The Triduum Recap

If I can't be honest with you in my own little corner of the internet, where can I be? Let me start by telling you these opinions are mine and mine alone. 

But I do not like how my specific parish celebrates the Triduum. I don't like the times of the services. I don't care for the style of the Mass or some of the decisions that go into the celebration. It actually doesn't make me spiritually full... in fact it tends to make me spiritually angry. 

This is not a right or wrong opinion. It just is. And therefore, this was the year I gave myself permission to jump ship. Even though I work there. Actually, especially because I work there and know all the things. 

I recognize I am abundantly blessed to live in an area with so so many churches and places to worship, to have this choice. 

And I also know I am ridiculous because I know no one else who leaves a Mass or Good Friday service and goes home to watch all the local options to compare/contrast. Never fear, I do. So I promise I still saw my parish to determine yes, leaving was the correct choice. 

Here's how it all went down: we celebrated Holy Thursday at one parish. It was fabulous. We celebrated Good Friday at the Cathedral with the Bishop. I did, begrudgingly, attend our Vigil. I came to that conclusion because of the OCIA kiddos I had been working with. When push came to shove, they didn't give a hoot that I was there, so I don't really know why I let myself get talked into going when the Vigil I wanted to go to was 7 minutes away but... I can do better next year. 

Then Sunday morning we were at our parish, and THAT was lovely because I do enjoy Easter Sunday at my parish. 

But let's go back now that I have made this confession to you all.  

Holy Thursday. 

The morning was spent with the middle schoolers. We talk about the Seder meal and how it became the Mass. It does not really resemble an actual Seder Meal. It's led by a deacon in our deanery who was born and raised Jewish and converted to Catholicism--he gives the most interesting insight into how Passover became the Mass. 

It was my third year as a table leader. 

That afternoon was the 6th-grade Living Stations of the Cross. It's a school tradition, and this was C's year. He was a narrator.

They did a very nice job. I don't love the script they use and I think some parts are unnecessarily long. (Sitting in the dark listening to a 3 minute song isn't my favorite.) But the kids did a really nice job, and it does bring you into the spirit of the Triduum in a powerful way. The tradition of going into Christmas break with the Nativity and Easter break with the Living Stations... well, it makes me thankful for our school. 

Then that evening we went to Mass. At a church that still had Holy Water.** It was THE MOST PERFECT HOLY THURSDAY MASS I have ever been to. And I cried during the Gloria like I always do. I just really really love the Gloria.

**One particular co-worker of mine didn't want to come back to work Thursday night after Mass to empty the fonts, so instead, they were emptied Thursday morning. Maddening. This is the same coworker whose van is STILL in the parking lot. 

After Mass, my friend and I went on the 7 churches pilgrimage to sit with Jesus in the garden. 

We saw some friends along the way! 

This is me and my friend Barb whom I spent the evening with. 

She came to Mass with me and my family. And the joy of starting there was that Mass started an hour before our parish did. So we could get a jump on the pilgrimage. Last year I didn't get home until Midnight, and this year I was done at 10:30 so... the hour head start truly made a difference. 

It was a really calming and peaceful way to spend time with Jesus and pray so specifically. 

Friday was quiet and still. I took absolutely zero pictures. The Cathedral's service started at 3:00. Ours wasn't until 6:30 so we figured we'd try it. 

Lesson learned: it's nice, but the solemn intentions took a full 20 minutes of kneeling, standing and repeating. I know because I went back and checked the live stream!! That was the trade-off for having the kids go to bed on time. 

Truly, my shins were sore. I am certain it was in part due to how much kneeling I did on Thursday night, too. Much of it on the floor since 4 of the altars of repose were in rooms without kneelers, and even with kneelers, the double genuflection upon entering and departing was on the floor. 

But having Good Friday at 3:00 was quite nice. 

Holy Saturday was spent mostly preparing. M had a soccer game which was annoying, but oh well. They won which was nice. I took no pictures. 

We decided not to dye eggs this year. But we did still make our bunny butt cookies. 

M made Elvis out of frosting and marshmallows. 

