Attitude of Gratitude Finale

I knew when the month started that I would have a hard time coming every day and posting something I'm thankful for -- not that I didn't have 30 things, because I probably have 30 million things.....but rather I knew life would get in the way.  But I decided early on I wasn't going to stress about it.  I would do as I could!  What a concept!

I have a million things I want to say about our weekend away, but I will save that for another day.  Let's just say for now that I am very thankful for our families!  :)

I want to finish up with my attitude of gratitude.  God is so good to us and gives us so many things -- tangible and intangible.  Sometimes we have to step back and realize that everything He gives us is good -- even when it doesn't appear that way.

I've had two seperate things drop into my lap today to share my attitude of gratitude.....so I'm going to wrap up with them.

The first is a video, showing that -- silly us -- we think things are always going wrong around us, or we don't appreciate the things we do have.  I LOVE THIS VIDEO!!!  It is SO TRUE.

Everything's amazing and nobody's happy.  That's about right.  :)

Finally, a little paragraph to pull together all my thoughts about being grateful for what we do have.  Thanks to my friend, Beth, for posting this today as a gentle reminder:

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a c...ompany... a church... a home. The remarkable... thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
Charles Swindoll

Thanks for sharing November's Attitude of Gratitude with me.  I'm hopeful I can continue to count my blessings!  :)

Monday, 11/21 Attitude of Gratitude

I had a very interesting thing happen to me this weekend.  I travelled to Ottawa, Ohio, with my brother, his wife, and a couple of friends to go to the visitation of a family friend who passed away.  Years ago, my brother was in the seminary, studying to be a Catholic priest.  While there, many of the parents of the guys studying at the seminary became close friends.  I don't really know where the name came from (it may have been given to them somehow for all I know), but they called themselves "The Guild". 

Over the years, all of them got together several times a year.  Sometimes to go to dinner, or a dance (I know the Inca Ball was one of the fundraisers they supported), or to celebrate their anniversaries.  They spent many, many weekends up at "the river".  It took me many years to figure out what river they went to.  :)  It was the Ottawa River.  :)

When Duane entered the seminary, I was only 2 or so years old.  (So I really don't remember ever living with my brother -- isn't that odd?).  Eventually, as this group got closer and closer, they began to bring their kids to some of the events, which was neat, because I got to make some friends.  Little did I know at the time that some of them would become lifelong friends! 

The older we got, we saw each other less and less frequently all the time.  We grew up, went to college, got married, had kids......the old story that "life" got in the way.  However, our parents all still got together.....maybe not as frequently as they did in their younger years, but did as often as they could and still had some serious laughing fits when they did!  I loved watching this group.  The older I got, the more stories I heard.....and man, did they have some fun!  I'm surprised they weren't kicked out of some of the hotels they were in!

Now, it seems, we only see each other at funerals and viewings.  Each time, we get together and say, "We need to do lunch."  And then life gets in the way again.  As my cousin Janet said last week in her talk to our CCD class, "Don't say it if you don't mean it!  Don't say, 'Let's do lunch' if you have no intention of following through."  And she's right. 

So, Mary Kay and I are going to lunch.  Soon.  She only lives in Ottawa, for goodness sakes!  Not across the world!

So, today I am thankful for my old (even though she isn't old, our friendship is!) friend, Mary Kay.  And really, it's not for any of the reasons I mentioned above.  She said something to me yesterday, when I was at the funeral home to console her on the loss of her father, that took me back.  She nailed a trait in me that even I had never figured out.

As I was walking through the line, giving everyone a hug and sharing my condolences, I found myself crying.  Not a surprise if you know me, but I really do try to hold it together when I am the one who is supposed to be showing support.  :)  I got to Mary Kay and apologized for crying.  I said, "But I"m here for you!" to which she replied........

"You have never liked good byes your whole life.  When we would get together as little girls, when it was time to go, you would just disappear.  No hugs, no good byes -- you would just get in the car and wait for your parents."

And you know what?  She is absolutely, totally right.  I remember those times.  I would beg my parents not to leave because we were having such fun and....I didn't want to say good bye.

What's amazing about this revelation is that this is a woman that I have not seen on a regular basis in over 20 years -- I would say 30, but that might show my age :).  She picked up on this and was able to share with me.  Amazing.

I remember we would go to visit my cousins and I would cry all the way home to Botkins from Ft. Recovery........because I didn't want to say good bye.

I know that when our extended family gets together, very often I'm misty on the way out the door to leave.....because I don't want to say good bye.

