Friday, August 26, 2016

What's Up?!

Hey there!

I know I've been MIA. Many excuses this time and the most relevant one being that I have a huge belly which makes it very uncomfortable to sit down with a computer to write an usually long blog post. Then there was the Olympics! Three glorious weeks of exciting and diverse sporting events and some popcorn-drama too! Then, it was summer time! We were busy, busy for some parts of an usual day and for the rest of it I was tired, tired.

I'm not even sure what I want to say with this post, only that I know it has been too long since I last posted and I like to update stuff. I like to register the highlights of our life in my blog! I'm sure my kids will enjoy having the opportunity to look back about a time which they would have no memories of, otherwise.

So, here is the summary of things:

In the end of June we visited Minneapolis/St Paul, the twin cities and we loved it! It was a 2-day trip only, but we had the most of it! It was an economical trip, but very fun! The road trip was so-so, obviously, because pregnant queasy people and little kids alike don't ever enjoy a 4h-turned-into-6h car ride! Dan was not happy about it either but at least he enjoyed our unplanned stop at a McDonalds that had an arcade room. Ps, so curious, there was a hockey table instead of a soccer one, HAHA! That's so Minnesota.

Anyway, we drove around the whole place: quirky downtown, The University of Minnesota beautiful Campus in the middle of the city (it reminded me of Columbia University in NYC), a weird-like-Austin food avenue, the lake/beach/trail park in the middle of town, the free Zoo (don't worry, we gave a donation ticket), fun but terrible tasting snow cones at the Zoo, a very nice lunch at a great and packed mexican place (Austin-like again), a necessary visit (but cut short by a wild runaway Nico) to the Mall of Americas (HEY, they have a Shake Shack's there!!! But no chick-fil-A......), a stop at a great Japanese Restaurant that reminded me of the Rice Village in Houston, for Udon and Ramen (it was a very hot mid day but the baby in my tummy was craving a hot japanese noddle soup). We also visited the St Paul Cathedral for St Josemaria's Mass, it is a beautiful building. The Mass was great, we socialized after it over a nice breakfast in the room downstairs and Dan and I were even able to go to confession with an Opus Dei priest, and it was so great! Certainly what I miss the most about having Opus Dei activities close by! To finish our trip, on the way back we took a different route passing through lots of small cities and we even made an unplanned stop for ice cream at an apparently trendy place!

In front of the Mall of Americas, waiting for our hotel shuttle.
I look terrible, but Nico is finally looking at the camera! So....






Still talking about trips, we visited a small city nearby (1h15min away) that has a camping village hosting a "Train Days" event. It was fun and we had the best meal at a restaurant by the lake on our way back home! So fun!! Lastly, one summer night we also went to a drive-in 45 min away and the experience was really awesome!



waiting for the train ride, eating popcorn!


VERY good hamburgers and fries!






Popcorn! We love popcorn!




The drive-in was showing 2 movies, we planned for the kids to go to sleep in the car during the second movie, but we ended up heading home earlier! Don't worry, kids were back in their car seats!

But back to South Dakota for summer break vibe! Gorgeous not scalding hot weather (I love Texas, but I don't miss its summer weather, no sir). Outdoor playgrounds any day we would feel like it, many trips to various swimming pools (we bought the family season pass! Sometimes it was even a little too chilly for pool to us.... but not to our neighbors, apparently) and some play dates. And besides, the city has a TON of planned activities for the kids for each season! Like toys at the park with supervision, outdoors theater plays and fun kids day at the museum! We enjoyed many BBQs in the porch, water play and popsicles in our backyard, tricycle fun on our driveway and sidewalks, outings to the beautiful bike trails along the river and our usual trips to the library and to the gym, why not. The kids like to play in the kids zone and pregnant mommy enjoys a book or talking on the phone comfortably sitting on a armchair! Not feeling guilty here! Anyway, we had a blast! At last, I'm not feeling so Texas-homesick anymore and I'm even craving all the winter snow already!!!


It seems that every weekend there are some hot air balloons flying around!

We can see them from our backyard! Ah, let's not forget the fireflies!!! The last time I've seen them was so many years ago in my childhood in Brazil.




  





Play at the park


Happy Father's Day - in Brazil, mid Aug

Brazilian Father's Day BBQ
Yakitori Chicken - google it and try it! You won't be sorry! Kids love it!

