Christ, Coffee, and Cornfields

Every day, every few hours it seems like, another story about the evil stirring amongst the people of the Church marches its way into my newsfeed. I’m still trying to catch up and slow my spinning head. There are so many stories, so many sides, so much confusion and hurt. How can this possibly be the Church that God became man to create? This is not what we are made for. We are made for greatness. I don’t want to write about who did what and who is to blame. I don’t have that information. What I do know is that the Church Christ started is perfect. The people who make up His Church are not. Unfortunately, we are in a very tumultuous time. But! The Catholic Church has faced seemingly insurmountable crises before, and we are still here. During the scariest times in our history, we have seen the greatest saints rise up from the ashes. The most precious gems come from being under the most suffocating pressure. We’ve had abuse before. We’ve had blackmail, anti-popes, heresy, fi...

We saw "Incredibles 2" last week at the drive-in, and let me just say that it was totally worth waiting over a decade for. It was definitely geared more toward those of us who were kids when the first movie came out, but it was still enjoyable for my younger siblings. As much of a void-filling movie as it is, there were many themes and messages throughout the film that were thought-provoking and refreshing coming from the entertainment industry.   From a critic standpoint, there was at least one major plot hole that is still wide open, and the animation is slightly different. However, that was to be expected since animation styles have changed drastically in recent years and I didn't really notice it as the movie progressed. One thing I thought was absolutely hysterical as a nurse and someone with IBS was the superhero by the name of Reflux. You can about imagine his superpower! Overall, I thought that it was a very worthy sequel to a next to perfect original movie.  ...

  Somehow, Jordan and I have already reached our 6th month of marriage. What a wonderful 6 months it has been! I haven't written a post in a while because we've been so busy and, to be honest, I wasn't sure what to write about. But now with this milestone upon us, I feel that I can credibly speak into what marriage is like.   Being a rather young married couple, we're definitely in the minority both among our peers as well as fellow wedded adults. We have different priorities compared to our unmarried friends, but many veteran couples see us as rookies and that we don't have a whole lot to contribute to married person conversations. Ah, well. That's okay. We'll stay in our little "honeymoon phase" cocoon forever and be blissfully unaware of the challenges of married life. Oh wait....   Actually, we've already dealt with many challenges both big and small. All of the things we've gone through have grown us as people and especially as a...

  I just watched Enchanted . That movie is fabulous. I've noticed that kid movies have a lot more meaning when you view them as an adult, and this film was no different. Giselle, the protagonist, gets thrust into our culture after living in a world of fairy tales. Because she is not accustomed to the Western world, everything she sees fills her with a sense of awe and wonder. My favorite part is how she views marriage.   Marriage is forever, and married love is wonderful and awesome. Boom.   The world hadn't hit her yet. She saw everything with childlike innocence, especially the Sacrament. Giselle showed how children and those who refuse to let sin keep them down see marriage. It is ordained by God. She saw that everything was good, or at the very least had good in it or could be used for good. It was the buildings, the people singing, the animals, a woman's eyes! This was rather off-putting for the other characters at first, but Giselle doesn't let anyone convince...

  It has been an interesting year or so, to say the least. I mean this not so much in regards to my own life this time, but in the grand scheme of things. America has become a very volatile place. It's heartbreaking to see how much everyone is attacking everyone and their mother over any little statement or fad or perceived issue. You can't take a drink of coffee anymore without offending someone.   Everyone knows about the so-called "war on women." Don't get me wrong; I am very thankful for the women who peacefully fought to give females equal rights, and every woman should be able to reach her greatest potential without being discriminated against. But gosh, this whole agenda has turned into some monstrous attempt to bury femininity! I don't think that was the original intent, but that's what's happening. Whatever men can do, women can do better, right?   That isn't the point.   I've heard a quote that basically says that women weren...

  Want to know a secret? I struggle with confidence. A lot. Blame it on the stresses of nursing school or deep seeded trust issues or just a general feeling of not being good enough, but being confident in myself and my abilities is a real problem for me. I have this facade of confidence most of the time because overall I'm a positive person....except when it comes to me.   I've been mulling over this issue for awhile, especially now that essentially all I have left in nursing school is my preceptor hours and two days of class with as many tests. Basically, the only way I can not pass nursing school is if I kill someone, break HIPAA, not adhere to rules I've been following all year, or bomb these two tests. From what I understand, it's really really hard to fail this last little chunk of nursing school. But what do I do? Start to majorly worry that I won't pass those tests and all my work will be for nothing and I won't be able to graduate and my life will be ...

  If there's one thing that I've learned during our engagement, it's that life flies by way more quickly than we realize. We thought that our 14 and a half month engagement would drag on forever and ever, and in some ways it felt that way, but for the most part it has gone by super quickly! All of the sudden we are less than 3 months away from our wedding and we're bustling around putting final details in place. I think that in general we look at life like it will last forever, but it flies by before our eyes and suddenly the things we've been looking toward are here and gone.   There have been so many instances in my life lately that have caused me to reflect on the (fruit of the) virtue of patience and working to take the time to slow down. Obviously, being engaged is a big proponent of that. This part of my vocation is only a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, and it is a very unique and special time. It is absolutely one of the most special ti...