This morning I had my blood drawn and ended up having a random conversation with the guy working there. He's usually there and I've never said more than a few words to him.
This morning he said something about how often I had been in. I told him that I would be in most of next week too! I showed him both arms and said he could choose which one since they're both pretty bruised. He tried in my left arm and after poking around couldn't get my vein to bleed, so he moved onto my right arm.
As he was prepping my arm he said, "You're Catholic, right?" As I replied yes I started wondering how he knew that... Was it on my chart? On my insurance card? Before I could ask how he knew he said, "I could tell by your necklace." (It has a crucifix and miraculous metal on it.)
He went on to say, "I was raised Catholic." I asked him, "And what about now?" He said, "Now I am a Pentecostal preacher."
Can you believe that? What are the chances that the guy drawing my blood is also a preacher? I wanted to ask him more about it, but by this time he had finished and was leaving.
You just never what you're going to learn about someone.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Quick Update
Wow, how is it possible that I'm not finished blogging about my trip yet?? Seriously, I'm a little embarrassed. But I will say that it takes much longer than I thought to put together a post - sorting through my pictures, re-reading my journal, and typing it all up. Ah! I promise I'll be done soon. Especially since our new laptop should be arriving today!! We held onto our old one for as long as we could - 7 years - but it is officially dead.
It also doesn't help that my life is crazy busy right now. It's that time of year when my life is insane because of the play I'm directing. All of my free time - mornings, between classes, after school, nights, weekends - are spent pulling together the final details of the play. It's going to be great, but it's just a lot of work.
On top of this, I'm teaching another catechist class for the Religion teachers at my school every Monday night. And then of course I'm singing at church not only for Sunday Masses but also First Communions and Confirmations, plus leading youth group, etc. Oh, and I have leadership meetings during the next three weeks for my summer camp job. Are you kidding me?? It's just that busy time of year. Ahh!
I'm also getting my hormone panel done this cycle. So every other morning I've been arriving at the lab a little before 7:00 so that I can be the first one in line when they open at 7:30am. I know many of you have had this done... how did your arms/veins survive? Mine are already in tough shape and I have a lot more blood work to be done!
It also doesn't help that my life is crazy busy right now. It's that time of year when my life is insane because of the play I'm directing. All of my free time - mornings, between classes, after school, nights, weekends - are spent pulling together the final details of the play. It's going to be great, but it's just a lot of work.
On top of this, I'm teaching another catechist class for the Religion teachers at my school every Monday night. And then of course I'm singing at church not only for Sunday Masses but also First Communions and Confirmations, plus leading youth group, etc. Oh, and I have leadership meetings during the next three weeks for my summer camp job. Are you kidding me?? It's just that busy time of year. Ahh!
I'm also getting my hormone panel done this cycle. So every other morning I've been arriving at the lab a little before 7:00 so that I can be the first one in line when they open at 7:30am. I know many of you have had this done... how did your arms/veins survive? Mine are already in tough shape and I have a lot more blood work to be done!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Pilgrimage: Part 7
Wednesday, March 31
This morning we woke up at 4:00am. We quickly got ready and caught the 5:00am shuttle to the airport. We enjoyed our last, delicious French breakfast in the airport as we waited to check in. Unfortunately the computers were down at the airport, so it took us awhile to check-in. They actually had to give us a hand-written boarding pass!
Our flight ended up being delayed because of the computer problem in the Toulouse airport and apparently there were also some weather problems in Frankfurt (we had a connection there.) As we landed in Frankfurt we realized that we were going to be VERY close to missing our flight to Rome.
Long story short, we ended up JUST missing our flight. But it was one of those moments where I felt like we were in a movie... we literally ran as fast as we could through the airport, and it seemed like we ran through the entire thing. We had to go up flights of stairs, down a long hallway, then back down a bunch of stairs. We ran on the moving walkway, past a ton of other people, and when we got to our gate the lady was closing the door. I pleaded with her to please let us on. At first she said no. Then another couple came up behind us (also breathless from running) and the lady changed her mind. She asked us all for our boarding passes - but we didn't have any because of the Toulouse computer problem! The other couple got on, but we didn't. :( I was so upset! I had no idea when we would be re-booked and worried that it would screw up our plans in Rome.
