"It is you, dear young people, who must show that faith is a personal decision which involves your whole life."
-Pope John Paul II

Friday 9 September 2011

A few random things...Seven, to be exact.


So I saw this thing called—guess—7 Quick Takes Friday on a really great Catholic blog. I think it's rather awesome. It seems like it will work well with my blog, too. I can tell you numerous (seven, in fact) random things, so I may actually take the time to update the blog. You, my dear reader, in turn, will actually learn something about Jamie and FOCUS at FGCU. Exciting, right? :) Now I just have to think of 7 things....

1. Official Bible studies started up this week! Last week were meet & greet meetings, but this week we started up our studying of the Word. I won't pretend to speak for my teammates, but mine went rather well. I've got a study of returners, meaning I combined my two studies from last year, and a new study, which may end up being mostly freshmen, which is cool. Two girls came to the new study, and they are both really awesome. I'm extremely excited to get to know them better, and to get them plugged into the word of God and the Catholic community here on campus. The other study I had seven girls show up....and two of them are actually new, so it's all good!

2. Last weekend was my first official (albeit spur-of-the-moment) "CRAFTERNOON." It was awesome. Take a bunch of ladies, a bunch of Mod[ge] Podge, a bunch of magazines, a bunch of good conversation, and what do you get? A bunch of sweet crafts, and a bunch of fun. (That's a lot of bunches.) Oh yes, and a really nice wall hanging of Baby Jesus and Mary. Not as crafty, but just as awesome. Check out the photos us working diligently, and all of the finished products.


3. I may soon be in possession of darkroom equipment! (aka stuff to develop my own film...it's getting to be a lost art, seriously!) My uncle just found his old equipment and offered it to me. It makes me a little sad knowing that it's in Indiana while I'm in Florida, but you know, offer it up, right? I've had darkroom withdrawals since college. There's something about film photography that just doesn't cut it with digital photography, I don't care how cool of a digital SLR you have. I'm excited to do more work like that flower to the left. That didn't even use film. Or a camera. Just an enlarger. Try THAT, digitalness! (I guess I could have scanned it...but believe me, not the same!)

4. We have a part time chaplain for FGCU now! His name is Fr. Michal, and he's Polish. He's also young...just 30, I think. He's only been a priest for a few months, and he's excited to be helping us out...we're excited too. His accent is a little thick, but he's hilarious. I'm really excited to see how having the sacraments more readily available to students will grow their faith!

5. Speaking about being excited about students growing in their faith...I'm just excited. It's going to be such a good year. Last year we really laid some foundations, getting to know a lot of students really well, and this year we're really going to get down to what it really is that FOCUS is all about—teaching teachers how to teach. Our prayer is to help get students really fired up about their faith so that they can't NOT share it with their peers. We've been strategizing as a team about just how to do that, and it's exciting. We've got some good retreats coming up about prayer and really getting in touch with the Holy Spirit, and then evangelization and really making sharing your faith a part of your life. Yep, exciting.

6. I put this on my last post, but it's worth another mention. My teammate Steve put together a really great website about FOCUS at FGCU. Also, if you want to keep up with what we're doing on an even more day-to-day basis, you can like our facebook page. And while you're at it, check out the FGCU Newman Club, as well. They do some great stuff that we're involved in. It's good to be a Catholic Eagle, and it's only gonna get better!

7. To finish off, a really cool video for your consideration and viewing enjoyment:

Thursday 1 September 2011

Long time, no post...

Hello friends! It's been about a year now since I've posted anything on here...oops. This isn't going to be a long one, either. Just an update.

I'm back at FGCU for the 2011-2012 school year, and I'm rather excited about it! It's going to be a great year, especially with all the groundwork we laid last year. To see what's been going on this year, a great resource is http://focusfgcu.com/. One of my teammates has worked really hard putting it together (and will actually update it, unlike some people we know here... :-/ ).

Speaking of teammates, I have a full team this year! Here's a photo from the luau we threw last weekend!

I hope & pray that anyone who reads this is doing well...pray for me & my students too! God has some crazy things in store for FGCU this year, I can feel it...