neato. Overall...it was a good week. I am just so happy and excited to be ministering with this community as their principal. It is indeed my next ministerial adventure...I'm up for the challenge...and uber excited for this upcoming year.

Check out the Boston Globe link: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/07/07/sisters_savor_a_shared_religious_life?p1=email_to_a_friend

They did a great story on our conference in Boston. You may even recognize one of the interviewees!

I also have another rockin' site for ya'll to visit:

http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/index.htm

It's called "Pray As You Go". You can download, onto your Mp3 or computer the daily readings and a reflection. It IS SO COOL. Here's what the website says about the format:

A new prayer session is produced every day. It is not a 'Thought for the Day', a sermon or a bible-study, but rather a framework for your own prayer. Lasting between ten and thirteen minutes, it combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection.
The aim is to help you to:

  • become more aware of God's presence in your life
  • listen to and reflect on God's word
  • grow in your relationship with God.

It is produced by Jesuit Media Initiatives, with material written by a number of British Jesuits and other experts in the spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola.Although the content is different every day, it keeps to the same basic format.

I leave for retreat tomorrow (AHHHHHHH--interpret that how you may) and I downloaded next weeks. I also downloaded the breathing (because some people indicate that sometimes I need to breathe more? I dunno) and the end of the day reflection. They are ok...not as good as the daily readings.

I admit, while listening to the end of the day reflection...I burst out laughing in the first minute. If you download it, listen to it, and know me a little..you should be able to guess what made me spit my water out of my mouth!

In all sincerity...I think this is the coolest thing I've found online in a long time. I like the STRUCTURE, the music, and the questions to ponder. I'll let ya'll know how they are on retreat. If any of you try it...I'd love to know your thoughts too! Leave me a comment!

YES...I leave for retreat...FOR A WHOLE WEEK. I'm going to the same place with the same Sister I did that mini-retreat with in March. So...it's 7 days with me, Dawn, God and the Spirit. Wowie...I hope it's a good retreat. I have had a bit going on...I'm "Transition Katy" right now...which isn't my best space to be in, but I'm hoping that the spirit works and I can LET GO and LET that spirit do her movin'. I won't be updating until I return...so leave me lots of comments! :-)

Peace until next week.........