Some gardening experiments! Marigolds are blooming, roses, not so much.... Basil is growing like crazy, Thyme is doing ok, and we have lots of tomatoes, but no one red yet! I'm already admitting we failed at vegetable crops again!

 Usually summer breaks last forever (3 months with school-age kids at home is no joke). I thought I wouldn't survive it very well. But it was relatively easy! Really, I couldn't believe it! School was back at the blink of an eye! I was even a bit out of place with just Nico with me at home when Rebecca started school again this monday! I'm sure Nico misses Rebecca a ton too and he is still adjusting! By God's grace we managed to enroll Rebecca in a private catholic school and she is just the cutest thing wearing those uniforms! She is still adjusting to making new friends but she already loves her teacher and vice-versa. Everyone is being so kind and attentive to her and us, it's nice! And she is always very happy when I pick her up!

See what I mean???


And I guess the biggest thing this summer was finding out we are having a GIRL! And I'm here to officially announce her name for those who doesn't know it yet: Victoria Maria! Baby Vicky! My parents and in-laws flight tickets are already set and bought, let's just hope baby Vicky can wait for our first visitors! The fear of preterm baby is real, y'all. Not medically speaking, I mean. Well, I had a cervix ultrasound to check the measurements and it's not very long (2.9 some-unit-of-measure and the minimum they expect as healthy is 2.5 some-unit-of measure). I'm generally felling uncomfortable most days. Or it is mildly painful braxton-hicks contractions, shortness of breath, headaches, feeling lightheaded a lot, the awful heartburn and even baby movements are not very comfortable to me, although I'm very happy to be able to feel it so often! Anyway, I just would like to ask for your prayers! Things are good, but I'm so paranoid about preterm labor.

It's a girl!!! Rebecca is so happy, I hope Nico will be too!


Now baby has a name: Victoria Maria




And that's it! See you next time!!
xoxo






Thursday, June 2, 2016

Divagações sobre minha vida pessoal

Queria escrever esse post de uma maneira sem muito planejamento, ordem, motivo ou teor definido. Quero que seja bem aleatório, de forma que os pensamentos possam ser transcritos sem preocupação com as normas literárias e, mais importante, sem pré-julgamentos da parte do leitor. Não precisa tentar achar um motivo nessa minha divagação toda.

Gosto de me explicar bastante e até uma amiga minha que cursou Letras me deu um possível diagnóstico sobre essa minha mania de começar meus posts com um parágrafo introdutório. Não me lembro bem o que foi que ela me disse mas é algo sobre sentir-me julgada, pressionada.

A verdade é que sei muito bem como é difícil ser bem entendida nesse mundo digital, e até mesmo "cara a cara". Me sinto pressionada a não ser mal entendida, talvez. No fundo, é uma preocupação desnecessária com o que o outro pensa a meu respeito. Mas que não consigo, ao mesmo tempo, negligenciar pois sei que com um pouco mais de cuidado e esforço de minha parte, talvez posso me fazer ser melhor compreendida.

Sou chatinha nessa questão (também em muitas outras, mas isso deixa pra lá). Escrevo e opino muito. Vide o meu facebook. Só dá eu e mais uns dois ou três que escrevem tanto sobre as próprias opiniões. É o famoso metido a filósofo social, digital. É verdade que gosto de expressar minha opinião. Mas também gosto de ler outras opiniões, então quanto a isso me sinto coerente. Também é verdade que se publico a minha opinião é porque sinto que pode esclarecer algo, a alguém, quem - não sei bem, mas que se trata de uma opinião diferente das outras que encontrei por aí. Tem gente que só compartilha o pensamento do outro. Eu não me sinto confortável fazendo isso, porque sempre tem uma palavra aqui ou ali, uma idéia aqui e ali, que não concordo. E não gosto de me comprometer com coisas que não concordo 100%. Por isso escrevo muito com minhas próprias palavras.

As pessoas também sabem que sou católica, como dizem, praticante. Defendo a minha fé. E não é algo que faço sem pensar. Antes de defender a minha fé, eu ENTENDO os meus pontos de crença. Felizmente atráves de meus pais, fui apresentada desde cedo a formação católica de qualidade, ministrada por centros do Opus Dei. Agora que já moro nos EUA fazem sete anos, posso dizer com conhecimento que o Opus Dei é uma das instituições mais coerentes e mais fiéis a Igreja Católica. Não só isso, como o profissionalismo, a ética e a caridade de seus membros são exemplares. Seu estilo torna-se eficiente!

