The Buerglers

This post has been in the queue since before Maggie was born but I did not have the emotional energy to finish it.  It's now been four months since my discernment to leave ministry to become a full-time mother. Ever since late high school I knew I wanted to work in Religious Education of some sort. I didn't know if that meant in the classroom of a Catholic school or in youth ministry, or what.  After a few years of college education in Religious Studies - focus on catechetics - and a lot of hands on ministry work, I discerned that youth ministry was the starting point for me. I was hired at the second parish I interviewed, my parent's home parish.  I was a part-time high school youth minister and I nannied for two families, and eventually went full time youth ministry while still nannying for one family. A few years later I moved into a different role that was two different hats and two different age groups:  Middle school youth ministry and 10th grade Confir...

Back in January I spent a long time discerning my vocation -- Do I continue with my current job or find something a little easier to juggle two kids?  Do I quit working all together?   I wrestled for a long time (I have an entire post on this, I just need to edit it when I'm not so emotional), but finally decided that being a full-time stay-at-home-mom is what I am being called to do. I gave my notice in mid-February and shortly after gave a firm deadline of April 4th as my last day.  I had a lot of things to do, including find, interview and hire my replacement --- which still hasn't been done --- as well as finish up some tasks that I usually do this time of year. With the help of my great co-workers we managed to get everything finished and divided out. I cleaned out my cubicle. And found this gem - the shirt from the first retreat I did :) But it still didn't feel real.  I have been working at this parish for nine years!  The k...

Gosh I've missed regular blogging...but I've been enjoying visiting with family and friends and preparing for some pretty incredible things. Last week I spent almost every evening interviewing potential future teen leaders for our Confirmation program and Life Teen program.  It is hands down  my favorite week each year.  Mandi and I get to spend 30 minutes getting to know and picking the brains of a high schooler.  This year we have over twenty applicants!  Needless to say I'm a bit exhausted after I get home from work. Evie and I have had some fun play dates with friends!  We were especially glad that Rebecca could bring Zoe and Evan for an impromptu visit last week! Over the weekend we traveled to Savannah, GA and to Beaufort, SC.  I can't to share all the photos and about our great weekend! Today I was able to spend some quality time with Mandi.  We went to buybuybaby to work on her baby registry.  It was SO fun talking ...

Though these are not the preferred version of the Catholic marriage vows, we are all familiar with the similar vows to these in the secular world, Priest: (Name), do you take (name) for your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part? Bride:  I Do. These last two or three weeks has been a trial against every aspect of our marriage vows. For better, for worse... I just came off my busy season for work. I was tired exhausted, cranky, and drained in every aspect.  I was running on empty.  This coupled with the everything else that happend this week (see below), I wanted to give up.  Not on my marriage, not on my daughter, but on myself.  I wanted to lock myself in my room for a month.  I cried in public. I cried at bible study.  I cried talking to my cube-mates.  Worn thin. This morning Eric calmly said to me, ...

My fellow youth ministers and I regularly get asked "What's your real job?"  Or, "It's so nice of you to give up your weekends in college to have the teens hang out at church" Never mind that the three of us are married, some with kids , and all with degrees related to our field. Though work as a youth minister is never over, the  busy season  of my work as Confirmation coordinator at a large parish is over... 5 months of insanity, collecting paperwork,  talking to parents, coordinating schedules for 27 high schools and 204 students, recruiting chaperones, keeping kids holy, rationing the donuts for myself the teens, retuning 3500 emails, planning a retreat for 200 with support staff of 40+, 9 weekly classes, and 2 Confirmation Masses with the bishop.... I joke and kid about these things, but in reality I LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do, and I love the miracles I witness in teens lives.  Afte...

For those who do not know, I am a Confirmation coordinator at a very large parish.  Each year I have over 170 candidates.  This year I have 194.  Each year has it's own set of battles.  A few years ago I was planning a wedding and got married during the "Confirmation Season" last year I was pregnant and on bed rest trying to organize things from a far with help from co-workers. This semester of work has been particularly challenging for me but in a different way.  This year our pastor/boss charged the youth ministry team with being bold and to not back down to pushy parents.  Obviously, there are exceptions and there is compassion.  He meant that the people in our area feel very entitled.  They use their money, job status, and every other thing you can imagine as an excuse to not follow the guidelines for our program, or the rules of the Church.  You would probably be appalled at the lines people give me.  He a...