My husband laughs when I tell this story because we ended up catching a flight less than 2 hours later. (I think Frankfurt is the busiest airport in the world, so it's not surprising that we could catch a flight to Rome!) But in that moment I didn't know how long we would be delayed. And I had thinking that if only we had our boarding passes she would have let us on.
Finally we arrived in Rome! We took the train from the airport to the main terminal and then took the metro to our hotel. But first we had to walk past this:
Our hotel was very close to St. Peter's Basilica and it was so wonderful to walk past it every morning and evening!
We took in the view and then went to our charming hotel to check-in.
After we got into our room our first order of business was to pick-up our tickets for the Papal Masses since the Chrism Mass was the next morning. After making a phone call we realized that the office was already closed. Bummer! We figured that we would have to miss the Chrism Mass, but we had plenty of other Masses to attend.
I decided to call Fr. Charlie (an American priest living in Rome that my friend Fr. Rob had put me in touch with.) He is from our diocese and we had exchanged emails before I left for our trip. It turns out that he had two extra tickets for the Chrism Mass! We made plans to meet at the fountain in front of St. Peter's the next morning.
We were pretty tired from our day of traveling, but we decided to make a quick visit into St. Peter's and then look for some dinner.
My husband standing outside St. Peter's Basilica. You can see all the chairs set-up for Easter Sunday Mass in the square.
Famous Bernini fountain in St. Peter's Square
These columns are huge!
The foyer before you walk into St. Peter's.
Ornate altar inside St. Peter's
Famous St. Peter's statue (people generally rub his foot because it's hanging off the side, but it was blocked off because of the chairs set-up for the Triduum Masses)
The floor of St. Peter's marks the other large churches throughout the world. This shows where the Shrine in DC would fit if it were inside St.Peter's.
Michelanglo's famous Pieta
List of all the Popes
The seal of Pope John Paul II on the floor of St. Peter's
Leaving the Basilica - you can see the Papal apartments in the background
In the columnade
After enjoying a quick tour of St. Peter's we found some delicious Italian seafood for dinner!
My hubby's seafood pasta
We strolled past St. Peter's at night and then collapsed into bed at our hotel... ready for an amazing couple of days in Rome!
Bernini's fountain at night
This morning we woke up at 4:00am. We quickly got ready and caught the 5:00am shuttle to the airport. We enjoyed our last, delicious French breakfast in the airport as we waited to check in. Unfortunately the computers were down at the airport, so it took us awhile to check-in. They actually had to give us a hand-written boarding pass!
Our flight ended up being delayed because of the computer problem in the Toulouse airport and apparently there were also some weather problems in Frankfurt (we had a connection there.) As we landed in Frankfurt we realized that we were going to be VERY close to missing our flight to Rome.
Long story short, we ended up JUST missing our flight. But it was one of those moments where I felt like we were in a movie... we literally ran as fast as we could through the airport, and it seemed like we ran through the entire thing. We had to go up flights of stairs, down a long hallway, then back down a bunch of stairs. We ran on the moving walkway, past a ton of other people, and when we got to our gate the lady was closing the door. I pleaded with her to please let us on. At first she said no. Then another couple came up behind us (also breathless from running) and the lady changed her mind. She asked us all for our boarding passes - but we didn't have any because of the Toulouse computer problem! The other couple got on, but we didn't. :( I was so upset! I had no idea when we would be re-booked and worried that it would screw up our plans in Rome.
My husband laughs when I tell this story because we ended up catching a flight less than 2 hours later. (I think Frankfurt is the busiest airport in the world, so it's not surprising that we could catch a flight to Rome!) But in that moment I didn't know how long we would be delayed. And I had thinking that if only we had our boarding passes she would have let us on.
Finally we arrived in Rome! We took the train from the airport to the main terminal and then took the metro to our hotel. But first we had to walk past this:
Our hotel was very close to St. Peter's Basilica and it was so wonderful to walk past it every morning and evening!
We took in the view and then went to our charming hotel to check-in.
After we got into our room our first order of business was to pick-up our tickets for the Papal Masses since the Chrism Mass was the next morning. After making a phone call we realized that the office was already closed. Bummer! We figured that we would have to miss the Chrism Mass, but we had plenty of other Masses to attend.
