My thoughts on 2/14/18

This is a cross post because it is important. 
I have been at a loss for words since I heard the news about Florida yesterday. However this is not something I can sit quietly and watch happen. Of course I am praying for the victims and their community but this is not sufficient. We need action to prevent the senseless killing of our fellow human beings. These are our teachers, our coaches, our classmates, our parents, our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our friends. There is no one time to protect those we love, that time is always. This senseless loss needs to end. There are no easy answers but we need to put everything on the table because we cannot continue in this way. May the memory of those lost yesterday and those who have been lost in other mass shootings be eternal.

To my dearest Randy

We lost you this week and it was far too soon. I remember so clearly the day you came into my life. It was St Patty's day and I was very little. We played Trouble and I am sure I showed off. But on that day I knew that you were my grandpa and that you loved me. From that day you became such a major man in my life. I will always treasure the memories of playing outside with you at Grandma Della's, our trip to the cities to go to Ren Fest, all of the drama camp plays that you came to, and most importantly all the times you made me laugh. From you I have learned the importance of being "on vacation". I have learned that you don't have to take the shortest way because life is more interesting with detours. I have learned that laughing makes every situation better. But the biggest thing I have learned from you is how important taking care of people is. Its not always easy but it is always worth it. I love you so much and I miss you. 

Thank-you for being my best Randy. 

Love your Ceece

End of an Era

Today my life long best friend leaves for college, it is the end of an era. Last year when Sus and I went to school it didn't feel like we were grown up because we still had the link to elementary school at home. We have been taking classes together from each others mothers for as long as I can remember. Spending hours upon hours at each others houses, become an integral part of each others families. These are some of the happiest times of my life. As of today that is over, which is super sad but the new adventures and experiences are just around the corner. As grateful as I am to have all of these wonderful memories, I cannot wait to see everything new that awaits.

My lovelies this summer! 

Dear friend, I want to say thank-you for being the greatest friend anyone could ask for. I have been so blessed to have you in my life. I have no words for how much you mean to me. I do know that most important thing in a friendship is learning about Christ's love through the love of friendship and I truly believe that you have done that for me. Congratulations on making it this far so successfully and good luck with everything this next phase will bring.

Here is this to make your day today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miolIDLT1MY

I love you so much Bia!
Glory to God for All Things
Cecilia <3

Graduations

It is Graduation season and it has been a really nice way to get see my friends from home. 4 of my high school crowd graduated and I am so proud of them all. I can't wait to see where this new adventure takes them.

This photo was a recreation of a picture that was taken 2 summers ago that I was not in. We decided we needed an updated one with all of us. These beautiful girls have been my friends for 12+ years. Each one of them has shaped me into the woman I am today. I could not ask for a more supportive group of friends. We have seen each other through some wonderful highs and truly awful lows but our love is constant. Congratulations Sus and Katie for a successful completion of freshman year of college! Congratulations Ann, Maren, and Maria on completion of high school! Good luck on your tour of Europe and your final year of high school Nicole! I love you all and can't wait to spend the summer with you! 

Glory to God For All Things,

Cecilia <3

18 years

Again one of my annual posts but the consistency of this post mirrors the consistency of this friendship. March 30 is one of my favorite days of the year and this year it is really bittersweet. I so wish I was home having a delicious dinner with my spare family tonight, I wish I could be there to give my best friend a birthday hug. True friendship is a great blessing and  I am lucky enough to have had it from a young age. Here is the first stanza of the poem that she wrote the week we left for college. 

"A love this pure, this plainly shown.

If all my hopes and dreams would end,

This I would know: you are my friend."

Here is the link for the rest of it http://earlgreysoliloquy.blogspot.com/2016/08/saying-goodbye.html

Summer 2015

Shakespeare Camp 2015

We stole Sus's phone, summer 2016

Reunited after 4 months 

Shakespeare camp 2016

Summer photo shoot 2016

Traditional Christmas baking 2016

Happy birthday my sweetest of friends. I love you! I hope adulthood treats you well. May God grant you many many years. Love you forever and always! Glory to God For All Things!

