It's SPIRIT WEEK!

And so much fun. :) Each day we get to dress according to a theme:
Monday: class-assigned colors
Tuesday: twin day
Wednesday (today): Senior dress a freshmen day
Thursday: Christendom apparel
Friday: East-West colors (in preparation for the East coast vs. West coast football game on Sunday)

I promise pictures sometime in the (hopefully near :) future.

I've had several big tests lately and so far all seems to be going well. All the prayers and hard work are paying off. Please keep the prayers coming!

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." -Psalm 23:6

Quotes for your meditation from my meditation

"In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman."
-Galatians 4:4

This great scripture verse is the basis for our history course this semester. This morning we had our first big history test which included 20 identifications and four essays to write. I survived! ;)

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus".
- Phil. 3:14

"Nothing great is easy."
- Plato's Republic book 2 (what we're reading in Philosophy)

Parents Weekend!

My dear parents drove the very long way from Illinois to Virginia just to visit me this weekend for Parents Weekend. Thank you Mom and Dad! We had a great time. They came to my classes on Friday and then on Saturday we spent the day recreating together and catching up on the past month. Our fun extended from hiking (up a cliff), to kayaking...

...to rope swinging into the river (just me - they were the onlookers)

...to dancing

I am so blessed to have the parents I do! Thank You Lord for Your many blessings.

AMEN.

At long last...

Photos! Hopefully they make up for my recent extended absence here at the blog. Suffice it to say that I've been more than a little busy. If in the future I am ever away for long periods of time, know that I am probably writing papers or studying for a test and you can say a little prayer for me. Thanks :)

``````````````````

LUAU DANCE

Katie, Amy, Sarah (me), and Colleen

``````````````````````

ITALIAN NIGHT

Amy, Rachel, Bridget, Sarah (me), and Johanna

Friends on the bridge

Roommates

```````````````````````

UPPER UNDER FOOTBALL GAME

(Aka: beat up the freshmen. The freshmen guys play all the other guys.)
Even though our team lost, they definately had the best shirts (decorated by us freshmen girls) and the best cheerleading squad! ;)

"We are the freshmen, the mighty, mighty freshmen!"

```````````````````````````
OPENING WEEKEND

(these photos should have been at the top of my photo sequence...sorry :)

Christendom, here we are

Exultation of the Holy Cross

"We have only the short moments of this life to work for God's glory. The devil knows this, and that is why he tries to make us waste time in useless things."

- St. Therese the Little Flower

Make everything you do count for God's glory!

What I did this weekend

Friday Night/Saturday:
Helped cook for Italian Night Dinner
Decorated t-shirts for our team in the Upper Under Game (freshmen guys against all the other guys)
Practiced with the Choir
Studied Theology for 2 hours with friends (study group!)
Prepared for Italian Night (I did several hairstyles which turned out quite nice, if I may say so myself)
Started my article for the Rambler
Attended Italian Night (quite lovely!)

Sunday:
Practiced with choir for Mass
Sang for Mass
Finished and sent my Rambler article
Attended the Upper Under Game (Our guys put up a tough fight but lost sorely. They definitely had the best t-shirts and best cheering crew, though. Hands down. :)
Sang for Vespers
Attended a talk on holiness/vocation by some visiting Sisters from Kansas
Practiced Waltz and Swing-dancing (so much fun!)
Talked with my family
Studied until ??? hour

I hope I didn't just bore you with this list of weekend activities, but I thought you might find it interesting to know what kinds of activities we're doing around here. Please say a prayer for me this week as I have several quizzes/tests and my first literature paper to write.

Thanks!
~ Sarah

``````````````
We adore Thee Oh Christ and we praise Thee
Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world

On Mary, the Mother of God

"Her soul was the space from which God was able to gain access into humanity"

-Pope Benedict XVI

Spend a few moments just pondering that quote. It certainly lends itself to some profound meditation.

```````````

Requests for prayer please:

For the soul of Lois - wife of one of my dad's best childhood friends - who died yesterday morning after a long battle and years of suffering from cancer, and for her grieving family

For the article I'm writing for The Rambler - our school newspaper. I'm writing on the Legion of Mary and it's my first article here, so all prayers would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks.

Stella Maris,
Ora pro nobis!
(That's today's challenge for you: translate this Latin phrase)

I wish the computer would just cooperate...

...but since it won't, you get three posts from me today (instead of two) -- let's set a record! -- and I get to devote an entire post just to this lovely photo of Mother Mary, in honor of her birthday:

Mother dearest, Mother fairest, help of all who call on Thee...

(Now please say a prayer that I finish my homework for tomorrow as these blog posts took quite a bit longer than intended :)

Happy Birthday!

...to two very, very special young women!

One: to my dear sister Veronica who turned 17 yesterday (you were in my thoughts and prayers all day)!

I can hardly believe what a charming young lady she has already become and she is continuing to be while I'm away. The picture below features her wearing a darling dress she fashioned after the styles in "Belles on Their Toes" (movie sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen). Her cute hair style in the second photo was fashioned by my other talented sister Claire (who authored a creative and touching birthday post here with more photos).

I love you and thank God for you, Veronica!

I can't wait to see the sisters or the dress in person (hopefully soon :).

And secondly: Happy Birthday to my Dear Heavenly Mother Mary! There is an inspiring quote for this day in my prayer book which I do not currently have with me, so I will have to post it later. But I would like to suggest that you have some sort of celebration to honor this special day and this very special woman - the Mother of God! Here at Christendom we are going all out and having a Rosary Procession and a birthday party for her. I love you, Mary! Please bring my prayers to Jesus today.

Splash! and a Hint

The splash is for what happened on Sunday when I went canoeing in the Shenandoah and accidentally tipped my canoe. Don't worry...I'm living to tell about it! And it was still a lot of fun. Actually, even though I hadn't planned to swim, the water was lovely.

The hint is for the quote of last post. Since no one has attempted at guessing the author yet, I'm thinking a clue might be appreciated. Think: 3rd order Dominican from Italy, one of my patronesses. Now that should be a dead giveaway!

Praise the Lord!

There's a Deer...

...eating right outside my window. For the last ten minutes, I've been watching a young buck snack on leaves just outside the library window where I'm working. :)

This morning I travelled to D.C. with 35 other C.dom students to pray 20 decades of the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for an end to abortion and a respect for life. We stationed ourselves outside of a Planned Parenthood facility there and prayed fervently. A moving yet saddening experience.

On a lighter note, for those of you who thought I would be painstakingly making my way through Statistics, I'm actually enjoying it! ;)

It's dinner time so I better run. But for those of you who guessed Job on the "mystery quote" of last post, you guessed correctly. Now see if you can guess this mystery quote:

"By humble and faithful prayer, the soul acquires, with time and
perseverence, every virtue."

Love and prayers,

Sarah

What I'm Reading...

Just thought you'd like to know a little of what I'm up to...

In Literature: The Iliad
In Philosophy: Plato (we just finished Euthyphro and The Apology)
History: The Holy Bible (we just finished Ecclesiastes and Job)
Theology: The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Latin and Statistics: Textbooks (smile :)

A few notes on the book of Job (see if you can find passages in Job to back up answers to these questions):
Is Satan real?
Does he want to destroy good and blameless men?
Can we fight against him?
Is there purpose to suffering?
Is suffering strictly a result of serious personal sin or can the just suffer?

We discussed these and many more questions today in History class!

Mystery quote for the day (who can be the first to identify?):
"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Please say a little prayer for a special intention I have today. Thanks!

~Sarah