Reason why I love my job

So the Holidays have been a very busy time! I feel like I just started this program yesterday and it's already Christmas!

I just want to share a picture and story as to why I love my job

As the PE teacher I am trying to get my students to eat healthier. I gave my 3rd and 4th grade students a packet with each day of the week and a few lines on each page. I asked them for the next week to write down the fruits and vegetables they have eaten each day. The picture below is from one of my 4th grade students. He is the sweetest child and always brings a smile to my face. He turned in the assignment a little late but better late than never! All he gave me was the front sheet...none of the sheets with the days of the week. He had the biggest smile on his face when he turned it in so of course I was happy. I flipped the sheet over and saw what he wrote: "Dear Diary my favorite vegtable is broclli because its healthy for us and it helps us have energy for body" This is why I love my job.

Just Enough Light

Just Enough Light

Sometimes only the step I’m on, or the very next one ahead, is all that illuminated for me.

God gives just the amount of light I need for the exact moment I need it.

At those times I walk in surrender to faith, unable to see the future and not fully comprehending the past.

And because it is God who has given me what light I have, I know I must reject the fear and doubt that threaten to overtake me.

I must determine to be content where I am, and allow God to get me where I need to go.

I walk forward, one step at a time, fully trusting that the light God shed is absolutely sufficient.

God has given me just enough light to see where I am to go next. In what direction I am to go into. It’s not the brightest light at times, sometimes its just a dim candle light but I am still following it because I trust God and what he has planned for me. Sometimes I am unsure as to where I am going in life. But I have to keep reminding myself that God wouldn’t lead me somewhere where I wasn’t meant to end up. Just like how he led me to Kensington and to La Salle Academy.

I am currently in the process of applying to Graduate schools for my Masters in Social Work. God has been shining a light down that path for while and I need to follow it and trust him and what he has planned for me.

God please show me the way. Guide me through this next chapter of my life. Show me where I am supposed to go and I will follow you. I trust that you will show me something wonderful and beautiful and will give me more experiences that I will cherish for the rest of my life.  Amen

peace and love

Katie

The change in leaves, the change in my life

It's been a while since I have posted anything and I apologize. Life has been a little crazy lately but I am currently on fall retreat in Cape May and have time to catch up on some blog posts. Enjoy :)

Prayer for Autumn Days

Sr. Joyce Rupp, OSM

God of the seasons, 
there is a time for everything; 
there is a time for dying and a time for rising. 
We need courage to enter into 
the transformation process.

God of autumn, 
the trees are saying goodbye to their green, 
letting go of what has been. 
We, too, have our moments of surrender, 
with all their insecurity and risk. 
Help us to let go when we need to do so.

God of fallen leaves 
lying in colored patterns on the ground, 
our lives have their own patterns. 
As we see the patterns of our own growth, 
may we learn from them.

God of misty days and harvest moon nights, 
there is always the dimension of mystery 
and wonder in our lives. 
We always need to recognize your power-filled presence. 
May we gain strength from this.

God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain, 
many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender. 
We must wait for harvest in faith and hope. 
Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.

God of geese going south 
for another season, your wisdom enables us 
to know what needs to be left behind 
and what needs to be carried into the future. 
We yearn for insight and vision.

God of flowers 
touched with frost and windows wearing white designs, 
may your love keep our hearts 
from growing cold in the empty seasons.

God of life, 
you believe in us, you enrich us, 
you entrust us with the freedom to choose life. 
For all this, we are grateful. 
Amen

I do believe that since I have started this journey that I have changed, just like the leaves outside have. I have finished one chapter of my life and I have moved on to the next. We have talked about letting go of things and I don’t like to think I am letting go of my past. I like to think of my life as a book and I have moved onto the next chapter. Your past makes you who you are today so we shouldn’t get rid of it but rather learn from it and allow us to look back to that part of our lives in order to help us with our future. I feel as though I have gone against the pattern of life that most young adults have chosen to take after they graduate from college, which is either getting a full time job or going to graduate school. I have chosen to spend a year of my life serving others.

