My kid's reactions to Mass today...

Neleh left her Pooh blanket in the car again today. Much less resistance this time than last week. During the service, she usually doesn't like to stand when comes the appropriate times to stand. However, she does kneel during those times. TODAY - she even came up during the Eucharist and received a blessing from the priest. Well...kind of. Instead of resting her arms on her chest to receive the blessing, she came with arms crossed and walked right by the priest, barely stopping for her blessing. We are making progress! That's the first time she's come up at all!

Rebekah announced in the car today that "Mass is fun!" Yay! I enjoy Mass. You may have figured that out already. But to hear the 7 y/o say that Mass is fun, that's awesome!!
They started their Religious Formation classes today. Not sure what all that means, but it started today. :-) Bill & I attended an excellent RCIA session.

Oh! It looks like I have overlooked an exciting part of our times at Mass. A few weeks ago, an usher caught us as we were entering the sanctuary. He asked us to be the family to present the gifts at the appropriate time in the service. Neleh, of course, stayed behind in the pew. Rebekah carried up the basket of the day's offering. Bill carried the pitcher of wine. I followed behind with the bowl of hosts. Apparently this bowl has a name, but I don't know what it is. We presented the gifts to the priest and deacon. It was an honor to be able to serve in this way! Oh, how I long for the day when I actually get to partake in the Eucharist.

My journey to Rome

I'd like to give a brief update on my Catholic journey. There is so much to say, that I'll just hit on a few things right now. We've been attending Mass since June (I think it was June). We've attended every weekend. Our family has gone to 3 Family Holy Hours (I had to miss the last one, but Bill & the kids went). Rebekah & attended VBS there in July. They are now attending "Religious Formation" on Sunday mornings. This is similar to "Sunday School." Neleh even left POOH BEAR BLANKET in the car this past week. (Not her choice, but she survived.) I've been participating in the RCIA program for about a month. I have a wonderful sponsor, Angie. She is helping to answer some of my questions and giving me guidance in some particular areas.

I've begun reading some of the "Catholic Bible." I've read the books of Tobit and Judith. I highly recommend Tobit! It was great! I discovered a chunk of Daniel which was SADLY left out of the Protestant Bible. EVERYONE should look up Daniel in a Catholic Bible. Turn to the story of the firey furnace. There you will see beautiful hymns of repentance, praise, thanksgiving and additional details of the protection of the three Hebrew children. I ran across it and was disappointed that I'd never read it before!

I am learning to pray for the help of the Blessed Mother Mary. I am learning to pray for the help of the Saints. It's like asking a friend to pray for you. I'd even go as far as to say that THIS WORKS! I prayed to the Saints and Our Blessed Mother about the fundraising yard sale for our friend Emily. We had a $1000 yard sale!!! I began praying over our school week last Sunday night. We've had a WONDERFUL WEEK! And I didn't want to stop praying to go to bed!!! When was the last time I experienced THAT?!?!? I can't remember a time that I didn't want to go to bed cause I was praying so much!

Mary is often a "sticking point" for non-Catholics. But if you look to the Old Testament you will see that Solomon actually set up a throne for his mother & she was a queen mother. She DID intercede for the people before the throne of her son. This is very similar to the view of Mary (at least in my mind). Any Catholic theologians can comment to this post and put me in my place if I am WAY out there.


Bill has been reading Catholic literature to me every night since the beginning of our journey together. We've read "Why Do Catholics Do That?", "The Lambs Supper", "Catholic for a Reason 2", "Theology of the Body for Beginners", etc. It is bringing us together as a couple as well. I am very excited about all of this. I read a blog post from a friend about the excitement of a little child over her faith. I feel like all of this is so new to me that I, too, am experiencing that excitement. I've been a Christian for a LONG time (my dad was a pastor so I say that I was a United Methodist before I was even born!!). Some of this "stuff" is hard to overcome. But I'm working on it...RATHER, GOD is working ON ME!

Thanks for reading. :-)