End of the month joy!

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The Raffle was a a huge success thanks to all of those who sold tickets, purchased or slipped a few extra dollars in to pot on their way out of mass. The loving support of the members of Our Lady of Victory is more than I could have ever wished for. I added the $2,292 and another $2000 of my own.

The girls who were accepted to enter this year all convened at the mother house a week ago on the 22nd. Which means that God willing it's less than a year until I will be joining the sisters in Connecticut. I could actually start counting days and not have to tack that tacky "one year and" before. In the mean time though life is moving on quite wonderfully.

Fr. John, my parents and I gave a vocation's panel to the youth this past Wednesday and it went very well. We each had a short amount of time to explain a little bit about our journey's none of the kids fell asleep which I'm going to take as a sign that it wasn't horrible. From my point of view it was really good. Being able to share my story helps me to pull out what's important and assures me of why I'm doing this. It also makes the discernment more real. As I tell people I realize that this isn't just a mental musing in the chapel anymore. I've really applied and been accepted. Listening to my parents share their journey was also touching. The beauty of a faithful and caste marriage is something that can't be dwarfed by media and a world with no respect for the word. I'm certain that I won't be able to strive in the vocation of the religious life without a good respect and understanding for the married life.
I have to give Fr. John credit. He's got flair. He was the last to go and he managed to keep the kids attention while giving an informative speech about vocations and discernment and explaining his own journey. It was reassuring to hear him repeat a lot of the same things as me. (He had to come late and missed my talk. busy being a pastor and all). So I'm willing to say that the night was a personal success and I have to thank Fr. John and Fr. Chris they were both extremely helpful if not essential to the making of that evening.

Raffle

The week stay at a condo at Maravilla Beach is well on it's way. Next week is the drawing. After the 10:30 mass will be the drawing so if you want tickets stop by Our Lady of Victory office or purchase them before and after the 5:00pm vigil, 8:30 mass and before the the 10:30 mass. Thank you for everyone's generous support, love and prayers.

And as some of you may know I spoke at all of the masses this weekend, so also thank you to anyone who gave constructive criticism to help me improve from mass to mass and for those of you who prayed for God to ease my nerves. This has been a weekend full of graces and thanks. Thank you all.

In passing

These are just a few quotes I ran across while since I last wrote.
"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." ~Dr. Seuss

Paraphrased from a priest on the young adults retreat- There are two reasons why we do something. We do it either out of fear or out of love. When we do something out of fear it won't last, but when we do something out of love suddenly we have the strength to do anything. Strength even to stay awake with Jesus in the Garden. (Some thing beautifully said and then horribly butchered)

"When we write from the center... when we write about what matters to us most, words will take us places we don't want to go. You begin to see that you will have to say things you don't want to say, that may even be dangerous to say, but are absolutely necessary." Kathleen Norris Amazing Grace. It was quoted in a different book I was reading.

Just little snippets that I though you might enjoy. I certainly did.

PS. Pray for me. I'm going to speaking at all of the masses this weekend.

Clarifying the monies

Some of you may be wondering why there's a difference between my payment tracker on my website and the one a couple of posts earlier on my Blog. As I explained I that was what I had in donations and what I had gained from working the one on my website is the money that has gone to my loans or has been set aside specifically for my first year. Which is included in the 20,000 dollars and why my loans are at 18,000 but I have an additional 2,000 within my goal. Th reason I'm not setting anything into a don't touch fund yet is because I've got a long year ahead of me and I know I need to have a certain amount set aside in case of an emergency in this up coming year.