Then later, I went to work at the Vigil. Proud of those kids!! I was in charge of live streaming the Mass so I was in the balcony, which literally did add an element of work to it. (I also didn't get Holy Watered during the sprinkling rite.) 

I also must tell you that we just paid an exorbitant amount of money repairing and tuning our organ. It worked, and I basically went deaf sitting up there by the pipes. Honestly couldn't have told you what words were being sung at a particular time. SO. LOUD. I was ill-prepared. 

Then came home and set out the baskets and the Easter presents from my parents. This was not without incident as I had bought the kids big items in February, I believe, and I could not for the life of me remember or figure out where I had put C's walrus tote bag. 

After a few minutes wagering with St. Anthony and freaking myself out, Husband found it on top of the fridge. 

Easter came in gloriously on a yucky weather day. It was cold and pouring rain. I had figured that with a late Easter, we would be good with cute dresses. Alas, I was freezing. But I was glad I had bought M a cardigan to go with it! 

M wanted to see the back of her hair. 

And Mass was lovely. 

We had a nice meal the 4 of us, nothing fancy really. Rolls, ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, jello and frog-eye salad, and then took it easy the rest of the day. Though we did end the evening with a tornado warning, because why not? Luckily, no damage, and the weather seems to have calmed down a lot since then. 

Happy Easter! He is Risen!! 

Rest Well Pope Francis

Well I had a fun snappy Easter post for today but that seems wrong in light of Pope Francis' death. 

So I will take today for prayer and reflection and be back tomorrow with an Easter recap. 

It did give me such hope to see him yesterday. 

I can't believe it. 

Holy Heck it's Holy Week!

Well friends. It's been a marathon leading up to this Holy Week. And it's the kind of marathon that doesn't have a lot to show for it. 

M was the Emcee. And the next day I went to work to get ready for the first communion retreat. Bags of popcorn don't sticker themselves! 

Then the next day was the actual retreat, and we had a confirmation large group meeting that night. 

We went to the school roller skate night and that was a lot of fun. And no one broke a bone!! 

After a rainout, M finally had her first soccer practice and it was freezing. On the way home there were 5!! deer in a yard about 6 houses from us. 

I spent days figuring out the pictures for these "pray for me" chalices. Seriously, it was 3 different trips to Walgreens to pick up pictures! And then I laminated them. And cut them out. And hung them up. But by golly these kiddos will be prayed for! 

M had her first soccer game. It was rather unremarkable. After many seasons of winning every day, this is going to be our "get our tushies kicked" season. 

But a bit of a funny story, at the soccer game, there was this boy on the other team DJ. And he is a bit of a superstar and very arrogant. His dad was the coach, and he kept yelling about being aggressive and to attack. When this kid scored, he for sure jeered and taunted our goalie. Not great sportsmanship behavior. To be clear: good for him for scoring. Bad for him for taunting. 

Anyway, with like 4 minutes left in the game, there was a bit of a skirmish for the ball, and M ended up just absolutely full force kicking him in the knee as she went for the ball. 

Of course, as a superstar professional soccer player, he rolled 3 times and acted gravely injured, so everyone took a knee until his dad came to check on him, and then after a minute or so, he walked off the field. But then Dad spent the remainder of the game soothing his kid instead of coaching. 

And... It just felt a little bit like karma. M apologized at the end of the game. We aren't raising a monster. But... I am lying if I said I wasn't a little proud. And if it wasn't really funny. 

On Monday, the kids didn't have school. (Don't ask me why they don't have Easter Monday off but the random Monday before made sense.) I had scheduled eye appointments, and they were running so far behind. But since we weren't missing school it kind of didn't matter. But still. We were there for 3 hours! 

My favorite TK kiddos came to do Stations of the Cross right before school Mass. I enjoyed seeing them! 

And we're in this truly annoying place where it's freezing in the morning and appears to be warm in the afternoon, but it really is still just cold. 

But the Honey Bunny in my yard is sweet. And the daffodils and Mary make me smile. So it's all good! 

Obviously, Holy Week is a busy week here at church, so there's more excitement to come. 

Emcee!

About a month ago, we got an email forward from M's teacher. Our local Junior Achievement teamed up with our local hockey team, and they were having a Kids Run the Show night. Basically, the kids would shadow and help do some of the jobs for the team. 

