Our New Church Home

We have an exciting event happening right now in our church family! When we moved to our house 4 years ago, we joined a brand new parish called St. Charles Borromeo. Our neighborhood is located in the very western edge of Omaha, in an area that is still surrounded by farm fields and country roads. It is a quickly developing area that was in need of a new church. We spent 4 long years in the gym of a public elementary school while funds were raised for a new church building.

The church finally broke ground in October, and just 6 short months later, we are ready for our very first services this weekend! Last Sunday we went to an Open House. We were wowed to find all of this...


Beautiful stained glass behind the altar...the window is from another church that closed, and is over 100 years old


View of the altar


Stations of the Cross, also from the closed parish, also over 100 years old. Beautiful!

We are just so excited to be in a normal worship space! Sammy has been in a "gym church" all of his life, and when we go to services at other churches, he always asks me where the basketball hoops are! It is a going to be an adjustment for the kids, but a good one!

We can't wait for services this weekend!

Back in the Saddle Again

Until last night, our family had only been to church with all members present once. We tried at Christmas Eve Mass 2007, when Sam was just a little over a year old. It did not go well. Charlie spent most of church with Jeff in my classroom, and Sammy and I hung out in the foyer. Luckily Evan was in the choir, because nobody was left in the pew.

Charlie has been going to church regularly since he was about 20 months old. Despite being my kiddo who throws a world class tantrum, he has always had a great command of "the whisper voice" (a must for church going children) and he's always done very well sitting still and entertaining himself during the service.

Sammy, who is in most other situations very calm and well mannered, goes nuts as soon as you put him in a church situation. He has one voice level, and it is nowhere near a whisper.

We thought we'd throw caution to the wind last night though, and we all went to the less formal Saturday night service. True to form, about 25 minutes in, Sammy was talking loudly, trying to run from the row we were sitting in, and was trying to steal colors from the children in front of us. I took Sammy back out to the van where we had a "come to Jesus meeting". He was enraged about not being included on something Charlie and Evan were doing, so I took him back in for one more try. Luckily, he let me hold him for the rest of the service, and he didn't say another word.

Even though it was interrupted, it was so nice for us all to go to church together again. It's been so long!! I didn't realize just how much I'd missed it until last night.

Lovely Nuggets

I have been learning a little bit here and there lately about the Mormon faith. Three of my favorite bloggers are Mormons: Courtney at C jane enjoy it, Stephaine at the Nie Nie Dialogues, and Jessica at Balancing Everything. In the last few days, I have learned two things that warmed my heart. I "met" these women and began to read their blogs as mothers first, and as their faith is an important part of their lives, I have also learned some of their beliefs.

In Courtney's post today, which is an essay she wrote about her sister Stephanie who is recovering from serious burns to 80% of her body she says, "We also believe that women are divine. Where a righteous woman walks there is virtue. We want to be around the angelic presence of females. We are commanded to treat our mothers, wives and sisters as holy daughters of God. We worship a Savior who teaches the sacredness of women." It warmed my heart to read this. In a world where so many women are still treated as second class citizens, and where in some countries women are outrageously abused, it is wonderful to know that somewhere children are taught respect for women, especially in a religious context.

Mormons also believe in forever families. It is their belief that if a marriage is performed by a priest of God in a temple and is a "true" marriage, that marriage bond lasts beyond death. I love this. It has never made sense to me that God would create a soul mate for you, allow you to live your life together as one, bring children into this world as a part of that love, and then have it end at death. At my own wedding, that line of my vows truly bothered me. I want to always be connected to Jeff in a special way. Maybe it's not physical in heaven, but I really believe in my heart that our bond will last at least in a spiritual way beyond death.

I love learning about different faiths, how people worship, and what values and traditions they hold dear.