We live three miles from a coal-fired power plant. On cold, still days, the smoke it releases barely moves; it piles upward in a tall column like a solitary cumulonimbus cloud. It was on such a morning (a mere 2 degrees!) that I pulled on my snowshoes for a hike in the park adjacent to our farm. The sky was clear and I was sure a beautiful sunrise would await me over the shores of Lake Michigan. The power plant was ahead of me for much of my hike, its smoke billowing pink in the pre-dawn light.

"Struggles for justice have been with us from our beginnings, even though we framed our work differently and had to grow into its current understandings. . . ."

I have never left a theater during intermission. Maybe the show has just not been bad enough to forfeit the price of admission. Usually there is enough curiosity to know how the story might be redeemed to keep me in my seat. I just received the sixth (and I hope last) round of chemotherapy for recurrent ovarian cancer. While in the throes of post-chemo side-effects I must admit that there are moments I'd like to leave the theater before the show is over.

"At its core, vocation is a call to be who we are with intention and to live intentionally in relationship with others and with God. . . ."

In the romantic comedy film, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," a 30-something woman named Toula breaks out of the expectations of her Greek culture to pursue a career outside the family restaurant business. She even falls in love with Ian, a non-ethnic Greek. When Toula announces that she and Ian will marry, her father feels hurt, infuriated and betrayed. Wanting to be accepted by the family, Ian decides to be baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church.

See for Yourself - As we prepared on-stage for a Sunday afternoon orchestra concert to start in 17 minutes, my stand partner said, "Well, I went to church today so do you think God will make me play all the correct notes?" I said that with God part of this, it would have to come out OK.

There are hundreds of local languages across Africa, filled with sonorous tones that have exact words for the color of the earth after the rain or the time of day when the sun is just peaking over the horizon. To honor the diversity of these languages, Global Sisters Report reached out to non-English-speaking sisters for the first time with a writing workshop in Tanzania that was simultaneously translated into Swahili. Here is some of what they wrote.

Notes from the Field - At Big Laurel Learning Center, the month of January is typically a very slow month, but almost without our notice, it began to fill up with visits and connections, both people visiting us and us visiting others.

Sr. Lisha Chiramattel has been working among the Ho people, one of the most isolated tribes in eastern India, for the past 23 years. The Holy Spirit nun's work has brought remarkable changes in their lives, people who have been ignored by mainstream society because of their remoteness and "uncivilized" living conditions. The Catholic Health Association of India honored her in 2006 for her outstanding contribution in bringing health care to an unreachable region. Chiramattel shared with Global Sisters Report her struggles to bring life and hope to an unwanted group of people in Odisha state.

"Face to face we begin to be together as one."