A fast and sloppy 7 quick takes. with a lot of links.

                                                                                                                                                            Because I have to go to the laundromat, and my idea-maker, also loosely referred to as my brain, is not working at optimal speed.



SO,


1.  This blog is one of my favorites to read. Not only is it inspirational, instructional and beautifully laid out, the monks are based in Ireland, where I dearly would love to go someday. Today's post about fasting is outstanding. And I am referring to this one throughout Lent, as a reminder. And Ireland.



2. Our Chinese student, who I will refer to as Chili to protect his identity, and because that is what I actually call him, had a birthday this past week. we took him to an Italian restaurant (owned by a couple that happen to live on our block, and have incidentally appeared in an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares). It was definitely no nightmare, the food being the kind of Italian you enjoy at your Nonna's on a Sunday. Chili likes Italian second best to Chinese. And waffles. Oh and Bacon, eggs, cereal, hot dogs, steak...anyway. He is 18, so. But the POINT is, Lent went out the window that night. As it rightly should have for a birthday celebration. But so did Bob's diet, my sorta kinda diet, and any sense of restraint. Chocolate Mousse Cake. I am still burping a little. Scusi.

3.  You should also read this blog. Today's post is funny AND spiritual. Good combo. But if you, like me, are bookish, you will like it all the time.

4. One of the good things I am reading a lot about this Lent is that we shouldn't try to do things that interfere with our vocation. Such as, the well worn scenario of the woman that goes to mass all the time and neglects her family. Or the person who fasts so strictly that he or she feels terrible and can't do their work well. Stuff like that. Something that comes to mind when I want to say, go to a morning weekday mass but can't due to duties or chores is this: When Bob and I used to play/sing music weekly for our parish's Sunday 5PM masses, we liked to arrive as early as possible to set up and rehearse in the church before people started to come and sit in the pews. Father Kelley would sometimes be praying in the empty church, at the side of the altar. We would come bustling in, lugging Bob's keyboard and all our stuff, and when we saw him, would apologize for having disturbed his prayer. I forget his exact words, but he never made us feel bad, saying something to the effect that he never would complain about that, because people were more important. I try to remember that when I am trying to BE SPIRITUAL but, people.


5.  If you like to cook or bake, or know anyone who does, this is the very best recipe blog around,  Any time my kids ask me for "that cheesecake recipe"or "that chili, or chocolate cake recipe'" it's always from Smitten Kitchen. She is a funny writer as well, and has wonderful step by step photos.

6. On a more serious note, I would ask you once again for your prayers for my family. Everyone has their own thing right now. Also for a couple of dear friends going through deep trials. Also for a family that has recently been in a terrible car accident and are all in various stages of injury, some serious. Their last name is Kurtz, they are from the area west of Philadelphia, and they are an amazing pro life family, having adopted 20 and helped scores more. This link takes you to the St. Francis house, which they helped start. It tells the story and asks for donations.

 https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/glj7

7. And now, because the laundry awaits, a joke,

GOD   to    ST. FRANCIS :

Frank:    You know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet?   What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago?   I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I  expected to see a vast garden of colours by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.

St. FRANCIS:

   It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with   grass.

GOD:

   Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colourful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS:

   Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD:

   The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.  

ST. FRANCIS:

   Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it - sometimes twice a week.

GOD:

   They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS:

   Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:

   They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS:

    No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away!

GOD:

   Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw 

it away?

ST. FRANCIS:

   Yes, Sir.

GOD:

   These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS:

 You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:

 What nonsense! At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS:

   You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD:

   No! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS:

   After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:

    And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS:

   They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch .

GOD:

   Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

  ST. CATHERINE:

   'Dumb and Dumber,' Lord. It's a story about...  

GOD:

   Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

Happy weekend everybody!

+JMJ+

Kelly

7 quick thankful that we're almost there takes

1. I am really ready for the Easter season. I know Lent is always the same number of days, but this year it has seemed particularly long. I am thankful that tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Either I am doing Lent really right, because I am weary, or really wrong, because. I am weary.