I have chosen to spend a year of my life living and working in the neighborhood of Kensington. I have the freedom to do this with my life. To spend a year serving others. How amazing is it that we have the freedom to choose what we want to do with our lives and in what direction we go in. I thank God for that blessing because I have chosen to do something with my life tat I may have never been able to do if I didn’t have that freedom.

Peace and love

Katie

Inspirational Quotes

I love quotes. I'm going to share some of my favorite quotes and sayings. You will also probably notice that I love Mother Teresa!! She was an incredible women and her quotes just speak to me. So enjoy! :)


"Do not look forward to what might happen tomorrow, the same everlasting father who care for you today will take care of you tomorrow and everyday. Either he will shield you from suffering or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it"
              -St. Francis De Sales

Great is His Faithfulness; His loving-kindness begins afresh each day. My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in Him
              -Lamentations 3:23-24 TLB

“It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look."
               -St. Francis of Assisi

"You're taking a big step. But as you leave what is familiar to head into the unknown, remember nothing is a surprise to the Lord. He prepared this way for you. He'll go there beside you and he'll meet you when you get there. And the ones who care for you are praying for his hands to guide your every step"
            -Inside a card Mom and Dad gave me before I started this adventure

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do."
           -Pope John XXIII

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. 
         -Mother Teresa

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. 

           -Mother Teresa

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. 
            -Mother Teresa

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. 
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. 
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

            -Mother Teresa

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together. 

          -Lilla Watson

peace and love

Katie

You gotta keep your head up

It’s been a month since I have moved to Philadelphia. A month filled with its ups and downs. I’ve had my good days and my bad days. It’s been hard living in a neighborhood that you don’t feel as though you belong in. A place where I stick out like a sore thumb. People know I don’t belong. I’m a tall blonde well-dressed woman, living in a community filled with people from all over the world. It’s been hard, living in a neighborhood that you feel as though you can’t call home. I am hoping one day to feel more at home than I do now, but who knows when that will happen. I am hoping and praying that things will only get easier. There have been a few times when I just want to give up, pack my things up and head home. But I can’t do that because I am here to change lives, like the title of my blog says I have “one year to change a life”. It isn’t just the people in Kensington lives I am here to change, but it’s also my life I am here to change. I am here to help those around me but I am also here to learn from them. I want to learn more about myself and to grow. And let me tell you, I have learned so much already and I am ready to see what else this year has to offer me. 

I am very blessed to have my roommates and my ministry site there supporting me along this adventure. It hasn’t been easy but I think I have made a lot of progress along the way. I am proud of how far I have come since I first arrived. It’s hard being here on the weekends because I feel as though I shouldn’t go out at night just because it isn’t the safest. This past weekend my Dad was here. He got to see my school and meet some of my students. He got to meet my 8^th grade PE class. I was so proud of my students. At La Salle Academy, when a guest comes to visit a few students must greet that person and say their name and “welcome to La Salle Academy”.  They were all excited to meet my dad and they were so polite and well behaved. I’m glad my dad came to visit. It allowed me to have some time out of Kensington and relax, even though I was still in Philadelphia. The weekends give me something to look forward too. Unlike my neighbors I have the opportunity to get out of Kensington whenever I need too. Next weekend I will be making a trip to DC to see Austin and spend the weekend with him and his family and I couldn’t be more excited. Being able to look forward to something makes things a little easier.  

This past week was my first week teaching. I was so nervous on Monday, but after my first day of classes I was fine. It was a piece of cake! As the week went on the classes got easier. Not only did I teach PE this week but the 3^rd grade teacher was out sick so I had the opportunity to teach 3^rd grade! Something I never thought I would do! La Salle Academy is such a wonderful school and the students who get the opportunity to attend are so blessed. The things these children deal with on a daily basis before they even get to school in the morning are things I couldn’t even imagining doing at their ages. Waking up early and making sure their brothers and sisters homework is done and that they have eaten breakfast and are ready for school. The only time they are allowed to be a child is when they are at school and then sometimes they get in trouble for acting out in class. These kids have to grow up so fast and so soon and it just breaks my heart. I am glad I get to teach them PE because it will give them sometime to be a kid and not get in trouble for it.

