My Year in Review: 2011 Adventures!

2011 was a great year! I had so many unexpected adventures, spent a lot of time with family and friends, reconnected with wonderful old friends, and met special new friends, too.

I praise God for His goodness in all of the highs and His friendship in all of the lows. I also thank all of you – I am so blessed to share my life with you!

Favorite Sports & Races:

• Pittsburgh Half Marathon
• Pittsburgh Challenge
• July 4th 5K (with Maur)
• Warrior Dash (with Conor)
• Gaelic Football Midwest Champions
• National Gaelic Football Tournament in San Francisco 
• Athletic stuff: Gaelic football, PSL co-ed basketball (mini-league champions), and running

First Place winners in the Pittsburgh Challenge

 Midwest Champs and Third Place winners at the National Tournament in San Francisco

Conor and I cross the Warrior Dash finish line

Travel:

• Ocean City, MD (Kennedy Girls Beach Vacation)
• Kite Weekend (annual camping trip with the family)
• Washington, DC
• San Francisco (Gaelic Football National Tournament)
• Sydney, Australia

 Kennedy Girls Beach Vacation fun in Ocean City

 Surprise! We stopped by DC on the way home.

 Adventuring through Rock Creek Park in DC

 

Our family celebrates the win - Pittsburgh Celtics are National Champions!

 
 Cronulla Beach on Thanksgiving Day

Milestones:

• My 30th birthday (my sisters gave me the best cards and my family threw me the greatest party)
• Receiving a copyright for a guidebook I wrote for a volunteer program I'm developing with a friend

Best Memories:

• Kennedy Girls Beach Vacation
• 30&30 Armageddon Luau
• Banshees winning Third Place in overtime in San Francisco
• Warrior Dash
• Sydney

<3

30&30 Armageddon Luau - family and practically family (Mikey, Amanda, and Mrs. Baker)

 Banshees bring it in - the second half overtime speech. Lots of fun and team love.

 Sisters, teammates, and offense (Maur) and defense (me) machines

A muddy road trip and race

 Bondi Beach after the Coastal Walk

Lots of good Bands, but looking back, there were a few favorite shows:

• Holy Ghost Tent Revival
• Two Man Gentleman Band
• U2
• Bearded Bastard Irishmen
• Trombone Shorty

 Tailgating sisters for U2 - welcome, Emmi!

Every Day Life:
This is where it’s at! I enjoy all the lunches, coffees, dinners, drinks, outings and events with family and friends – especially Sunday coffees with my sisters, Gaelic football watching and playing, anytime Hofbrauhaus, Maur and Ry’s fun parties like Oktoberfestifall, and a beautiful afternoon at a Steelers game with my Mom; and then there's teaching CCD, helping with youth group, Thursday lunches reading books with Alize, coaching softball and basketball, playing sports with my friends, and my enjoyable and rewarding job.

2011 was great! And I am excited about all the new (and unknown) adventures to come in 2012! It’s a good life.

Where Does Love Come From?

"...for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins." 1 Jn 4: 8-10

Tonight I was thinking about how blessed I am to have a family that loves each other and laughs together, always. Dinners. Drinks. Movies. Games. Car rides. Sports. We talk. We laugh. We love. Even with our cousins and aunts and uncles, we're always laughing. I just spent the last two days laughing and laughing with my family. There is so much joy that has always been a part of my life because of my family and our love for one another.

Where does this love come from? The first answer that came to mind was that it comes from my parents who created a home of love. They created and taught and gave love so that we may know love. For every day of my life, my family has been a place of love. Not that we haven't known hardship or haven't had arguments -- we have. But we have unconditional love that was given to us and is shared between us. In that love comes freedom and joy. Freedom to be who we are, to make mistakes, to help each other, and to share our lives openly and without fear. Joy to appreciate each other and life together.

Following these thoughts came an answer from Scripture: God loved us first. God is love, and we love Him who loved us first. He loved us first. God Himself  is a relationship of love. God the Father loves God the Son, and God the Son loves God the Father. The fruit of their total and complete love is God the Holy Spirit. The Blessed Trinity is a relationship of never-ending, always-giving love, and in Heaven we are brought into that circle of perfect love that is God.

I teach my kids at CCD about the "domestic church", the church at home. Parents have love for each other and love for their child/children. The love that they share as a family reflects the love that exists within the Blessed Trinity. That is the love we are called to in family life.

I am grateful for God's constant and self-giving love. He loves all of us. Everyone. I am also grateful and blessed that my parents created a domestic church at home that our family can rejoice in and grow in love.

It is with the love of God, experienced in many ways, but especially in my family life, that enables me to reach out and love others. It's a love that is given by God, who loved me first.

Merry Christmas

Just Be | Finding God's Love in Stillness

It's back to normal life ... where I use minutes and hours to do things. I am highly efficient with my time and move from one thing to the next working on various projects and interests. Crossing things off of my to-do list is satisfying. If I do something that isn't on my list, I put it on the list just to cross it off. I get stuff done.

So, being in Oz was a different and wonderful experience for many reasons, but one of the most appreciated was that I stopped doing things -- everything. All my responsibilities were left behind, completely on hold. No checklist. Nothing on my mind.

I was free.