I decided to call Fr. Charlie (an American priest living in Rome that my friend Fr. Rob had put me in touch with.) He is from our diocese and we had exchanged emails before I left for our trip. It turns out that he had two extra tickets for the Chrism Mass! We made plans to meet at the fountain in front of St. Peter's the next morning.
We were pretty tired from our day of traveling, but we decided to make a quick visit into St. Peter's and then look for some dinner.
My husband standing outside St. Peter's Basilica. You can see all the chairs set-up for Easter Sunday Mass in the square.
Famous Bernini fountain in St. Peter's Square
These columns are huge!
The foyer before you walk into St. Peter's.
Ornate altar inside St. Peter's
Famous St. Peter's statue (people generally rub his foot because it's hanging off the side, but it was blocked off because of the chairs set-up for the Triduum Masses)
The floor of St. Peter's marks the other large churches throughout the world. This shows where the Shrine in DC would fit if it were inside St.Peter's.
Michelanglo's famous Pieta
List of all the Popes
The seal of Pope John Paul II on the floor of St. Peter's
Leaving the Basilica - you can see the Papal apartments in the background
In the columnade
After enjoying a quick tour of St. Peter's we found some delicious Italian seafood for dinner!
My hubby's seafood pasta
We strolled past St. Peter's at night and then collapsed into bed at our hotel... ready for an amazing couple of days in Rome!
Bernini's fountain at night
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Pilgrimage: Part 6
Tuesday, March 30th
Today we slept in a bit and enjoyed a lovely French breakfast in the hotel. (Sidenote: I remember that the background music playing was in English - it sounded like Queen Latifah singing jazz. I noticed it right away since we hadn't heard much English!)
The weather was unpredictable this day. Sometimes it was pouring rain and other times it was bright and sunny. Unfortunately we did end up getting pretty wet a few times. We spent most of the day visiting churches.
Our first stop was St. Sernin.
This church was built between 1080 and 1120 and contains the body of Saint Saturnin or Sernin, the first bishop of Toulouse in 250AD. It is the largest Romanesque church in the world still standing.
We wandered around the upper church and the crypt church.
We knew this church had some relics, but we didn't realize just how many! We stopped and prayed before all of them.
Relic of St. Therese
Relic of St. Jude
Relic of St. Louise de Marillac and St. Germaine de Pibrac (you can see the two small reliquaries on the altar)
Relic of the true cross and the crown of thorns
When we left St. Sernin it was pouring! So we stopped for a cup of coffee. (Another sidenote: Europeans drink the TINIEST cups of coffee! Even when we ordered "Cafe Americano" it seemed much smaller than we were used to. I wonder what Europeans think about Starbucks serving Venti-sized drinks!)
Next we visited Eglise de Jacobins.
It was difficult to get a picture of the front of this church because it was literally in the middle of a bunch of other buildings. It was still raining pretty hard at this point, so we were glad to step inside. It was a huge church, very spacious and wide-open. It was pretty simple, especially compared to the other churches we had seen - just a few side chapels with some large paintings.
We were mostly excited to visit this church because we knew St. Thomas Aquinas was buried underneath the altar.
We stopped to pray and I couldn't help but feel bad for St. Thomas. It was all very simple and unassuming. I actually had to ask someone to make sure the tomb under the altar was his because it wasn't well-marked! In a way it was appropriate knowing how humble St. Thomas was. Apparently there was a high school near by because a group of students were just hanging out in the back of the church talking and listening to their headphones.
Next we visited Notre Dame de la Daurade. This church was also difficult to photograph outside because it was so huge and yet stuck between other buildings. I think we were the only people inside when we visited this church. While it was huge and ornate, it was not as well kept-up or restored as some of the other churches. It is mostly famous for a statue of the Black Madonna. (It's hard to see the statue very clearly because it's so dark and she is "wearing" a dark-colored army fatigues. I think they rotate the clothes on her and this was a tribute to the troops. The statue is above the white kneeling statues and below the blue ribbon of stars.) Many people had left flowers and written notes with their intentions.
