The quarantine has come to an end!!!

It is the start of a new month and a crazy week (our weeks actually start on Tuesdays, since the schedule for the week comes out on Monday). Thursday is St. Francis Day, which means a special Mass, and a special community meal on Monday (last night). We had a big turkey (although it was actually chicken) dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, different breads and vegetables, fruit, and a birthday cake for Katelyn. She will be 23 on Friday and her parents will be arriving that night to stay for the weekend. I, unfortunately, will not get the chance to see them but I am confident they will have a wonderful time without me. Wednesday is the celebration of Transitus, which is a ceremony commemorating Francis' passing from this world to the next. I will tell you more about it after we attend it.

I lucked out by getting today as a prayer day, even though I will be off Saturday through Tuesday, so I have been cleaning and organizing my room and starting to think about packing. Life at the Inn continues as normally as possible, although it seems like I haven't been there much. In the past week I've had Thursday, Saturday, and today off. It is strange and a little uncomfortable to not be busy; I feel like I am losing my momentum. This is just a minor problem, and I'm sure things will be much more settled after I get back from my trip-Paul will be gone so Katelyn, Maureen, and I will be able to get into our own routine. We have just come out of our required 6 week quarantine during which we were not allowed to visit or be visited by people outside of our immediate community. Maureen has already been to see her fiancee and Katelyn's friend Christen will be with us next weekend. It will be interesting to see how our community changes with the added influence of outsiders.

Life here is grand, and I'm still having an incredible time. My birthday celebrations lasted all through the end of September-thank you so much everyone for the phone calls and online messages. It felt really great to receive so many kind birthday wishes and to know that I was being thought of on my birthday. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I really can't tell you how much your love and support means to me, because I couldn't be here doing this if it weren't for all of that. I am praying for you all.