2. Thankful for family. Last night, I attended my Uncle Cliff's 90th birthday party. He is the last living sibling from my father's family. He looks fantastic! I will add in a picture or two, once they get posted. About 140 were there to celebrate! And that was limiting it to his kids, nieces, nephews and their kids. Yikes, there are a lot of Biehls. And the world is better for it. Rachael went with me, as Bob could not get off work, so she had a nice dose of that branch of her family. Her quote of the evening, "Wow, I have never seen so many people that look like you." (meaning me). And that was a high compliment, given what a good looking bunch they are.  It can take effort to stay in touch with extended family, but it is so worth it. As I get older, I realize this more and more. I had a lovely time talking with my cousins.

3. I am thankful for the weather change, and days like today. The ability to start hanging out my wash, and that my hyacinths (above) bloomed and smell wonderful.


4. I am thankful for the fun of planning nice things, like Easter dinner, what to plant in my garden and front planter, trips I want to make this summer, the Chicago Piano competition trip (soon!) and even the cleaning for Holy week, and the wonderful smell of the new hyacinths we will put inside.

5. Very thankful and grateful for my 11 year anniversary of being Catholic.

6. Thankful for every day I am given to live on this earth, and the grace and mercy of God, who gives me another chance to love and serve Him each day.

7. Of course, thankful to God for loving us so much that He sent His Son to live on this earth and die for us.

7 quick about to bloom takes

                                                                           blooming!


Yesterday was the kind of day in which I was too busy and subsequently too tired to do my quick takes post while it was still Friday. So, here is the Saturday morning version.



1. There is definitely some bug going around our area. I had it last week, my husband got it in spades and had to go to the doctor yesterday. Then, Malaika came home for lunch looking awful, and had to stay home. Just as Spring is trying to wedge it's foot in the door. Other places in the country are still having snowstorms. My deepest sympathy to you folks.

2. My thought for this week, one I have had many times before which is driven home the longer I live: Everything we do matters. That's it. I look at a single event in my life or my kids' lives, and can trace it directly back to something I did in the past, good, bad, or neutral. Here is one example:

 Setting: an assembly in fourth grade. A group demonstrating musical instruments and asking who might like to learn to play one. I mean to choose the trombone, but accidentally say saxophone. I take lessons, have one excellent teacher after another. Also teach myself guitar and sing, In high school, get invited to play and sing in local church. Confess Christ. Parents and brother come to hear and have their own spiritual conversions. I go on to have turbulent years, but many years later, am asked to play and sing at a Catholic charismatic prayer meeting. I am drawn back to God through this and convert.
--this is not the only music/faith related line I could draw, as it happened in numerous times and ways. Still is!

I have written about similar strings of events with much more difficult consequences that have stretched into the present, the worst which have affected my kids.  It makes the present a bittersweet affair, but one in which I am learning to grasp how powerful is our God, how merciful, and how present He is in every moment. I am also learning that each day contains in it His will for me to follow, That whatever today brings, I can embrace it and enter into doing His will, knowing He will be present to supply the strength and grace I need. So, my past bad decisions, whether done out of fear, ignorance, stupidity, or whatever, can be remembered with regret, but also with gratitude. Even those things can be redeemed and the years the locusts have eaten can be restored. I am always humbled by this realization.

Which brings me to--

  3. I am reading a book called He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek,S.J.,  about a priest that lived in Russia beginning in 1940. He survived solitary confinement and labor camps. The book is not as much about the timeline and outer happenings, as it is his inner journey. The story of the former is told in his book, With God in Russia. The amazing thing is that both he and a friend began wanting to go to Russia years before, as young seminarians.This, before the times of Hitler, not knowing the maelstrom they would be entering.

In the book, Fr. Ciszek talks of being drawn to the plight of the Russians, wanting  go and minister to them. Not having any foresight into what he would endure, he admits a certain sentimentality in his desire, but also a dose of mystery. It was not a shaft of light kind of revelation, but a desire in his heart. God did not phone him to let him know what His will was, so Father followed this desire on faith.

The one big principle I am taking away from this book is what I mentioned above: God's will is what we find every day by putting our feet on the floor and going about our day. The people we encounter, the meals we prepare, the floors we sweep. The daily joys of time spent with our children while they are still under our roof. The difficulties we experience with the same.

