Sin-freeeeeeee

I am so happy and proud to announce that we have 2 very sparkling clean souls in our household!

2 of my bigger kids, kid #2 and kid #3, went to their First Confession last night.  200 children and 2 hours later-they are shining bright with holiness!  Yes, that many children and that long, I am not kidding.  This year I have both of these kidos in the same grade-2nd grade.  The best decision I made-it is working SO well for all of us.  A little bit of competition and peer pressure to get their work done goes a long way with these two!  We realized that why push one child just to be a grade higher when clearly they are not ready for it.  This is God's doing and how He made each child.  I am just glad I figured it out and listened to Him early on and not when they were older.  I have heard it is much harder when they get older to hold a child back a year. 

Anyway, it is a 2 yr process of prep for their 1st Confession and 1st Holy Communion in our parish.  We decided to not enroll them in the actual classes that the religious ed offers.  They were totally okay with it-in fact, the RE director home schooled her own kids! What a blessing that homeschooling is so welcomed and encouraged around here.  I am very thankful to God for this.  We are using the Faith & Life series by Ignatius Press.  We, as parents, find it awesome!  The kids do too!!! IT is a great mix of learning and fun, coloring and writing.  My children do not mind doing religion almost every day.  Since we incorporate our Catholic Faith in ALL aspects of our life and our family, doing the religion 'book' is not that grueling for them :) I highly recommend this for all kids, even if they go to a CCD program.  It is so easy and fun for parents to do with them, along with what they are learning in the classroom setting. 

We have such an awesome diverse parish, with 31 countries represented (seriously!), that we were obviously the minority.  We love our priests and parish and all the colors and beauty that is displayed.  What a wonderful gift that my children get to see how 'universal' our Catholic Faith is!!! Growing up in a mainly white/Caucasian neighborhood, town and parish, I love that my own children get to see, early on, how widespread our Catholic Faith truly is. 

We went as a whole family last night and I am glad we did.  Even for 2 hours, I am glad we did.  In fact, I sort of persisted with this decision with my husband-he thought the opposite.  But, in the end, we are all SO glad we went.  What a great learning experience and how awesome that my little children got to see what their big siblings got to do and what they have to look forward to. My kid #4 (age 6) and kid #6 (age 3) even asked us (ahem...begged us over and over)  how they wanted to go to their own first confession THAT night!  Now, that is a testimony to what a great decision it was to bring them all!

Now, onto a celebration party for my kids!  We're all a little bit holier now!!!

God bless,
Mary