Today is the Feast of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth.  The time in Scripture where the pregnant Mary sets out to visit her also miraculously pregnant cousin, Elizabeth.  At the sight of Mary, the infant (as we later know to be John the Baptist) leaped in her womb. The readings for today's Mass include the Scripture passages where we, as Catholics, receive the prayers knowns as the Hail Mary and the Magnificat.   See for yourself!   As an Elizabeth , this story, scripture passage, and Feast Day has always held a special place in my heart.  But even more so last year... See, last summer I was at summer camp with 14 rowdy middle school kids.  I wasn't technically supposed to go on the trip, but last minuted ended up having to lead the group AND drive the 15 passager bus two hours away in the mountains. Normally, I LOVE going to Covecrest for retreats, day trips, camp, etc but I was   16 weeks pregnant and on strict ord...

Wow.  I feel like I've been away from blogging forever.  Not just blogging, but Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, Pinterest...the Internets in general.  I thought after 10 days of being focused on real-life I'd miss these things but I didn't ( that much).  I felt it ironic and timely that my friend Ashley would post about the same feelings towards  finding Internet balance  that I was having this week. Because we were so busy LIVING our lives, I hardly captures anything on  film  my digital camera.  Sorry! What exciting adventures have we been on??? Sunday night  Eric helped kicked off the year for our parish youth group.  My Sunday night schedule is now free (hooray part-time!) so I could take pictures of the party.  This is one of my favorites of all the adult volunteers, affectionately known as "The Core Team" Last  Monday  we went to the Braves game to celebrate our friend  Sarah 's birthday. Happy Bi...

I once read a quote that said something to the effect that we find that we have changed when we come to a situation/place/person that has not.  And that is exactly what happened to me this weekend. Eric and I were among 6 chaperones to take 32 teenagers to a weekend-long Catholic youth conference .  Now I have attended this conference about 10 times indifferent capacities: visitor, volunteer staff, youth minister The Saturday night hour of Eucharistic Adoration is notoriously a time for teens and adults find spiritual healing, surrender, peace, forgiveness, strength, etc.  It is a very powerful night, especially for the teens who have never encountered our Lord this way. Now six years ago, my first summer out of college and my second trip with the youth group I was recently hired to lead.  I had a Saturday night Adoration experience of that of a broken teenager; praying for things like healing my broken heart, helping me be a good youth minister, mending ...

(I think this blog hop is supposed to be for crafters...ooops. Oh well) Baby Update Being pregnant has exposed me to some realities of pregnancy that women just don't really talk about.  Everyone mentions their morning sickness or their terrible birth stories, probably because our society thrives on shows like CSI, Grey's Anatomy and House.  Obsessed with dramatic health.  Women don't talk about the growing pains like back pain, migraines, gas, and constipation. And sadly they rarely talk about the JOYS of being pregnant.  I want to hear more stories about sweet or romantic things people do for women while they are pregnant.  I want to know the honest-to-God truth about what is going on with my body.  I want to hear women celebrate the first time they feel the baby, or the crying from the overwhelming love for the little one growing inside. With that, here's a quick reality of my pregnancy this month: the baby is using up my already low supply of calc...

As we near the end of the first trimester, I am finally starting to feel more human and have more energy.  We've been (almost) back to our crazy busy social lives, with the exception that I turn into a pumpkin around 9 pm.  It's been nice to go out and see people instead of my three month routine of: work, nap, eat dinner, maybe go for a walk, go back to bed. We've been out and about - but unfortunately I've been out of the habit of carrying my camera around, so I have nothing but super horrible cell phone pictures (digression: my Droid X boasts an 8 megapixel camera. EIGHT! Yet, unless it's broad day light, the quality of the photo is about that of a flip phone... as you'll see) Thursday (4/28) , our friend Austin was in town from Charleston so we met up at a beer bar for drinks.   I found out that Austin is a loyal reader of our blog so I promised him this shout out & picture! Except, what's worse than my phone's inability to take quality pho...