Three Little Blessings

Before diving too deeply into my post, I just wanted to tell everyone the big news, if they hadn't heard yet. I found out that I will be in Washington DC next year working at the Emmaus Services for the Aging. I will be doing a slough of things, including Bingo, teaching computer, art, music and Spanish classes if I so choose, advocating for the elderly on the steps of Washington...hahaha...and just being a kind face to a population our society has generally pushed aside. So there's the big news, I am heading to DC...onto the next big adventure! :)

So I realized last night that I haven't written much about my kids, like the kids that I picture when I hear the words, "Cardinal Shehan Center". Well, just so you know, I get to spend my afternoons with over 75 kids everyday so any given day has me thinking of a different one! BUT...just to provide a little glimpse into how lucky I am, here's a little bit about the one's I am thinking of today:

I love working mainly with the 4-7 year olds. I love the boys...they say the silliest and craziest things (they are also the least behaved). But some of my favorite kids come from this group. For today, I will limit myself to three girls from the 4-7 group. (*Changing the names because of obvious reasons).

*Kay is so cute. She is my absolute favorite. She's 4 years old and is the biggest love bug ever! As soon as she sees me, she runs up to me and holds her hands up to the sky, expecting to be held. If I don't give in at first, she will stick out her lower lip and drop her eyebrows to look extra sad and she knows I'm wrapped around her little finger so it works. I pick her up and she nestles her little face into a craves in my neck and just holds onto me. It is such a good feeling to know that a little one is depending on me for love and attention and I love giving it! She has a little pip-squeak voice and will say things like: "I'm tired and I want to go home" while she's collapsing in my arms or she'll be jumping around and will say, "I want to play the bouncy game"; granted I have no clue what the bouncy game is. She's a darling who has a huge heart. I love her.

*Then there's Mary. She is crazy. Mary is 5 or 6 (Kindergarten) and I think she has a developmental disability. She's always screaming because she doesn't understand "inside voices" or conversational tones...so she yells, a lot. Usually she's screaming, "no one wants to play with me!" and "Why?" and "Do I know you?" She'll respond "why?" to everything...if I tell her to sit down she'll ask "why", if I tell her why she needs to sit down she'll ask "why", and it'll continue down this path until I respond with, "because I said so." She's crazy. She always looks like a hot mess but she has such a big heart. She wants to love and to be loved so badly that she doesn't know how to contain it...most kids don't want to play with her because she looks like a walking mini tornado and she always wants to play "Tarzan the Monkey Man" (a hand shake game). She wears a dress everyday and we constantly have to remind her that ladies sit with their legs closed...she still hasn't grasped that concept. She's always losing her shoes and then screams about that. BUT Mary always greets me with a huge toothless smile, hugs me and kisses me. Then she'll giggle and say, "I just kissed you." She makes me happy.

*The last little one is Shanel. Shanel is 6 or 7 years old (1st Grade). Shanel always looks sad. She's always telling me how much she hates her life and how terrible her life is. When I go to pick her up, she's usually dragging her feet and looking down at the ground. I'll ask her what's wrong and she will just tell me, "my life is awful." I will ask her why and she will respond with, "it just is." On her good days, like yesterday, she will run up to me and hug me and say, "I love my K K." (no idea where that nickname came from). Back in the fall I noticed she had marks up and down her arms and I asked her what they were and she started crying. I sat her down and explained that we were friends, she could always talk to me and I was just worried that she was hurt. She kept crying and finally admitted that they were bites. But after talking to her teacher about four months later, the bites weren't gone and we both agreed that they looked more like cigarette burns. Shanel is just looking for someone, anyone to help her, to love her and I try my hardest to be there for her. Yesterday she hugged me and sang a song while rocking us both from side to side, "I love my K K because she's my best friend." When I think of the Shehan Center, I will always think of her and that song, but mostly I will think of her bad days, her terrible days and those "bites" on her arms.

So these are three little blessings in my life. I will continue to tell you all about my 75 adopted children in later posts, but for now, here's the three that are on my heart today...continue to pray for not only me, but for my kids; for hope and strength to get through the good and bad days and for love.

Honky Tonk and Vocations

Well, after much breathless anticipation, here is the post about Nashville!!!

After making my way to the west coast, I traveled back to JFK airport. When my plane landed I was excited to act like a big girl and find my hotel shuttle, hotel and dinner for the night all by myself. I found my shuttle pretty well, made my way to my sketchy, sketchy hotel and checked in...I opened the door to my room and was pleasantly surprised: I had to text my mom with the exciting news of how gigantic my bed was! I felt like I could fit five of my closest friends in that bed! Anywho, after settling in a little, I set out for dinner. I walked to the Burger King just down the street and was looked over multiple times by the multi-cultural guests eating at said Burger King...they must've been wondering which rabbit hole I crawled out of...after walking back to my room and settling in, I stayed up flipping through channels because I hadn't had a leisure TV experience in seven months! It was funny...I stayed up until 1am just watching commercials and flipping through channels / watching "Interview with Vampire"!

My flight took off in the mid-morning and I landed in Atlanta, which now I understand where they get the name "Hotlanta" from...it was so humid! Then I flew to Nashville...the Delta flight had a small TV for me to watch on the back of the seat in front of me...it was like a personal size TV just for me...to which I played trivia on it! hahaha...when I landed in Nashville, the first thing I was greeted with was music...everywhere, MUSIC. It was fantastic. I saw music notes and guitars on the walls and country music blaring out of every speaker...simply put, close to heaven.

