"You Were Bought With A Price..."

So.....thanks to Brigid who is hot and awesome, i now recieve the daily reading, psalm, and gospel by email. it's called The Daily Gospel and it's awesome!!! you should all get it. i highly recommend it. anywho, it also has a commentary by a saint on either the readings or the gospel and today's commentary was by St. Thomas Aquinas. (apparently he actually said something worthwhile) :-) anywho....it struck me alot so i'm now passing it on to you! Enjoy:

- Saint Paul said: “May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Gal 6:14) See, says Saint Augustine, where the wise according to the world believed he had found shame, the apostle Paul discovered a treasure; what to the other seemed folly, for him became wisdom (1 Cor 1:17f.) and a title of glory.
For each person draws glory from what makes him great in his own eyes. If he believes that he is a great person because he is wealthy, he glories in his goods. The person who sees greatness for himself only in Jesus Christ, places his glory in Jesus alone. That is the case for the apostle Paul: “The life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me.” (Gal 2:20) Also, he glories only in Christ, and above all in the cross of Christ. That is because all the motives for glory that a person might have are gathered together in the cross.
There are people who glory in the friendship of the great and powerful. Paul needed only the cross of Christ to discover there the most obvious sign of God’s friendship. “It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) No, there is nothing that shows better God’s love for us than the death of Christ. Saint Gregory exclaimed: “Oh inestimable testimony of love! In order to redeem the slave, you handed over the Son.”

WOW, huh? talk about food for thought.

She did it!!!

ok everyone.....BIG NEWS: Ruthie got into her bed by herself!!! i know to many that doesn't seem like a big deal, but when your whole right half of your body doesn't work....than it takes ALOT to heave it into bed. we've only been going to therapy at this new place for about a month now, so this is HUGE. i am SO geeked. it's such a good feeling to know that one's hard work is really paying off. and she got so excited!!! it was adorable. by the way.....Ruthie is the lady i take care of, down here in Texas(just in case you forgot and were wondering who the heck i was talking about). ok, that's all for now.......i'll post more later today i promise!!! ciao!

Sunsets: Confession: Shopping: WONDER

*BIG SIGH*. today was wonderful. and i mean, WONDER-FULL and WONDERFUL. it was just one of those fabulous days where you're just happy to be alive. almost to the point where you get an adrenaline rush just thinking about it. Last night was Michael's(Sean's roommate) birthday party. his friends were sad, to say the least, but that's another post, another day. The point is that i didn't go to sleep until 4:30AM, and thus didn't wake up until about 12:30pm today. it was marvelous. i felt so slept-in....even though it ended up only being 8 hours. and then i was able to watch an episode of "What Not To Wear".....and frankly, that makes my day. it's probably a little pathetic, but very true. i'm a very simple person....it doesn't take much to make me happy. (right, Brigid?) ;-)
At any rate, after my show, i proceeded to get ready and then headed to UD for confession. the drive was magnificent. i was cruising down the highway, with the sun shining, the windows down, and Michael Buble in the CD player. I ask you....can life get any better than that? Confession was wonderful. it was the kind of confession where you actually feel washed new and so clean and makes you tear up. it was amazing. After confession, Brigid, Megs and I went to TJ Maxx to go purse/bag shopping. We stopped at Potbelly and got sandwiches for lunch and then went to the Maxx and Megs and i both found fabulous purses!!! well, i found two, and they were so worth it! anywho, on our way back we stopped at Starbucks and then Sean's apt, which was on the way home, and hung out with him for a bit. i let brigid drive back from shopping and i think that pretty much made her month. ;-) at any rate....i dropped the girls off so they could start studying, and then on my way home i stopped at this scrapbooking warehouse and got some scrapbooking stuff. this place was AWESOME!!! one could very easily spend hundreds of dollars there, no problem. but i was a good girl and restrained myself.:-) although i did sign up for a beginner's class that's free. i figured...."Hey! why not?" it couldn't hurt, right? and then i came home. it was just.....perfect. i'll post pictures on my next post so you can see what i'm talking about with the sky and whatnot. they really have completely different clouds here. i've NEVER seen such amazing clouds!!! i've come to the conclusion that Texas would be the perfect place to be in love, because the days are spectacular(VERY conducive for picnics and whatnot) and the nights are AMAZING(perfect for an evening stroll), that make you want to be with someone just so you can experience it together. and it's so wide open that you feel like you can soar! yep. Dallas is the place to be in love. ok, that's enough for now. it's getting late and i have a pretty full day tomorrow. i miss you all so very dearly(i only wish you knew how much!), i think about each of you daily and reminisce with a smile. God has truly blessed me WAY beyond my comprehension when He gave me all of you for friends. He is truly AWEsome and Good. God bless you all in all that you're doing, and have a wonderful night!

