2010 - One Month Down

It's 2010!! Not only is it already 2010, but it's already February of 2010! And I haven't posted anything since before Christmas Break...right. Well, here is an update!

One of the last weekends before break, some of us girls got together and decided to go down to KC and visit the plaza and see all the Christmas lights. They were beautiful and it was such a great night to spend with close friends. We didn't do anything too exciting, but we went and got Coldstone ice cream and walked around the plaza a little bit and then we left and went to a movie. It was so fun and we are a little bit in love with the plaza now. :)

Finals went fine, the best part was when they were done! :) But I passed last semester with a 3.86 and made the Dean's List. Now the goal is keep a high GPA this semester and throughout the rest of my college career! Break was great! It was so good to see all my friends and family and celebrate the holidays with them. The first weekend I was back was the LifeTeen Yule Ball at our church. I went and it was so great seeing everyone all dressed up and to actually see LifeTeen in action. I enjoyed hearing about how everyone's year had been and what they were involved with this year. And...let's be honest, I did enjoy getting to wear my prom dress again. :)

Even though the weather didn't cooperate much, we still made it to all of the Christmas get-togethers with family, it just took some extra time to get there and back with the bad roads. Instead of giving gifts for Christmas on my mom's side, all the parents decided to take us on a trip instead. A few days after Christmas, we all packed up and went up to the Dells in Wisconsin and stayed at a waterpark resort. It was good time spent with the family and I think everyone had fun. It was a really cool facility and they had some awesome stuff but after 8 or 9 hours of playing and having fun, some of the little ones got a little tired and grumpy. ;)

After 2 days in Wisconsin, we headed back home and laid low for a few days until New Year's. New Year's was spent at the Hanson residence and was pretty chill. We sat around and ate some delicious food that isn't good for us and talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company. Sometime between New Year's and when I left to come back to campus, my very dear friends made me go sledding...in -4 degree weather! I was not exactly happy about it but I went and got to spend a night with friends and it was decently enjoyable but as I made very clear to some of my friends, I HATE WINTER and being cold so -4 is not ideal sledding weather in my mind!

I came back down to BC with Maddie on Monday, January 11th. Her older brother and his friend were nice enough to bring us back to campus and they definitely made the trip very entertaining! :) Since the 11th, classes have started, I am re-learning accounting since I haven't taken it since my junior year of high school and now I'm in a second-level accounting class, I have been to KC, been surprised and danced the night away...I'll explain...

We went to KC two weekends ago to celebrate our friend Raquel's birthday. We went to the plaza (remember, we are slightly obsessed with that place) and went out to eat at P.F. Chang's for some delicious Chinese and then we went and hung out at a coffee shop. After that, we came back to campus and watched 500 Days of Summer and just hung out. It was definitely a fun night and I think we all liked getting dressed up and going out :)

The past week since Raquel's birthday has been BUSY!! More specifically...just this past weekend has been ridiculously busy! Friday was my birthday and we really didn't have anything planned, we were just going to hang out and maybe go to a movie or something. So, I got done with class at 3 and I came back to my room and was excited because Marissa had promised me a surprise as an incentive to get through class. I was greeted by streamers and balloons all over my room and instantly thought about how much fun cleaning it up would be. But I was polite and thanked Marissa and then I took another step into my room and saw Drew and Julia sitting on my bed!!! I was in TOTAL shock...I couldn't believe they were actually here! I thought for a second that I was dreaming! :) But I wasn't...they came down to surprise me for my birthday and ended up spending the night here with me. It was amazingly wonderful to see both of them and spend my birthday with them. On Saturday, my dad came down around noon for the Father/Daughter Mother/Son Banquet. He got here and took Drew, Julia and I out to lunch before Drew and Julia had to head back home. The rest of the afternoon was just hanging out with my dad and catching up and opening my present :) Then, he went back to his hotel to change and I got ready and then the banquet and dance were Saturday night. My dad isn't much of a dancer but I was just excited to spend some time with him!