The sign explaining the story behind this statue was only written in French. Our tour book said that people have prayed to the Blessed Mother here for many, many years. Apparently some miracle was attributed to her. All over the church were little plaques saying "Merci Notre Dame."
Anothing church had this painting hanging which shows people processing through the street with the statue of the black Madonna.
We decided to stop for a little lunch. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but it was super windy and still pretty chilly. I think this picture is funny because it looks so bright and sunny, but I was freezing!
Next we visited St. Etienne (St. Stephen)
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This church is mostly known for being a mix-match of different builders and architechtural styles. Apparently it was built over a long period of time - 11th-17th centuries. We walked around and enjoyed another beautiful, ornate church.
At this point it was raining again, so we went back to the Capitole plaza and enjoyed another delicious cappuccino. We strolled around and eventually went back to our hotel to relax.
We went out again for dinner and came back to pack. We were glad to go to bed early since we had an early flight the next morning for Roma!!
Today we slept in a bit and enjoyed a lovely French breakfast in the hotel. (Sidenote: I remember that the background music playing was in English - it sounded like Queen Latifah singing jazz. I noticed it right away since we hadn't heard much English!)
The weather was unpredictable this day. Sometimes it was pouring rain and other times it was bright and sunny. Unfortunately we did end up getting pretty wet a few times. We spent most of the day visiting churches.
Our first stop was St. Sernin.
This church was built between 1080 and 1120 and contains the body of Saint Saturnin or Sernin, the first bishop of Toulouse in 250AD. It is the largest Romanesque church in the world still standing.
We wandered around the upper church and the crypt church.
We knew this church had some relics, but we didn't realize just how many! We stopped and prayed before all of them.
Relic of St. Therese
Relic of St. Jude
Relic of St. Louise de Marillac and St. Germaine de Pibrac (you can see the two small reliquaries on the altar)
Relic of the true cross and the crown of thorns
When we left St. Sernin it was pouring! So we stopped for a cup of coffee. (Another sidenote: Europeans drink the TINIEST cups of coffee! Even when we ordered "Cafe Americano" it seemed much smaller than we were used to. I wonder what Europeans think about Starbucks serving Venti-sized drinks!)
Next we visited Eglise de Jacobins.
It was difficult to get a picture of the front of this church because it was literally in the middle of a bunch of other buildings. It was still raining pretty hard at this point, so we were glad to step inside. It was a huge church, very spacious and wide-open. It was pretty simple, especially compared to the other churches we had seen - just a few side chapels with some large paintings.
We were mostly excited to visit this church because we knew St. Thomas Aquinas was buried underneath the altar.
We stopped to pray and I couldn't help but feel bad for St. Thomas. It was all very simple and unassuming. I actually had to ask someone to make sure the tomb under the altar was his because it wasn't well-marked! In a way it was appropriate knowing how humble St. Thomas was. Apparently there was a high school near by because a group of students were just hanging out in the back of the church talking and listening to their headphones.
Next we visited Notre Dame de la Daurade. This church was also difficult to photograph outside because it was so huge and yet stuck between other buildings. I think we were the only people inside when we visited this church. While it was huge and ornate, it was not as well kept-up or restored as some of the other churches. It is mostly famous for a statue of the Black Madonna. (It's hard to see the statue very clearly because it's so dark and she is "wearing" a dark-colored army fatigues. I think they rotate the clothes on her and this was a tribute to the troops. The statue is above the white kneeling statues and below the blue ribbon of stars.) Many people had left flowers and written notes with their intentions.
The sign explaining the story behind this statue was only written in French. Our tour book said that people have prayed to the Blessed Mother here for many, many years. Apparently some miracle was attributed to her. All over the church were little plaques saying "Merci Notre Dame."
Anothing church had this painting hanging which shows people processing through the street with the statue of the black Madonna.
We decided to stop for a little lunch. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but it was super windy and still pretty chilly. I think this picture is funny because it looks so bright and sunny, but I was freezing!
Next we visited St. Etienne (St. Stephen)
.jpg)
This church is mostly known for being a mix-match of different builders and architechtural styles. Apparently it was built over a long period of time - 11th-17th centuries. We walked around and enjoyed another beautiful, ornate church.
