We have a winner

Things have been hectic with exams, graduation, broken AC and everything imaginable.  I am realizing that I am a full three days behind on announcing the winner of the rosary.  My deepest apologies.

As I mentioned in the contest announcement, everyone who liked the page got an automatic entry.  Additionally, those who blogged or tweeted about the page got two more entries.  I used www.random.org to generate the winner.

And the winner is (drum roll.....)  Entry number 13 - Peyton!!!

Peyton and everyone who entered thank you very much for liking the page and your continued support.  Please continue to share with your friends and think of Inspired Treasures when purchasing your next rosary, chaplet etc.

In Christ,

Dyna

p.s.  I finally got around to adding the latest items created over the past week or so.  I hope you find something for yourself, a loved one or a friend.

Crown of Thorns/Infant of Prague Rosary (Pater beads are made of Swarovski Crystal)

Our Lady of Lourdes rosary (has water from Lourdes on the back - 6mm cat's eye beads and 6mm crystal)

Holy Family/Holy Spirit Chaplet

Our Lady of Fatima Chaplet

St. Joseph Rosary

Our Lady of Lourdes pink cat's eye Rosary (I know I went Cat's eye crazy)

Holy Spirit/Holy Family Chaplet

On Humility

Lord, give me the grace to see myself the Grace to see myself as nothing.  Give me the Grace to recognize my failures as an opportunity to draw near to you.  I pray Lord that with your help and the help of the Holy Spirit, I may be rid of all arrogance, doubt and lack of trust in you.  Be with me always Lord as I seek to truly know your will.  I ask this the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Win one of my Rosaries!!

All right folks it's here!! The long awaited contest for one of my lovely creations.  As you all know I am trying to increase traffic to my website www.rosarieschaplets.com and subsequently sell some rosaries to help me get to the convent faster.  I promised a contest soon and so here are the rules.  Since you've liked the page you automatically have one entry.  However you can get up to six entries and below is how you can get additional entries:

• One additional entry for every friend you invite to like who actually like the page.  (submit friend's name so that this can be verified - this method has a 3 entry limit) 
• If you have a blog and you blog about the site or the Facebook page, you get two additional entries. (submit blog link for verification)
• If you tweet about the website or the Facebook page, you get one entry. (submit tweet link for verification)

Remember, folks who like the Facebook page are automatically entered so if you have not done so, go ahead and like the page to be entered.

**The prize is a handmade St. Joseph rosary paired with green glass beads.  A very lucky winner will get this for personal use or even a gift.  Good Luck!!!**

p.s.  For those of you who read my blog but don't follow, here is a special chance to get even more chances.  If you follow my blog and leave a comment to that effect, you get two entries!!  If you are already a follower, leave a comment and you get an entry.

The deadline to enter is June 4th; winner will be announced June 6th.

Self-Inflicted Frustration

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I am going on my 4th year at my job and for the past year and a  half, without fail whenever this time of year comes up (well truthfully this happens at the beginning/end of every semester) I find myself growing more and  more frustrated with having to wait to enter the convent.  My frustration not only comes from the fact that I have a longing to start living my yes but also from a "enough of this already" mentality.  I want to be done with the "my professor is unfair", "It's not my fault I failed my math class" and all the other day to day dealings.  I usually spend a week or two being so frustrated at every little thing that I sometimes become pretty much impossible to deal with because I am too busy throwing myself a pity party for one.  Weeks later I will reflect on it and realize that I should have accepted the here and now and recognize the Lord speaking to me. 

This frustration comes from a lot of different places, it comes from my eagerness and true desire to begin life as a religious, to begin doing everything for Him alone (and then of course I realize I can start living my life for Him alone in my day-to-day dealings); my extremely impatient nature, the fear of not being able to protect my vocation any longer (I think that is my biggest fear - I feel this urgency to enter now in order not to "lose" my vocation.)  Looking at my track record with relationships I now see I am a commitment-phobe and though at the beginning of my discernment I was ready to jump all in I am now afraid I will not be able to fully commit to the Lord; and then there is the fact that I just don't want to wait anymore.  Though a part of me wanted to enter last year, I made the decision to wait because I felt that I wasn't spiritually ready.  I couldn't wait for August 22, 2011 I was even counting down!  And then I met with Mother and we both decided waiting until August 22, 2012 will be best.  Yes I trust the Lord's timing but sometimes it can be hard to wake up everyday trusting the Lord when it feels like the one thing you want, the one thing you are called to be is getting further and further away.   

Then I start to think about these "obstacles" and depending on my mood I either look at it as an opportunity to persevere and fight for my vocation or I see it as an indication that perhaps my commitment issues might get in the way of my persevering.  This starts the frustration process all over again because then I start to want to enter immediately in an effort to squash these fears before I get in my way.  Of course I recognize that I am not able to persevere on my own but that is usually down the road after freaking myself out ten times over.

This morning as I pulled in the parking lot I started thinking about this cycle of frustration, of feeling like I have had enough of this job already and then I realized that Jesus had to wait waaaay longer than I did.  I mean the man was preaching and teaching others at the age of 12 so obviously he was ready.  Yet he had to wait more than a decade before beginning his ministry because following and adhering to the Father's timing was more important.  In His infinite wisdom God the Father wanted to truly prepare Christ for his ministry.  Whatever the Lord is calling me to be - In what way is he is calling me to live as a religious? - I am realizing I am still not ready to fully live it out.  I really need to continue to  remember that; deep down I know the wait doesn't have much to do with commitment issues or "tests"  I know it is another opportunity for the Lord to continue to shower me with graces and blessings because He's been doing just that; most importantly it is a time of preparation, deep preparation for whatever He is calling me to.  Sadly, I have a tendency to give in to the negative thinking at the beginning and then start spiraling down before catching myself halfway through.

I thank the Lord for giving me the grace to realize what is going on and I know I need to double my prayers and lean on Him even more but that can get really hard to do at times.  I wonder if this is how my sister-in-law feels when my brother goes on deployment for 7 months at a time.  Deep down knowing you will be with the one you love but sometimes losing hope and starting to despair.  I definitely sympathize with military families in a way I never had before.  Please keep me in your prayers that I lean on the Lord even more during these times of "testing".

Pax,
Hopeful

Newsflash! I have ADD

OK so I have been working on this major data analysis project for about 5 days now and I can't help doing everything else.  First I had to clean my office because I literally couldn't think with all of the mess around me.  Then I started thinking about everything else I was supposed to do and so now I am like a day and half behind.

AAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!

I blame it partially on myself.  I should have locked my door, I should not have opened Outlook and I should have sent my calls to voice mail.  The rest of the blame goes to other people, I can't exactly pinpoint it right now because this is a fleeting attempt at passing the buck....  I will stay here till 7 in hopes of shaving off that half day deficit.

Okay Rambling - OVER.

Pax,

Hopeful