God Of Wonders Beyond Our Galaxy!

 So I know I have not updated for ever and I am so sorry!!  Time is flying by so fast! I cannot believe it. I feel like we just started last week, and we just finished week 4!!!!!

Well since I neglected to write about week 2 (and 3 and 4), allow me to share a few of my favorite memories really fast.

•  WEEK 2: So for week 2 I was on day shift, which means I actually got to see where I was walking!! Here were the shifts for the week. Night shift: John, Grace, Peter, Stephanie, And Zechariah. Day shift: me (Kirstin), Mario, Josh, Allison, Daniel, and Alexander. Night shift started out from Spokane on Sunday night. Meanwhile we visited with the Sisters who were hosting us. Alex and Dan brought their guitar and violin over and they played some music for us and the Sisters! We had our own private Scythian concert!! It was really great and so much fun. Then Monday we began walking again!! This week was so much different from the week before. First of all I could see where we were walking! haha! It was really nice to actually see where I was walking. The mountains and the valleys were so beautiful, and talking with Alexander and Daniel was really amazing too. I think one of the most memorable ones I had was with Alexander. We were walking our last 5 miles of the day together and we began to talk about  art and how it is so important to keep art in the schools and for kids to be artistic. We also talked about Pappa Benny and Blessed JPII. So good!! Probably the best day though, was when we pushed and made it all the way to the Montana border. It has been the brother's dream to make it to Montana and they finally did. We all got out of the car and walked across together. It was so epic!! And it was such a great feeling knowing we got Night shift all the way there too. The rest of the week was great. We walked through the Rocky Mountains of Montana, and saw some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. God's creation is truly amazing! I am so blessed to able to see these wonderful places and to be able to marvel at how great He is. So that is a quick catch up of week 2.
• WEEK 3: So week 3 I was on night shift again. On my shift was Allison, Josh, Zechariah, and Stephanie (we were finally on shift together!!!!!). I was really anxious about being back on Night shift again, but I knew the Lord wanted me there for a reason, and to my pleasant surprise this week ended up about really fabulous. We set off from Butte, Montana that night. Josh and I were the first ones to walk. It was still pretty light outside, but it ended up being a pretty bright night anyways because there was a full moon!! It was so beautiful, especially as we were passing this beautiful lake. As the moon shined down on it, it just glistened and sparkled and once again I a was marveling at the beauty of nature. The whole week ended up being very pretty at night because of the moon. Tuesday was a good night as well. I got to walk with Zech for the first time which was really nice since we had not walked together before. It is really great to actually got to walk one on one with people. You get to know the person so much more, and you truly get to see the person you are living with. Can I also just though in here that sunrises are amazingly beautiful! As Zech and I were walking the sun began to rise. I noticed the sunrises the first week of night shift, but I did not truly appreciate their beauty until this week. All the different and beautiful, brilliant colors. It was also so peaceful because not many cars would be going by, and the animals we were passing were just beginning to come up. I found that I really love this time of day (meaning 4ish in the morning) because it is so beautiful and peaceful. Also, ironically, for the next two weeks I often walked around that time everyday so I was able to keep enjoying it and was able to keep marveling at the beauty of it. At the beginning of the walk, Day Shift and Night Shift began leaving notes for one another. Sometimes they were funny, other times they were a bit more uplifting, and sometimes there were none at all. This week, however, Day Shift decided to change it up a bit and leave a video message for night shift. It is a video of Grace singing a song in Japanese, and Alex and Peter randomly dancing in the background. It was so funny and really lifted our spirits that night. In response we also decided to make a video using the Peanut Butter Jelly Time song. We decided we would film it during sunrise. It was so much fun!! It starts out with Stephanie and Allison discovering that there is only peanut butter and jelly to eat, which leads into our whole group dancing. Here are the links to both videos. In the Peanut Butter and Jelly one pay attention to the doors on the car too :)
• Here's the Peanut Butter and Jelly One
• And here is Day Shift's video to us :) 
•  As for the rest of week 3, it ended very well. We got all the way to Billings, Montana and we    learned we were ahead of schedule!! Yay!! We staid with our host families and Saturday was Allison's Birthday!! We celebrated that night after we went to the masses with a cookie cake and one last concert from the Fedoryka Brothers. It was a pretty awesome night. Sunday we spoke at parishes once again, ate some dinner at Olive Garden (Yum) and then us on night shift began walking once again.