Good byes are a huge part of our lives!  We leave certain people every day (our kids and husbands in the morning, leave our co-workers in the evenings, etc.).  Some good byes are certainly easier than others.

But final good byes, as we say to the dearly departed, are still really hard.  We want to hold hands with our loved ones forever.  We want to always have them in our grasp.

Soon enough, they will be in our grasp again.  Our time and their time in heaven are measured in two very different ways.

I know I'm at an age where I'm going to be saying a lot of good byes in the coming years ......but somehow I don't see them getting any easier.

And Mary Kay, thank you for noticing something about me that I hadn't noticed myself.  And for that, I owe you my attitude of gratitude.  Lunch soon?  I think yes.  I'll even buy.  And probably cry all the way home.

Today's attitude of gratitude....

I have a couple of choices today, but am going to go "in order" so my brain can keep track.  :)

Today, I want to express my utter thankfulness for our Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, deacons, seminarians, religious brothers and sisters, and any other consecrated religious.

As I said before, two of our girls went to NCYC this week (see next post if you missed it!).  I went four years ago, and Emily and Sarah went 2 years ago......and this year it was Emily and Becca's turn to go.  I have not been volunteering to chaperone, because I want others to have the same opportunity I had four years ago.....but man, did I miss it this year!  :(

It's at this conference that our kids, among many many other things, are granted exposure to many "religious" people.  After the morning session on Friday, our bishop asked the kids and chaperones from our diocese to stay after so he could spend some time with him.  He wanted to meet them and had a question and answer session.  Among the many questions asked, one of the kids asked him, "If I see you on the street, or around here, how do I address you?"  He mentioned that his mom calls him Joe, but he will answer to anything -- Bishop Joe, or Bishop Binzer.  It was a very unique opportunity for him to get to know the kids and hopefully help them realize he is a person like all of us.  He just has a different dress code!  :) 

Here's a picture of him with some of the people from our parish.  Our group wore pumpkin hats, and made buckeye necklaces to share (all the groups bring trading items -- it's a really fun tradition). 

I'm always praying for vocations, and I truly feel moments like this certainly cannot hurt, if anyone is considering religious life.  Somehow, once you meet someone, it is easier to ask questions, etc. 

Emily had the unique opportunity while there to bump into a religious brother.  He asked if they were from New Bremen and when they said yes, he mentioned that he was from Minster (the next town over from us).  I asked her a few questions, and was able to figure out that it was Brother Spieles, whose mother is a friend of mine!  What a beautifully small world we live in.  Chance meeting?  I think not.  :)

Perhaps one of the most visible people of the weekend was Bishop Coyne of the Indianapolis Diocese.  He celebrated the closing mass on Saturday evening.  It was amazing watching the procession -- 175 seminarians, 250 priests, 30 deacons, and 8 bishops.  INCREDIBLE!!!  He was the primary celebrant, so gave the homily -- which knocked it out of the park.  He discussed doing for others and not centering on ourselves......which is what a lot of the weekend was all about.  One of the neatest things he did was to ask everyone at the end of mass to pull out their cell phones and text "Called to Glory!" all at once.  I was watching the mass online, but did go to Facebook during that time to watch the statuses light up.  Totally awesome!  :) 

I'm thankful every day for our priests and deacons.  But sometimes, it takes an extraordinary event such as this to help me realize just how much!

So sorry -- attitude of gratitude in catch up mode!!!!

I knew this would happen --- November is such a busy month for us!!!  Sorry for leaving you hanging without any gratitudes for a while.  I hope you could sleep without knowing what I'm thankful for!

If I counted correctly, I last posted on 11/11, which would meant I owe 8 gratitudes.  Where do I start?

1.  My friend, Melissa.  She deserves her very own number.  She was such a great friend to me when the twins were born -- helping me many times when I couldn't see straight, coming over to chat, whatever.  She has since moved from New Bremen, but we still try to see each other as often as possible.  Unfortunately, her mother passed last week.  But, I must say that the homily at the funeral liturgy was phenomenol.  I chuckled a bit when the priest mentioned that Melissa's mother was "perfectly imperfect".  I didn't have to wonder long which of her children mentioned that!  I find it awfully wonderful to realize sometimes that God really does have an ultimate plan if we just go along with it.  Some of the words at the retreat really touched Melissa, enough to bring things into perspective for her.  It was beautiful!

