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My birthday was wonderful. I was on retreat with a bunch of other youth ministers from around the diocese, which was much needed and very refreshing! But it also got me to do a lot of thinking. Some of the following thoughts are my own personal reflections, but some are also things we talked about as a group throughout the retreat.

I've been really frustrated lately, because I feel a bit lost here, in the "big-picture" kind of way. I mean, I know God put me in Pittsburgh for a reason, I just haven't figured out what it is yet. And it's not like I'm not listening, either. I've really been trying to hear what God has had to say over these last few months...I just haven't heard a peep. Don't get me wrong--I absolutely love it here and wouldn't trade my experience for anything, I'd just really like to know the reason I've been called here. Of course, the obvious answer is "to do youth ministry, silly!" But here's the thing: there's more to me than ministry. At the end of the day, I'm not a youth minister, I'm not a cantor, I'm not even a website committee member (as awesome as that is, haha)...I'm a child of God. God loves me for who I am in God, not what I do for God. So there has to be another reason for me to be here. I just have to figure out what it is. So any time you're ready to tell me, God, I'm ready for it! Until then...I guess I'm just...growing?

So after all the retreat stuff on Tuesday, about ten of us piled into a few cars and went to a place called Wings, Suds, & Spuds. I had a strawberry milkshake and some macaroni and cheese bites (SO DELICIOUS!), and they even gave me an orange balloon because it was my birthday. So that was exciting...a very laid back birthday celebration, but very nice. And then it was back to retreat stuff on Wednesday. :)

Well, it's back to work now...I decided to spend the morning working from my very comfortable bed--I made some phone calls about the March for Life in Washington, DC next Friday, and I've been working a bit more on the semester curriculum for the youth ministry program. I've got most of it pretty well laid out until May, but there are a couple more details to work out so I don't have to keep putting all my time and energy each week into "AHHH what are we doing this weekend?!"-type stuff. It'll be a relief to get all that taken care of!

And ALSO! I need to get myself a Dairy Queen cake today or tomorrow. I mean, it's not just for me, of course--it's like in elementary school when you brought cupcakes for everyone on your birthday...only with grown-ups on the church staff instead of sugar-crazed little children. Yippee skippy! I looooooove ice cream cake. I might even share it with the teens on Sunday if there's any left over...or maybe I'll just take it home and keep it in my freezer just in case I need my sugar fix...