Por causa de meu envolvimento no Opus Dei sempre fui encorajada a ler da fonte (Bíblia e Catecismo) e a os estudar. Posso te garantir que estudei muito. Palavra por palavra. E fez sentido. Tudo faz sentido. O problema é que é muito difícil transmitir algumas idéias sem ser mal compreendida e julgada. Como esse mundo é rápido em julgamentos. E lógico que me incluo nessa. É um esforço recorrente que pratico, tentando me examinar sempre mais. E olhando pra trás, garanto que já fui muito pior. Como que mesmo quando achamos que somos maduros, ainda não estamos lá aonde achamos que estamos.

E concluindo meu pensamento, como sei que carrego o nome de católica praticante nas costas, sinto que as coisas que digo defender ou apoiar tem mais peso. Seria utópico de minha parte achar que as pessoas conseguem separar alguém de todos os seus rótulos. Logo, me sinto responsável a ter muito cuidado com o que as pessoas apreendem de minhas mensagens.

Bem, essa foi a explicação mais longa que já dei como introdução de um post no blog. Introdução, apenas!!!! Sim, minhas divagações nem começaram! Senta que lá vem história!

____________

Ontem a noite comecei a ler um livro. Um livro que vinha sendo sugerido como que por sussurros por minha própria cabecinha. Não entendi muito bem o motivo do meu sub-consciente em sugerir insistentemente esse livro, tavez fosse mesmo o Espírito Santo sozinho. Isso não me acontece com muita frequência. Em geral tenho uma boa noção do mecanismo do meu sub-consciente. Sempre consigo achar alguma explicação. Não dessa vez.

Bem, o livro é sobre a vida de uma mulher chamada Gianna, médica que faleceu com fama de santidade durante o parto de sua quarta filha. Antes que vocês comecem a achar a explicação misteriosa que eu não achei, devo dizer que eu não sinto que o fato de eu estar grávida teve qualquer importância. Primeiro que não sinto que vou morrer no parto. Não tenho esse receio, medo, apesar que é sempre uma possibilidade. Ínfima, eu diria, mas não zero. Mais importante, eu nem lembrava que ela teve esse desfecho na terra. Não mesmo! Tenho também muitíssimos outros livros aqui em casa, e uma listinha dos títulos que mais me interessam, e "Gianna" estava na lista, mas em terceiro ou quarto lugar. Dada a minha mania de não ler muitos livros, eu sinceramente não achava que iria tocar suas páginas ainda nesse ano.

Enfm, como sou enrolada, mas a explicação está lá em cima, caso você tenha pulado algumas partes! Enfim (2), comecei a ler "Gianna". Não queria mais parar de ler. As primeiras páginas nos contam um pouco sobre a família de Gianna. E chorei! E me fez pensar na minha vida. Nas minhas lamentações. Nos meus 'problemas' que não são problemas.

E hoje, como de vez em quando acontece, me peguei pensando nos rumos que tomei na minha vida. Que nada foi tão simples como pode parecer. Que nem sempre pensei e considerei algumas coisas e decisões do mesmo jeito.

E horas e horas enjoada em casa, sem muita coisa planejada pra fazer, me fizeram pensar bastante e a chegar em um balanço, que é o seguinte:

- Não escolhi deixar minha profissão de lado, mas aconteceu. No meu primeiro ano de casada eu poderia ter tido o amadurecimento para tomar uma ou outra decisão diferente quanto ao rumo profissional que estava levando, mas não ocorreu.

- Não me arrependo, contudo. Por causa disso algumas coisas aconteceram e outras deixaram de acontecer. Nossos planos, meus e do Dani, também mudaram muito do que pensávamos a princípio. Não quer dizer que também considero que "foi melhor assim". Mas aconteceu, e na hora fez sentido.

- Por alguns anos (talvez dois anos) depois que a Rebecca nasceu, eu ainda tinha muita nostalgia do tempo que eu era livre, leve e solta (ou seja, egocêntrica). As dificuldades pesavam e os momentos de folga eram desejados e não saciados (ainda mais estando tão longe da ajuda dos familiares), de forma que era difícil deixar a minha mente em paz. Contudo, inesperadamente, esse sentimento passou! E não foi porque tive algum tipo de sossego. Mas os filhos finalmente me fizeram enxergar algo que antes não reconhecia.

