Take Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, understanding, my entire will.

Give me only your love and your grace. That's enough for me.

Your love and your grace are enough for me.

Song by John Foley, based on the Suscipe, a prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Wow. A lot can happen in a month. This is something I've always known to be true, but it hit me in a different way yesterday.

It's been a month since the last time I blogged. That was not my intention when the new year began. I thought to myself, "I'm going to update my blog more often." But since I've been doing the daily Facebook reflections, which are really sort of mini-blogs, I haven't had the words (or the time) to write something longer. However, today I woke up with the realization that I have a lot to say!

You may be wondering what's been going on. Of course, there's my typical travel schedule with retreats, presentations, and visiting friends. However, there's been so much more than that. I believe that all of the goings on of the past several months came to their climax yesterday. Yes, we're now in the  dénouement stage of many things (thank you to my 7th and 8th grade English teacher for that word!). And although my friends all know that I have a terrible memory for some things, January 26 2013 will be a day that I remember for the long term...

As many of you know, our community in Dayton has been planning for some transitions for a while now. One of our Sisters was asked to move to San Antonio and two of us are planning to start a new community. This has all been months in the making. Well, years, really.

Sr. Marcia moved to Dayton from San Antonio to be a member of a new community with me. The new community will be a house of discernment. A place where women can do long term live ins (anywhere from 2 weeks to a year) as they discern the possibility of Marianist religious life. We've been searching for a house for a long time. And every house we've looked at we've always come away with, "Yeah... it could work, but..." and then a long list of reasons why it wasn't the right house. Now, some people believe me to be a patient person. However, after several months of not much, patience was wearing thin. Then came Thursday. We went out with our realtor and a contractor to look at 2 houses. I was surprised to find out that we were actually going to look at four. Well, thank God! The 2nd house we went to, which had previously been my favorite, we could not see. The owner told us they had 2 offers on it. I was disappointed. The 3rd house did not strike me as appropriate - a little too small, cold feeling, inhospitable, odd floor plan... So, I was not expecting a whole lot from house #4. But as soon as we walked in I said to myself, "This is it." ...

Fast forward to yesterday morning. After a few e-mails from Sr. Marcia and I with our Council, a phone call to our realtor and the contractor, we were sitting at our realtor's office signing paperwork to make an offer on the house. I've never been involved in buying a house before. It was a little stressful. What if our offer is too low? What if they don't like the terms? What if we could get it for lower than our offer are we going to pay too much? What's fair? What's just? What's reasonable? What makes sense for a Religious Congregation? We finally settled on an offer and left it in the hands of God....

When we returned home it was time to bid farewell to Sr. Mary Louise who was soon to board her plane for San Antonio. It was difficult. She has been mentor and friend for all of us here in Dayton. She will be missed tremendously. However, we trust that God is with her and with us in this time. We are in the hands of God...

After Mary Louise's departure, I sat down to finish a very important letter. Right after the new year I went on a private, silent retreat. It was on that retreat that I began writing my letter to our Superior General to request Perpetual Vows as a Marianist Sister. I didn't finish the letter on retreat because I needed to wait until I had "official" verbal support from the community. Then life just got a little too full and I didn't feel like I had the interior space to compose such an important document. But, yesterday I decided was the day. I finished my letter and e-mailed it off. It is now in God's hands...

Just when you think the day cannot possibly have more important things going on, I got a phone call from our realtor. The sellers of the house accepted our offer and all the terms. If all goes well with inspections etc. we could be ready to move in 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS!!! After months of searching and some set backs, we now have 6 weeks.

And so, perhaps now you'll see why haven't posted in a while. It's been a whirlwind! And each of the events of yesterday reminds me of why I can say with confidence, "Give me only your love and your grace. That's enough for me."

Many blessings to all who read this!
Sr. N