And The Excitement Builds!

A quick note:  This will probably be a boring post for most, but I'm so excited, and it's the best way to keep from going crazy tomorrow.
In two days Emma and I will be heading for a glorious week (well, two weeks for her!) back in Missouri!!!  Every year around this time I go back to Mo, and the first weekend of May Mom and I go garage saling in Liberty because that's their time to have lots of neighborhood-wide sales :)  Every year Nick is hesitant to see us go, but every year I remind him that this is our "deer hunting" time, and he eventually understands how this is just as important to me, as hunting is to him (thank God!)

Along with garage saling, I am REALLY looking forward to getting to see a few wonderful women because it's been way too long since our last visit!  Monday after arriving "home" I am getting together with a high school/lifelong friend and we are taking our munchkins to the park to let them play, which could be interesting :)  Then on Tuesday evening I am getting together with a great friend of mine from college whom I haven't seen in over a year!  She has a little boy who is two months younger than Emma, so it's going to be fun to see them interacting!  Finally, before our big finale on Friday/Saturday, Mom and I are spending Wednesday in Kansas City at Union Station seeing a Titanic exhibit! 

So, now that you are thoroughly bored, how about a few more recent pics to liven things up!  Enjoy :)

Update

Interview went good! Hoping to hear back in the next few weeks if they're interested in me :) That is all....

Job Possibility

Today I got a wonderful phone call! It was a school that I had applied for a Teacher's Assistant position at, and they want to interview me at 12:15 this Wednesday! I am so excited and thankful because this position sounds like it's just up my alley, and also because it's my parish's school!!! Anyhow, just a short and sweet post to update you on the happenings with us right now!

My Faith Journey

I know that Easter is the time to celebrate the sacrifice that Jesus made for me....for you....for everyone. But tonight, instead of elaborating on what that means for me and my family, I wanted to share with you my conversion story from Protestantism to Catholicism, and how Jesus has not only saved me from my sins, but has gotten my life back on track and has called me back to him.

On the night of April 7th, 2012, I feel as if I officially "came home" with my Confirmation into the Catholic Church!! I grew up in a household where we went to the Church of Christ (not LDS) when I was younger, and were pretty active until I was about 4 1/2 and we moved. After that we
really did not go to church much until we moved to my main childhood home, and
began attending the Baptist Church, where I was baptized. I never really felt a very strong connection to that church, or even others I attended in the area, and just sort of fell
away from church-going for several years. In 2009 my husband, Nick, and I got married in a Lutheran church, and became members there as our beliefs seemed to align with
theirs. Now, he had grown up Catholic and has been confirmed years earlier, but for whatever reason, he too had fallen away from the church. We half-heartedly tried to continue to go to church after our wedding, but seemedto feel no connection at that parish (noticing a trend here? ;))

On August 6th, 2010 we welcomed out daughter, Emma, into the world, and I began to think about how I wanted to raise her in a Christian home with strong values and morals, but it wasn't until December of 2010 that I even considered the Catholic church, as it was a topic brought up
to me by my brother, who was struggling to find where he felt he belonged as well. His thoughts gave me some fuel for though, and in August of 2011 my husband and I began to talk about our
daughter's religious future, and how we wanted the best for her and for our family.
It was then that he asked if I had ever considered Catholicism, to which I replied "Not really, but I would like to learn more about it because religion fascinates me." Lucky for me, he had found a parish that was preparing to start up Rcia classes, and so I signed up. Well, the more classes I attended, and the more I learned, the more I felt that I had a gross misunderstanding of the
Church and their ways, and the more I felt that their views totally made sense :)

So after 7-8 months of classes, retreats, scrutinies, and numerous other things, I finally made it to the Easter Vigil, and was confirmed last night :) I feel an incredible amount of support and community from this parish, and am amazed and how the Holy Spirit has worked in my life. If I had found what I thought I was looking for in the other churches, I never would have "returned" home :)