M LOVES Hockey. And immediately said yes, we submitted her application quickly. In this case the early bird got the worm because she got a spot and there were over 80 kids on the waitlist! 

Last Monday night we went to orientation, and they announced to the kids what their job would be in a cool reveal video. I am not going to post the video because of everyone's last name. 

But M got a job as one of the kid Emcees for the second shift!!! 

Friday took a long time getting here, and a lot of decisions went into figuring out what to wear for the game. (We knew they'd give her a shirt to wear while she worked.) Here she is before we left the house. 

After we checked her in, got her changed, and put her all access pass on her, she was ready!

This is the crew from our school. 4 5th graders and M rocking it for the 4th graders!

Since M was the second shift she got to go to our seats early. I LOVE this picture. It looks like she was the only person in the arena. (We definitely weren't but I love that it looks like it.)

If we thought waiting for Friday was difficult, this next part of post-dinner and team meeting and waiting for it to be time for her shift was extra long. The excitement!!

Finally, the boys were able to get it. (M and I had to be there at 4:30. The boys came with, parked and then went out for dinner. They finally were let into the arena at like 6:30.) 

And then it was time for the game to start and that meant it was time for M's shift! All of her wildest dreams came true. She got to go onto the ice twice!

She spoke on the mic several times! 

And for someone who spends every single game we attend trying to get on the big screen... well she was on it a lot. 

Now the actual hockey game left a lot to be desired. You see, our team was already in the playoffs so they were resting their best players and it wasn't a great game as far as hockey was concerned. BUT it was still so exciting for M. 

I picked her up and then got her and C their treat we had promised. 

We watched more game and then decided to leave with a few minutes left in the 3rd period because the Storm were losing really bad and honestly we were just tired. M and I had been there for 5 hours at that point so it was okay. 

I am so proud of her! She had such a good time, and I am glad she got this opportunity! 

Things We've Been Up To

Let me tell you, it's not a lot. 

I went back to my expensive paperweight of a car one last time to say goodbye.

We honestly got a way better deal than I anticipated from it. We used Carvio.com and they did all the work and just showed up with a tow truck and a check. It was definitely a better deal than the $100 most places were going to give me or even the $500 the dealership was offering as a trade-in price. We were very happy. 

I have read some negative reviews about Carvio online and that wasn't our experience at all. 

We finished up the third quarter! I can't believe we are in the home stretch of the school year. 

Report cards looked good and life on that end is pretty dandy. 

Saturday, I spent the whole day with my girly. We went to a show in the morning. It was cute. 

We came home and played air fryer for lunch. My dad sent us a gift of an air fryer, so we were trying it out. The boneless wings came out wonderfully. 

We went to 2 grocery stores to buy a lot of cookies for her STEM fair project that asks which brand of cookies has the most chocolate? (Chips Ahoy, Benton (Aldi) Happy Belly (Amazon) Crav'n (Generic Brand) That's Smart (Another Generic Brand)

We also began the project. Dissolving cookies in water, then weighing the chocolate. We're still working on the project but will keep you posted! 

Then, later, we went to a second show! 

This lady dropped her credit card into the platform, and M was the assistant during the intermission rescue. They were unsuccessful and were to try again post show. We did not stick around for that. 

My bonus kid G was in the show, and she was lovely. We are so glad we were able to go! 

Then on Sunday I got to spend the whole day with my guy! We went with a group to the Iowa Catholic Youth Conference for middle schoolers. 

There were so many things to do, including a concert by Connor Flannigan. (Who? I know. He is apparently a Christian hip hop artist. I can confirm that I didn't understand a single word that was said/sung by him but google tells me it's all appropriate and Christ centered.) 

He humored me with this picture. 

The host parish was having a Kolache sale. I of course brought some home! 

My favorite of the breakout sessions was the one for introverts: Just Be with God. It was a room for quiet prayer. The Deacon in charge turned off the lights (plenty of light coming in from the windows) and played quiet instrumental music. You could read the bible. Rest your eyes. Color a scripture. Pray a rosary. Bliss.

