the love that never leaves...

hi friends & family...

i realize it's been a while since i've posted on here... i haven't exactly kept my new year's resolutions for 2011 (which were to get back to running [which i have been working on, i promise!], sending actual cards in the mail for life events such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc., and watching at least 30 mins a week of tv) but i have been busy. perhaps i'll try being less busy and being more focused with my time and efforts? maybe that should have been my resolution for 2011... hmmmm? is it too late for a mulligan?

yikes. it's may 8th and i haven't stuck to a single resolution. GULP!!! well, i have started hitting the trails again, and slowly but surely, i will get back to being my former road-running warrior... i will. look out, world, crystal is coming back!

:)

on another note, in my job as a nanny i am constantly chasing around little munchkins: playing with them, tying their shoes, drawing/coloring/painting/sidewalk chalking, bandaging up booboos, etc... though i don't have any kids of my own (yet, perhaps?) i am 10,000% in awe of what you moms out there do on a daily (and nightly) basis... and, seeing as how it's mother's day, i wanted to wish you all a Happy Mother's Day! no one in this world would be who they are without their mother... you are special, dear moms of the world! and you are loved. ever so dearly.

this time of year is always hard to experience for me because, well, i'm human and i have feelings and emotions that i can't totally control, no matter how much time passes... i was 5 when my mom died from cancer and now i'm 30. i'll be 31 in september and every year that passes is no easier to handle than the year previous, which is both comforting (that i remember my mother) and painful (that she is no longer here).

the funny thing is that the more i learn about my faith, the more sure i am that my mom taught me what i needed to know in those short 5 years i had with her. in hindsight, and through much prayer, i realize that the most precious gift she ever gave me was the gift of faith... Catholic faith. as a teenager and 20-something i was so angry at God and at the doctors and at the cancer that i couldn't see the testament of faith she lived as she handled being sick for so long... even with 3 small children at home and a sad, worried husband juggling all the pressures that her illness brought on, she was always happy to see us and the family and friends who flocked to her hospital room to keep her company.

well, i'm a grownup now (sorta?) and though i'm not yet a wife or a mother, i hope--someday, if it's God's will--that i have the opportunity to be that example of faith to my own family. thanks, mom, for being the first example of Christ's love that i ever knew.

i can't forget all the wonderful women in my life who were there to pick up where my mom left off and were also pillars of faith to me... i have learned so much from them all, but mostly i learned how to love. thanks mom (my stepmom, janie, who raised me), my tia alice, my tia eva (i pray for you daily!), grandma nacha (a soldier for Christ if ever i met one) and all the wonderful ladies in my family i haven't named... you have all made me the woman i am today and i can't thank you enough for loving me. Happy Mother's Day!

:)

this last part of my blog is a plea for prayers about my trip to world youth day in madrid, spain this august... as most of you have already heard, i applied and was selected to be part of a group of 88 college and graduate students from across the country to attend WYD 2011 as part of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) pilgrimage... FOCUS has planned a week-long pilgrimage through Spain, following The Way of St. James (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) followed by a week spent among other young adult Catholics at WYD with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. i am excited, honored and humbled to be included in this group of people that were chosen among the hundreds of other applicants who wanted to go... i am also a teensy bit worried about my finances right now--so please pray that my anxieties will eased by God's sure hand. i've got to meet payment deadlines for the WYD trip, i have tuition to pay for summer school this coming monday along with living expenses for the rest of the summer. all of this on a reduced income. last tuesday my employer told me that out of the 12 weeks they originally told me i'd be working leading up to my august trip, they'll actually only need me 5 or 6 weeks this summer. yeouch!

anyway, i look back to last year when i was preparing to leave for brasil for 3 months and one financial setback after another seemed to find my bank account. somehow, God provided a way for me to get all of my expenses and other needs met for the trip and put my heart at ease. nothing but prayer changed the situation i was in--hence the plea for prayers now. :)

please, take a moment to pray for my situation--i believe there's a reason all of this is happening--i just want to make sure that i do what God wants me to do and not what i want to do. i keep thinking, "Thy will be done." so, there, i've said it... please pray for clarity in this situation. and please pray for the people planning WYD and all the people who are planning to go... attendance estimates are looking around 1 million people right now, so please pray for safety and for changed lives. Jesus, i trust in You.

thanks for reading... please know that i'm praying for you and your intentions, whatever they may be. i hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day and take a moment to tell your mom you love her... and give her a hug. for me. :)

peace in Christ,
~crystal