At this point it was raining again, so we went back to the Capitole plaza and enjoyed another delicious cappuccino. We strolled around and eventually went back to our hotel to relax.
We went out again for dinner and came back to pack. We were glad to go to bed early since we had an early flight the next morning for Roma!!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Pilgrimage: Part 5
I really intended to post more quickly about my trip!! These past couple of weeks have been so extremely busy for me. I just haven't had the time. We are one month away from the musical I'm directing, so all of my free time - during and after school - goes towards that. Rehearsing with students, organizing costumes, collecting props, constructing the set, planning blocking, emailing parents, writing the program, etc. It's exhausting! But I do enjoy it. OK, back to the trip...
Monday, March 29
Today is our last day in Lourdes. We had decided to visit the baths again. Hey, why not? It was so wonderful to drink the spring water all day, every day. We figured that we may as well do the baths again too. I figured I would probably be a little less emotional than the first time, so hopefully I could pray a little more this time.
There was a smaller group of ladies waiting this time. I noticed two young gals waiting ahead of me who were deaf. They were chatting away in sign language while we waited. It reminded me that we all come to the water broken, suffering and in need of healing. We all come before the Lord in need of his grace, mercy, healing and peace. I had already thought about this during our time in Lourdes, but I was reminded of it again. You just never know what is going on in the lives of the people around you. I felt less pressure to pray for my own healing/infertility and more at peace with praying for God's will. He uses the brokenness in all of our lives to bring us to Him.
The baths were a little different this time. Before they even opened the doors we had a little prayer service - mostly in French. We sang the Salve Regina and prayed the Our Father. It was nice. They played music while we were waiting inside and I got a little teary-eyed. I was overwhelmed (again!) by the power of this place and the connection to the others around me.
There were four volunteers inside the bath area who helped me. None of them spoke English, so it made me very grateful to have had the lovely woman who spoke English the first time. I was glad to get "dipped" again and be more intentional about praying during that time.
My hubby and I prayed briefly at the Grotto afterwards. I had to post a picture of this sign reminding people to be quiet at the Grotto. I thought it was too funny!
(Actually, these kinds of signs are very helpful in an international setting!)
Next we visited the Rosary basilica again and they were setting up for Mass. We decided to stay, even though it was entirely in French. It's so beautiful to be able to pray the Mass without understanding the language.
We went back to our hotel to pack up and get ready to leave.
As we were saying goodbye to Peter we learned that as soon as we left he was driving to pick-up his wife in Spain. It was only a 3 hour drive through the Pyranese Mountains to get her and then he was coming back. I jokingly said, "How fun! Can we go?" He replied, "Sure! We'll be back tonight, you can stay in the hotel and catch your train tomorrow morning." We couldn't believe he was serious! He proceeded to try and convince us to join him, but we politely told him we couldn't. He was such a sweet man. Can you imagine if we HAD gone? What a story that would be... oh yeah, we just got in the car with our hotel owner and drove to Spain for the day. Ha ha!
We walked into town to have lunch. We made our last visit to the square and the Grotto. It was so peaceful to just sit and pray. It's hard to articulate, but I was grateful for the gift of this surreal peace. The candles were being changed out, but our large one was still burning as we walked away. I knew that my prayers were still being lifted up to the Lord through Our Lady.
We filled up our water bottles one last time and walked to the train station. We passed some beautiful flowers on our walk.
This is me at the train station - you can see that I'm carrying all of my belongings in my backpack and my messenger bag. It wasn't much!
Waiting for the train.
Beautiful views from the train of the French countryside and Pyrenese Mountains!
It was less than two hours on the train back to Toulouse and a short walk to our hotel. After checking in we decided to walk around the city a bit. The weather was gorgeous! Bright, sunny and warm.
It was an obvious change of scenery from Lourdes as we walked the busy streets of this big city. Apparently Toulouse is the 4th largest city in France! We wandered around and found a couple of pretty plazas and parks. This one even had a carousel!
As we walked we came upon this large building called the Capitole and had a huge square behind it.
It was filled with people, scooters, cars, cafes and shops.
We decided it was a great place to stop for coffee and we had the most amazing cappuccino!
