Belated "It's over" post

I realize I sort of fell off the grid so to speak for a while.  Rather than see that as a negative, it is a positive thing in my life.

So much has happened since I started this blog at the beginning of my Lenten journey.  Heck, so much has happened since I last posted a blog.

As the days went by, I found myself less and less dependent on the Internet.  It wasn't something I was accustomed to much, since giving up facebook, as facebook was the main reason I was online to begin with.  More pressing things were at the forefront of my mind, including my family, my mental and emotional health, and my spiritual life.  After my weekend away, it really has felt like everything has sort of started clicking into place for me.  It is almost as if my ideals and my life are starting to finally align correctly.  I am happier, am enjoying life way more, and am not finding that I need constant distractions to deal with being me.

On the Saturday before Easter, my husband and I received our First Holy Communion, and our Confirmation into the Catholic Church.  This is like the pinnacle of the last year and a half of our lives.  It was, and is, utterly amazing.  I won't get overly religious in this posting, but receiving the Holy Eucharist for the first time (and other times since that day) has been a gift that I cherish and never realized fully how much I longed for it, and how life-changing it is.  What is best about it to me: it wasn't just a life-changing experience that has come and gone, it is a life-changing experience each and every time I receive it from now until the end of time.

Another amazing sort of last minute unplanned thing that happened that day:  my youngest daughter was baptized.  At rehearsal the morning of our special day, I asked our RCIA teacher (a deacon candidate in our church who will be a full deacon by the end of this month) when we could have Evy baptized, how soon after our First Communion and Confirmation.  We had asked our priest at the beginning of this journey, but he wanted to wait until we were in full communion with the Church to do it, which I respected.  Our teacher told us he would be baptizing his newest granddaughter soon and we could have Evy baptized the same day.  As we were getting our crew and our sponsors' crew into our respective vehicles, he came running out of the church and asked if we'd like her baptized that night along with the other RCIA candidates that would be receiving the sacrament of baptism.  Our answer, of course, was yes.  It worked out wonderfully as our sponsors are also her godparents.

Her godmother and I took her out shopping that afternoon for a special dress, even though Father said she didn't need to wear anything special, just a nice dress.  Godmother said it was her right and she wanted Evy to feel like a princess.  We found the perfect dress and she came sashaying out of the dressing room and we knew it was the one.  (I can't help hoping that she doesn't grow too much between now and her First Communion so she can perhaps wear it again.)

It was a very long service, Easter Vigil, but all the children held up so amazingly well.  I have to enter a little back story, when we first told the girls we would be going to the Catholic Church and started our conversion process, my oldest daughter was very upset and cried.  During Evelynn's baptism, I look out to where the girls were standing, and there my daughter stood, crying tears of joy and happiness for her sister.  Again, amazing.  Such a blessed day, right up there with getting married and birthing my daughters.

The Monday after Easter, I went on an unplanned road trip with my sponsor.  She is also my friend, one of the very very best, but for this blogs sake, and privacy, she is my sponsor.  We went on a pilgrimage.  We drove up to the Northern Virginia area, about a 10 hour drive from my house in GA.  We went up there as a main reason because her father was ill and in the hospital.  It was not a vacation by any means.

We also went to The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  http://www.nationalshrine.com/site/c.osJRKVPBJnH/b.4719297/k.BF65/Home.htm

I was in awe as soon as I walked in the door.  Even if you are not Catholic, if you are ever up in D.C. you should go.  It is truly amazing.  You walk in there and it is just....wow.  I really have no words.  I saw a woman kneeling at a statue wailing and crying and praying.  I have no idea what language she spoke.  I saw a man kneeling before another statue, with his forehead pressed to the brass plaque, fervently praying in another unknown to me language.  Seeing people kneeling and praying and living their faith is just so incredibly uplifting.  (We actually went back on another taking a non-Catholic friend who agreed that anyone of any religious background - or not - would benefit from going.

I also was able to see my father's grave for the second time.  It was another emotional time.  I told my friend as we drove up that I didn't think I'd cry this time.  I was so incredibly wrong.  On another day, I was able to visit my oldest brother's grave for the very first time.  Another emotional visit.  I saw my sister-in-law and my most precious new baby niece.  Lastly, I was able to visit my only living brother at his home.  I had not seen him in almost 10 years.  Another emotional visit, but a very very good one. 

Not many can say they received their First Holy Communion, Confirmation, and made their first pilgrimage all within a weeks time.  I am truly blessed.

Now, on to facebook.  I am back.  I have even posted a few times.  I will readily admit to checking it pretty regularly, even frequently throughout those first few days.  It was almost like it was right back where it started from, except that it isn't.  Mostly, I check into some groups I am a part of.  I have checked up on people that I missed and wondered about.  I have also deleted some people that I did not wonder about (and likely haven't wondered about me) and I will do some more of that.  I do not spend loads of time scrolling down various peoples updates to see what 200 other people are doing with their days.  I am thinking, now that the novelty of it is over and past, I will just check it once every few days. 

All in all, I am a happier and more whole person.  I thank all of you who have participated reading during this journey.  Thanks for those that thought of me, and especially thanks to those who let me know they were thinking of me. 

Not sure what I am going to do with this blog at this point.  I am open to suggestions though!

Regarding Facebook

Regarding facebook and whether I will go back to it (since I have been asked):

I am not counting down the days until I can look at facebook again.  There are some groups that I miss, and those will probably be the things I look at first, but I have become so unaccustomed to checking it, I am not seeing myself doing it very often.  I'm not actually online very often anymore at all.  That can all change, it is quick to go back to old habits, but I actually hope that I don't go back to regular daily usage of it.  I have thought about my friends list and that will likely get gleaned down again.  It will be easier to do that since I know now who I miss and who has missed me and who I truly want to stay in that kind of touch with.

I have gained way too much during this 40 day time period to let it all go back to the way it was.  I have truly been able to focus on what is in front of me, and realize how much more important that is in my life rather that what I left behind me. 

My plan is to check into my groups maybe 2-3 times a week (these are more intimate and involve people/topics that are near and dear to me) but as for the general facebook, status updates and reading my feed, I just don't have the intention to make that a part of my daily routine.  I will likely check in once a week, but I'm going to try to limit it to that.  I think it will be easy.  I hope it will be easy.  I am not eager to change the new life I have adapted anytime soon.

Almost There

It is hard to believe that the 40 days are almost over.  They truly did feel like they flew by incredibly fast.  Lent is almost over and Easter is just in a few days.

It's been a while since I've blogged, partly because things have been pretty hectic here, and partly because I've really had nothing new to say that I haven't said already, and rather than sound like a broken record (which I'm sure I have) I figured it was better to not write at all.

Let's see, what has been up here.  We've had a birthday, I think I've blogged since Evy turned 6.  Last weekend we had a birthday party for her.  For those that know me well, you know I don't usually "do" birthday parties.  We usually do a family activity/party, and it doesn't involve decorating or having people over.  We gave Evy a bonafide birthday party complete with decorations and guests.

It actually turned out very well.  One of the moms asked me why I don't do birthday parties more often, since I do them so well.  I laughed and told her it was all the stress leading up to the party.  She had a tea party.  I spent a majority of the Friday before her party cutting out little tea cups and round circles for the cupcake picks, and little flags that said "eat me" for the tea sandwiches. I made a banner/bunting and decorated.  I also spent the morning before her party running out for some extra things that I had forgotten to pick up, and also running around to different grocery stores trying to find a certain kind of cookie.  Though the party was a success, when it w