Amazing Grace

11 years ago I went through RCIA. It's the study course for Catholicism, to enter into the Catholic church.  After my confirmation I went to church on a regular basis.  I still lived at home, but Matt and I were engaged.  Once we were married I pretty much stopped going to church. I felt like it was too much of a hassle.  I was too tired, too busy, or too cold...you name it I came up with an excuse...plus we moved to Kentucky and I didn't know where to find a good church....that was probably my lamest excuse.  If I was over at my parents house I would go to church with them. I was familiar with their church because that's where I took my RCIA classes and regularly attended church. We lived in Hebron, KY for 4 years and not once did we visit a church while we lived there.  When we moved to Independence, KY, in 2006. our neighbors told us about St. Patrick's.  We visited St. Pat's a few times and I tried to go on a regular basis, but I didn't.  After Olivia was born we went there more often and she was baptized there, but it wasn't consistent.  I didn't feel right going to church only when it was convenient for me. It was something I was not proud of.  Stella was also baptized at St. Patrick's, but even then we didn't go regularly.

When Olivia turned 4 we toured a couple of preschools. One was at St. Patrick's....they don't have a grade school, but they do have a preschool.  I wasn't impressed with their preschool.  It was in the basement of the church and it didn't look like a school setting.  I'm sure it is fine, but I didn't feel comfortable sending her there.  We also toured St. Cecilia and we loved it.  The teachers were great, it's inside the school (St. Cecilia has a grade school Preschool-8th grade).  We wound up sending Olivia to preschool there.  I heard nothing but great things about the priest at St. Cecilia, Father Mario, so we decided to visit the church in December 2011. We both really liked him and we visited the church more often.  I made the decision that we needed to be a part of this church.  We needed to set an example for our girls and give them a good foundation and a relationship with Jesus.  So we joined St. Cecilia last January.

It finally felt right to be a part of a church and community that I have wanted for so long, but struggled with.  The past year I feel like my relationship with Christ has grown.I attend church every week and on holy days. I had drifted away for so long, and I honestly feel like a different person. I feel at peace.  A lot of anxieties I had before are gone.  I feel like I'm a better mother.  Father Mario lives up to the expectations I heard so much about. He is very intriguing. I walk away every Sunday feeling like I learned something through his homily.

We enrolled Olivia for kindergarten at St. Cecilia, but we changed our minds over the summer...but I'll have to post about that another night.  She takes her CCD class there every Sunday morning (CCD is the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine aka her religious education to learn the basic doctrines of our faith).  She is doing so well in her class.  This past Sunday her teacher gave her a Precious Moments book with different biblical stories for children.  She was the only one in her class to receive the book because she is doing so well with learning her prayers and for being quiet and attentive in class.

Sorry if this post is boring, but I wanted to share it.  It might be all over the place, but I hope you all get the jest of it. :)