Hayley

Thanksgiving is tomorrow so I thought I would let some people know how much I appreciate them! First I must start with my parents! They care so much for me even when I am not so deserving!! they take me anywhere I want to go and let me do pretty much anything I want to!!! Next I want thank my friends who stuck by through the though times and the ones who have moved away but I still talk to for sometimes 3 hours a day!! Lastly, I want to thank my youth minister, Bob!! He is always there when I need someone to talk to!! I bet sometimes he has better things to do then talk to me about something probably not all that improtant, but he always listens!!! Without him I probably would not have such a connection to God and the church!!!! And of coarse I will thank God for all the blessings in my life!!!

There are many other people I should mention, and so thankyou all of those who were not mentioned!!!!

This post has a lot to do with last post I wrote about but this is just the next thing I have come to in my journey! I was listening to this song today and some of the lyrics are this “And even all that Ive been through, now I realize the truth, that I must go through the valley to stand upon the mountian of God”. And I got to thinking that I am going to have hard times. Sometimes I am going to be as low as you can get in that valley, but I have family and friends to help me and to guide me in the direction to the very peek of God’s mountian!

These past few weeks have made me question my faith a lot. Many things have happened where I just want to say, Lord why do you give me someone or something and then take it away right when I think things are getting pretty good in life! I got pretty mad at God. Then I realized, God has a plan. He is just waiting on me to get that in my head. I have to have faith that God will help me get through anything. And its really hard sometimes when you lose that someone or something but you have to continue to try to have faith. I am praying that if something has happened in your life you will also try to have faith that God is doing what is best for you!

I see people all the time wearing Rosaries around thier neck like it some kind of jewelry. It really bothers me when most of the people dont even know what you are actually supposed to do with a Rosary. My mom asked one of her students one time why he wore that around his neck. His answer was I dont know, I like it. She said do you know what to do with it. He said no! He was wearing it as jewelry. check out this awesome post from a Fr. J I found.

http://www.lifeteen.com/default.aspx?PageID=FJQADETAIL&__DocumentID=164081

Deacon Max has passed away. He had a stroke earlier this week and just never recovered. He will be missed! Please pray for his family and the repose of his soul!

His visitation will be on Sunday from 5:00 to 7pm
His funeral will be on Monday at 2:00pm

Let me know if you have any questions!

When I went to Steubenville a little over a week ago the theme was witness. We talked all weekend about being a witness for Christ. I know that my family always manages to say grace at least before dinner when we are at home. It is an very different story when we are out. We almost never say grace when we are at a public restaurent or a friends house. I honestly don’t understand why this is. Is it that we are ashamed to profess our faith in front of people or because it’s not ordinary to see this and we just want to fit in? I didn’t really think anything of it before Steubie. When I stood up and said I was going to be a witness thats when I thought it was a big deal. I figured out that I was the one that was going to have to stand up and say why it was important to say grace before every meal. I have decided to always be a witness for Christ not just in the comfort of my home! I challenge you to do the same!

Oh my gosh Steubenville was the most amazing thing I have ever been to. It was all about loving our God as a Catholic and being a witness to that. There were many talks and many songs. I do have to admit that I cried in some of the songs and talks but the thing that got me so worked up was the Eucharist. When Jesus came out I just stared in awe at Him for at least 30 minutes to an hour. At first I did not think I was doing something right. Everyone around me was crying and crying out to Him. And all I could do was just sit there. When the priest began to take Jesus back, It all went out the window. My blankly staring began to be a sob. When He was gone I still sobbed and sobbed some more. I really didn’t understand why I was crying. I asked one of my youth leaders about this and he said that he has been going to adoration for years and still doesn’t understand why he cries. I don’t think we will ever know why but I think it matters more that we at least know who we are sobbing for.

MOLLY!

I just have to say I can’t wait to go to Steubenville, MO. It is a youth group retreat with about 2,000 other teens. I will be back on Monday to let you know how AWESOME is was.

On the 17th we left for Chattanooga, Tennessee with a 15 passenger van and 9 people. 6 and a half hours in the car can get VERY boring and you can get tired of the people you are with. Overall the car ride was fine and we did not get too tired of each other. When we arrived on Tuesday afternoon we went to Raccoon Mountain. We took a tour of the Cave and panned for gemstones. Then we hung out the rest of the night downtown where I lost my phone rolling down a hill. Don’t worry though I found it a little later. On Wednesday we swam in the morning then at about 11:00 we went to an amusement park called Lake Winnie. That was a lot of fun! Then on Thursday we went to the Ocoee River and kayaked the entire day. Our guides were awesome. They knew so much about the area and its past. The hardest part was when it was all over and we were dead tired. We had to drag our kayaks up a hill. That was not fun! Overall the trip was amazing. I had so much fun and learned a lot. I highly recommend to go to Chattanooga for any kind of trip.

This Saturday is my sister’s 10th birthday. Then on Sunday, that’s my 14th birthday. Pretty cool huh. Well on Thursday my grandfather came in to town from Brandon, Mississippi and we all went to the Redbirds game. So today granddaddy took me and my sister to eat for our birthday. We were allowed to pick wherever we wanted to go, so we picked Bahama Breeze. After we finished eating we went down to the fairgrounds were he used to be the fair manager. Then he showed us were he stayed when he lived here and where he walked and what stores he had been to. Today was an awesome day and I am glad I got to spend it with granddaddy.