But that isn't the end of the weekend! On Sunday, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn from Vienna was on campus and celebrated mass in the Abbey Church and gave a lecture afterwards. He is an absolutely amazing man and had a great message to all of us. It was possibly one of the most beautiful masses I've ever been to and listening to the Little Sisters and Brothers of the Lamb sing was GORGEOUS! If you want to see pictures or listen to Cardinal Schonborn's talk, go here.

Dad stayed here for the mass and lecture before heading back home. It was definitely special to go to that mass with my dad and get to listen to such a high authority of the Church with him. It was a packed weekend and I am still exhausted and this weekend is looking equally as busy! So, I guess I will have a lot of update you all on again very soon!

God Bless your day.

Your Prayers, Please?

So...beginning this Thursday is finals. Should be a good time, because finals means it's almost time for me to go home again!! But the worrisome part of finals for me is that I'm really not scared for them or freaking out about them. And that in and of itself scares me! I am more worried at this point about getting all my homework done that needs to be turned in by the time I take my finals so I've been concentrating on that work and haven't really started studying for the actual tests yet. I'm sure everything will turn out just fine but any and all prayers of yours would be greatly appreciated on my part!

On a happier note, tomorrow is the feast of the Immaculate Conception! That means that we get to honor our mother tomorrow and all the wonderful things she did for our world by saying "yes" to God. I hope that it is a great day of reflection for everyone and gives us all time to consider how many times we have said "no" to God when we should have said yes. It's not always the easiest thing for us to go along with God's plan but if we trust that He knows what is best for us in the long run and agree to follow His lead, we will be able to do great things for the world as well. Mary is our mother, and as a fellow female, I have such admiration for her and rely on her intercession so much. Each and every time I reflect on her greatness I am never less than amazed. Without her, our Savior would not have come into the world and so many things would have been different. Let us all dedicate our lives to Christ tomorrow especially as we try to replicate the life of Mary, His mother. Let us honor her with the deepest respect and awe for her "yes" when it would have been so much easier to say "no."

There are several activities going on around campus tomorrow. I will try to attend at least some of them and I will be sure to share the experience with all of you. Have a blessed feast day tomorrow and stay warm in this cold and snowy weather!

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

Epic Failure

So...it has been two and a half months since I have posted anything on here! :/ Yeah...fail at life as a blogger! Oh well, I guess late is better than never, right?! Well, life has been busy, if you couldn't guess by my lack of updates, but it has been very good! I am loving college life at BC and have met tons of new people and made several new friends!

Just a recap of everything that has happened since September 19th...

Mary came to visit BC and spent a weekend with Marissa and I. She also brought us tickets to the Iowa State/KState game in Kansas City so we got to go to Arrowhead Stadium and spend some time in Kansas City with some of my high school classmates.

A couple of weeks after the visit from Mary was Fall Break! It was perfect timing for a break and it was great to spend a few days back at home. I also got an extra perk of getting to see Wicked in Des Moines with all the girls in my extended family. Other fall break activities included brothers' football games, hanging out with family and friends and visiting the Pometto family!

We got back from Fall Break and were greeted by a crazy and packed Homecoming Week. In four days we had to build a float, get together a bed racing team, plan dorm decorations, and protect our bed from being stolen. It was super busy and hectic but I think everyone had a lot of fun and all the hard work definitely paid off in the end, even though we didn't win any of the contests. ;)

The weekend after Homecoming was Halloween. Several of us girls who are all 5'9" or taller dressed up as the seven dwarves. It was a good weekend and we had lots of fun with our costumes!

Since Halloween, Marissa came back to Iowa with me for a weekend. It was fun to show her where I am from and she got to meet some of my family and friends. That was definitely a busy weekend but it was certainly enjoyable! The weekend before Thanksgiving was NCYC. BC sponsored a whole area in the "Reign Forest" called the BC Sports Experience and we had 170ish BC students volunteer throughout the three day event. I was there all three days which was awesome but I don't think I've quite made up all the sleep I lost yet! ;)

Since NCYC, I've been at home for Thanksgiving break. It was a great time to be home and spend time with so many family and friends. It was a great reminder to me of just how thankful I am to have so many wonderful and holy people in my life not only at school but back home as well.