Cecilia <3

Homesickness

I don't get homesick very often. I think that a major reason for this is I have so many homes. As cheesy as it sounds, my home is where my heart is. So home is in our small town in SD with our dogs and crazy noisy family. Home is at my Grandma's and my Oma's house. Home is at my spare families houses. Home is in upstate New York with Sus and most of the time home is Cleveland with my friends. Because I don't experience homesickness very often when I do I am never sure how to handle it. Tonight it hit me pretty hard. I was home alone which is unusual for me, and I was lonely. However, when I feel homesick it also gives me a perspective on the blessings I have in my life. I am blessed to have so many homes because I am so loved. I have the most wonderful people I could imagine in my life. I am blessed to have all of these people to call, who tell me to play music, or give me a massive hugs just because I asked. 

Glory to God For All Things,

Cecilia <3

Happy Birthday

I am just going to put this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0FDHGTGdmc. Happy Birthday my love!
Glory to God For All Things
Cecilia <3

New semester!

Here I am procrastinating which is what I am usually doing when I am blogging. The semester has started and I have had some hard days already but I look forward to all of the good days to come. Last weekend Sus and I made the road trip from SD to OH, it was mainly uneventful but 15 miles into our 950 mile trip one of our back tires blew. My Christmas break was wonderful, I got to spend lots of time with my family and almost enough with my friends. I got to go and work for some of the family's I have nannied and babysat for in the past which was so wonderful. Every time I get to interact with children I am grateful. The joy that children have is infectious and is so wonderful! I got to have some good quality time with all of my siblings. I am especially thankful for the time I got to spend with my baby sister Rabbit. We have always had a hard time getting along and I think that is mostly because we are both very similar and different at the same time. Like usual we had some stupid fights but we also had the most fun together that we have had in a long time.
Glory to God For All Things!
Cecilia <3

Christmas Bags

One of our family Christmas traditions is wrapping our presents in homemade bags, to save on paper and on wrapping time. Over time our collection shrinks, they either get gifted out of house or get chewed by dogs, so we periodically make more. In November I told mom that I would make her new ones on break. So today with the help of Badness I sewed 44 new Christmas bags! It was a lot of fun and he learned how a sewing machine works.

I am so glad I get to be home!

Glory to God For All Things,

Cecilia <3

I Did It!

Its official, I survived my first semester at college. It has been a really great 4 months. I have enjoyed all of my classes and my professors over all were really fantastic. I have determined that I really do want to pursue nursing. I have loved it so far and I haven't even started any official nursing classes yet.  I have made some incredible friends. I have earned a nickname I am not to fond of. I mean who would like to be called Cecil? . I had a visit from Sus in September and a visit home in October. I learned how to play euchre and had some really intense game nights. I taught my friends how to play cribbage. I have found and become active in a new parish. I sang in a pan-orthdox advent concert which was truly beautiful. I have had a ridiculous amount of tea, but there is no such thing as too much tea. Now I am sitting in the airport 7 hours after I was supposed to take off with another hour till I board my flight. I will arrive in Omaha 12 hours later then expected, but I am thankful that I had a ride to the airport and I warm ride when I finally land. I am thankful that I get to see my family and our new puppy. I am thankful that the weather looks good so I can pick Sus up at the airport on Tuesday. I am thankful that I get to spend Christmas with the people I love the most.
Glory to God For All Things,
Cecilia<3

Grateful

With the start of Advent and Thanksgiving next week I thought I would spend some time talking about a few things that I am grateful for.

One of the Icons I have on my desk 

To begin with I am beyond grateful for my family. The constant support and love that they offer me is  a huge blessing in my life.
I am grateful for a ride to and from church every Sunday, this semester would have been a lot harder without the ability to attend church regularly.
I am grateful for my friends new and old. The new ones have made this transition as painless as it could possibly be and my old ones are my biggest cheerleaders and a source of constant love.
I am grateful for music. Music has always been a constant in my life. For years you could tell if my Dad was home by whether or not music was playing. Since I got to college I have had music playing whenever I am studying, stressed or relaxing.
I am grateful for my roommate. Living with someone you have never met can be quite a challenge but I really lucked out with mine.
I am grateful for the Icons on my desk. They help me stay centered through out the day.
I am grateful for the children in my life. Perhaps the hardest part of living on a college campus is not interacting with children regularly but it has made me appreciate the relationships I have with children at home.
I am grateful to be going home in 28 days. I have loved being at school, I am enjoying my classes and my professors, but I cannot wait to be home, to celebrate the joyous holiday with my family.
Glory to God for All Things,
Cecilia <3

19 years

Today is a special day. It is my birthday and it also so happens to be the birthday of my best friend, other half, and twin sister. We have always been close but it took us years to figure out that we were friends. Now when people ask what having a twin is like we say "it is having a built-in best friend." She is my car dancing partner, my late night phone call, and study partner even when we are 100's of miles away. Today is our first birthday that we have not celebrated in the same place, but we are celebrating together. This semester far away from each other has been hard but also has made us closer. I miss her dearly but I am so proud of her.