• WEEK 4: So, this past week I was on night shift once again, so we started just past Billings. On my shift this week was Josh, Zech, Mario, and Grace. Grace and I were really excited to be back on the same shift again after not being together for three weeks, but alas Stephanie and I were not again :( and probably not for a while, unfortunately :( Anyways, Zech and Grace were going to try to stay up all night by watching movies. Well that lasted for about one five mile shift, and then they opted for sleep, haha. On Tuesday we decided to spend some of our time at the Little Big Horn Battlefield. It was really cool! Also very tragic at the same time, for both Americans and Native Americans. It was an awesome place to visit though. Wednesday night we ran into a slight issue though: A THUNDERSTORM!! Josh and I walked first that night. We saw Lightning from a distance, but we determined it was far enough away that we did not really have to worry about it yet. Well about 2 1/2 miles into our walk, all of a sudden there was lightning "all around" us, meaning it was about a mile away from us. Well we decided it might be best that we call the support van to come pick us up. We proceeded to spend the next hour or so in the van watching the lightning and catching up on sleep. Finally we were able to continue walking. We got done with 4.5 miles, woke Zech and Grace up in the van, and then noticed that the storm was getting a little close again, but we were determined to get 5 miles in (Because of the storm it was now around 12:30 AM and we still had not completed 5 miles yet). So we took off walking our last .5 mile. Well, the weather was not on our side, because as we began walking it started to rain, but not just rain. It began to hail too. So the van came and picked us back up and we went a little crazy in the van, marveling at the fact we couldn't even get five miles in. We also danced and began to wait for the storm to disappear once again. Here's a funny video of us in the van waiting for the storm to finish. Well we finally managed to walk, and we finished the shift. Thursday came and instead of Grace walking with us that night, Allison came along. She had been feeling sick earlier in the day, so Grace walked for her (yes she pulled a double shift). This ended up being another great night. Mass was not going to be until 12:15 PM the next day so we challenged ourselves to do 40 miles, and 40 miles we did! We are now 2 days ahead of schedule (that is 5 shifts of walking). We are in Rapid City this weekend, and on Friday we went to Mount Rushmore!! It was so cool to see, but of course the only thing I had going through my head was the movie National Treasure, because that is where they go in the second movie. I really enjoyed being there, and being able to see something that I may not have the chance to see ever again. Another thing that was awesome about this week, is that we staid with several host families. Each family was so open and generous to us. I had Elk for the first time! It was so good! A lot better than I expected. Another host family we stayed with was on a Cheyenne Indian Reservation, so we got to learn a lot about their culture. Every little detail on their clothes, blankets, and shoes means something. It really is incredible! Wednesday Night we stayed with another family, who had 8 adorable kids, and it was like being back home, which was really nice. 
• It really is truly amazing how people are so welcoming. They invite us into their homes and parishes and really treat us so well. God's love just radiates. It is so amazing. It is also amazing with the support each of us seems to have at home. I was just talking to my dad earlier today (Happy Father's Day Daddy!!) and he was talking about how they have people come up to them and say we are praying for your daughter and her walk all the time. Even today on Facebook someone who I have not talked to in a while commented on something and said good luck. I did not even know she even payed attention to me. I would like to take the time to say thank you to everyone who is praying for us, who has donated to us, who has invited us into their homes and parishes. It really means more than we can say. Your prayers are what keep us going everyday.
• A few more things and then I promise this book of a blog post will be over. I have been reflecting on a few things these past few weeks. First, how important mass and the Eucharist truly is. Each morning we begin the day with mass. We are so lucky to be able to receive the Eucharist. The more and more we got into Montana the more we learned that there is a shortage of priests, and sometimes they are not even able to have mass every day. How lucky am I that at home we have enough priests to celebrate mass for us everyday. That is something I have never thought about before. I just took it for granted. This trip has taught me never to take the Eucharist for granted. It is a gift, a beautiful gift we are so privileged and so BLESSED!! Oh my gosh, words cannot describe how blessed we are. Wow! 
• Another thing I have been contemplating this last few weeks is the beauty of the nature God has created. I always knew there were beautiful spots on the Earth, I just did not know there were so many. Each day has brought about it's own beauty. Each day has brought something different. There are so many different sides to Montana. There are the beautiful mountains and valleys, and there are the plains and deserts which have a whole different beauty in and of themselves. Then there are the Black Hills in South Dakota. We went to Mount Rushmore, and the drive there was so beautiful. And then there is a whole different beauty at night. Now I am the first person to admit I am very jumpy and get scared easily, especially walking at night where there are not really many cars, and every noise can be heard. But this past week I really tried (though not always successful) to let my fears go and to trust in God and to just enjoy the beauty that was before me, meaning the stars in the sky. Now how many of you have seen stars? Well okay all of us have, but how many stars have you actually seen because I can tell you there were so many more out there than I thought. Montana is known as big sky country, and boy does it live up to its  name. There were so many stars and it was so dark that Josh and I were able to see the arm of the Milky Way Galaxy that our solar system lives on (a childhood dream for Josh). It was truly incredible. As I looked up there, I could not help but reflect upon how they are a shining and sparkling example of God's creation and how if we keep Mary and Jesus close to our hearts then we should be able to shine and sparkle just as the stars do in our love for Christ, and it helps us be a shining witness for the unborn. It made sense in my mind at 2:30 in the morning when I was walking, haha.