Now, only two more weeks and then I will be home again for Christmas. That is a blessing and a curse because as excited as I am to be home again, I have several papers, projects and finals to get done before I can come home again!

I hope this post finds you all in good health and thankful spirits and let us all remember to prepare for the coming of our Savior this Advent season! I promise I'll post again...soon!

Life is Wonderful :)

So, just an update :)

College life is going amazingly!! I still absolutely love Benedictine College and I've had so much fun since I have been here! God is wonderful and He has definitely been doing some amazing things in my life since I have been here!

Marissa and I are having tons of fun being roommates! We probably laugh way too much and talk about too many things but it's a blast! She actually just interviewed yesterday in Kansas City for a modeling job and she got it...so, yes, my roommate is a MODEL! Talk about high standards for Katlin to live up to! Sheesh! But maybe now it will give me an excuse to go to KC with her and I'm sure we will have fun in the big city! :) Also, rumor has it that if you post a video to YouTube and it gets one million hits then YouTube starts sending you money so here's our plan: Marissa has a video camera and once we can figure out how to clear all the video off the tapes we are going to start making some sweet videos from BC and you should all go to YouTube and watch them so we can start using YouTube as a source of income...possibly to pay off our college debt?! Haha...we'll see how it goes but regardless, I'm sure we will have fun with this adventure! ;) Other things we have done...we play DDR sometimes and we are really ridiculous at it but we laugh about it a lot and have fun which is all that really matters, right?!

Last weekend, I got to go home which was really exciting! It all happened super last minute and all came together really fast but I got to spend the weekend at home and my dad got me a ticket to the Iowa/Iowa State game so it was fun to be able to go to an ISU football game...definitely something I miss! And it was great to see my family and friends again! I miss all of you like crazy!

My faith life is growing A LOT right now which is way cool. :) I have been going to mass daily and that has provided me with immense support and it has just given me a peace and calmness that I've never had before so I am thoroughly enjoying that! The Lord has blessed me with so much in the past month and I am so grateful! I am trying to just completely devote my life to Him and let Him lead me through each and every day. And He is definitely working miracles! I decided to run as Student Government Rep for our dorm (elections are next Thursday so please pray lots!) and one of my professors asked me to help organize BC's exhibit at NCYC so I get to help plan everything for that and let me just say that our college is going far above and beyond what any other college is going to do so be looking out for that! ;) I'm super excited and can't wait to see what else God has in store for me while I'm here!

I'm a little nervous, I have two tests on Monday and I haven't had a test yet so we will have to see how those go. I'm actually not too worried, I don't think they are going to be too hard but that's what I get for thinking...they will probably be nearly impossible now that I said that! Other than that, not a whole lot is new. Next weekend is Family Weekend so I get to see my family again which will be loads of fun! The weekend after that Mary is coming for a college visit so I am pumped to see her and show her the campus and all its wonderfulness. Two weeks after that is Fall Break so I will be back in Iowa in less than a month!! I can't wait to see everyone again!! :)

Well, I'm off to bed...mass in the morning!

God Bless Your Day! :)

Archbishop Sambi...and Theology 101

So, I have now been living at BC for over a week now and it's still going great! I still love being here and everyone that I have met here! :)

But...the reason that I am writing this blog is because there is some exciting news going around campus! Tomorrow, the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi is coming to BC and celebrating our opening all school mass and giving an address afterwards! For those of you who don't know what a Papal Nuncio is...I'll explain. ;) Archbishop Sambi is Pope Benedict's personal ambassador to the United States. In comparison to our society, he would be similar to one of the president's cabinet members...and he's going to be on campus tomorrow morning!! We are all very excited and I think everyone feels extremely honored to host Archbishop Sambi for the day. So, I will be sure to write another blog and update all of you about how the mass goes tomorrow...I definitely have some high expectations...possibly because I haven't been to an all school mass since elementary school . :)

Another note that I wanted to make was that for my Intro to Theology class one of our texts is titled "Theology and Sanity" by Frank Sheen. Now, I have only read a little bit of the beginning of this book but from what I can tell I'm going to enjoy it! In the twenty pages that I read, one thing that Sheen spent a lot of time talking about is our reliance on God. He made the point that we were made from nothing and without God in our lives that's exactly what we are...nothing. The way he explains the concept makes complete sense and it was a way of thinking I had never considered before so I enjoyed reading it. So...right now, I would say I highly suggest all of you to read the book (or at least pages 21-44) and read how Sheen describes theology and our dependence on our Savior.