2.  Our little community of New Bremen.  Last week, we had the annual German Family Christmas.  It's a time to get out and about and "shop locally".  We had a blast going from store to store seeing what was all available, looking for bargains, etc.  We really do have neat shopping around here, and I appreciate it!!  I REALLY appreciated my chair massage from Linda.  Can we do it all over again???  :)

3.  I'm thankful for the constitution and the laws that uphold it.  Specifically, last week we were very thankful for the ability to cast our vote (even though I couldn't vote in the two elections I wanted to!) to elect our officials, and vote for or against issues that will affect our every day lives.  Personally, I'm proud of my brother, Duane, who was able to hold his seat as Municipal Court judge for Shelby County.  I couldn't help but think of my parents who would have been so so proud of him!

4.  Our extended families -- the Kaisers and the Goettemoellers.  I love the closeness we all feel and the knowledge that if and when we need someone, they will be there.  I enjoy travelling with all of them, and look forward with great anticipation to the times that we spend together.  I'm also amazed at how much food we consume when we are all together.  As my sister-in-law said, you really must plan 4 meals per day!  LOL

5, 6, 7 & 8 -- Because all of this kind of rolls up together.  Emily and Becca are in Indianapolis this week with others from our church, at NCYC, which is the National Catholic Youth Conference.  It's a biennial event that they always look forward to with such great anticipation!  I'm thankful for Robin, our youth coordinator, who started taking kids several years ago (with two or three the first time! -- and who took over 40 people this time!).  Her willingness to share so much time with them and allow them to grow by leaps and bounds in their faith is awesome.  I'm thankful for the chaperones who went along -- they are also awesome to give of their time to help keep our kids safe (and hopefully grow in their own way a little, too!).  I'm thankful for the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry, who sponsors this event.  With over 23,000 people in attendance, I'm pretty sure there is a lot of planning that goes on!  I would guess that planning for the 2013 event is already in progress!  I'm thankful for the emcee, the music people, the presenters, the priests who come out (mass tonight is supposed to be awesome with the number of priests, bishops, seminarians, brothers, etc. present).  I'm thankful that our parish priest took time from his busy schedule to go to Indianapolis and spend some very quality time with our youth.  I think that's an important piece of growing in faith is the comfort level with your priest or rabbi or pastor or whomever leads your church, and I am thankful that he recognizes it as well.

Man, that's a lot of thankful!  :)  Thanks for hanging there with me.  I can already promise you that this week will hold a couple of combined posts as well.  :)

Friday -- 11-11-11

Today, I am, as many are -- very thankful for our vets.  I appreciate their willingness to sacrifice and serve our country.

I think of my dad, who served in the Korean War.  I wish he would have shared more stories of that time, but he never had the desire to. 

I think of my relatives and friends who have served -- and thank them many times over.

My nephew, John, is getting ready to head to Afghanistan within the next couple of weeks.  I applaud him, along with everyone going with him, and already there (as well as already home!) -- it has to be scary to do that, but they go in with their heads held high, knowing they have a job to do.

I've also learned through this process to be thankful for the spouses who stay behind to run the household.  It can't be easy to be without your loved one for that long, so I am impressed.

I am thankful that I live in the United States of America -- land of the free and home of the brave.

Tonight's thankfulness

Today.....I'm thankful for the teacher's in our schools, and every school.  It can't be easy to figure out how each and every student learns, and help them to learn and be their very best.

We had parent-teacher conferences tonight.  It's always nice for us to have time to sit and talk with the teachers, and our kids, about what they are learning in school.  It gives us an opportunity to discuss issues going on the classroom, and also to commend our kids for some things they are doing right!

Kudos to our teachers for all they do!

Attitude of Gratitude November 9

Tonight's gratitude:  my Catholic faith.

I have always said that one of the things that I LOVE about my faith is that no matter where I am, or where mass is being celebrated, the same things happen at the same time.  Even if attending a mass in a different language, one is able to figure out what it going on based upon what part of the mass it is, the priest's actions, etc.

Well, some "people" -- still haven't figured out who -- guessing the Pope and some Bishops -- decided that some of the wording we were using wasn't an exact translation.  Some languages were saying one thing, while others were saying another.  Still basically the same thing, but not the exact same thing.

So, they did something about it.  Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent (the Sunday following Thanksgiving), we will start to say different things at mass.  Not different meanings, but different words.  It will be confusing for a while, but that's ok.  Change is good.  It will make us think about what we are saying!  Hopefully, we will think a little harder about what we are saying, and take the words to heart more.

We were blessed to have Fr. Larry Tensi come to our church tonight to speak to us about these changes.  He is a very knowledgable priest, but one with a way of explaning things on my level, so I understand -- with just the right amount of humor interspersed in.  I loved his presentation. 

I'm sure we'll still have to consult the worship aid when all of this starts, but hopefully it will all make a little more sense. 

Do this in memory of me.