Our Hearts Are Restless

Lots going on over here!  It's a little crazy, but only my normal brand of crazy - nothing earth-shattering yet.  This will have to be a quick scrapbook post; until I get through the first chapter of the thesis, I don't have much time to write. 1) I've been working with our chaplain and the Legion of Mary to begin campus ministry at Shenandoah University, a big secular school up the road.  We've begun Masses there every two weeks, and I'm leading a Bible study on the off-weeks with the help of a former FOCUS missionary.  Many opportunities for humility, but it is a beautiful work (despite the rather ugly cube-shaped chapel)! 2) The thesis is...well...a thesis.  At least it's getting there.  I know I've put a decent amount of work into it so far, but it feels like no matter what I do, there is a mountain of research to handle.  I definitely underestimated the research that has to go into just a few paragraphs!  It should be pretty good by the time I'm don...

I haven't done a "Poem of the Month" post for such a long time!  I thought I would share, just for fun, a poem that I'm working on memorizing and analyzing in the course of my Poetry and Poetics class this semester.  The poet, John Donne, is one of my favorites; if you don't know it, look up his sonnet "Batter My Heart".  Here's an unnamed poem; it's a rather bitter piece, but stunningly well-written. Go and catch a falling star, Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are, And who cleft the Devil's foot. Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envy's stinging, And find What wind Serves to advance an honest mind. If thou be'st born to strange sights, Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs on thee. Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me All strange wonders that befell thee, And swear Nowhere Lives a woman true, and fair. If thou find'st one, let me k...

Greetings, y'all!  At long last *drumroll* remember a long, long time ago, when I posted a review of Erin McCole-Cupp’s book, Don’t You Forget About Me ?  Yeah, kinda thought you wouldn’t.  Go check it out here !  I promised y’all an interview with Erin, courtesy of my connection with her through the Catholic Writers Guild.  I’m happy to say that I finally followed through on that.  Therefore, enjoy the first of what will hopefully be a recurring element! Readers, this is the spectacular author, mother, and third-order Dominican, Erin McCole-Cupp.  Erin blogs over at Will Write for Tomato Pie , and is the author of Don’t You Forget About Me , ebook  Working Mother , and science-fiction-dystopian-Gothic novel Jane-E.   (More about that book in a later post.)  Thank you, Erin, for taking the time to pop over to  Our Hearts Are Restless ! Without further ado: Erin. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="386"] Photo courtesy of erinmccolecupp.com[/captio...

Hey y'all!  Just to let you know, I've got artwork and a communal intern post over at CatholicMom - stop on by!

So I kind of just found out about this whole " Small Success Thursday " thing over at CatholicMom.  Well, I knew about it from Erin and Sarah , but I only just decided I could graduate to Big Kid Blogging and actually...gasp...interact with other blogs.  Hello, world!  Also, today has most certainly been a day of a small success.  Not a big one, but a justly celebrate-able small one. I've been quietly panicking over my month-long Christmas break.  See, I have this giant project called a thesis that's coming up.  And I was supposed to be working on it over break.  But instead, I was irritatingly sick for the first week, then there was Christmas, and then I started working full-time at the restaurant, which involved a lot of 5 AM shifts.  Therefore...nothing got done.  There was a box of books under my bed, and a stack of books on the coffee table, and they sat there mocking me.  The more I looked at them the less I wanted to deal with them.  At all.  BUT today, I final...

Where do I even start?  I’ve no way of predicting what life will be like this year.  There are so many things to be done in the next four months before graduation, but there is much more to the year after that point.  I’m having a hard time thinking beyond the semester—I’m even having having trouble envisioning myself outside of the college framework.  Not to mention the overarching question of “what are you doing after graduation?” (I’m considering creative answers like “becoming a professional ice cream taster”, “raising sheep in the Australian outback”, and “joining a gospel choir”.) I suppose the problem is this: I am made to be a whole person.  Environment and employment aside, I must continue growing, maturing, and becoming the woman God wants me to be.  Any resolutions I make for the year have to be focused on that one goal, which remains a constant in my life. With this in my mind, I’ve been trying to focus on a few overarching goals for the year.  My first priority is to reboo...

It's so easy to get frustrated at work. The cafe gets crazy busy on most days, and it seems like it doesn't take much to mess someone's order up, or hold up the line, or get mixed up as to who's doing what. The problems are compounded when despite how hard you work, the people around you make mistakes too. It's easy for me to lose respect for fellow employees who don't seem to care about doing a good job, don't take ownership of their mistakes, and don't try to improve. Inevitably, I find myself in a near occasion of the sin of anger very frequently! I finally forced myself to stop and consider whether there is really a difference between my work ethic and others', and why I take my work so seriously. Part of my mentality, I think, is my own high standards. I expect a lot from myself, as evidenced by my insane schedule last semester! I have little patience for my own faults, and even less for others when I hold them to the same standards, often unjus...