All together

Jill and I have been in the parenting bizz for about three and a half years now. And, we have been in the 'goin' to Mass every Sunday' bizz for most of our lives. But not until this last Sunday did these two realities perfectly conjoin. You see our kids are like most kids - talkative, jumpy, easily distracted. And when you have four of them and each of them are boys and each are under seven years old and three are under four - going to Mass, in peace, and least of all, inside the actual sanctuary, can be somewhat difficult.

But, of course, you still have to go to Mass. And we have - just never all together AND in the Church itself. We have lived off of childcare and cry rooms for the better part of the last four years. It doesn't often feel like I have been to Mass. I know that I have been, but it something of a hazy blur with vague recollections of kneeling in vestibules and doing the sign of peace with the statues and so on. Until this last Sunday we had never had all four kids together in Church for the entire Mass. It was wonderful. Maybe we have turned a corner, maybe not. I will keep you posted.

I am simply overjoyed at the prospect of worshiping from within the Church, and not in some satellite location named "cry room" or "narthex."

p.s. I pulled the above picture off of the St. Joseph's website. It is a picture that was taken eerily close to the precise place our family sat on this memorable Sunday, July 13th, 2008