A Special Sunday

On Sunday, Isabelle made her first Communion, a very special day in a little Catholic's 

life.  She and her second grade class have been preparing all year: studying their 

Catechism and learning their prayers.  At only eight years old, she is at the very beginning 

of her spiritual life, laying down the foundation and developing a very young 

understanding of what it means to know and serve something larger than herself.  As 

her mother, that has been a very powerful journey for me to witness.  Her innocent 

and loving heart inspires me to view the world differently, gives me a great sense 

of responsibility to live my life knowing that she is watching and molding her ways to 

match mine.  

Our priest gave the children a piece of advice during mass on Sunday: from this day 

forward, live each day with the enthusiasm you feel right now.  The joy and excitement 

you are feeling for this moment: let it fill your soul during even the everyday 

moments.  Such a beautiful and simple reminder: to live each day big and bold and 

full of possibility.  I have thought of those words many times since, held onto them 

because they touched my heart in such a powerful way.  

It was a beautiful weekend and Isabelle was blessed to be surrounded by her whole 

family, including Shawn's parents who flew in from Arizona.  Shawn and I cooked 

all weekend and spoiled our precious house guests to no end.  We watched old home 

movies and made new ones, stayed up late into the night talking, had a girls' only 

shopping trip and played outside until sunset.  

It was a weekend I don't think I'll ever forget.