- Comecei a reconhecer que meus filhos me deram um propósito de vida que eu nem sabia que estava me faltando.

- Que sempre fui e sou uma pessoa séria e que não sorrio facilmente. Costumo dizer que os meus músculos do rosto são os culpados, porque até me dói a cara tentar sorrir ou mesmo manter meus lábios com as pontinhas levemente pra cima. CONTUDO, não passo um dia sequer sem sorrir de orelha-a-orelha quando olho os meus filhos uma vez ou outra - ou muitas vezes - a dia. Sorriso genuíno e sem esforço.

- Eu seria alguém ainda mais desprazerosa sem meus filhinhos! (Sei muito bem que não agrado a todo mundo, e está tudo certo!)

- Eu não sei se sou uma pessoa melhor como um todo agora comparando com o que já fui em algum ponto de meu passado. Mas sei reconhecer que o Dani é uma pessoa muito melhor agora, do que a quatro, cinco, seis, sete, oito, nove ou dez anos atrás (vamos completar dez anos de namoro em Setembro desse ano!). Isso porque ele sempre foi admirável. De novo, filhos e amadurecimento nos fizeram bem.

- Que tenho uma casa boa, uma qualidade de vida boa mas que mesmo assim sinto que algo me falta. Algum propósito maior de vida. Queria ganhar na loto e ser a maior empresária filantrópica do mundo. Mas sabendo que muito provavelmente esse não é o meu caminho, e seria imprudente esperar isso cair do céu, sinto que talvez eu possa e deva pensar em outras opções.

- Que sinto falta de meu problemático Brasil, e não estou falando apenas da comidinha boa.

- Que sinto falta da família, também. Isso é bom, porque sempre fui bem auto-suficiente, então encaro isso como uma evolução.

- Mas que sou totalmente contente com minha vida! Que todas as minhas decisões foram conscientes! Que eu não conseguiria viver muito diferentemente do jeito que vivo hoje. Me sinto livre, no sentido de liberdade ideológica.

- Não sei que mais! Que realmente minha vidinha na Terra, mesmo que boa vida, não tem condições nenhuma de responder a todos os meus anseios.

- Que sempre me sinto melhor quando me volto mais para meu lado espiritual, Meu Deus, minha Nossa Senhora. E olha que não costumo fazer declarações desse tipo publicamente.

*fim*

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Texas to South Dakota and a few other things!

This is a long overdue post about our move from Texas to South Dakota. I will try to avoid my detail oriented personality and just highlight my most deep impressions of it all.

I love Texas, and I love Kingwood the most! It was a privilege to me to have lived there! And so close to Houston, which I love, as well! It was perfect: to live in "the livable forest" (aka Kingwood famous alternate name) and just drive 35-45min down to Houston for a big city-living feeling. The drives are really no biggie and everybody is used to it.

I am sorta of a big city kinda gal, there is no denying it. I loved Christmas Time when for two years in a row we decided to go for night rides around the gorgeous rich neighborhoods and all their exaggerated Christmas lights displays! To finish off our last year there, we had  many Christmas parties and get-together's! I loved Summertime when kids are off school and the rule is to make it memorable! This past summer, kinda knowing it could be my last one in Houston - and I was right, we enjoyed so many free days at various museums. Me solo with the kids and the scourging sun! It was awesome!!! It felt liberating!

And what to say about the neighborhood pools in Kingwood? The kids had a BLAST in that pool! And my beautiful friends? What else to say? They were the best! We were happy and lucky, for sure! If it wasn't for our terrible cases of spring allergies in Kingwood, I would be crying right now! At least there is that to make me believe we could have never, really, lived there forever! But if it wasn't for allergies, I would certainly want to retire there. Or in Florida! Oh well. those beautiful beaches! Dan and I always joke that when we are old - well, not so old, I suppose - we will both work as park staff member at Walt Disney World! Who knows! =) It is a happy magical world, e-ver-y-day!

But back to our two main states!