Happy Birthday my love! May God grant you many many years.

Glory to God For All Things

Cecilia <3

P.S. I challenge you to tell who is who in the old pictures!

Fall Break

My school has an unusually long fall break and they close the dorms so I decided to fly home and surprise everyone. I am so glad I had the chance to see everyone and its only 60 days until I get to go home again!

 I flew out early so I got to see the sunrise from the plane which was beautiful

I surprised Maria and Nicole separately and then we got together to hangout later in the week. We had a lot of fun but we missed Sus!

Sunset

Field waiting to be harvested! 

I drove almost 700 miles while I was home for a week and there was lots of beautiful fall and harvest scenes I had to pull over and take a picture of this beautiful sunset. South Dakota sunsets are unequaled! 

 I missed my dogs a lot! They were all excited to see me. Leaving was hard because our sweet Mia will probably not make it to Christmas so I had to say goodbye to her.

I really enjoyed the week of home food, although school food is not bad at all it gets boring and repetitive.
Now back to real life, I have a busy week with 2 tests, a paper, and a presentation all due this week.
Glory to God For All Things
Cecilia <3

Friendships

I am extremely blessed some to have some fantastic friendships. My friends at home hold such a special place in my heart. I love them like my family. It has been such a hard thing to be so far away from all of them, but I would not be where I am today without them standing behind me. These special people always know what to say, when to give me a hug, and when to tell me to shut up. I have a hard time identifying why these relationships mean so much to me but last week I watched a video from the Greek Archdiocease about how true friendship is a reflection of the love of Christ (here is the link if you are interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQI24mmhJaM). I have been thinking about it ever since. My friends share so much of me, they share my fears, dreams, hopes, and my heart. Their gentle reminders that they are here for me throughout my days remind me that Christ is everywhere present and fills all things. Through the love of my friends I am able to feel the love of Christ in my life. I thank God for these true friendships and for placing these beautiful people in my life.
Glory to God For All Things,
Cecilia <3


P.S. I thought I would add some pictures. I miss you crazy people!

A Month In!

Hello! I'm alive! I have survived my first 6 weeks of school. It has gone really well so far. I am adjusting well. I have had a few crazy weeks and I don't think that it will get better until mid-October when I have fall break. I went on a retreat with one of the clubs I am in and it was a blast! I made some new friends and had a lot of fun. I have found a new parish, it is a really beautiful church building and I have been welcomed completely. I joined the choir and today I went to my first ordination. It was a very long service but very beautiful and moving. Fall has well and truly come and it is very beautiful in Ohio in the fall. The trees outside my window are turning and it makes me smile every time I look out the window. Over Labor day  Sus came to spend the weekend with me and even though we did basically nothing it was so nice to see her. Overall I am doing really well.
Glory to God For All Things,
Cecilia <3

The twining is insane in this picture.

College wk 1

My college experience has begun and I have had mixed emotions about it. I arrived on Sunday, and it was one of the most overwhelming days of my life. My parents had to leave earlier then most parents because of the long distance from home. I had a new space, and no new people yet, I was all alone for the first time. When I am home alone I always have the dogs for company and our house is full of everyone's stuff, you don't feel alone. This was just me and my stuff in a weird unfamiliar place, it was uncomfortable. Then there were goodbyes which is always the worst part of leaving. Then immediately following the goodbye I suddenly had a class, people with common interests and feeling similar things. I made friends, I am continuing to make friends! It feels like home. I am so excited for the classes that I am taking and I like all of my professors that I have met so far. I am happy in this place!
Glory to God For All Things,
Cecilia <3

Happy Birthday

Today is this beautiful woman's birthday. I am so beyond grateful to have her in my life. She is one of my best friends, my support through everything, and my wonderful mom. Thank-you for teaching me how to be a strong, intelligent, caring, giving, hard-working, faithful, self-sacrificing and loving woman. Thank-you for giving me all the wonderful opportunities you have. May God grant you many many years! Best Mom <3
Glory to God for all Things,
Cecilia <3