The conference was held at this really pretty set of buildings on Vanderbilt's campus. I guess it used to be a seminary of some sort but later became a retreat center...I had my own room and shared a bathroom with one other lady. It was cool. There were about 45 of us from all over the U.S. volunteering with different denominational volunteer organizations. I spotted the two other JVs from the east and we basically stuck together the entire weekend. I met lots of really nice people though. I got to talk with some people who were JVs from California, Alaska, South Dakota, Oregon and Washington; which was neat comparing notes.

The actual conference was interesting because it was geared mostly toward Protestants. Some of the subject matter was about going to seminary and it made us Catholics giggle a little because seminary is something very, very different for us...hahaha. BUT we got to spend an entire day looking at different non-profits in Nashville like this place called Thistle Farms. The agency takes women who are prostituting and addicted to drugs off the streets and places them in a home that is self-running. There's no den mother or boss telling them how to run the home and Thistle Farms gives them a job because many of these women have records so they can't find employment. I was blown away by the incredible sense of compassion and pride they took in their agency...I really wanted to work there and it was difficult to leave them!

On Friday night we got to Honky Tonk...which I highly encourage anyone to participate in. It was so fun! We walked down the main drag of Nashville and music was everywhere...literally, everywhere. I was smiling from ear to ear because it was so fun! Live music filled the streets and people were dancing in every bar. We went to three different places...one didn't have live music but was like the anti-honky tonk bar, one was dripping in honky tonk-ness and was called the Whiskey Bent Saloon! Then, we went to Wanna B's Karaoke Bar. All were so much fun! I don't like country music but I had a great time!!!

I was sad to leave Nashville but I felt like the time I had there was great to meet other people who's faith is deeply ingrained in them. It was cool to see how their faith was directing their vocations, their dreams, goals, hopes and wishes. I came away feeling prepared to take on anther year of JVC by the reigns and ready to Honky Tonk my way through any bumps in the road along the way! :)

Where to Begin?

Since Feb. 23rd, I have been a busy bee flying and traveling from coast to coast and visiting numerous wonderful individuals.

I made my way to the west coast on Feb. 24th for a little surprise my friend Kelsey and I had in store for all our Newman friends back in Bellingham, WA. The trip begin on such a positive note, I shared my plane ride with about ten Marines and had the pleasure of sitting next to one on my flight. He had never been to the Pacific Northwest before so I chatted his ear off about what to expect and how amazing the PNW is. When I got off the plane at 10pm in Seattle, waiting for me at the security checkpoint was Kelsey, with a huge smile, bouncing up and down and holding a sign that read, "Welcome Home, Katie Bug. Ah! Love you!" It set the tone for the extended weekend.

It was a weekend of love. We talked well into the night and in the morning met up with friends at a breakfast place in Seattle. It was such refreshing to see Luke Krum Krum and Lucas again. Lucas and I picked up on our biting verbal lashings as if no time had passed and it was so comforting to have that banter in my life once again. From there, we went to the Woodland Park Zoo (silly to go to the zoo at the end of Feb.) and named multiple animals and laughed together. It was freezing but so much fun.

From there I went to see my brother at Seattle University. It was really great to see him and talk with him. I am constantly amazed at how much he continues to grow in his self-awareness every time I see him. I guess I still think I'm going to see my kid brother, the same one who played Kinex and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles every day, but alas, he is not that boy anymore.

On Saturday morning Kelsey, Luke and I headed up to Anacortes to surprise everyone at the Search Retreat. We putzed around Anacortes and then around 8pm made our big reveal at the retreat. It all seems like a fast-paced blur now, but from what my mind can piece together, I had butterflies in my stomach, big, man-eating butterflies swarming around my tummy. Kelsey went first, followed by Luke and Frank and then I was the caboose. I set my bag down and prepared myself for the lovin' of a lifetime. Kelsey walked through the kitchen and led the path to the gym. When I walked through the gym doors the first thing I heard/saw was Caitlin's voice saying, "no way, no way, no way. You didn't. No way!" It was as if everyone else in the room blurred because I immediately went to her. While she cupped her face and cried her face off, I held her and quietly whispered, "surprise." We both cried and hugged for what seemed like forever. I turned around to see Heidi crying, people turning around and screaming, "wait, what? What are you doing here?" It was beautiful. I wanted to give them a gift and in the end, they gave me a gift...funny how that works.

On Sunday I got to catch up with old high school friends who were in Bellingham and that was great to see them and hear what they were up to. Sunday night, I went to the Newman Center Mass and surprised Fr. Qui-Thac. I had forgotten how at peace that Mass makes me. I forgot how fulfilling that Mass made me feel; ready to take on the week ahead of me. It was beautiful to see everyone and spend the moments I had with them. Monday was spent hanging out with everyone at the Newman Center and saying goodbye to people many times over because our departure time kept changing. Through the will of God, Kelsey didn't have to work at 4pm anymore so we could stay in Bellingham until later (turned out to be 9pm before we left).

God definitely gifted me with amazing friends; truly amazing people that inspire and enrich my life. I had let that gift slip away from my reality while in Bridgeport and this trip helped remind me of that gift. Kelsey spent most of Monday driving someone an hour south of Bellingham and back, just so we could hang out with everyone in Bellingham for a longer period of time. People skipped class to spend time with me and sacrificed studying, hours of sleep and doing homework just to spend time with me. It reminded me of the gift I have been given in each one of their souls...God is good...too good to me.

This post has gotten to be very, very long so I will write another post tomorrow about Nashville and the conference I attended. Thanks to everyone who helped make this visit to Bellingham/Seattle a memorable one that exceeded all my expectations. I love you.