So that is a brief, and really I mean brief, update of the last three weeks. Please continue to pray for us as we walk through South Dakota!! We are two days ahead so please pray we can continue to keep walking so well! Also if you have any prayer intentions please send them my way! And if you have questions don't hesitate to ask! I would love to answer them! God Bless everyone! and thank you for reading!

Jezu Ufam Tobie

 

Kirstin

P.S. check out these awesome videos made by some of my friends! They are truly worth watching!

This one was made by Josh the week we were on day shift

and this one was made by Peter. It's long bout super good! 

                                    This is us at the Montana Border
                       

Mount Rushmore!

A Beautiful Valley in Montana

Crossroads!

Here are some pictures from Montana that I took this week!!!

Blood, sweat, tears.... And a spiritual battle.

So the first week of our northern Crossroads walk is over. We are into the second week, but what a journey it has been so far. As many of you know we started out from the Space Needle and as a group we walked about 2 miles and then day shift took over. I was on night shift so I did not walk until the night... Obviously lol. I will not bore you with the details. But here was the daily schedule. Mass in the morning. Day shift would walk all day. Meanwhile, we, the night shift, would do the shopping that needed to be done and hen John would drive us to the rv park wherein we would collapse from having no sleep. We then would get up around 6 ish and begin dinner. Along the way there were some bumps in the road and some very interesting stories. Here are some of my favorite stories of the week.
1. The dog-wolf hybrid. Grace and Peter were out on a shift. We were in the middle of the Cascade Mountains. John, Mario, and I were asleep in the support vehicle up at the transition point ( five ish miles ahead of the walkers walking). As they were walking a white dog/ wolf thing came out of the woods and began to go towards them. They tried calling us but since we were in the mountains we had no service. So they turned around and flagged down a car so they could be driven around the dog thing. Poor guys. We felt so bad even though it was not really our fault we did not have reception. Thank God they were ok.
2. I have officially bled for the babies. Wednesday night I walked the first shift and realized I was getting a blister. So I put a band aid on it and tried to ignore it. Well during my second shift it came off and when we reached the car after I took off my shoes I found that my sock was bloody and I had not one but four blisters that had begun to bleed. It was painful but nothing I could handle.
3. Peter and I heard a coyote on Thursday morning. But then later we saw the sun rise. We were surrounded by farmland so it was absolutely gorgeous. Especially when we saw the deer up on the hill.
4. John and I driving to the rv park called Jack' s resort. Literally in the middle of nowhere. Everyone else was asleep. I was helping him navigate from the front. We turn down this dirt road and the gps says we should be there. Well no rv park. We keep driving and John says it will just be around the corner. Still no rv park. John and I are cracking up and it seems so funny because we were so tired. Well we finally found the rv park after driving another 8 miles down the road. Quit the adventure.
5.We stayed in Spokane over the weekend with some Sisters. On friday night Alex and Dan Federico from the band Scythian (for all you Frannies reading this) and they played us our own private concert as we were visiting the sisters. It was so awesome!!!!!! They are going to be walking with us for the next 2 weeks. It has been really great getting to know them so far.
That is just a handful of the good stories. We met so many great people at the parishes we had mass at. They were so welcoming. It was really refreshing to meet people like that.

