#i could read five a day and i'd still have lots pending to read

[modestcatholiclife]

Small Steps Towards Big Goals

This week has been a mixed bag. I've been able to mostly keep to my dairy fast. Getting to finally have cheese again was such a rewarding experience. My fiance made me gnocchi, a perfect Lent meal that I had never had before and I enjoyed it immensely. I'll have to learn to make it myself for him one day. I also bought dairy free butter to allow me to at least have toast, one of my staples for this past week. But let's move on from food.

I finally finished my skirt on Tuesday. I had begun making it several months ago and had finished most of it by Christmas Day so I was able to wear it then but it took me until Tuesday to finish off the last section. It still needs a good iron and it's not the most skillful work ever done but it's only my second ever sewing project so I'm going to go easy on myself.

Wednesday was by far one of my most fun days. My friend and her brother took me to a carpark so I could learn to drive for the first time! I was there for about two hours, mainly going around this carpark over and over again but was eventually able to drive up the road and go around the roundabout. I feel very proud of myself for taking that first step but am still somewhat apprehensive for my next time driving. Towards the end of my two hours, one of the tyres hit something and had to be changed over. We were fine, it didn't affect the drive at all. Just created a bump in the tyre is all.

On Thursday, our Catholic young adult group started back up. I may have mentioned before but this year, I want to try and be more sociable at this group and become better friends with everyone. I was able to have a good conversation with a couple of people that I think I'll have the best chance of developing a friendship outside of the group with.

Towards the end of this week is where things became a little more sour. Five Uber Eats transactions that I didn't make showed up in my bank account, all from Thursday during a one hour window in the afternoon. I didn't see them until I began work on Friday. They added up to $82. I reported the transactions to my bank and then filled out a form on the Uber Eats website the next day. Fortunately, they are planning to refund the charges. Two of the charges have since disappeared and the other three are still pending so I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Sunday came with a beautiful Divine Liturgy, as it should. The priest that came down to say the Liturgy is the one organising my Catechism. He brought with him a book for me: Christian Initiation of Children. It's a book all about baptising children. Obviously I'm not a child, but it still has a lot of good information on why we baptise, what will happen during my baptism, the role of sponsors, and how to prepare for my baptism. And the parts that pertain purely to infant and child baptism, as our priest said, will be useful to my fiance and I in the married life. It's a beautiful book, filled with prayers for conception, pregnancy, before and after childbirth, and for new mothers and fathers. I'd like to add some of those prayers to my intercessory prayers for my friend who herself is pregnant. The book is also presented in both English and Ukrainian, which will be useful for language learning. I've already picked up on the word for baptism (Хрещення). I've been told to read it with my fiance and we've already started it. I'm eager to continue. I've started reading the youth catechism I was given some months ago. I know a bit more than I knew then so it's starting to make more sense to me.

Today has been quite a calming day. I went to a psychology appointment that has left me feeling more comfortable with the direction my life is heading and what I'm focusing on. I also got to see the therapy dog again and was able to get some pictures of her. She's a lovely, albeit sleepy, lady. I've finally brought the bins to the curb. Someone was taking them up each week when we moved in but recently they stopped and our apartment building has gone a few weeks with no bins being emptied so I've taken them up tonight.

Lastly, I ordered some books for my fiance's birthday last month but they still haven't arrived. I had contacted the monastery that printed them last week and have been in contact with one of the nuns. She's all but prepared to print the books again for us, free of charge, but asked to wait two more weeks to make it a full month due to frequent delays in the Australian Post Office. My fiance agreed and wouldn't you know it: tonight, I found a warning in my mail box telling me that I'll need to pick up my package or they'll be returned to sender. All this for a package that I've gotten no update or notice about at all 🙃. Hopefully, it'll be my fiance's books.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

[looselysealedkrypton]

mid year book tag <3

thank you @jackredfieldwasmyjacob and @claimedbytheearth for tagging me and the opportunity to look at my bookshelves with no academic stress for the first time this year😂💜

amount of books you’ve read so far: 16!! and yes, ten of these indeed are graphic novels.

best book you’ve read so far in 2022: that’s a tough one... The Alice Network by Kate Quinn!! I wanted to give historical fiction a try and really enjoyed this one. 

best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022: Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman without a doubt. To be fair, all sequels I’ve read so far are from this series but it really worked so well for me. I’d already really liked the first volume but the second made me love the story and the characters. 

new release you haven’t read yet, but want to: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan... i don’t know... the Moon is very captivating and present in lots of aspects of my life *and* it has mythology and friends-to-lovers-to-enemies... how could I not? 

most anticipated release for the second half of the year: you already know it’s the tpb of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King, Bilquis Evely and Mat Lopes. 

biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you): Jadzia Axelrod!! Not that she’s a new author but I got to read her work for the first time this year (with Galaxy and Alysia Yeoh) and I’m looking forward to reading more from her. 

newest fictional crush: hmmm i’d say that nearly none of my fictional crushes are new but one of them has to be Kat from Galaxy: The Prettiest Star (by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor). 

book that made you happy: I got to read last year’s DC Pride (2021) hc and it made me happy. yes, it’s not perfect and all but little me would’ve never imagined books like these being made, let alone reading them. 

most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received): the Hearstopper series maría lent me. (other than that, I hope it’ll be S:WoT).

what books do you need to read by the end of the year?: I have so many lol. Though I’d say I want to read them rather than “need to”. Let’s see... I definitely want to read Bir Gün Tek Başına by Vedat Türkali which is my mom’s favorite book that I’ve wanted to read forever. It’s a novel about Turkey before the 1960 military coup, focused on the situation of university students and the working class, that’s been sitting on my shelf and in the back of my mind for some time now. 

tagging @bansheefangirl @battenthecrosshatches @arkadibeast @mike-wachowski if you want to and feel free to skip ofc!!