Sometime last year, I was praying to God and saying, "God, I know you love me. I know this. You died for me. You are present in my life and you are leading me to you. You are love, and I know that you love me through my friends and family. But I don't feel your love."

In Sydney, living in total freedom, all I felt was His love.

I don't think I had to go all the way to Sydney to experience that, but I think it helped. In Pittsburgh, in my daily life, I keep a full schedule of responsibilities that I enjoy and find fulfilling, and as a single person, I try to be the best sister and daughter I can to my family, and the best friend I can be to my friends. I'm in a great place where I'm in "the zone" in my life. The activities and relationships in my life are where I encounter God and try to live for Him. It is a joyful growing in relationship with God through the things He has called me to do.

Because of this, I was creating a lifestyle where I was most frequently experiencing God in my tasks and relationships with others. Whereas on vacation, I had nothing to do and no one to serve, so I could not express my love for the Lord and receive Him in my usual ways.

In Oz my heart desired God, and the only things I could do were pray and share every moment of the day with Him. I could not do anything. I could only be. And it was in just being (walking around, thinking, daydreaming, praying, sitting, exploring) that I felt his love poured upon me unceasingly. Just for being me. He made me. He loves me. He knows me. He made all of us. He loves all of us. He calls all of us to Him.

He loves me. His sacrifice on the Cross tells me that my soul is worth that much to Him, and that He wants me to be with Him forever, that is Truth, but also, He just loves me. :)

I hope and pray that you know of God's love for you. Take some time to just be with the Lord, and let Him love you.

[We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 1 Jn 4:16]

My Awesome Parents

I love my parents and am so grateful for them. They are always supportive of me, and gave me the best childhood and life and home. They do so much to help me, and they have given everything to my siblings and me, and they have done it all with immense love.

Today I got really sick (my best guess is dehydration + beer drinking), and at a really low point I called home to talk with my mom and have her do the best mom stuff over the phone (you're awesome, Mom). Minutes later, my dad was out the door and on his way over to my apartment with ginger ale, crackers, soup, etc. He took care of me and we had a really nice talk with stories from his childhood among other things.

Just to share a story with you -- when I was little I was sick a lot with asthma and spent weeks in the hospital from ages 5 through 8. My dad spent every day right by my side while my mom was at home with my brothers and sister. When he'd have to return to work because he ran out of days off, I would cry and lie to the hospital staff in an attempt to delay my IVs, shots, tests, and all that scary stuff until he could come back after work. He was my hero and protector, and still is.

2011 Armageddon Luau 30 & 30 Party
(Row 1: Mom, Emily, Alanna, Conor, me, Rory | Row 2: Ryan (Maur's husband), Colleen (Conor's wife), Uncle Frank | Row 3: Dad, Dillon, Maureen, Devin, and Charlie)

I have no idea how my parents raised nine kids -- providing for us everything we needed. My mom would say, of course, that it's all God. We had the loaves and the fishes story every day. She trusted; God provided, every time. When a family puts God first, God takes care of the rest.

I have the best parents in all the world! Thank you for everything. I love you! <3

For some smiles:

 1984

1993

 

2008 

How Do I Love Others?

Tonight I was challenged to think about how I love others. I love others a lot -- that is if "others" means "family." I love the heck out of my family. I love my family with all my heart, and I find joy in giving them everything I can. Love, friendship, support, encouragement, advice, listening, caring -- I would give everything I have to them, and I want to. I think my siblings know this -- I hope so!  ...Ok, I'm getting sidetracked.

Everyone who knows me knows that I love my job. I believe in the organization, the leadership, what we do, the people we serve, etc. It's a cool place. I'm not going to become wealthy there. I'm not set on climbing some ladder to a title or position or salary. In fact, it's actually a bit humbling compared to other jobs I've had or how I used to spend money (budget what?). However, about two and a half years ago, after two years of praying for God to call me to work that would serve Him with all the gifts He has given me, I had the opportunity to take a position where I am now, and my heart knew it was the right thing.

My job has a lot of perks: I make my own appointments and control my own schedule. I have a lot of independence. I'm out of the office 70% of the time. But the most awesome thing about my job is that I get to love people. I meet many people who have serious barriers to succeeding in life, who deal with painful and/or frustrating tribulations, who are living in poverty, who experience discrimination or judgment from others and face many other hardships. And I get to listen to them. To encourage them. To be firm but kind to them. To help them brainstorm ways to achieve their goals. My job is about loving people and treating all people with dignity and respect. The source of love that pours out of my heart and reaches to others is Christ. Jesus' love can shine through the way I listen, speak, and be fully present. (There are also times when my actions do not convey love!)

God's love can shine through all of us in our words and actions. The blessings we receive multiply when we are aware of the love Christ has for others, allow His love to come through us, and share that love with others.

I think we all have the opportunity to experience this in our lives whether it's work, volunteering, spending time with friends -- it can be anything and everything. Ideally, we will live in ways where Christ's love is in all we do all of the time. I think it requires just asking God to come into a situation and be present in our heart and in the conversation, presentation, discussion -- whatever. He is always ready to rush in, and He is love. His presence enables us to humble ourselves, be courageous when needed, be kind, be happy for others, and want the best for others, etc. God is generous to all.

We can love others with Christ's love in the most simple of tasks as well as the most significant. All we need to do is invite Him into our hearts. Then, the journey begins!