General
God
Video Games
So proud of Henrietta-- she is starting PSEO soon at the college here in town this Fall, with the intention of going into graphics design. For practice, I asked her if she could try to come up with a simple business card for Universal Zeal. With no formal training and no direction from me, she intuitively gathered the necessary requirements from me, went off, and came back with this:
I asked her how she even came up with this, and she said "Well, your logo is kind of futuristic looking, and I know that futuristic designs often incorporate sharp edges and angles." Wow!
Now, it took us a few iterations to tweak some of the details, but that's also part of what impressed me so much: she naturally, with no instruction, worked in an Agile sort of fashion-- "What do you think of this? Let me tweak it, ok, how about now?"
I steered her towards Figma as a next tool she should learn-- then I can ask her for, "Try to design a mobile-first website." If she can tackle that, and I have zero doubt she can, she could hop right in as part of working with clients right here at Universal Zeal!
Grief Support
I had the great privilege of meeting and having the opportunity to pray alongside Deb Hadley on Sunday evening. For those who don't know her, she is a national speaker who runs a foundation called KT Humble Hearts. They specialize in providing hope and healing to people experiencing even-- or perhaps especially-- the most profound grief. So if you are experiencing grief, now you know where to go!
Deb is one of those perfect examples of the principle I often articulate on this blog: God does not want us to suffer, and does not want tragedy-- but as those things are side effects of the pure gift of love He gave us in Free Will combined with the fallen nature of our world due to Original Sin (and so suffering and tragedy do exist), He at least always makes good from tragedies and suffering when they do occur.
Sometimes the effects are outside of our purview. Other times they are very visibly manifest. Deb's public speaking is an example of the latter. You can read all about her story on the website, or of course go listen to her talks!
Incidentally, Deb, along with the Father Dan you all read me writing about so often, is one of the instrumental components in setting up the new healing prayer ministry in my neck of the woods, and to which I feel so drawn. It will bear much fruit in our community!
God's Grace
While I try to always give praise to God, on some days I'm simply bowled over by the blessings-- there are so many I can't even enumerate them all! But here are just a few:
My whole life, the good the bad and the ugly, God formed for this moment in time.
Tabletop Mode
The best mode of both the original Switch and its successor is the tabletop mode. It's the mode I've leveraged the least in terms of playtime, but it's the most useful when it's relevant since it can't be reproduced by any other platform. Click on the image for a full-sized version.
Now that I'm working at home again, it's so useful to have this little "TV" just sitting there-- when I need a ten minute break, I can very quickly just grab the joy-cons, play for a few minutes without even leaving my chair, then turn it off again.
I asked her how she even came up with this, and she said "Well, your logo is kind of futuristic looking, and I know that futuristic designs often incorporate sharp edges and angles." Wow!
Now, it took us a few iterations to tweak some of the details, but that's also part of what impressed me so much: she naturally, with no instruction, worked in an Agile sort of fashion-- "What do you think of this? Let me tweak it, ok, how about now?"
I steered her towards Figma as a next tool she should learn-- then I can ask her for, "Try to design a mobile-first website." If she can tackle that, and I have zero doubt she can, she could hop right in as part of working with clients right here at Universal Zeal!
Grief Support
I had the great privilege of meeting and having the opportunity to pray alongside Deb Hadley on Sunday evening. For those who don't know her, she is a national speaker who runs a foundation called KT Humble Hearts. They specialize in providing hope and healing to people experiencing even-- or perhaps especially-- the most profound grief. So if you are experiencing grief, now you know where to go!
Deb is one of those perfect examples of the principle I often articulate on this blog: God does not want us to suffer, and does not want tragedy-- but as those things are side effects of the pure gift of love He gave us in Free Will combined with the fallen nature of our world due to Original Sin (and so suffering and tragedy do exist), He at least always makes good from tragedies and suffering when they do occur.
Sometimes the effects are outside of our purview. Other times they are very visibly manifest. Deb's public speaking is an example of the latter. You can read all about her story on the website, or of course go listen to her talks!
Incidentally, Deb, along with the Father Dan you all read me writing about so often, is one of the instrumental components in setting up the new healing prayer ministry in my neck of the woods, and to which I feel so drawn. It will bear much fruit in our community!
God's Grace
While I try to always give praise to God, on some days I'm simply bowled over by the blessings-- there are so many I can't even enumerate them all! But here are just a few:
- Ellyn's growth; from so shy even 1-1 conversations were difficult, to exhibiting astonishing leadership and communication skills growth on a pretty much daily basis. How? By doing the will of the Father. And I'm watching Him bestow His grace on her pretty much in real-time.
- The incredible growth of my children, strong in Faith, their charisms really starting to shine.
- My new business partners, who are incredible. And all of the ways going on where the work is starting to take form; so many threads all coming together, to the point where even my dad seems to fit in this puzzle on the IT side, which is a real blessing.
- Speaking of my dad, I'm thankful for my parents' health, and the bond I have with both of them.
- The connections I'm making all over the place, like one big web of people leading everyone else to love God.
- The diaconate formation. I can't wait to get started.
- The future of my Area Catholic Community, which looks so bright.
- I have learned the true nature of suffering, and how to turn it upside down, all thanks to dispensations of God's grace.
My whole life, the good the bad and the ugly, God formed for this moment in time.
Tabletop Mode
The best mode of both the original Switch and its successor is the tabletop mode. It's the mode I've leveraged the least in terms of playtime, but it's the most useful when it's relevant since it can't be reproduced by any other platform. Click on the image for a full-sized version.
Now that I'm working at home again, it's so useful to have this little "TV" just sitting there-- when I need a ten minute break, I can very quickly just grab the joy-cons, play for a few minutes without even leaving my chair, then turn it off again.