Would you let your 17 year old daughter go (alone) to India? Danielle Rose's (www.daniellerose.com) parents did. We saw her at Youth Day in LA last week. She is about 23 or 24 now. (or she looks it anyway...) When she was 17 she told her parents she felt called to go to India and help at the orphanage Mother Teresa worked at. She really wanted to meet Mother Teresa and be blessed by her. Her parents let her go. To make a long story short, she never did get to meet her, but she was blessed by her. Apparently, on Mother Teresa's last birthday, Mother took a rose from her birthday cake and told one of the nuns there to give it to the girl from America named Danielle who gave so much of herself and to tell her she was blessed. Cool, huh.

Anyway, we listened to her speak (I cried) and sing (she has a magnificent, pure voice.......sounds kind of like Judy Collins)

Another group we saw there is called ApeX (www.apexministries.com) These guys are great! They are like an old time vaudeville act.....but with a message. They do juggling and magic (very well, might I add) The kids loved them. I'm sure it helped that the girls thought they were cute;) They are also very sweet. Jo and I spoke with them in the late afternoon, and they really live what they believe:)


The whole trip was fun. (Even waiting at John Wayne airport for over 2 hours waiting for our delayed flight home)

Youth Day was fun, exciting, touching and loud;) That night we piled into our bus and went to Hometown Buffet for dinner. Thank goodness we had a private room, lol. We were going to go to Huntington Beach for a bonfire, but it was raining, so we went to the mall instead;-) There, the boys went with John and Tony, and the girls with Alicia, Kathy, Jo, Charmaine and me. We did some power shopping, lol.

When we got back from the mall, we all went up to Jo's room for a retreat. She was on the excutive floor.....with a humongous 2 room suite. We had a beautiful candle ceremony, and the kids did some journaling. I also learned a fun icebreaker. You have a big bag of Skittles...and you have everyone take a handful. When everyone has a handful, you tell them what is going to happen. For each Skittle they hold, they have to give one fact about themselves. Seeing the looks on some of the faces was priceless, LOL. Some of the kids took 25-30 candies. They had to really think then;-)

After the kids finished, they decided that we parents had to tell 10 facts about ourselves as well. It was really interesting. I learned a lot about everyone else:)

Friday was a free day before we flew out. We met Deacon Ernesto for lunch (he used to be at St Mary's) then we went to Downtown Disney. Kathy and I bought crowns at the World of Disney and wore them for the rest of the day.......even on the plane home. (like the royalty we really are.....ROFLOL)

I'm A Bitch...and Proud Of It

BITCHOLOGY

When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a bitch.
When I stand up for those I love, they call me a bitch.
When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts or do things my own way, they
call me a bitch.

Being a bitch means I won't compromise what's in my heart. It means I live
my life MY way.
It means I won't allow anyone to step on me.
When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a
bitch.
The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being everyone's maid, or when I act a little selfish.
It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I "should" be.
I am outspoken, opinionated and determined. I want what I want and there is
nothing wrong with that!

So try to stomp on me, try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every
ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won't succeed.
And if that makes me a bitch, so be it. I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.

B - Being
I - In
T - Total
C - Control of
H - Herself

B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Hell of a Woman

B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle anything

We're going here today: http://www.recongress.org/

Look under Youth Day.

Joseph and I are leaving this evening and flying down to LA with some other Youth Group members.
Youth Day is tomorrow. It looks to be a really neat day. People who went last year said it is very powerful......over 15,000 teenagers. I have my Tylenol handy;-)

Tomorrow night we will go to dinner, then to Hermosa Beach for a bonfire/retreat. I hope it isn't raining, or Jo will cancel the bonfire.

Friday we are going to Downtown Disney (it is going to kill me not to be that close to Disneyland and not go in!), then we fly home Friday evening:)

The youth group did go to Disneyland last year, but Jo thinks the kids focused too much on Disneyland instead of the congress. *sigh* Kathy said it is a tradition to go to Disneyland the day after. I really think Jo is just afraid of Fr Mike and didn't want to ask for any more money. The kids raised over $4000 for the trip though. They worked their butts off. I think they deserve a day at Disneyland. Oh well.

Where has my springlike weather gone? It has been beautiful for almost 2 weeks, except for one day. Today it is cloudy and ugly. We're supposed to get rain. *Sigh* Its a good thing Joseph mowed the front lawn yesterday.

Joseph and I went up to the Galleria yesterday. Borders was having a huge sale on gift wrap......so I stocked up. All the gift wrap (paper, ribbons, bows,bags, etc) is 75% off. What a deal! I bought enough that I won't need wrapping paper all year;-)

I ran into Restoration Hardware too, but didn't buy anything. I really want one of their sofas when we buy a new one. I think we will go to outlet here in town though.

Today I have to run a couple of errands for Chris before we go to youth group. Poor guy is working so hard he doesn't have time for anything:/ I think I will be nice to him;-) He got me a beautiful necklace for our anniversary. Its a silver heart with a pink sapphire heart in the middle. ( 2 separate hearts) Gorgeous:)

I hope everyone has a good week!

31 years ago today, early in the morning, 2 teenagers got in their rented Pinto (which Chris' uncle had to rent, since Chris was underage) and drove to Reno. Their witnesses, Kathy (my best friends) and Al (his cousin), rode along.

As the car pulled into Reno, it got a flat tire...right in front of the marriage licsense building. While Al fixed the flat, we went in and got our liscense.

Since our hotel room wasn't ready yet, we changed into our wedding clothes at a gas station. Then it was off to St Thomas Aquinas Cathedral for the short ceremony. There were just the 5 of us there.....the two of us, our witnesses and the priest. In just a few minutes, we went from 2 kids barely out of high school to a married couple!

His family gave us a year, tops.

Think we've proved them wrong yet?