FOCUS Leadership Summit

Tomorrow we are headed to Baltimore for the FOCUS 2012 Student Leadership Summit. Here are a few prayers requests.

• For the 11 students (including three student athletes) from Loras as well as the students from all across the country, that they might be open to the Holy Spirit working in their lives
• For safe travels and no delays from winter storms
• For the March for Life on Monday, January 23 and for safety traveling throughout Baltimore and the D.C. area

Here's a link to the website about the summit if you want to check it out. http://focussummit.org/

When we get back I'll post lots of pictures and stories about our trip. Thanks for your prayers!

Four years ago today...

I think it is beautiful to look back on our lives and see how God has worked.

Looking back, we can't help but smile at how God brought us together! Four years ago today, January 2, 2008, we met at the FOCUS conference in Grapevine, TX at the Gaylord Hotel.

Look at us then! Our first picture together (taken a few minutes before our first goodbye...we had stayed up all night talking and it was about 4 a.m. when we said goodbye because Tyler had to catch an early plane back to Alabama.)

I like to think about how we had no idea what we were in for when we went to the conference. I was content being single and discerning the religious life, and Tyler started a dating fast three months prior and was also discerning God's will for his future. When I sat down next to him at Mass the first evening, it was an instant friendship. Only God knew how much He had to work in us separately before we could finally be together.

God really used the next 9 months of the dating fast before we started dating, and then the next 19 months of a long distance relationship, to help us be firmly rooted in our relationship with Christ and to practice patience. He blessed the time with lots of joy as well. We'll always remember the times we picked each other up at the airport on our breaks, and the phone dates we had (where we dressed up and then explained what we were wearing and where we were sitting...that was before the time of video chat dates!)

Four years ago we spent every minute we could together at the conference. Kind of like we still do! It was definitely love at first sight.

A Southern New Year's Feast

The last few years have been very exciting in that I have been introduced to several Southern traditions and tonight I got to add another to the list!

Tyler's mom made a delicious New Year's Eve dinner. We had ham, Southern greens, black eyed peas (over a bed of rice and topped with onions and hot sauce) cornbread and spiced peaches.

According to tradition, the black eyed peas bring good luck at New Year's, Southern greens bring prosperity, and the peaches bring good looks year round. Needless to say everyone had plenty of everything!

What would New Year's be without football? It wouldn't be a Rosser New Year's, that's for sure. For anyone who was sad to find out that there were no bowl games today, I am sure their spirits were lifted when they remembered it was Sunday and there was plenty of NFL games to be had.

The Rosser's have a love-hate relationship with the Cowboys. Tyler has predicted that as soon as they stop supporting Planned Parenthood they will win the Superbowl. Until then, it's not a happy few hours in the Rosser household when they play. Although Tyler and his dad are working on having a positive attitude and I think they're doing a great job.

Everyone enjoyed the meal, even our two little ones. Rudy, who is Frannie's uncle, is very patient when Frannie chases him around wanting to play, or when they share each other's food. Overall they are getting along very well together. Tyler's mom is definitely their favorite.