I loved the crucifixes they had displayed around the parish center and church. 

And that's what we've been up to. It doesn't seem like a ton, but I am very thankful for a boring life is pretty normal update. Absolutely no April Fools there! 

M in the Kitchen

 M got two different America's Test Kitchen cookbooks for Christmas. 

Which is fun! And also helpful. She is FOR SURE our picky eater and also stubborn as all get out. 

For example, she will not eat grilled cheese but loves a cheese quesadilla. (I know. I KNOW. It is maddening.) 

But people are always saying that kids will eat the food they cook so we had her choose one main dish and one dessert to make on Saturday.

The dessert was a Raspberry Clafouti. Here it is about to go into the oven!

And here it is out of the oven. Clearly the dinner prep started too. The clafouti needed to cool for at least a half hour. 

Dinner prep was tedious but successful. This was Sesame Noodles. It should have been a home run.

In reality, she ate only the sugar snap peas and carrots. Now I admit it, I am not a huge peanut butter fan so I also didn't particularly love this but C really really did. And Husband ate all of his too. 

M did in fact enjoy her clafouti. 

And we will find some new recipes for next week's adventure! 

The Saga of the Last 2 Weeks

Lent is going to Lent. 

Let me just tell you, I have never liked Lent. The liturgical season doesn't make any sense to me at all. It's very Protestant of me isn't it? Nevertheless, I have always said, "Lent will find you." I just anticipate that Lent is going to Lent. 

Giving up all the candy in the world is nothing compared to the real-life Lent things. And boy howdy did Lent find us. 

So here we were. The first two Lenten days were fine. No problem. Even some good things. Then that first Friday hit. 

M had a well check. Turns out her heart rate was a little high. And she was overdue for her follow-up Echo so we got that scheduled. I was not even a little bit worried. 

The next morning was M's piano festival. C was staying home. Husband was driving my car. We got to the village (less than a mile from our house) and stopped at a 4-way stop. As we began to accelerate we heard a weird squealing noise. I even rolled my window down to determine if it was my car but there was no further noise. Then the car stopped accelerating. We pulled into the Spoon Museum parking lot. Ironically, it was exactly a year TO THE DAY that I was there last year. (Blog post was written a few days after the fact.)

We turned the car off. And then tried to turn the car on. It wouldn't start. M lost her mind. She was going to be late. I just started calling people we knew who were going to be at the festival too. First phone call, they didn't play til 11. Second phone call straight to voicemail. And then I remembered, when I went to pick M up from school early I chatted with the school secretary, also C's bestie's mom, and her son Jack played about the same time as M. 

So I called them. They were on their way but behind us and would drive right by so I asked if M could hop in with them and at least be there. By the grace of God Jack and M were scheduled to be in the SAME ROOM. So they had M. Husband walked home to get his car and I waited for a tow. 

Husband didn't make it to the festival in time to hear M play but he was able to get her home. I got my car towed and did not fall out of the tow truck and holy heck those things are TALL. 

Then we got home and C's new shoes were delivered WITHOUT SHOES IN THE BOX. 

At this point, I was done for the day but we still had Mass and dinner and going to the high school show. M's best friend was in it so there was no way we weren't going. 

Fast forward to Monday. Luckily, Husband could drop us all off since we all go to the same spot. We had M pack extra snacks to stay after and it was going to be fine. 

My car was scheduled to be seen at 10:45. And I waited. At like 4:45 they called me and I didn't have great service because I was over at the school. He started using fancy car words and I asked for the price. 

And my world literally crashed when I learned it was definitely more than the car was worth and now we would have to go car shopping. This is a car I bought in 2021. It has less than 100,000 miles on it. It got a brand new battery in December. It had a full tank of gas. There was NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. Until there was and now I needed to buy a new car. 

Later that night Husband was speaking with his dad and we learned he received a diagnosis that is not mine to share since he apparently hasn't told much of anyone yet. Wasn't that just the cherry on top?

So the next few days were full of our one-car family trying to do all the things on a dress rehearsal, family faith formation night, final push til Spring Break week. Oh. With some car shopping thrown in. And trying to just hold it together because things were looking bleak. 