The other thing I pondered this past week is he fact this is not only a physical battle but is truly also a spiritual one.being on night shift is so challenging and is truly a struggle. I know I did anyways. I hurt my knee this past week so I could not complete my 15 miles each day. I had to cut down to 10 miles. But it was hard not to walk because I wanted to do much. Also after ten miles it put my group down a walker which is not really fair. But it was something I had to accept. It made it hard on the night shift though. People had to pull double shift and we really had to fight to get those 30 miles in every night. It was hard. You are tired, you are sore but you want to walk because you want the culture of life to prevail not the devil. He really makes it difficult. He tries to weasel his way in so we won't finish, but we fought through it. Even when Grace and I were crying on Thursday night because we were so tired and sore. We knew we Had to do it. The thing that really kept us going was this: struggling or suffering souls snuggle close to my merciful heart. Jesus said that to St. Faustina. It it's true. We need Christ to get us through these next three months. Otherwise we will fail. If it is one thing I have learned so far is to keep Mary and Jesus so close to your heart. If you do, the devil will never be able to penetrate it. I did find night shift to be very rewarding though. It is truly where the prayer and sacrifice come in because we are not always able to be witnesses at night as much as day shift is able.


Well that pretty sums up this past week. Week 2 is in full swing. Made it to Montana today!!! The pictures are from the Idaho/ Montana border. Really enjoying day shift. More later. Keep up those prayers! Please send me prayer requests if you have any!! Also please send me any questions!! Night you all!! Love and prayers!!!!
Jezu Ufam Tobie
Kirstin

And so it begins!!!

So Crossroads northern walk 2012 has officially begun!! Just a quick update of the last few days and then onto the actual walking.
So after arriving in Seattle last Wednesday, my team and I just hung out Wednesday night. We also had to pick people up after Allison and I arrived so it was better to not really have anything planned. By Wednesday night almost all of us were there. Only 2 of our guys couldn't make it Wednesday but one can Friday and one came Sunday. Here is my team!! They are all truly amazing people and I cannot wait to get to know them more!
So our walk director is Dave. He trained us and he is with us for the first week but he leaves this weekend.
Our walk leader ( fearless leader as he has been dubbed) is John. He is from LA and was actually on the same flight as Allison and I were for Seattle. Next is Grace and Zechariah from st. Louis Peter from Maryland. Josh from south Carolina. Amanda from Wisconsin, and Stephanie from Sacramento, and last but not least Mario from Ireland!! Everybody is great and training was really fun.