Oblivion or Just Plain Ignorance?

Oh dear dear.....not even a whole month here and i've already displayed my very "blue" obliviousness. I do wish that sometimes my blonde, white side wouldn't venture out until i was in places for at least a month. Do let me explain....
It all started with that dang, not-quite-so-young adult group that i attended and got lured into. This past Saturday(9th) they had a End-of-Summer dance, and so I thought, "well, i can't lose anything and i love to dance, so why not check it out?". Little did i know what was in store for me. I knew that the members of the group that i had met weren't exactly my age or even close to it, but i thought that they might be more successful in recruiting for a dance, and maybe i would get lucky and find some actual young adults there. Oh. My. GOSH. I walked in there that night, all prettied up, and i felt like i was walking into a Senior Citizen Reunion!!!! MOST of the people there, besides the male population being WAY understated, were WELL(and i mean WELL) over the age of 40. I would say that the average age was late 4o's to early 60's. Believe me, had i not signed up to volunteer the food table, i wouldn't even have stayed. and then, i would have left right after my slot was over, but i figured, "hey, i spent $10 gettin' in here, i love to dance anyways.....might as well try and have some fun". and there were a FEW people there who were around my age. so i stayed. Not such a bright idea. the first guy that asked me to dance was probably one of the nicest older men i've met down here, and he was the kind of guy that asks all the ladies to dance. nothing there romantically, thank God. but when he came up and asked me to dance, he was literally DRENCHED(and i mean...DRENCHED) in sweat. GROSS!!!!! i mean, he knew it and apologized accordingly, but still!! so i barely touched his shoulder with the tips of my fingers as we danced, and even then i came away with a whole forearm covered. it was REPULSIVE. but that was only the beginning:
The REAL Story.
after Mr. Drenched finished dancing with me, i went and sat down for a rest. and then it happened. Mr. Russian guy came over and asked me to dance. again, he was a really nice guy, but he was WELL into his 40's and had a really heavy Russian accent that made it really hard for me to understand what he was saying. at any rate, we danced and he told me that i was an amazing dancer and really had a gift. which was really nice, and i thanked him for it. and while we were dancing he asked me how old i was and i told him that i was 22. to which he replied, "Oh good, you're legal." "hmm, that's an odd remark.", i thought, but just brushed it off. i just thought maybe he was making sure it was ok for me to be there(b/c they were serving alcohol, you had to be 21 to attend). so....whatever. and then we proceed to dance a few more songs together and then i told him i needed a break and went and sat down and drank my coke. (Note: i didn't want to drink alcohol, because i needed to be able to drive home, otherwise i would have, believe me!) a few minutes later he comes over and we start chatting. nothing much, just mostly small talk, and he asks me if i like to salsa. to which I replied that i love ALL kinds of dance. so he told me about this place where they have salsa dancing every once in awhile. Now, the way he said it did NOT sound like he was asking me to go with him, it just sounded like he was just letting me know. Enter, obliviousness. anywho, he proceeded to give me the card for the salsa place and then he gave me his card. Oh dear. i was beginning to see it all. how dreadful. and i had already given him my number!!!(he had asked for it so that he could let me know when the salsa was going on.....stupid me). now i was stuck and i didn't know how to get away!!! so i started frantically searching my brain for an excuse to get up and GET OUT. so i told him i was gonna go put the cards in my purse. so i went back, got my purse, put the cards in it and went back to where he was sitting and got my shoes(dumb me, i had taken them off earlier on and left them there). with my shoes now back on my feet, i told him that i had to get going but it was nice to meet him. i held out my hand to give him a handshake and he took it, drew me closer and KISSED me THREE TIMES on the cheek!!!!! AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!! HELLLO!!!! there is such a thing as personal space and he had just WAY overstepped his boundaries!!!! oh my GOSH it was SO awkward! after that, as i was walking away JUST AS FAST AS I COULD, he called out and said we should have lunch sometime, and i said, "sorry! i work during the day!" so he changed it to dinner and i just shrugged and left QUICKLY.
WHY? WHY do these things happen to me???? it boggles my mind. at any rate....it makes for a good story, i guess. although even at the mere memory of it all i get nauseous. SICK.
in other news, there was an Oktoberfest in Addison(right outside of Dallas) so i went to that yesterday with the mcnallys, meghs, and sean's roommate, michael. it was SPLENDID and exactly what we ALL needed!!! it was this sort of carnival with beer and rides and vendors, and it was FABULOUS!!! and there you have it folks! an update in the life of ME. (which is why we're all here, right?) ;-P