Build Something Useful

Hellooooooo blog!

One of the things on my #30b430 list is to build something useful. Initially I wanted it to be vague to keep my options open. Over the last year or so, I've really been thinking that I'd like to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity to help build a house (very useful for someone who needs a home.)

I kept checking the volunteer schedule and things just weren't working out, mostly because it seems like they have more help than they need! (Great problem to have!)

I still want to volunteer with them, and I hope I will get the chance soon, but in the mean time, it was back to the literal drawing board to figure out how to fulfill this bucket list item.


Soooooooo...... I want to show you what I was up to this weekend:

Now, I don't know how useful a headboard actually is. BUT I did build this for $90 and it would have cost at least $200 if I'd bought it from a store, and saving money is v v useful if you ask me.

I feel super accomplished, and I think it looks great. And of course now I want to build a lot more things. (Can anyone say farmhouse table?) Hopefully I marry someone with some tools and some skills.

Anyways, what do you think? Is this a cop out? Do you think it's useful? What would you have done?

St. Anne, pray for us!

Mary, Queen of Heaven, pray for us! 

Avoiding Studying

I'm procrastinating as usual when I have something "school" related that I should be doing.

Next Wednesday, I take my final exam to become a Chartered Life Underwriter. The course is basically insurance for business owners and it is so freaking boring I can barely keep my eyes open when I read it. I've read 6 out of 13 chapters and I'm pretty sure I'm just going to do the study guides and wing it. Fingers crossed that it works... I'm not even sure what score I need to pass.

This past week I went to Raleigh for my first and best boss (Katie O)'s wedding. It was beautiful, and so great to be with some favorites.

In the past 20 months, every single one of my teammates from Auburn has gotten married, one has also had a baby, and another has a baby on the way. Life is crazy.

I've been spending a lot of my time developing curriculum and planning for the upcoming school year. I am officially the new Coordinator of Discipleship Group Ministry at my Parish and I want to do it right. I am working specifically with the core team of adult women who are discipling our high school women. As of now, we have one discipleship group of women per grade from 8th to 12th, each led by two adults. I am trying to model for the leaders what their weekly/biweekly discipleship groups ought to look like, and I feel both completely inadequate and in awe that God would want to use me in this way.

The first place I started was with goals/objectives. By the time our teens leave discipleship to go off to college, I want them to be able to:
-Preach the Kerygma
-Give a testimony
-Pray with Scripture
-Articulate why it's important to attend Mass on Sunday
-Discuss the path of discipleship (encounter, grow, serve/win, build, send)
-Understand the habits of a healthy Christian community (fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry, mission)
-Discern appropriately (especially when it comes to Vocations)
-Invest in their peers in a strategic/intentional way

Obviously, this list does not include things like learning apologetics, Theology of the Body, Salvation History, etc., but these things happen in a broader context in our parish, so there are opportunities for them to get that knowledge-- my main focus is on turning the vision outward and making world changers.

What do you think? What would you add or subtract?

Saint Edith Stein, pray for us!