He is Real.

He is real. I know He is real. But some days..... I feel His presence more than others.

I'm not sure why last night was any different. St. Joseph's chapel was on fire for Jesus. I could feel him all around me. I had chills as Rob began singing "Mighty to Save" and the congregation of students from both UMKC and Rockhurst joined in. He is real in this place and I'm so thankful to be right where I am today.

Some days I wonder why I have been so blessed with the life I've been given, the people that I'm surrounded by, and a God who loves me like He does. Days like today, I'm thankful.

P.S. For anyone who was at Mass last night. Fr. Rocha's slippers. How awesome. That was God 100%.



Mighty to Save......

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.
Yes, I surrender

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

Why I love Jesus... (For Claire)

The other day I was having a conversation with my dear friend Claire. She asked me, "Why do you love Jesus?" Here's the thing... I know in my heart why I love Jesus, but it's sometimes hard to put it into words. Ever since that day last week, the question has been on my mind. So here is just the start of a list that I hope and pray never stops growing.

1. He is unchanging.
2. He is jealous for me.
3. He never lets go.
4. He died for me. (And for you!)
5. He draws me in →He is asking me to surrender to His will.
6. He KNOWS me. And wants me to know Him!
7. He is the source of my existence.
8. He has blessed me with a beautiful life and a beautiful family.
9. He is REAL! And He wants to be my friend.
10. He has let me walk with the poorest of the poor.
11. He has opened my eyes to the beauty of this place.



Thank you, Claire. For making me think about why I love Jesus. :)

Peace

In the midst of all of my grad school madness, this is a concept I am trying to grasp daily.

Major League Ballparks

Another addition to my bucket list..... Well, I guess this one is an addition to our bucket list (mine and Brady's).

We want to go to every Major League Baseball Stadium together.


Last summer, we went to Busch Stadium in St. Louis together. For me, it was heaven on earth. For him... not so much.




This summer we went to Wrigley Field in Chicago to watch his Cubbies. Notice in the picture how fake my smile is.....:)




Also, when Brady came to visit me in KC, we went to Kauffman Stadium, Home of the Royals. I love it :)



I can't wait for the rest of our adventures and to experience the wonderful world of baseball together!

The Next Chapter

And so it began…

A new chapter in my life and time has gotten away from me. I’ll begin with the birth of my niece, Macy. She was born on May 17, 2010 and I was there to witness her first breaths. How awesome! It was a very emotional experience to be there with my sister as she had her first child. My best friend is now a mom! It was hard to focus on finals that week because all I could think about was graduating and being home to spoil her to pieces.

May 23rd, I graduated. A very bittersweet experience. Quincy University has become such an important part of who I am and I miss it so much every single day. I miss Quincy as a whole. I miss driving down North 18th street to get to our awful awful science building. I miss sitting on my porch swing and watching as people walked by. I miss walking into the UC for breakfast and Lynn knowing exactly what I wanted. (And knowing that I wanted her to leave the bacon off on Fridays during Lent). I miss Kirch and his white reeboks, although I don’t miss physics with one ounce of my being. I miss hatching chicks in Dr. Hale’s lab, and Luaders blowing stuff up in Chem. I miss waffle cone Wednesday’s at TCBY and half price pizza at the tower. I miss staying at Jack and Greg’s during stormy nights when Kari and I were scared to stay in our own house. I miss skipping class to watch QU baseball games and hanging out with the girls of 2024. I miss running with Ski while we trained for our half marathon…. As well as many other things that I can’t even begin to explain!

For graduation, Brady gave me a dog who I (not surprisingly) named Haiti. She is the love of my life and has kept me company many days since I’ve been living alone in KC. She really is a princess!

After graduation, I moved home for a month. I got to see Macy almost every day which was one of the biggest blessings I could have ever asked for. I got to spend much needed quality time with my parents and sister.

On July 1st I moved to Kansas City. This was a huge step for me. New city, new house, new school… but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world! I have met some really amazing people already and I know that they will be a very important part of my life for the next two years (and hopefully long after!). My first term of my MOT program is over in a week and I already feel like I’ve learned so much. It makes me excited about what I am going to be doing with the rest of my life and the people that I’m going to help.

Here’s to the next chapter in my life… I promise I will blog sooner next time! Much love to all of my followers. I hope you haven’t given up on me!

Thanks, Mom!

I have really been struggling with the fact that I'm graduating in a little over two weeks. Yes, I am excited. But I am also very scared/anxious about what's to come. Yesterday my mom sent me an email, and this was at the end of it.

Look back and thank God. Look forward and trust God. Look around and serve God. Look within and find God.

I really needed this, so thanks Mom.

Remembering an old friend

Less than week from today – Thursday, April 15, 2010 marks the one year anniversary of James Lavell Dobson’s death. I think mostly everyone that knew him would agree that his life was taken all too soon. However, he was thankful for the time he had on this beautiful earth and that helps me to be a little more at ease.
I met Lavell for the first time my freshman year of high school. He had the brightest smile and a booming laugh that you could hear echoing through the halls of Monroe City High School. There are so many things that run through my head when I look back at the time spent there with Lavell. Freshman basketball road trips, guitar lab, Giltner’s English classes, Bio with Mrs. Fuller, Varsity basketball road trips and so many more.
After graduating high school, we kind of lost touch. It was when I heard that he was sick that I got back into contact with him. It made me realize how fragile life is and how important to let a person know that they have made the world a better place. Lavell lost his battle with cancer just a couple of short months after his 21st birthday. He was the first person in my class to lose his life, and I think we all realized how lucky we were to have that time with him.
Lavell, I know you are reading this – and I just want you to know that you are truly missed by all of those who knew you. You are remembered every day and I am so thankful our paths crossed on this earth!


Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It it the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

By Henry Scott Holland
Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral

Change

I have such a beautiful life. I truly have been blessed beyond measure and I am so thankful for that every single day. I am very excited/scared/nervous/sad/hopefully for all that God has in store for me in the upcoming months. I can't believe my time in Quincy is coming to an end. Am I ready? Yes, and no. I love it here, no matter what anyone else says! It is my home away from home and it has really grown on me over the past four years. However, I am also ready to begin the next chapter of my life. I never do well with change at first, but I always seem to come around eventually.

Some things I have to look forward to in the days/weeks/months to come:
April 2-5: Easter Break :)
April 17th: My Pops being ordained a Deacon in the Catholic Church after five years of formation.
April 27th: Haiti night at Jed's. Mark your calenders!!
May 8th: My first half-marathon. (Oh and Hawk Wild!)
May 23rd: Graduation
May 24th(ish): Little Miss Macy will be welcomed into this world, making me an aunt for the fifth time!
May 28th: Lake of the Ozarks.
July 5th: I begin my Master's program at Rockhurst :)

Life is all about change. Sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's beautiful. Most of the time it's both.

Connected by something finer than words...

This is only a couple of months late, but I am finally getting around to sharing some of my experiences while I was in Haiti. As always, we go to the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Port Au Prince during our time in Haiti. I have to say this is a very necessary part of the trip! I think that no matter how many times I go to Haiti, the orphanage will be the hardest thing I will ever experience. All of those children tug at my heart, but there is always one in particular that grabs ahold of me more than the others. I told Katie LeGros that I liked to start in the rooms with the younger kids and move into the rooms with the older kids in it because it makes it easier for me to leave that way. However, this year was a little different. The little girl was about eight years old I would say. She was very hesitant at first, so I just held her hand. A few minutes later, she crawled up into my lap. She looked at me and a few tears rolled down her cheek. She was old enough to know that I, too would be leaving very soon just like everyone else that came into the orphanage. She just clung to me and it was the most heart wrenching thing to think about how much I would be breaking her heart when I left. She didn’t cry very much when I left, but she held onto my hand as long as she could. It took everything I had to leave the room before I started crying. With this experience I felt the value of human touch and how much I take it for granted. It’s so hard for me to imagine how much these children long for it every day. I couldn’t wait to hug my parents when I got home and tell them how much I love them! This picture is not of the child I met at the orphanage, but one of the many children who is in my heart every day!

The Mother Teresa Orphanage is now gone after the earthquake. It is a sad thing to think about, but I can only hope and pray that lives were spared.

Unexpected Visits

I have not written a blog in forever... my apologies! I meant to write one as soon as I returned from Haiti. However, with the aftermath of the earthquake I quickly consumed my time with fund raising and helping with the relief efforts and then came school! So here I am :) I will write about my Haiti trip later, but for now I am going to write about my weekend.

My weekend started out on Thursday. I surpised Brady in Jacksonville with a visit. He had meetings for awhile, so I hung out with Paula (Summers) for awhile. Can I just say that it was such a great visit?? As soon as I saw her run through the doors and yell "CELIE!!!!" so many memories came rushing back to me. It had been almost a year and a half since I had last seen Paula, but we talk every now and then. We had such a great visit... catching up on plans for next year and most importantly planning on when we would see each other again! March 20th :) I'm counting down the days!



Friday I went to Bloomington with The Frericks', Nate and Barnes to watch QND play in the IHSA state finals. They won Friday night, but lost in the Championship round to Bloomington Central Catholic on Saturday. Watching that game brought back so many emotions for me that I have buried for so long. I was quickly reminded of my last high school game and how much it kills me that I no longer play. They are a lot of fun to watch and they had a wonderful season. So congrats to the Lady Raiders! Yes Brady, I will miss watching them too! ;) This photo was on the front page of the whig Sunday and I thought it was too great to leave it out!



Also while I was in Bloomington, I was able to catch up with my cousin Brian Kurz, his wife Katie, and their daughter, Hannah. It was a last minute thing, but they took me out to dinner. It was so nice to catch up with them also. That is one thing that I miss very much about being a kid... spending time with my cousins and siblings. Everyone is growing up, getting married, starting families of their own. It is pretty awesome to watch, but it also has a bittersweet side to it.

My last unexpected visit was from my dear friend Levi Rash. He was in Quincy so he stopped by my house for awhile. I am so excited about living in Kansas City next year, and I think living with Levi and a couple of his friends will help take some of the nervousness away from me! I am constantly reminded that my time at QU is almost over. It is sad and exciting all at the same time! (By the way, Levi: CONGRATS on the internship in Virginia for this summer!)

Well, there you have it. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me next :)