Sarah Vs. Food

Pinterest Picture:

My before cooking picture:

After cooking picture:

Result: best pork EVER!!

Sarah: 3

Food: 0

I think I'm getting the hang of this cooking thing!

For those interested, here is the recipe:

It's a Small World After All!

I was at a parish partnership meeting tonight and it was one if the best I have been to! Everyone let there guard down and we got to know each other! That is what we need if we are going to make this partnership work!

I like to talk to priests. They are all full of such great insight and are very willing to help in my discernment process. It's wonderful because they are very knowledgable! 

Tonight, we were talking I a priest I know from another diocese came up. Turns out Fr. Stan, who I was talking to, also knows Fr. Daren and had been in the seminary with him!  

I find it funny because both of these men play a part in my vocation story. I met Fr. Daren when I was in high school and he had just been ordained. I really fell in love with the mass and planning the mass with his help. He helped guide me to better understand the Catholic Church. I remember him telling me dogs don't go to heaven (but they do) and how we shouldn't hold hands during the Our Father at mass (I try to not hold hands, but will if not holding seems rude). He was one of the first priest I knew that seemed like a normal person. 

I have recently gotten to know Fr. Stan through the parish partnership. He had been at the church that I went to school at, but after I had graduated. He has helped guide me to different communities. There are soooo many orders in my area and it's an overwhelming task to try to discern which is the one I'm being called to. Fr. Stan has helped point me in directions I wouldn't think of looking. He has also been praying for me since the beginning ( my mom had told him even before I had made the news public) Fr. Stan is another priest that I can have a conversation with and walk away feeling enlightened!

I'm really lucky to have a priestly support system! Just on Facebook, I'm friends with 5 priests. There are many more priests that have helped in my faith formation! Some are still living, while others have passed on. Fr. Haas helped me pick my confirmation saint(this will be a story for another post). Fr. Joe showed me to keep going, that God will take care of you. He was also the master of the 5 minute homily, whispering directions to the servers, and always ending mass with a joke! Fr. Flach taught me to ask questions! He would end his week day homilies with a question and answer segment. He also made frequent visits to our classrooms.

I totally got off the point I wanted to make, but I REALLY like the point I made! Therefore, I'm going to leave it.

What priests have played an important role in your life?

Sarah Vs. Food

I am determined to improve my cooking skills! Here are some of the latest tales of Sarah Vs. Food

Saturday, after mass, my patents wanted to go to Home Depot to pick something up. They were going to go out to eat, but I insisted that we had food at home and I could cook while they shopped. 

GAME ON!!!

We had frozen hamburger patties, bacon, onions, and potatoes....bacon hamburgers with twice baked (microwaved) potatoes! My brother was off camping all weekend, so he wasn't there to not eat. Everyone else enjoyed dinner and there were no leftovers...maybe this cooking thing isn't so bad! 

Sarah: 1 

Food:0

Tonight, I made pulled chicken sandwiches. SUPER easy!! I put chicken breasts (because I only eat white meat) into the crock pot at around 10:30 this morning with a bit of water on high. I let it cook all day. 

When I got home at 6pm, I took the mix n chop to the chicken. The mix n chop is the most amazing kitchen tool

It looks like this and it shreds meat, mashes potatoes, and any other mixing and chopping things! It's awesome to use when browning hamburger meat for chili, spaghetti, or tacos!

My dad ate 2 sandwiches and there were only a few leftovers...I have my doubts that my brother ate...I still call this a win for Sarah!

For those keeping track at home, that's:

Sarah: 2

Food: 0

Wednesday night, I take on food again! This time I will attempt a Pinterest recipe!

My plan is to prep it all tomorrow night so I will just have to put it in the crockpot Wednesday morning!

And, the best part is that I have not injured myself! I did break a plate in the microwave while I was making peas tonight...

Stay tuned for more Sarah Vs. Food!

My Recent YouTube Obsession

Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm obsessed with YouTube!

(I know I just shared some YouTube videos, but this obsession is REAL!)

It all started as a way of discernment. No, really, it's a SUPER useful way to connect with others! I watched vocation stories, investitures of sisters, final vow professions, and priest ordinations. It was a really neat tool! I now find myself planning the ceremony when I take my first steps into a community much like I use to plan my wedding!

But, it's not all I have been watching on YouTube. Baby announcements and gender reveals are among my most current videos. I think they are sweet and I love babies and how people announce they are welcoming a gift from God!

My obsession doesn't end there...now I find myself listening to church songs. Singing is like praying twice....most of the songs I have been listening to are very moving...Here I am, Lord, I am the Bread of Life, Prayer of St. Francis, and Hail Mary, Gentle Woman are a few I have listened to. Not to mention Laterns by Birds of Tokyo. This song still gives me chills from the place it has in my vocation story. I also have a slight obsession with Do You Wanna Be a Sister?