It is made the more profound when reading about Fr. Ciszek's experiences in solitary confinement for four or five years, and then in the labor camps of Siberia. He would not have been able to foresee himself enduring those situations on a daily basis, but then, he did. And after struggling with trying to discern and follow God's will, he had a near breakdown and collapse of his faith. On the heels of that, God helped him see that He was there in every moment, and that His will was for Father to live in each of those moments, whatever they brought, in accordance with his faith in and love of God. From that point, Father Ciszek was able to make his way though that experience knowing that whether he accomplished something in the eyes of men or not, he did so in God's eyes.

It has been the best read of my Lent this year.

4. Thursday night, I went with my son Daniel,

to a concert by these guys 

 The Reign of Kindo. At Ortlieb's Jazzhaus. My phone died, so this image is not from the show we saw. Daniel took one, and when I get it, I'll share it with you. And here it is!

In a nutshell. Good tacos. Weird venue, long and skinny, with the band in the center, facing across the ten foot wide space. But we stood right in front of the singer, which was awesome. They all are phenomenal musicians. Great band, great show. Great company.  We also had a drunk girl doing the Elaine (from Seinfeld) dance in front of us. Until she had to sit down. On the stage. I also appreciated the head banging, because this band so often plays in uneven meters, it got kind of funny. All the wobbly looking movements. But the crowd was super into them, they were very gracious performers, and most of us sang along at the appropriate places.  Good Times.

 5. It's only twelve days until the beginning of the Triduum.. The good news is that I can still work out my salvation with prayer, penance and almsgiving to the best of my ability for twelve days. The other good news is I can start planning what yummy food I am going to make, get the Easter decorations dusted off, finish up cleaning and decluttering and get ready to celebrate the victory of the Risen Lord.  So, it's all good news about the Good News.


6. On God not being a respecter of persons. I often think about this, now that I am Getting Older. Well, we are all getting older, but I can now capitalize it. The people in life that are involved in becoming Important People are generally not very available to say, go shopping with you, or come over for dinner. It's the people that either aren't trying to ascend the ladder of the Influential, that are making their way through life in a smaller way, those are the ones you know you can call up to drive you to the Emergency room when you cut yourself with a knife while slicing butternut squash, and you're feeling dizzy about the blood. Or you can call up when you think of something you really want to share with another person, and they will actually answer and talk but mostly listen. Stuff like that. Of course, the world needs superstars in all manner of categories. Medicine, the Arts, Politics. Well, maybe we could do without that last one.
That's what I think about when I think about God not being a respecter of persons.


7. Bob came across this video and watched it a couple times already. It is beautiful and compelling.

7 quick one word Lent takes

1. Quietness

Lent offers this gift more often than other times. I try not to turn on music or TV and just let things be silent. It truly is a way to let Christ in, by not filling the space around me with sound. I tend to pray and talk with Him more throughout the day. And hear and feel Him more.

2. Clarity

Funny how number one and acknowledging the presence of Christ can lead to this. Well, not not really funny, or surprising,  but always a gift.

3. Charity

Easier to access when my spirit has been fed in prayer, quietness, and more frequent confession.

4. Beauty

I see it everywhere when I slow my roll enough to pay attention.

5. Grief

This one may surprise you, but to be still in prayer, everything in the heart is revealed. Listening recently to one of Fr. Z's Lentcasts, ( I know, he spellz it with a Z somewhere), He quoted somebody as saying not to shun our grief over past sins, but to be sorry and ask forgiveness each time. And to embrace the temporal consequences, as it is better to do penance now than in Purgatory.  This seems foreign to our ears, as we are told that Christ forgets our sins (He does). But the earthly consequences remain, and are, in fact, a gift.
* I apologize for surely slaughtering original version of this, but the gist is there.

6. Work

With less time spent on forms of entertainment, and attempting to be more disciplined, I find I spend more time doing housework and planning meals, which I enjoy the fruits of, and add to a sense of peace.

 

7. Patience

Is definitely a virtue, and I am either being shown how IM-patient I am, or being given opportunities to become more so. Add to this, persevering in prayer and being content to wait on God's answers and timing. And this past week or so, hugely rewarded with new, wonderful jobs for Meghann and Jeff! And a giant release of heaviness and stress for them both! Praise Be Jesus Christ!

A Post a Day #s 4 and 5, 7 lightning takes, the catch-up version

1. Sorry about missing yesterday! Long day+having gotten back to working out after a week or two off while trying to get the dang pinched nerve in my neck sorted out+another laundromat day=eyelids at half mast by dinnertime.

