I meant to do that...

Just a "small handful" of the students that joined us last Sunday evening

Do you ever have those moments when something happens and you jokingly say, "I meant to do that!" Well, that happened to me last Sunday.

I invited five girls over to our place to play bananagrams and to meet our dog Frannie. I told them to invite others as well. Then after Mass, I invited a few more people.

Long story short, for the next two hours we had over forty students join us for the evening. In our one bedroom apartment and with very understanding neighbors since we didn't get a noise complaint!

I don't know how everyone fit, but it was quite the evening! At one time there was a card game going on at the kitchen table, a game of bananagrams in the middle of the rug, Apples to Apples on one side of the room, and another card game on the opposite side. This reminded us of the event two years ago when we were in Dubuque and we had students over at the beginning of the year. Only that was outside on the rooftop and this one was in our living room!

Check out my dad's blog to see what he meant to do this week!

Our Reading Lists

Tyler's reading list at the present moment

Dad and I came up with the blog topic for this week to share what we're reading. It didn't take too long for me to figure out that I have a lot of books I could talk about, because I am prone to start a book and then take forever to finish it. So first I'd like to share what Tyler is reading!

Tyler inspires me to be a better reader. Ever since we were married, we started reading before going to bed. I think he has always done this but it was new for me.

Tyler likes to read several books at once and switch off which one he reads each day. Currently he's reading Let the Fire Fall by Fr. Scanlan, a book given to him by the soccer coach at Belmont Abbey College. He's also reading The Spirit of St. Andrew by Alister Mackenzie which is about the architect behind designing golf courses. And third is a meditation book called A Year with the Angels.

And now for my reading list! I just finished a wonderful book about the Camino de Santiago called Hiking the Camino: 500 Miles with Jesus by Fr. Pivonka. I highly recommend this book (it was lent to us by friends in Montgomery after talking about our shared desire to go on the Camino!) and I finished it in three days!

Since finishing the book about the Camino I have started a few other books but last night I asked Tyler to give me a few recommendations. He brought over these three books. (Notice two of them are about sports!) I have heard about Brideshead Revisited and decided to start that one, so we'll see how it goes!

Check out what my dad is reading here!

Prayers Please!

Student missionaries in the Adoration chapel on campus

Tonight we met with our student missionaries here at Belmont Abbey for prayer, fellowship, and planning for Fall Outreach which starts Friday! Please keep us all in your prayers, especially the 335 new freshman that will be coming to campus!

We will be starting bright and early Friday morning to help the freshman move into their dorm rooms. This is such a crucial time because for many freshman, the people they meet in the first week will be the people they spend the next four years with. We hope to meet as many of them as we can, get their names and contact information, and then personally invite them to the welcome-back events this weekend and lots of fun activities we'll be planning next week. We want to get them plugged in right away and eventually invite them to Bible studies.

Here is a quote from Pope Francis that we discussed tonight with the student missionaries.

“Don't be afraid of love, of the love of God, Our Father. … Don't be afraid to receive the grace of Jesus Christ. Don't be afraid of our freedom that is given by the grace of Jesus Christ... Don't be afraid of grace. Don't be afraid to go out of yourselves … to go and find the 99 who aren't home. Go out to dialogue with them and tell them what we think. Go show them our love, which is God's love.” – Pope Francis 

Please pray for us that God gives us the grace to bring His light to the students on campus and that we won't let fear hold us back. We'll be praying for you and all your intentions as we step on campus!

Popcorn = Rappana Family Tradition

Popcorn. Butter. Salt. Dad's pressure cooker. Family. Comfort. Deliciousness.

These are all words that go together! There are many memories I have growing up and a lot of them include popcorn! Thanks to dad's trusted pressure cooker that he inherited from his parents, we have never been in want of popcorn. And since he searched high and low for additional pressure cookers to pass onto his girls, our future children will grow up with this treasured Rappana family tradition. Did I mention Tyler is the popcorn maker in our family now? That makes my heart happy!

Dad's pressure cooker and best popcorn ever!

I remember one time when Ashley and I were little we had to go to bed even though we smelled and heard popcorn popping in the kitchen.

