Grace's First Holy Communion

Gracie made her First Holy Communion this past Pentecost. While she had been looking forward to it for the past year, I apparently had a small mental lapse and forgot to confirm her placement with the RE Director. As Mrs. Ford knew that Jesus wanted to come to Gracie in the Blessed Sacrament, she agreed to allow her if she passed the oral exam. I am proud to say that Grace did wonderfully! All that studying and memorizing made the whole experience easy; she was quite the professional.

Pentecost was a perfect day for FHC, the birthday of the Church. Everybody was celebrating! Grace sat in the front row with the other excited and nervous communicants at the Traditional Latin Mass. Father Claude remarked many times about the intense concentration of the children. They didn't want to miss anything. As I was not allowed to take photos, we shall have to be content with our memories. I did manage to sneak in one photo of Marie Claire praying diligently. This was before she decided the the pew was her playground and had to be whisked off to the narthex. She does look angelic for the moment though, doesn't she?

After Mass, Gracie patiently smiled through all the photo requests. While she cooperated, Marie Claire most certainly did not. Oh well, that angelic moment could not last too long, otherwise she would just not be Marie Claire!

That sweet classic pose with the hands folded was strictly for my benefit. What Grace really wanted to do was twirl in her princess dress. For as Christ is the King, then she is His princess. So, she twirled and twirled and twirled. Pure joy!

Afterwards, everyone swam, of course. It is tradition. BBQ followed and the much anticipated gf banana and cream cheese frosting cake. After looking through many images on the computer, Grace decided that a monstrance would be the perfect decoration for the top. The red candies are a nod to Pentecost as we did not do any other celebrating.

All three of my girls have worn the same dress. Olivia, Nanna, and I headed up to the Los Angeles garment district seven years ago to find the perfect gown for my very tall, very thin girl. We had a memorable day amongst satin and lace. In the end, she chose this beautiful classic. We fully expected to repeat this experience with each of the girls. It was such a fun girly day. However, both Collette and Grace looked forward to wearing the beautiful white dress that hangs so patiently in my closet for that one special day. We did have to shorten the skirt a bit as no one has been able to match Olivia in height.

Blessed First Holy Communion, Grace!

A Mother's Day Crowning and More

I have been informed that it takes months to post our little adventures. Months! Well, there may be some small kernel of truth to that bold statement. Thus, as a Mother's Day present to my own mother, here are photos from the very day they were taken.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was quite a day for my Gracie Girl. She not only crowned Mary at the beginning of Mass, but also made her First Confession as well. She has been practicing her prayers diligently and rehearsing the order with Stephen. She read through all of Catechism lessons and thoroughly anticipated the day. Now, she has a pristine soul, ready for her First Holy Communion next week. 

After Mass, we headed over to a fellow parishioner's lovely home for brunch. I am always a little hesitant to take my crew to an adult celebration, but they all behaved admirably and I was even able to talk to another grown up for a bit. What a treat! That doesn't happen very often. :-)

One of our family traditions is that after First Confession, the little penitent receives a double scoop of ice cream from an ice cream parlor. This is quite a treat and everyone is thrilled! We headed off to Baskin' Robbins for cones on this hot day. Gracie chose mint chocolate chip and chocolate swirl. Hmm, that was a lot of ice cream, so she generously shared with Marie Claire. Marie had been eyeing her cone from the moment Grace sat down. We sat and laughed and enjoyed our beautiful day together.

The Gown

Marie Claire, my sweet sweet baby.

She is four months old now. Everyday I want to push pause so I can block out the boisterous and tumultuous noise of everyday life and just savor her.

All my babies, except for Xavier, have worn this breathtaking baptismal gown. My father wore it as a newborn as have many of my cousins. I am enthralled by its fragile beauty everytime I gingerly unpack it from the special box. Three generations have been reborn of water and Spirit in this gown.

John 3:3-5 "Jesus answered and said to him: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith to him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born again? Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 

Since I am intimately involved, I have few photos of most of the children's baptisms. My brother Adam only just started acting as photographer extraordinaire. But, I do have one photo of Olivia after she was baptised. She looked angelic sitting in this gown with her startlingly blue eyes and perfect porcelain skin. (One day you may bump into a painting of her as an angel on a church mural in Santa Fe, truly.) I always intend to take photos later, but life continues to press forward and I forget until it is too late. I didn't want this to happen yet again. Thus, I hurriedly found some soft light and captured my memories of another blue-eyed baby girl.

Marie loved the silky slippy softness.

As you may remember, it is impossible to take a photo of just one. So, here is my companion for the afternoon- Gracie. She too has quite the dress on! This one was a gift from a kind neighborhood girl. Grace dons it the moment it emerges from the dryer and sighs with sadness when it must be washed again. Sometimes I feel like I have characters from fairy tales living in my little home. 

What could be better?

Marie's Baptism

A photo journal of a beautiful day.

May God bless you and keep you, Marie, my love

Fr. John and Marie's godparents: Nanna and Papa, of course.

Thank you Adam, the photos are lovely!

Time to head home and bbq and swim!