2. Plus I knew we were going to a funeral the next morning (today), and wanted to sleep off the funk.

3. The funeral. More a memorial service, but very nice. It's been quite a while since I have been at anything other than a Catholic um, anything, and I remember some of the nice things about it. The nuts and bolts preaching, the worship music. I like to see what we have in common. I do see, as well, what is missing. But this was where the parents of my *cousin, who passed away, attend church, so this was the right place for them to hold the service.

*My father was at the younger end of a large family (11, I think), so the cousins are legion in number, and all, in-laws, children, close friends,  are simply called cousin. Sometimes we trace back to which Biehl sibling we are offspring of, just to get our bearings.

 4. Although it is for sad reasons, we all enjoy seeing one another. We always say, "wish it was under better circumstances". But, I find comfort in seeing my extended family. My parents have both been gone for over 30 years, and to see the people that carry their traits, and remember them from before I was born, is something that makes me feel a part of something wonderful.

5. And tonight, I am sitting in my comfy sweats, with one of the last beers until after Easter, with some kids around me, and this is All Right.

6. Another Lenten resolve that really should not take Lent to make happen is that I want to keep in much better contact with these people. I want to get as many of our butts down to North Carolina to see my brother ASAP. Dang it!

7. And so, with only the doings of yesterday evening and today having been chronicled for you, I am off to finish reading CS Lewis' space trilogy, and just to be sure I leave you with something pithy, here is a favorite quote from Perelandra:

We have learned of evil, though not as the Evil One wished us to learn. We have learned better than that, and know it more, for it is waking that understands sleep and not sleep that understands waking. There is an ignorance of evil that comes from being young: there is a darker ignorance that comes from doing it, as men by sleeping lose the knowledge of sleep.

Peace, 

Kelly

7 quick takes ~ summer gratitude edition

Things  for which I am grateful today:

1. that our summer routine will soon be here; meaning, trips to the library and the reading of the fruits of said trips; not getting fundraiser forms every other day from two schools; kids getting summer jobs (hoping--praying), and quite possibly finishing up school before the summer is out! wOOt! So I could conceivably start working by the fall. (both intimidating and exciting!)

2. Thankful to have my family around me, even though at times I attribute my increased greying rate to them.

3. Grateful to God for His faithfulness, and knowing I don't have to have everything in life completely figured out. Especially during scary transition-y times. Which are pretty much all times with us.

4. Grateful that the Wisconsin election went the way it did. It gives me hope that America may have a chance at being the country I know and love, instead of resembling a movie about the apocalypse. And that conservatives open up their eyes to that fact and go vote in November. Every last one of y'all! ahem.

--note-- having a conservative point of view does not equate to being an uptight person who harbors hatred for anyone unlike themselves. What it does mean --especially for Christians-- is holding true to our faith and having true concern for the souls that have rejected or abandoned the God that created and loves them, and being strong enough to tell the truth about that. A true friend will not lie just to make the other feel better.

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. .Proverbs 27:5-6
--all the use of the words true and truth just there? intentional.

5.Thankful for friends that offer prayer and support, even remotely, and even in the midst of their own tumultuous lives.

6. For hope. And the gift of unreasonable optimism, due to number 3.

7. For getting older; the perspective it affords, and of course the benefit of having this guy to dote on~

Everybody have a blessed weekend!

Peace, 

Kelly

7 quick takes #5-Lenten Friday style; of Work and Grace

1. First Friday, and  Fourth Friday of Lent~ hope you all are experiencing a fruitful Lent. Or if you are like me, maybe just trying to practice faithfulness in devotion and discipline. It's been a little different for me this year, because I have to watch my fatigue level and not get too overtaxed. So maybe some of the discipline comes in NOT trying to "do" too much. Ah, the age old lesson of "being." If you happen to "be " a mom, like me, or a dad, there is a certain "doing" requirement in our contract.