Another time we got back from a shopping trip to Rapid City and dad made popcorn. I must have been about six or seven years old and I had to tell myself to slow down because I was eating it too fast. So I ate three pieces of popcorn at a time. This seems like an odd memory but it's true!

Fourth of July is synonymous with popcorn. When I was little we'd go to the parking lot of St. Patrick's Church and eat popcorn out of brown lunch bags while watching the fireworks over the Open Cut. One time we went to Nancy and Ken's apartment in Deadwood and ate popcorn from a large bowl while we watched the fireworks. I distinctly remember picking out the buttered pieces. I might still be known to do this today...

I remember watching dad make popcorn and when it was time to melt the butter he would hold the pot down at my level so I could watch the butter melt.

And for my favorite popcorn memory: going out to watch the stars at night while eating popcorn with our family. When we lived on Railroad in Lead we'd go to the picnic table outside. Dad would bring the big popcorn bowl and we'd look up at the stars while eating popcorn. When we moved to Miners Ave we'd go to the swinging porch in the back and look out at the town. There's something about family and food that makes me feel secure.

Last night Tyler made us popcorn for the first time in months. Since we've been traveling we haven't had access to our pressure cooker. Microwave popcorn is a close second but doesn't quite do it. I am thankful for my dad and his love of popcorn and for passing this love onto me. Check out my dad's favorite memories about popcorn here!

One tip for those out there that are hungry for popcorn after reading this...use salted butter! It makes all the difference in the world.

North Carolina

It hasn't really set in yet that we live in North Carolina!

Hello from North Carolina! We have survived our first week in our new home! I say survived, because we are anxiously awaiting our moving company's phone call letting us know they are on their way with our stuff. God is giving us the grace to offer up not having our apartment be filled with our belongings yet and it really isn't that bad not having any furniture or kitchen supplies. However it does make us grateful to know that we won't have to sit on the floor forever. The other day Tyler said, "We're missionaries, not monks." Well said.

Since there is only so much cleaning one can do in an empty apartment with no belongings, we have found plenty of things to do to keep us busy! We have really enjoyed exploring the surrounding towns around Charlotte and thankfully we like ours the best! Belmont is a small historic town right on the interstate and our apartment is minutes from Belmont Abbey College. Every day we've been going to daily Mass on campus and praying in the Adoration chapel...I'll have to post a picture later!

Farmer's Market in Gastonia

We have already explored two farmer's markets! One in Belmont and the other in Gastonia. We plan on being regulars and enjoying fresh vegetables and fruit for as long as we can! They are open year round so we're excited to see what the different seasons will bring!

Leave it to Tyler to find a soccer game to go to! The Charlotte Eagles are a USL pro team and we caught their second to last home game this past week. We are excited to continue to explore all the sporting events Charlotte offers! Tyler is considering becoming a Carolina Panthers fan. I like their colors so I'm in.

Whenever you come to visit us (everyone is welcome!) we will take you uptown Charlotte. Yes, it's called "uptown" instead of "downtown." What we've heard is that during the 1980s people wanted to change the image of the city and thought calling it uptown would present a more positive upbeat image of the city, as opposed to downtown. I think it's fun to say.

We ventured uptown the other night for a date night. Thanks to our Regional Director who took us here when we visited last March, we were confident that we could get on the interstate, go north, and take an exit and end up where we wanted to be. Sure enough, that is what we did. It is very easy to get around and another perk is that parking is free after 6pm!

We definitely marveled at the tall buildings and as we walked down the main streets we took note of dozens of restaurants that look amazing. We enjoyed appetizers and a beer at an Irish pub called Ri Ra that is definitely a new favorite.

How does our girl like North Carolina, you might be wondering? She seems to like it a lot. She has transitioned very well and is always SO excited to see us when we come home (more than usual it seems, she jumps in the air a lot and we're trying to work on that so she has good manners when meeting students in a few weeks!) There is a nice neighborhood near by that we enjoy walking her and it seems like many places here are pet-friendly.

We're excited to see what our second week holds here in our new place! Hopefully it is full of unpacking our things and getting settled! All in God's timing...