But, I have to go...of to mass in the Abbey! :)

COLLEGE! :)

Just wanted to give all of you a quick update...

I moved down to Benedictine on Saturday and have been loving it so far! Everyone that I've met has pretty much been awesome and super nice. When we got here on Saturday we were greeted by a big group of upperclassmen and they moved all my stuff up to my room for me which was AMAZING! Marissa was already here when I got here so we talked about how we wanted our rooms and our very kind and loving fathers moved everything for us. :) And we got everything set up and some of our stuff put away right away. Then we ran to Wal-Mart to get a few last minute things (like batteries...and thumb tacks) and then there was a send-off mass for students and parents. Let me just tell you, it was absolutely amazing! The Abbey church is gorgeous (so if you've never seen it you should probably come visit me sometime) and the mass was beautiful and included one of my favorite readings of all time (Ephesians 5:21-31). They had a wonderful meditation at the end about family and growing up and now moving to college and in all honesty, I teared up a little bit but I don't consider that crying. Then we said bye to parents/family and went to have dinner.

Ever since then we have been crazy busy with ROC (Raven Orientation Camp) Week activities and we are always doing something! We get back to our room at like 11:30 and we are dead tired! It's kind of ridiculous. Haha, but it has been a ton of fun and I think I have met approximately 200 people since I have been here but unfortunately...I don't remember anywhere near all of their names :/ but I'm hoping I will get better with names as time goes on...we'll just see about that. Classes start on Wednesday and I'm actually looking forward to them just for the simple fact that I can get in a routine again. I get so lost without a routine and knowing what's on my agenda for the day (weird, I know). But I am definitely a little worried about them at the same time...basically, I'm just hoping that they aren't so crazy hard that I can't do well in them!

So, everything is going really well. Marissa (roommate) and I have been getting along really well and haven't had any problems so I'm pretty sure this year is going to be fun with her :)

**side note** Marissa and I are the pretty much the talk of our dorm...why? you ask...because we have CARPET in our room. That's right...apparently nobody else actually has carpet in their room so we have gotten lots of visitors, it's pretty hilarious! :)

But I still miss everyone back at home...I cried for a long time the night before I left because I didn't want to leave everyone and it is still weird knowing that I am so far away from all of those people who are so dear to my heart and we can't just hang out whenever like we used to, but I know I will see them again soon! I'll be home in October...so that's not so far away from now! Love you and miss you all!

Heaven is Everywhere

Another profound conversation with a young mind. :)

If you weren't aware, yesterday was pretty much the perfect day to spend at a lake and it turned into a gorgeous night on the lake as well. So, after church and dinner we went tubing and then skiing (probably past the legal time limit to be pulling skiers but the sun was still kind of out so we could see just fine, haha) and after we got done skiing and boarding we were just driving around the lake and my "little man" Kael came and sat with my dad and I up in the front of the boat and we got into a pretty amazing (but still entertaining) conversation. He started out telling me everything a 6-year-old knows about the American flag and we discussed the significane of the number of stars and stripes etc.and then somehow (I'm not exactly sure how) the conversation turned to outer space and the moon and Kael told me that if you go to outer space you can't go to heaven...and it made me wonder what his reasoning for this statement was. So I asked him if the reason they couldn't go to heaven was because they were "above" heaven when they went to outer space to which he gave a "duh Katlin" response of "No, because heaven is everywhere...including outer space."

After my reflection on that one short statement, I agree with Kael, heaven is everywhere because our planet is God's way of giving us a small slice of heaven. So, no, heaven and earth are not the same but God has given us gifts here of earth that show us glimpses of His kingdom above and we just have to look more closely to realize what those gifts are. Contrary to Kael's beliefs though, I do think astronauts can go to heaven but the kid has a valid point and heaven truly is everywhere...we just have to look for it.

:)