My mom shared with me this quote and it has really stuck with me and made me think about what I’m doing and how it takes someone special to be able to do it.

“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say “its not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

                        -Fred Rogers

I don’t see myself as a hero by any means but I do hope that I am making a difference in some way.

Peace and love

Katie

I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing

I received this card today from a family friend out of the blue and I’m taking it as a sign that God is always listening.

“Life is hard sometimes, crazy, mixed up, messed up. And there you are, in the middle of it all just doing your thing, being strong and brave and beautiful like it’s no big deal. But let me tell you, it is. Not everyone can do what you can do. Not everyone can handle things the way you can. While you wonder sometimes if you’re doing ok…the rest of us are just watching in wonder.”

This past week has been difficult. School started and I love the kids and everything about it but this coming week I start teaching PE. And I’ve been thinking, how is what I’m going to be doing going to help these children. I didn’t sign up to be a full time PE teacher but that’s what I’m being thrown in to. It’s been hard and I’m extremely nervous. I don’t know how to teach PE! I want to be doing something I’m comfortable doing, and that’s definitely not teaching PE! But that’s what I’m doing and I’m going to make the best of it. I was talking with my roommate when I was upset and complaining about what I’m doing and how its not how I want to help these kids and she said “What do these kids need, really what do they need”. They need someone to look up to. Someone who supports them and is there for them day in and day out. And that’s what I’m going to be doing. I’m there for them no matter what, even if I’m teaching PE.

I’ve been praying to God for a sign that things will get better. This weekend was full of signs that I’m here for the right reason and that things will get better. This past weekend we went to Cape May. It was a much needed weekend at the beach, even though we were volunteering; we still had some down time to relax. I just needed time out of Kensington. I needed sometime to just sit and listen to the ocean. I had time this weekend to think about how I’m doing the right thing. I’ll be there for these kids, every single day. One of the sisters told us that “you may be the only face of Jesus these kids see”. Its true and is something that has stuck with me from the day she said it. During the homily at mass last night, the priest said this quote from Rabbi Hillel that goes “I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing”. No matter what brings me down and no matter how many times I feel as though I cant do it, I just got to keep dancing. If not for myself then for the kids. When I got home from Cape May today, the card from my family friend was waiting for me. A sign that I’m doing okay and that things will get better.

“Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the lord.” Psalm 31:24 NSAB

peace and love

Katie 

Support and Strengths

The past two days were spent on retreat with other volunteers from the Philly area. It was crazy how many people were from the Rochester area! It was also funny, when I got there I saw my friend who I studied abroad with in Germany and now she in volunteering in Philly this year. Such a small world we live in. We spent a majority of the time focusing on the strengths finder test that we took before we arrived. There are 34 different strengths. After taking the test my top five were 1. Empathy 2. Positivity 3. Includer 4. WOO (Winning others over) and 5. Consistency. These strengths describe me perfectly. We talked within our communities about our different strengths and how each of our strengths will contribute to our community. It was helpful to see what my roommates got so I knew their strengths and where they will excel. It was also very nice and refreshing to meet the other volunteers. Its nice to know that there are other young people out there wanting to make a difference in our world and some are just right down the street. It’s a larger support system, something that I need. Its good to know I have friends outside of my community.

This past week was my first week of work. We basically just got the school ready for students. School officially starts on September 5^th and I am so excited! I can’t wait to meet and work with the students. Not only did I make friends with the other volunteers in Philly but as well as the teachers at my worksite. Support was one thing I was worried about, that I wouldn’t have enough support, but now I know there are many people who would help me and be there for me if I needed anything.

I was on the phone with Austin the other day and I was frustrated because I feel so trapped and isolated once it becomes nighttime. I know that it’s not safe to go out in Kensington at dark but it’s not something I’m not use to. It’s a completely different world out there but yet we’re still in the US. Then Austin said that I needed to remember why I’m here. I’m here to help my “dear neighbors” as the SSJ’s say. It’s true; I need to remember as to why I am here. It’s not to go out every night. I’m here to help and serve the neighborhood in which I belong to now. 

"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work."

            -Mother Teresa

  

peace and love

Katie