Not sure if you've bought a car lately but it's awful. There are no vehicles. And the ones they have are $10,000 more than the last time you bought a car. And I had a lot of feelings about it. Not one single part of it was fun. 

On Wednesday was M's echo. And it took way longer than I expected. But she watched Bluey and it was okay. 

Definitely, was not supposed to take this picture but whatever. We got her to school and went to test drive a car that we decided we liked enough to put a deposit on because the dealership just got it and they weren't sure if it would pass inspection. But it wouldn't be ready for a while. Probably Monday. 

And just like that... there went my Spring Break. Yes, we were just going to MN but I had plans and I was mad. 

Thursday was C's show. But his replacement shoes came and they were actually in the box so that's something! 

Friday was also C's show and the day of the crazy storms that hit across the country. At this point I was pretty certain if anyone was going to have their house blow away it was going to be us. So I holy watered the heck out of the house, charged every single external battery and the travel sound machines plus 2 kindles so I could read when we lost power. 

The upside is we never lost power. 

Saturday I was going to sleep in and Husband decided to take the kids to the St. Patrick's Day parade. They were also salty about not going to MN for the break so we were trying to find fun inexpensive things to do. (Because down payments y'all and yes there's an emergency fund but the fun budget gets thrown into that one too.) 

And Husband's car wouldn't start. 

When I tell you I was in despair that was an understatement. By the way, his car had gotten a new battery about 3 weeks before so... lots of fun. 

My best friend took matters into her own hands and they were leaving town for Spring Break but on their way out of town brought us their daughter's car. So we could at least go grocery shopping, and get to Mass. 

AAA came, jumped Husband's car and then Husband got it to a shop and I came to get him in the borrowed car. 

I prayed really really hard at Mass. 

Monday (St. Patrick's Day) we were all home together. Husband's car had a bad battery and a million other things. We picked a not small number of things to do to get the car running well because we really can't do 2 car payments so we need it to run for at least a few more years. 

AND the dealer called and told us the new to us car wouldn't be ready til Thursday or Friday. 

Tuesday Husband went to work and the kids and I were home. I got the phone call about the Echo finally. It's not nothing and we are even going to do another Echo to determine the plan of action. This was reading Sunrise on the Reaping day.

Wednesday we thought Husband's car would be ready. He came home from work a little early. We got the phone call that SUPRISE the new to us car was ready and I immediately called the bank to up my spending limit to pay for the down payment. 

We bought a car. And I will write all about it another time but I have a lot of feelings about it. 

Yesterday we picked up Husband's car. And it wasn't cheap but it does run really nicely. 

And today is Friday. It's been a long, emotional, expensive 2 weeks. My new car is the only car in the parking lot. (Besides the stupid van.) And we won't know about M's heart for a while. I am still not worried because I don't have the emotions for that. 

Today I sat with Jesus in Adoration and I just admitted to him that I am weary. And mad. 

If the lesson was about humility, well I asked for a lot of help this week. Getting people to piano festivals and lessons, borrowing cars, asking for prayers. I am thankful for my friends who were able to help so I don't think gratitude is the problem but if He wants me to be grateful I am. 

I don't know what the reasoning for all this to happen in a 2-week span was. My soul is tired. 2 cars, a cancelled trip (with tickets to things that we couldn't get money back for), my daughter's heart and my FIL's health being not great. Among all the rest of the day-to-day life things, I am just emotionally done. 

Oh, plus I have a paperweight of a car that I don't know what to do with. We bought our car from a different dealer than where it is. Where it is would have given us a lowball but still something amount as a trade-in. But now we need to get rid of it somehow.

Junk cars are a racket. It has a 2-month-old battery, a full tank of gas, and no rust anywhere. They could sell the doors alone for more than $25 each so getting $100 is insulting. Hopefully, Jesus has a plan for that too. 

So... that's my story. There's been plenty of God moments mixed in with the challenges. And I have always lived by the theme that "If a problem can be solved with money it isn't a problem." And yes, most of these things are inconveniences and not life-or-death problems but there's a few health things mixed in there that are in fact not solvable with money. 

I know we will get through it. But it was a lot in a short little time.