Quick Takes on 1st Friday

1.  Prayer Request....for a friend who just found out some not-so-good news health wise.  I don't want to go into details until I ask her permission :).  Thanks for praying!  She has 5 kids under age 10 and a baby that still nurses and she cannot nurse.  My heart goes out for them all.  Please pray for this family. 

2.  I woke up today to NO COFFEE in the house!!!  For those of us that depend on our caffeine jolts, that can be detrimental to a momma!!! haaa!  So, quickly I made that judgement call to gather the kids up   and I told them that it doesn't matter what they wore or what shoes b/c just  a drive thru...or so I thought---look at #3! yikes!

3.  Since we were out so early---it made me realize that I can actually get out that early in the morning if I let down my guard of having the kids look 'oh-so-nice' and I may actually be able to get to daily mass every now and then.  See how pumped I was to get my jolt of coffee?!?! Made me realize how I can be just as pumped to get to Mass that way too!!!  Well, we'll see how that goes...I am going to try, though.

And since we were out so early....and it was nice to be driving around with not too much traffic...and the kids and I were listening to some music and singing along.....I asked them if they wanted to go back home the LONG way to count how many school buses we saw.  Of course they were up for that!  Going the long way home put us on the road that EXACTLY led to one of the parishes around here and also EXACTLY the time to get to uh...Mass....First Friday Mass, no less. 

And no matter how I tried to convince myself it may not be the best (now, in retrospect how ridiculous I was to try to avoid Mass....oh, when will I ever learn?!:( ) there were signs everywhere for me to get to MASS!  Besides the road, the time it was...it was also the songs on the radio said 'church' right at that moment. 

I bought that really big coffee and I took a sip  and burnt my tongue and mouth-should have been a sign to not drink it an hour before MASS!!! So, then I thought to myself not a good idea to go to Mass b/c I just drank coffee, albeit a SIP, but a sip is still a sip. 

Then there was me trying to convince myself that I had all the kids, why in the world would I do that all by myself?  Besides, the baby was up and crying on/off in the car seat as I drove around and I did not have the most needed pouch/sling while at Mass...but wait a minute....now she was asleep in her car seat. 

Oh, but my 4 yr old has flip flops on and my sons were all wearing jeans/sweats/no collar shirts...to which my oldest said on the way there was "Mom, I have NEVER been dressed like this going to Mass."   What would be my excuse now?  Right.  Nothing.  So I called my hubby to tell him I was going to Mass.  What a hoot that I would do this, I obviously needed someone to cheer me on.  Tyring once more to make sure I should go, hubby added in that a sip of coffee is still a sip and it was too close to receive at Mass but Mass is still Mass and it'd be so good to go.



OK, so we went.  I felt pumped to handle anything.  Even going to 9am Daily Mass...by myself with 7 kids.  It was not a total craze but it was not easy.  Why would I think it would be? 

About 5 mins into Mass, little lady woke up.  And the rest of the Mass, I was squished in the 'crying room' with my little lady, my 2 double trouble boys and about 5 other moms with little ones.  One mom was having a horrendous time with her 2 yr old having tantrums and oh, I know how she felt but I could not do anything about it.  And since we were out of the house in record timing, I did not worry to change my little lady out of her BOY pajamas-yes, boy outfit complete with blue and trucks and cars.  And one of the moms handed me a tissue b/c my 'boy' spit up! haa haaa!  lol. 

It was Mass and I was there.  We were there.  All 8 of us.  First Friday.  All of us to offer up our Mass for our friend who was told yesterday that not-so-good health news (see #1).  And if it's all we do today, so be it.  It is the BEST thing we can do today, the BEST.

God is good.  ALL THE TIME.

Gratitude...

Dear Lord, Thanks for that push of actual grace to get my gang and I to Mass!!!
Thanks for helping me to say YES to that grace and all those graces you bestow on me and my family.  Thanks for speaking through my husband to make sure that I heard you!  Thanks for the sun today-it's been a long week.  Thanks for reminding me that it's perfectly OK to respond to Your promptings, even if it's not at the time I think is best, but Your time, no matter what the world may say about it.  Amen.
God bless,
M