As you can see, it's mostly whip cream! It was a great place to enjoy our coffee and people-watch. This city felt much more French than Lourdes. Obviously Lourdes is French, but it's more Catholic than anything. I felt like we got to experience more authentic French culture here.
We stopped for dinner and had "ice balls" (or ice cream!) for dessert. So yummy!
One more day in Toulouse before heading to Roma!
Monday, March 29
Today is our last day in Lourdes. We had decided to visit the baths again. Hey, why not? It was so wonderful to drink the spring water all day, every day. We figured that we may as well do the baths again too. I figured I would probably be a little less emotional than the first time, so hopefully I could pray a little more this time.
There was a smaller group of ladies waiting this time. I noticed two young gals waiting ahead of me who were deaf. They were chatting away in sign language while we waited. It reminded me that we all come to the water broken, suffering and in need of healing. We all come before the Lord in need of his grace, mercy, healing and peace. I had already thought about this during our time in Lourdes, but I was reminded of it again. You just never know what is going on in the lives of the people around you. I felt less pressure to pray for my own healing/infertility and more at peace with praying for God's will. He uses the brokenness in all of our lives to bring us to Him.
The baths were a little different this time. Before they even opened the doors we had a little prayer service - mostly in French. We sang the Salve Regina and prayed the Our Father. It was nice. They played music while we were waiting inside and I got a little teary-eyed. I was overwhelmed (again!) by the power of this place and the connection to the others around me.
There were four volunteers inside the bath area who helped me. None of them spoke English, so it made me very grateful to have had the lovely woman who spoke English the first time. I was glad to get "dipped" again and be more intentional about praying during that time.
My hubby and I prayed briefly at the Grotto afterwards. I had to post a picture of this sign reminding people to be quiet at the Grotto. I thought it was too funny!
(Actually, these kinds of signs are very helpful in an international setting!)
Next we visited the Rosary basilica again and they were setting up for Mass. We decided to stay, even though it was entirely in French. It's so beautiful to be able to pray the Mass without understanding the language.
We went back to our hotel to pack up and get ready to leave.
As we were saying goodbye to Peter we learned that as soon as we left he was driving to pick-up his wife in Spain. It was only a 3 hour drive through the Pyranese Mountains to get her and then he was coming back. I jokingly said, "How fun! Can we go?" He replied, "Sure! We'll be back tonight, you can stay in the hotel and catch your train tomorrow morning." We couldn't believe he was serious! He proceeded to try and convince us to join him, but we politely told him we couldn't. He was such a sweet man. Can you imagine if we HAD gone? What a story that would be... oh yeah, we just got in the car with our hotel owner and drove to Spain for the day. Ha ha!
We walked into town to have lunch. We made our last visit to the square and the Grotto. It was so peaceful to just sit and pray. It's hard to articulate, but I was grateful for the gift of this surreal peace. The candles were being changed out, but our large one was still burning as we walked away. I knew that my prayers were still being lifted up to the Lord through Our Lady.
We filled up our water bottles one last time and walked to the train station. We passed some beautiful flowers on our walk.
This is me at the train station - you can see that I'm carrying all of my belongings in my backpack and my messenger bag. It wasn't much!
Waiting for the train.
Beautiful views from the train of the French countryside and Pyrenese Mountains!
It was less than two hours on the train back to Toulouse and a short walk to our hotel. After checking in we decided to walk around the city a bit. The weather was gorgeous! Bright, sunny and warm.
It was an obvious change of scenery from Lourdes as we walked the busy streets of this big city. Apparently Toulouse is the 4th largest city in France! We wandered around and found a couple of pretty plazas and parks. This one even had a carousel!
As we walked we came upon this large building called the Capitole and had a huge square behind it.
It was filled with people, scooters, cars, cafes and shops.
We decided it was a great place to stop for coffee and we had the most amazing cappuccino!
As you can see, it's mostly whip cream! It was a great place to enjoy our coffee and people-watch. This city felt much more French than Lourdes. Obviously Lourdes is French, but it's more Catholic than anything. I felt like we got to experience more authentic French culture here.
We stopped for dinner and had "ice balls" (or ice cream!) for dessert. So yummy!
One more day in Toulouse before heading to Roma!
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