It is was kinda odd that I didn't cry about our move to South Dakota. I wanted to cry many times. The tears just din't make its way to my eyes, I suppose. But there is this one time, that I actually cried. It was on our second day driving our stuff north. When we crossed the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Dan was driving the truck and the corolla tucked on, I was driving the sienna with both the kids. I had gotten five music CDs  for Christmas (Carrie Underwood Greatest Hits - 2 CDs - Adele 21, and 3 albums from Taylor Swift - the homonymous first one, Fearless and 1989). I was listening to these CDs non stop the whole trip. Coincidentally, when we arrived in Oklahoma, the music "Clean", the last one of the 1989 album was almost finishing, and when we left Texas, possibly forever, it hit me! And I finally started crying. And unbelievably enough, Dan can confirm it, as soon as we crossed that border, the outside scenery drastically changed: from a dry winter, but partially sunny, to all gray with every tree, bush or hills, covered in frost! It looked grim.

I texted Dan:

"I cried when we left Texas. It hit me we might never ever come back."

We continued our drive to South Dakota, the scenery becoming colder and whiter by the hour. God really protected us the whole time! It didn't snow not even once when we were on the road and the pavement was ice-free the whole time! Except for a few Waze adventures, always when it was already dark, we had a very peaceful, musically entertaining, kids-cooperating, moving trip.

When we finally arrived in our new neighborhood, what a shock! Everything was so covered in snow! Even the roads were not very cleaned. What a change! I write this and I know it reads banal. But it was so weird, really. My bipolar problem was really bugged by it.

And the snow didn't go away for two other long months! But I got used to it, I gotta admit! Dan helped unpack a lot in the first days when I was totally paralyzed and overwhelmed by everything. ALL the boxes were in the kitchen, even the ones that didn't belong there. I wanted a homemade meal after five days on the road but with that kitchen!!!!!!!

We arrived mid day on December, 31st. We had Domino's pizza for new years supper! Oh well. Saturday, January, 1st, is a Holy Day of obligation and we fortunately made it to the 11am mass at the closest catholic church. They say the "Holy, Holy" on a different punctuation. People don't dress up as fancy as in Houston/Kingwood. Actually, they all dress the same style. They have a jacket/coat room. And welcoming enough (#not), even though people here are known as very happy and friendly, they are not that smiling in snowy/cold weather. Besides, everybody is very busy with their own kids.

We had lunch in the mall, at Applebee's, I ordered from the new menu and the food was great!! Back home Dan magically unpacked a lot of boxes and furnished our kitchen. I did some grocery shopping (Hy-vee is so expensive!!) and I think Dan managed to cook us some dinner, Saturday evening, finally! Our house is very well kept and warm and it is very comforting to be inside in such conditions with a tummy well fed, I must add.

Sunday we went to Mass at the Cathedral and people there fortunately looked more texan to me! The building is so beautiful, the snow is beautiful. The homily was great! Another day of homemade meals! I'm starting to feel happy again! I was finally able to help with the unpacking! Monday came, Dan was off to work, Rebecca was off to school. Just.Like.That.

A little bit more about the snow! I love it! It makes everything prettier and leveled. And the fun we had! I remember hating winter in Texas! It was always so cold, inside our homes and outside! It was always uncomfortable. Not here! So warm and cozy inside, and so fun to go sledding. We played outdoors every weekend until the snow melted! I never had this much fun on winter before!

And then in a warm week in late february or early march, the snow was all gone! Ooookay, I think to myself. Well, I'm sure I will miss the snow but the sledding hills were starting to feel bumpy and icy anyway and it is so cool to see a whole different city without all that snow! It is like living in two different places in a year and, IT SNOWED AGAIN TWO DAYS LATER??? My bipolarity can't help it, it's so weird!

And it was on and off like this for one week. Then we got two weeks of no more snow, some sunny and kinda warm afternoons, and then it snowed again. But this time I was actually craving it! Too bad it didn't last. I would have loved one more sledding adventure!

But snowy weather is also very dangerous for traffic! One time I found myself going somewhere across the city, on a highway, rush time (5pm), a lot of snowfall, and boy, it is really dangerous! Lots of accidents! One was pretty bad. The car really skids, and the only thing you can do about it is to go really slow and pray for other cars passing by not to involve you in a crash. Lesson learned, never go out during a heavy snowfall. Never drive on the highway. Outcome: it took me about one hour and half to leave my house, give up getting to where I should be at half of the way, and come back home. And don't forget my worry-stomach burn pains.