This past weekend we began talking to parishes about our mission and also asking for their financial support because we rely on there donations in order to survive this summer. Everyone was so generous and loving. They really wanted to help us which was wonderful because I feel sometimes people might be over asked to donate money. I gave the speech at my parish. It had me thinking about why I am doing this walk. Why give up my whole summer to walk across America? Well I realized a lot of it was because of my mom. Mom was adopted by my grandparents but if her birth mom had not chosen life when she found out She was pregnant then I would not be there. Then it got me thinking about how easy it would have been to abort my mother because of her birth mother' s situation and that one decision could change the future for so many. One decision. One. How many people should I have met by now? How many classmates did not get to go to school with me or graduate this year with me? What if I had been one of them? That is why I walk. I walk so they may have a chance to live the life I have had he opportunity to live.
So I bought about this all weekend. And then it was finally Monday!!!! Our first day of walking. We started as a group together at the space needle in downtown Seattle. And then the day shift took over. I am part of the night shift so I did not start walking until around 9 pm last night and finished around 6:30 this morning. It was very challenging. We take turns doing 5 miles each and we switch off with the other people on our shift but it is still so hard. My knee is in some pain right ow but I am proud to say I walked all 15 of my miles last night. It is also the first time I pulled an all nighter. Which needlessly to say made me feel quit sick earlier today. But hopefully my body will adjust to it soon. In fact in a few nineties I am going to sleep so I can be rested for tonight. Well that is pretty much it. I have little Internet access but I will do my best to keep as updated as possible. Please feel free to message me your questions and I will answer them as soon as possible. Keep up those prayers!! They are what get us through everyday and night shift! Also if you have eater requests please send them to me so I can pray for you too!! That's all for now!! Goodnight!!
Jezu Ufam Tobie
Kirstin

From the air!!!

So right now I am up in the air over the Kansas/ Missouri border! All I can see from the window is land for miles and miles with a house here and there but other than that not much. Well just checking in. Technically this will get posted after I land because I do not have Internet right now, but that's ok. More later from LA!
*Jezu ufam Tobie*
Kirstin
Ps. The first picture is over Kansas and the last three were taken over New Mexico! You could see the mountains from the plane!!!

Seattle!!!!!!

Well we have made it to Seattle! It has been quiet a day. Our first flight landed in LA at around 2:30 SET meaning it was 11:30 AM in California, and Allison and I were so hungry! So we quickly found our gate and then headed to get some food. Then we boarded our plane to Seattle. We have just landed and we are waiting to get our luggage. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to arrive safely. Please continue to watch over us as our journey continues. To everyone who is reading this, first of all thank you for taking the time to read my blog. It means a lot :) Second please keep sending those prayers our way. We would not be able to do this without you and them. Third please feel free to message me your prayer intentions so that I can pray for you while I am walking, after all I will be doing a lot of prayer this summer, lol. Well so long for now. Maybe an update later. My love and prayers to you all!!
*Jezu Ufam Tobie*
Kirstin
The picture was taken as we were flying to Seattle. I thought it was cool hat it looked like the earth was ending, lol.

The Night Before

So this is going to my attempt at trying to keep a blog this summer. It is tuesday night and I am getting very nervous/excited/OMGsh I can't believe this is happening. I just graduated from Franciscan University this past Saturday, and tomorrow I leave for three months to walk for the unborn children and to preach the pro-life message. It will hopefully be an awesome summer, but I am leaving behind so much, like my family, friends, URTM, a JOB! Yes, a job. I will not be making any money this summer, and I have loans to start paying off in November, but through this whole process of applying to Crossroads and getting accepted has really been guided by the Lord's hand. There is no doubt in my mind that I am suppose to do this this summer. Every prayer and action has been pointing to this since February, and now the time has finally come. 


So for those of you who have been reading this thus far and are saying to yourselves, "What is Crossroads?" well here is your answer. Crossroads is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to spreading the pro-life message. 


"Crossroads was founded in 1995 by Steve Sanborn, a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) as a response to John Paul II’s call to the youth of the world to take an active role in the pro-life movement in order to establish a Culture of Life. An integral part of Crossroads is our yearly pro-life pilgrimages across the United States. Each summer, young adults walk on four simultaneous pro-life walks across America from Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.. Walking over 12,000 miles and through 40 states, these young people hope to convert the hearts and minds of others – at the grass-roots level – by witnessing to the dignity and sanctity of all human life, from the moment of conception to natural death. Crossroads also conducts a pro-life walk across Canada each summer from Vancouver to Ottawa, which takes simultaneously with our other walks,"
-Crossroads web-site


Tomorrow I leave for Seattle for training, then on Saturday we will do a symbolic "first walk" through Seattle , and then Monday the real walking starts. I won't bore you with the details just yet, but they will be coming soon!!


Well, enough for now. Hopefully I will update tomorrow, in Seattle! 
Goodnight to all!
*Jezu Ufam Tobie*
Kirstin