It gets worse...Stuff Catholics Say in many different forms...not only did I watch ALL of them, but I laughed and saw myself in most of them! Seriously, "with your spirit" took me a LOOOONG time to figure out and I still need the cheat sheet for the creeds...(I barely knew the old translation) My favorite out of all of the ones that I watched would have been when someone was listening all the horrible things going on and the Catholic saying "we have a patron saint for that" Why do I find it funny? One, we probably do and two, I say that ALL of the time!!

I have also come across some neat (yes, I said "neat") ideas for encouraging vocations. The first is a vocation mass. This would be special mass where men and women learn more about vocations. There would be communities of religious there to answer questions as well as priests. There would be a special blessings for those discerning and in formation and a time for those people to connect and talk with each other. Having a friend who is also discerning is nice because we know what the other is going through. The second is getting my diocese to have more of a YouTube presence. Having the young men and women FROM OUR OWN DIOCESE share their vocation stories would be helpful to others because we are local! There was one story I watched from a sister in St. Louis and I connected with her story because I felt a common bond of location! Also, it would let people know that we do have seminarians, women entering religious life, and men in formation to become permenant deacons!

YouTube is an amazing tool in discernment! Just type in "Religious Vocations" and see where that takes you!

YouTube and Discernment

What??? Don't you pair the two together???

As I have mentioned before, I am not a fan of quiet. I don't have a TV in my room, so I often have a hard time falling asleep at night in the quiet. Some nights I spend that quiet time talking to God about my day and thanking Him for giving me another day! Other nights I read until my eyes won't stay open. Then there are the nights where I need actual noise. I turn to YouTube. I have found many useful videos into searches.

There was God or the Girl which was a mini-series on E! about men discerning priesthood. It was interesting, but I only found 1 man's journey and I would have liked to see them all.

There is this fun video parody called Do You Wanna Be a Sister?:

I have found myself writing my own version of this song even before I found this one!

Then tonight I have found these videos from VISION Vocations:

Which give steps and information about discernment.

And then there is this gem!

Wow!!! It shows common "excuses" why someone will give about becoming a sister. Can I just say I said them all? Well, I did and God kept pushing! 

If you have EVER considered becoming a priest, monk, or sister then I strongly encourage you to watch these short videos! Even if the thought has never crossed your mind, watch them so you can help others who are discerning! Especially watch the "Do You Wanna Ne a Sister" that one still crackse up!

All of Me

'Cause all of me

Loves all of you

Love your curves and all your edges

All your perfect imperfections

Give your all to me

I'll give my all to you

You're my end and my beginning

Even when I lose I'm winning

'Cause I give you all of me

And you give me all of you

--John Legend, All of Me

I have had this song stuck in my head all day. As I'm singing it, I feel like it is God singing it to me. Weird, right?

Go ahead and look at the words in the refrain. God's love for us is amazing! It's kind of overwhelming! He loves all of us!! Our curves, our edges, our imperfections!  All of us!!!

I have struggled with this. How can God love all of me? I'm so far from perfect! I could lose a few (a lot) of pounds, I sin, I don't always do what God wants, I have even questioned God's love for me. How can God still love me? 

Guess what? He does!!! John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world, He have His only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him will never die, but have eternal life!" That is how much God loves us and we need to let Him love us, even when we don't feel worthy of that love!

The last 2 lines stick with me as well. God gave his all to us (His son, Jesus) and He has asked that we give all of us to Him. We do this by saying "yes" to His will. Some may be giving themselves to God by getting married and having a family, some by entering priesthood and religious life, others are called to single life. Whatever we are called to do, we need to give our all to Him!

Are you giving your all to God?

I Don't Cook...

I love cooking competition shows!!! Top Chef, Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, and other such shows. I watch these shows and then try to get creative and cook!

Well, cooking doesn't always turn out the way I hope. Most often, I will make dinner for the family, and then no one will eat. They claim they aren't hungry, but I find them searching the fridge later for an evening snack.

Other times, I end up cutting myself in some way. I stabbed myself last week when opening the package the meat was in. That wound just healed a few days ago. In the same cooking experience, I burned myself with oil when I placed the pork into the frying pan.

Today, I have sliced my finger

This is the 3rd bandaid I have bled through. (Update: I just changed bandaid #6 about 24 hours after the incident. #7 has no signs of blood yet!)

I don't think God is calling me to a vocation that requires cooking. It is also one area that terrifies me about entering a community. The ones that I visited last week seem to take turns cooking. Will they expect me to be able to cook? Will they teach me to cook? Will they kick me out if I burn down the house trying to make popcorn on the stove? (Yes, I have set a pan on fire trying to pop popcorn on the stove) What happens if I cut or burn myself when cooking for other non-related people?

Of all things that I'm worried about during discernment, I'm worried about cooking....

Update:

I tried to make cookies tonight....they where an add some butter and water mix....my results:

Dear God, please help me improve my cooking skills!!!