One Step at a Time

With the exception that I think the song is about becoming famous or really "arriving", most of the Jordin Sparks' "One Step at a Time" really sums up the last six to eight weeks of my life.

When you can't wait any longer

But there's no end in sight

when you need to find the strength

It's your faith that makes you stronger

The only way you get there

Is one step at a time

We live and we learn to take
One step at a time
There's no need to rush
It's like learning to fly
Or falling in love
It's gonna happen when it's
Supposed to happen and we
Find the reasons why
One step at a time


You believe and you doubt
You're confused, you got it all figured out
Everything that you always wished for
Could be yours, should be yours, would be yours
If they only knew

 As I posted on Eric and I's blog it's Confirmation season.  Which means my life is consumed with 150 10th grade students and their parents.  Between the retreats, 10 weeks of classes, and two Masses with the archbishop (never mind collecting/data entering no less than 5 pieces of paper with important information for each kid), my life is a little hectic.

Getting the program off the ground in August isn't too bad.  I usually work all summer on paperwork updates, packet changes, website updates, etc so the kick off is pretty smooth.  It's the crunch time of about 6 weeks when I collected said packets, take the kids on retreat, data enter all paperwork, and pull off the two Masses that gets a little hairy.  Add in a slight case of ADD and perfectionism (why, God, why?) and bam.  Countless sleepless nights. 

No matter how prepared I thought I was this year - no matter how early I set due dates, no matter how well I managed my time, no matter how much I prayed each day before opening my inbox, no matter how many coupons I clipped to meet our operating budget....God found a way to remind me of my humanness and that I need to rely on HIM:

1. Lost my wallet and had to leave $350 of retreat supplies in a buggy at the cash register at Wal Mart
2. My cell phone (read: to-do list, email contacts, phone contacts, etc) stopped working for about 7 days, including while we were on retreat.
3. My sink backed up at home
4. My tire went flat-ish driving home from retreat
5. Lost my sunglasses (which I tried to replace at said Wal Mart trip!)
6. Printed the wrong bishop's name as the homilist in the program
7. Put  "Ashely Taylor Bryan" in the boys bunk, not the girls 
8. Had three kid's middle names instead of their saint name on their name tag
9. Yelled at a group of parents for volunteering the wrong way

While it's not about me or my humanness at all, this really took a toll: The week before our first retreat the parents of a former teen were killed in a plane crash leaving our whole parish suffering a great loss. - This really set me back emotionally.  It was a tough loss.  I didn't know them too well, but I knew them well enough (and their daughter very well) to feel the hurt of such a tragic loss.  Additionally,  I had to learn how to minister to those teens in my program who were directly affected.


The legacy that Beth and Jim left behind called me to a new level of holiness, and appreciation for my faith and family.  Eric and I had a series of very long conversations about life, death, and how we handle everything in between.   Many much needed conversations, but selfishly the timing made things that much more difficult.

Needless to say, yesterday, after the last kid took a picture with the bishop, the last gown packed in a shipping box, and the last cookie crumb thrown in the trash.  I left the parish nearly in tears.  Tears of joy and tears of relief.


I had given everything -and then some - to these kids in the name of God and our precious faith.

I am exhausted.  I have bleeding blisters from being on my feet in dress shoes for a week straight.  I am developing a deep chest cough.  And many days in the last few weeks I locked myself in a closet to cry.  But, I'd do it all again just to know I could be used to play one small part in 156 kids faith journeys.  I am continually humbled that God would choose ME to do such a thing (I mean, I lost my wallet at Wal-Mart!).

So, here's to a great Confirmation season...  

And here's to a really long nap. :)