Well, we survived winter. Spring came but no one can tell. It's cold and rainy today. But living up here you get what you get. You have sun, everybody goes out. It is lightly snowing, no reason not to take your kids to school or to skip gym. You get around.

It's being.... interesting!

Looking forward to lots of BBQ in our porch, lots of road trips to Minnesota, to camping adventures, to warmer - but not scalding 100F - weather, to pool season, and to possibly a new baby, by the end of the year!

Yes, we wanted more babies for so long! But the timing and our situation never felt right! Until they did! So we are trying! Let's see if I have good news soon! No need to calculate it, I'll do the math for you. I am hoping to have a baby by mid December! I'm very anxious about it as you can tell. On my first pregnancy I told everybody as soon as I found out. It turned out I had a miscarriage. With the other two pregnancies, only family and close friends knew, or our colleagues who would figure it out by my baby bump (after the first one, baby bumps show much more easily and early on). I rigorously waited the full 12 weeks to public announce it. And this one? I am saying it out there even before I know if I'm actually pregnant. Well, crazier at 30, I suppose.

But seriously, If I have to announce I'm not pregnant yet even though we are trying, or worse, if I have to say I eventually miscarried my baby, it is what it is! We'll get through it. Prayers are always appreciated, of course! I pray for you all too! Really!

xoxo
Gabby















Tuesday, March 22, 2016

There is still time!



There is still time!

Lent is almost over as we now reach Holy Week. A time fit for a self-examination, of how well we lived the Lenten Season according to our talents. Even if the answer for this question is that we didn’t do everything we could to try be better Christians ourselves, there is still time to live this Holy Week as holy as we can, or at least a little bit better than we did during Lent.

In the beginning of this Lent, the priest in my parish said something I was also thinking for some years already! That Lent is much more than giving up chocolate, soda (or pop, like the north says it!) or any other little sacrifice for the whole 40 days! It is more than giving up social media, for that matter, as well! It must be something that will actually help you have presence of God and help you become better Christians. But we are still missing the biggest point!

When I was living in Temple, TX, in my second year married, thus my second year in the US, I was living a very intense lent, I remember. When it was over, a few days after Easter Sunday, I was at church and a retired former pastor of that parish, I believe he was from Germany, was celebrating daily Mass that day! I think that during the four years I lived in Temple, he celebrated Mass there no more than three times. Anyway, during the homily he said something that I remember even now! Something I have never heard, or least not so clearly:

“I don’t know why people think that when Lent is over, all the sacrifices and intense prayer should cease. Lent is a preparation for Easter. If it is only a preparation, it means we should be even holier after Easter.”

That struck me really hard. I was so relieved Lent was over so I could relax a bit, but as that priest made me see, I was getting it all wrong!

I’m not saying that since that homily I dramatically changed, and that I had always followed that admonition! In fact, I have not! But it helps me keep things in perspective and helps me understand better the things I do, the things I plan to do during Lent!

So back to the beginning, how well not eating chocolate will help you be a better person, a new person for Easter (Easter in its origin means “new life”). It can help, of course, but only if you are thinking that by doing a specific food sacrifice, it will help you not binge any longer in the future! That you will be less a slave of food, or other earthly pleasures, and more spiritually free!

So, yes, all kinds of sacrifices can help you live a good lent in preparation for your new life, but the reasoning should not be lost in these 40 days, and not be totally forgotten after Easter. I know that I always need to work on this, every year!

And as a last thought, during Palm Sunday Mass, we read the whole text of the Passion of Christ. This year a specific part caught my attention! It was the very brief part that mentions Simon of Cyrene being caught coming back from a long day of work on the field, and forced to help carry the Cross of Jesus.

It made me think. Simon of Cyrene was probably a very righteous Jew! He was probably married, with children, a hard-working man, living a righteous life, somehow comfortably! And yet, he was totally unaware that in that precise day the city officials were to crucify Jesus in such a public manifestation! Has he even heard of Jesus before?

Are we not like him? Yes, I am specifically talking about us: somehow good christian folks. Are our lives just a bit too comfortable? A little too much - willingly unaware of the troubles and happenings around us? But we are called into the scene, as Simon of Cyrene was forced to! We are called to get out of our own little world and do something bigger! We are called to be bothered. I know that I need to work on this as well! Just thought I would share!



There is still time!