(Almost) MN Bound

I have seven days left of work- five at the church and two at the golf course- before I am on my way to Minnesota!!! If you cannot tell, I am super stoked. I'm ready for some good, old-fashioned family time. I miss my family. It's especially hard being away from them right now because my cousin passed away. So if any of my families members are reading this, please know that I wish I could be with you all and that I am praying for you. 


I will be in MN for almost two weeks and for the first part of my time there I want to see extended family and get some Chile preparations done. I'm planning on getting some shopping done (Costco and Mall of America here I come!) so I can have some new work clothes and get all the toiletries I'll need to bring to Chile. I also have some places I need to visit and get any paperwork straightened out. Then I want to do some serious cleaning. I still have a bedroom (it's my room) at my parents house and I'm very grateful for it. I know that I no longer live with them but I like still having strong ties to them. But I think the time has come to clean out a lot of the junk I have in it. I mean, seriously, I haven't used/looked at that stuff in 7 years! It's time to cut the sentimental ties and get rid of it. Then whatever I keep I plan to box up or have it nice and orderly in my room so that if (God forbid) my parents decide to change it into something else it will be a lot easier for them. By the way, they have changed it into a nursery when my first niece was born (they even replaced my bed with a crib) and also an exercise room- but each time, after awhile, it has been changed back. So it's my room again!


The second part of my time in MN will be spent up north at an AMAZING, MAGICAL resort called Brookside. Brookside is located near the picturesque town of Park Rapids and my mom's parents took her family there every summer when she was a child. Then when she and her siblings grew up, they started taking their own families. My family didn't seem to go quite as often as the others. In fact, I only remember us renting a cabin twice before, but sometimes we would go for just a day to visit my aunts and uncles and cousins. This is why I describe Brookside as amazing and magical- because I have such good family and childhood memories from there. Mini-golf, tubing, flipping peoples' kayaks and waterbikes over, trying to water ski but never getting up (more of an embarrassing than a fun memory), visiting Itasca State Park, staying up all night doing puzzles, etc. However, when we go this summer it's going to be different and EXTRA SPECIAL because we're starting a new generation of Brookside goers and memories with my nieces! This will also be the first time my whole family has taken a vacation together since we got the addition of my nieces. I'm so excited to start making new memories with them.

I'm excited to see these guys!

But in this type of (summer) weather!

And with the beautiful MN lakes landscape!

I would like to end with a prayer for my cousin. I keep coming back to the prayer of St. Gertrude which Our Lord promised that when we pray it that 1,000 souls will be released from purgatory. And if he's already in heaven (wonderful!) then we can be assured that the graces of this prayer will be applied to other souls in need.

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen. 

Eternal rest grant unto Joesph, O Lord and let Your perpetual light shine upon him. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.