  --which brings me to---

2. I have been paying a little closer attention to what it means to offer my life to Christ. If I think in terms of point #1 above, I know I can't "work " my way into heaven without an inner conversion of heart. The outward actions alone are not enough if they aren't flowing from inside, from the works the Holy Spirit is doing to conform me to Christ. That said, we parents know that there is an awful lot of work to be done. Which brings me to that place where, as Brother Lawrence talked about in  The Practice the Presence of God, everything I do I can offer as a prayer and sacrifice, especially if I do something "extra" say, iron my husbands shirts. (No, I don't do that regularly; you may know my husband as the Guy With the Rumpled Shirts). Any and all of these I find can draw me closer to God and give me a sense of peace as I go about my day, knowing whatever small tasks I offer Him, He can use them for my continued conversion and His glory.

3. James talks about faith and works in Chapter two of his epistle:

 ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
   Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
 ²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[d]? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[e] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
 ²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. 


 The famous quote of Martin Luther, referring to James as "the Epistle of Straw," though he later retracted that statement, speaks to the difficulty people have when viewing how their works affect their spiritual life and salvation. The Little Flower said it best, (thus becoming a Doctor of the Church), I am a very little soul, who can offer only very little things to the Lord".
If she, being a Saint and all, can do this, it stands to reason, so can we.

4. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God.” -William Bernard Ullanthorne (1806-1889)  

"That is the mystery of grace: it never comes too late. -François Mauriac (1885-1970)

  “The law detects, grace alone conquers sin.” - Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430) 

“Lord I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better I'd have come running with a bucket.” -Nancy Spiegelberg  

“For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.” - Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

5. William Adolphe Borgereau, 

             In Penitence

6.  I think T.S. Elliot was talking about our current weather when he wrote this:

Lord, the Roman hyacinths are blooming in bowls and
The winter sun creeps by the snow hills;
The stubborn season has made stand.


(A little excerpt from A Song for Simeon)
  
How Lenten.





7.  Please remember all those who you have encountered on line who need your prayers, and those who have asked for them.

Venreable Solanus Casey, Pray for us!

Wishing you all a blessed and hopefully, somewhat restful weekend.

Peace, 

 Kelly

7 quick takes Friday, #5

1.  You may have noticed the new playlist. Someone from an airplane may have spotted it too. But I like it. I've included some of my favorite music. It is not meant to make any particular statement, except to showcase what I like, and share it with you, and hope you like it too. As you will see, my taste is rather eclectic. You can listen to whatever selection you like by clicking on it, and skip over ones you don't. I will add to it over time. You can also just click pause to hush it up.


2. Here are a few of the books I am hoping to read over Lent:
The Bible (no not the whole thing)


The Faith of the Early Fathers, William Jurgens


Slouching Towards Gomorrah, Robert Bork

He Leadeth Me, Walter Ciczek


Journey to Easter-Pope Benedict

Finding God's Will for you-Francis De Sales. (also re-read Introduction to the Devout Life)


Something by Ranerio Cantalamessa, preacher to the Papal household, and who I had the blessing of hearing speak live several years ago.


Characters of the Passion-Fulton Sheen

Imitation of Christ-Thomas a Kempis


Confessions--St. Augustine ( I slog my way through this periodically, I find it hard going)


anybody have any suggestions? It doesn't have to be strictly religious...


3.  For those who may not be a facebook "friend" here is my testimony from the March for Life. I will refrain from self commenting, except to say, that was the day I felt myself getting  sick, and today, I am still fighting to get completely better. sheesh.  Remember to pause the exquisite music before watching.








4. Today I went to #7 of my First Fridays. I pray I will be able to attend nine with no interruption, and maybe break that pattern of mine that is the Anti-Novena. Another one starts today, the Novena of Grace, that I mentioned in my previous post. That one is every single day for nine days...

5. By the way, Dear Readers, do you see the hyperlinks I post? Are they a different color text before you hover over them? Or do you only stumble on them? Bob, at his computer at work, can't see them.  I have to tell him to look for them, but they still work. 

6. _Here_was supposed to be a little group of pictures that I  took of some religious art in our house. My camera declined, after taking the pictures , to turn on again. So--look for it in the near, (I hope) future!  Besides this little snafu, I found Malaika's project she needed to turn in to school today. With that, and something Rachael also forgot, I now have to go make the rounds of the kids schools.  And then to my friend, the Acme. My, how the term "friend" has evolved. Between a large building full of groceries and an entity floating around in the air, mysteriously controlled by my keyboard....

7. My Friday prayer:

Lord, thank you for helping me make it to mass this morning. Please help me be able to function past 4:00 this afternoon.

Thanks!

Kelly