Awwwww.....I'm sorry you cried, but I'm glad you were where you were when you did! LOL, I have been known to do the same! And, I'm glad that my suggestion may turn out to be helpful!

LOL you should have seen him too! He was funny. He's a good and holy man. God bless him. And God bless you too! Have a great night.

D.

Denise,
whats the count down??? i lost track for you and for me as well.....how is the uniform making going??? got it all done yet??? just wondering. if you get a chance PM your yahoo screen name ...being really slow that night...i forgot to save it!!!

I will be entering two months from today !


Well, today started out horribly. Last night, I decided to have a small glass of red wine in the evening. I didn't finish it, but left it on the counter. I got up this morning and was sitll pretty sleepy. Yea, you guessed it, I spilled it, but heres the REALLY bad news. I spilled it ON my laptop! Sooooo, I spent the entire afternoon at Apple, getting it cleaned and having some diagnostics performed to see if I needed to get a new computer (it was insured so I would have gotten the computer for free). What really bothered me is that I had a lot of stuff on the computer that was not backed up. I was afraid it was all lost for good. But other than a little bit of keyboard damage, I am doing extremely well. computer just got drunk, but he's recuperating nicely. I will probably have to get a new keyboard, but you know how that goes. As for the backing up of my files, I would do it tonight but I am exhausted and am about to sign off in a minute. But I will do the backing up tomorrow. I am just sooo grateful that it's ok. God is soo good! I would have really coped well enough without the computer. It was the stories and poems that I'd written that weren't backed up that bothered me! God is wonderful.

Tomorrow after I get home from work, I have to clean the house and my aquariums, get my laundry started and start packing for my trip. We leave early Saturday, and while I am gone for 9 days, I will only really be posting on this thread and maybe one or two others, so if an of you write me something on another thread and wonder why I haven't written back. That's why. Feel free to PM me, if you need to share something.

Have a great next week, everyone, especially if I don't get the chance to post while I'm gone.

God love you.

The roller coaster fiend,

PCPA2Be. Denise

Have a good trip, Denise. You'll be in our prayers.

dito

Wait... where are you going Denise? Did I miss something?

Vacation. California of all places.

Haha thanks.... so lost most of the time...
Have a good day!

Oh, stop! It will be a great trip, because I won't be working.

Seriously, (well I was serious, but anyway) we will be making some amusement park visits, Sea World, etc. Just time away from normal day to day.

Keep me in your prayers that it be a safe trip!

God bless you!

Denise

Have fun!

Thanks!

Traveling mercies, Denise...Under His Mercy, Brandelyn

That's true, you can't go home to visit family/friends, but they can come to visit you and each community has different guidelines on this, but to me being in the cloister IS home, there with my dear beloved (soon to be)spouse every moment of everyday/night and also to share with so many others who feel the same calling and desire to serve our lord, and to me being in the cloister will Free me rather than locking me in, so that I can serve my lord more fully and offer up everything for the salvation of souls, but I realize this is a grace given to me by god so I can live out my vocation, as you are given many other kinds of graces that will enable you to live out your vocation, isn't our lord just amazing!!

Thank you very much for sharing that!

DENISE WE MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hi all. I can't sleep and just thought I'd take a moment to see if there was anything exciting going on here, before I headed off to bed to pray. I miss you too, Lauren. (And everyone else!)

By the way, right before I left, I got a newsletter from the nuns. So, we DO happen to have a newsletter! Wooohooo, I wasn't sure if we did. LOL

They showed a picture of the novitiate. . .and I was hit with one of those 'wow' moments. I said to my friend Deb who is with me, "Oh, I never saw the novitiate while I was there. It is on the second floor." She said, "Well, you'll be seeing it in two months!" And it was one of those times, yes, I'm sure you've had one before. .where your heart speeds up, wondering 'Am I doing God's will?'

Anyway, I am keeping you in my prayers! We went to Mass last night near here. The parish was. . odd. All singing was done a capella, which was fine. But then, they all stood from the Lord's Prayer until the priest sat down after giving Communion. Ironically she meditation song was something about how 'we all kneel' when doing this and that, when we come to God. . .and yet there were maybe 1/2 dozen people in the entire church kneeling. Odd. I knelt.

Anyway. .I'm off. Have a good week everyone. And Lauren, you have a PM!

In Jesus,
Denise

Prayers of strength and courage for you as you prepare to enter, Denise!!!

I get to see you before you go! hahahah

DIVINE PROVIDENCE!

can you give us a link to the Sisters website??

Denise ohhhh Denise where'd you go?

Laurentina, have a look above!
She wrote:

I'm hereeeeeee! Today is Thursday. Yesterday, for Ash Wednesday Mass, we went to a church in Anaheim that, due to some fire damage, required that we spend our Masses in a large circus like tent. Pray for them, the parish of St Justin the Martyr.

Anyway, we're wiped out! We've been to Magic Mountain(Six Flags), Disney and California Adventure park, on a 3 day pass, Knott's Berry Farm, (another park) and today we went to Sea World, which has my favorites, the manatees!

