First Communion

On May 15th, my oldest daughter, Ava made her First Communion and was Confirmed. She did such a wonderful job, very reverent and respectful. I couldn't be more proud of this sweet, thoughtful, intelligent young lady. I think she really gets how special this is and really wanted to partake in receiving these sacraments. I don't think I got it at this age and sometimes I still don't feel like I get it. I am proud to call myself Catholic and I'm proud to raise my family Catholic. I'm so grateful that there are so many resources out there for learning more about my faith as an adult. There are so many blogs out there that encourage me to relearn my faith. My favorites are Conversion Diary, Betty Beguiles, Melanie Pritchard, and my local pick and most recent addition to the Faves list, A Gift of Grace.

I'm grateful that I have all these women to look to for inspiration, and help on raising a Catholic family in today's world. It's both a difficult time and a wonderful time to raise a Catholic family. Difficult for obvious reasons, we live in a world that is morally corrupt, a world that doesn't hesitate to end an innocent life because they were conceived at an inconvenient time. A world where less is more in terms of clothing, and most people don't know the meaning of the word modesty. A world that sells everything with sex and makes "hooking up" a very acceptable and normal part of the single life. A wonderful time because there are many resources that help us understand the teachings of the church, many people who are being re-educated in the faith and are passing that on to their own children. Larger families who are open to life (including ours) are making a big comeback. There are more young men being called to the priesthood that are listening! When I was younger I never wanted to cause my children to stand out and go against the grain because that would make their lives more difficult. Now that I'm all grown up I realize that my children do stand out and do go against the grain, because they have more then one sibling, are (for the most part) well behaved, well mannered, well dressed children that listen and obey and have a heart for God , and that makes me the proudest mom in the world. We love you Ava Lusena and you are everything we ever could have hoped for in a daughter!!