Cherishing milestones

Recently, my daughter made her First Holy Communion, a major milestone in the Catholic faith and like many other Catholic families, we witnessed a beautiful church ceremony and then went home to celebrate with all of our family members and close friends. 

After everyone had gone home, I sat (for the first time that day) and reviewed all the moments that had made the day so special. My thoughts repeatedly led me back to my own mother and how this day would not have been as special without her. Going through this process, as a parent this time, really opened my eyes to all the sacrifices my mom made for me and my siblings to ensure that we were properly prepared for this milestone.

How do you get mad at that?

The little boys have an 8:30 p.m. bedtime... And that's just so they'll be asleep by midnight.

Maybe midnight is a slight exaggeration, but they will stay up as long they can think of excuses to keep those little eyes of their open.  They have to get a drink, another trip to the bathroom because the little sip of water was on a fast-track through their bodies, they forgot if they said, "Good-Night", they forgot if they gave everyone a hug, they always have to fight a little bit before falling asleep, but the best excuse for staying up later happened the other night.

It requires faith

My husband and I started attending church regularly when we got engaged. We found a great church in Waco, one where we found a caring community that allowed us to explore our faith in a way that never made you feel bad for asking questions. Lakeshore Baptist Church will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s where we got married, dedicated our first born son, and shared lots of laughs with friends.

When we moved back to the DFW area, we were church shopping for quite a while. We visited lots of churches before we found the right one for us. We had criteria we wanted in a church: not too big, intergenerational, a place where questions are welcome, a place where our kid (we only had one at the time) could feel at home.