On a less than happy note, I've had a really bad cold and upper respiratory infection since Sunday. I thought the sore throat was from all the screaming on the roller coasters. Not so. I've been loading up on Sudafed and Robitussin. It's been rather brutal. I can't recall the last time I was sick!

Lauren, I'm not sure what website you were looking for. www.stjosephmonastery.com is the website of the PCPA where I am entering. If you were inquiring about the newsletter, I get that via USPS mail.

I pray you are all doing well. I ask for your heartfelt prayers as well, because I've been beset with some serious feelings of impatience toward my friend, as well as other worldly temptations while on this trip. I've been 'ok' so far, but your prayers would be incredibly helpful.

God bless you all and I should be home on Saturday, late in the evening or night. If I happen to pass out from exhaustion from the long trip and being sick? I'll be back online probably Sunday afternoon. Who knows? I thought I'd be online before now, but here I am!

Love to everyone.

Yours in Christ,

Denise

Denise,

It's good to hear from you. I hope you can enjoy your trip. Mayhaps God is giving you a horrible vacation so that you'll never desire another for the rest of your life.

I offer you one word of advice: antibiotics!

Michael

you are SOOO not funny!

OK I thought you'd be back. Can you call me?

Seriously, I made sure it was an infection before I went for the antibiotics. I don't want to take them for just a cold, since they wouldn't help, and as well, people who take antibiotics for colds are one of the reasons why we are becoming resistant to them!

I will be home this weekend, praise be to Jesus. Thank you all for your prayers. I miss you all!

You're the one saying you have an infection!

We miss you, enjoy your trip.

I don't have much cell phone service here, but I will try. It's weird. It says 'searching'. Grrrr.

Sorry, I thought I posted that I had to call one of the surgeons I work for, to ask him for a script for Antibiotics. Must have been an email I responded to. Sorry!

Well, I'm home. All the fish are still alive, God bless my dad for hand feeding the anemones!

I also came home to my aprons! My mom received the fabric from the sisters while I was gone, sewed them, and my dad left them in my house while I was away!

So, tonight I'm going to unpack, take some cold medicine and head to bed.

I pray you are all doing well. Once the new week starts, I'll start packing things up in earnest. I have until the end of the month to get my things together, so I should start really moving.

You know, I sat on the beach this morning, watching and listening to the waves. . .my favorite place to be. It was weird, knowing I would never see the ocean again. I prayed for perseverence during those little trials.. . .

God bless you all! I have missed you!

Denise

Welcome back Denise! We missed you! Prayers for you!

It's good to have you back safe and sound. I'm glad your anemones are happy. You wouldn't by chance also post on reefcentral, would you?

Nope, I only post on here!

Thank you for the prayers! God Love you!

D.

I was wondering. . .there are those who have mentioned that I should do some sort of countdown thread. first, should I just add it to this thread or start a new one? second, should I make the countdown actually to the day I'm leaving, since I won't be able to post after that? (obviously). And how far in advance should I start? I haven't a clue about these sort of things!

I was looking at a lot of posts this morning. I can't recall where it was posted, but someone posted that there are a couple communities out there that are 'popular' to enter today. . .but we should not go only where it is popular, but where we are needed. I found that to be odd. I mean, should one say, 'gee, this group hasn't had a vocation in a decade, they really 'need' vocations, so I should enter here'. I didn't know what was meant, and now I can find the post. It doesn't really matter if I find it again, truly, but what's been on my mind since I read it is simply that we should go where Jesus calls us! I can't ever imagine my telling Him that I should not go to the PCPA (for me) because I really would be better needed somewhere else! I can imagine Him looking at me and saying 'oh of course, because you know so much better than I where you should go'. LOL

If you want, you can start a new thread for your countdown

LOL! I wasn't sure what to do!

If you don't do it somebody will do it for you!

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I've been reading Testimonies of St Teresa of the Andes. Here is one of her sayings:

The contemplative soul encounters horizons that are infinite and hitherto unknown. Nothing can separate her from Jesus. He took her out of the world, away from her loved ones to bring her to solitude where He will give her repose. He will have her always near His tabernacle. He lives in her and above His Heart He silently sacrifices her and offers her to His Eternal Father for the sinful world. . .just as He, converted into a host, is secretly immolating Himself on the altar. (c133)

St Teresa of the Andes, pray for us!

Awesome quote!!

So when do you enter???

April 23rd! Divine Mercy Sunday. I'm just so amazed. As St Teresa of Avila said: He knows me and He loves me anyway.

Our God is an awesome God.

WOW! St. Teresita is so beautiful...so full of God! Brandelyn

Here is another quote, since I'm on a roll: The contemplative religious must move, work and breathe far from creatures, far from the world. She must only remember to pray for them and for the world, but without receiving its influence, without drinking its impure environment. (c141)

What a great statement. I just love her!

Wow! That's coming up pretty soon! (well, relatively!) I have a couple of friends getting married the day before, so I'll definately remember that day!

Denise,
I think someone started a thread for you.
Anywhoo, I look forward to meeting you in Arizona in the next few weeks!
Lauren

I look forward to attending your Investiture.

Thank you Brendan! LOL It wasn't that I didn't know how to start a thread, I just wasn't sure if there was some sort of guideline, as far as time element, etc.