First the good stuff. . .
Matthew had a good report from his Sunday School teacher. You may remember that he was asked to leave preschool early last fall because he wouldn't follow their routine and had trouble listening to his teachers. I've been talking to his Sunday School teachers about this since then and they've been working with him on it. Well yesterday his teacher told me that he had participated in all the class activities, obeyed the teacher and stayed in his seat during Wee Worship. So he got to be the line leader on the way back to the classroom from Wee Worship. Yeah Matthew!! I'm so proud of him!
The other good news is that we have given Rose her own email account. She's been asking us for one since last summer. It was a tough decision but we decided to trust that she will be responsible with her email address. We talked to her about what to do and what not to do and laid down some rules for her. To say that she is excited would be an understatement. It's a step into a whole new world for her. She loved being able to "chat" with me online even though we were in the same room. This is actually a big step for all of us, letting her have a bit of independence. My baby is growing up! I admit I'm nervous and am planning to monitor her very closely to see how she handles it. It's definitely a different world than when I was 10!
Now for the bad news. I went to a funeral today. A friend of mine from MOPS had to bury her baby girl today. She arrived 3 months early and just wasn't strong enough to survive. Plus she had been diagnosed with Trisomy-18, a birth defect similar to Down's Syndrome. My friend knew this would probably happen and had been preparing for it. It was still hard for her though, especially since she just had a c-section about 10 days ago. I am so sad for her and her family. Seeing that tiny casket at the church this morning was just heartbreaking! I haven't been to many Catholic Masses before, but I was raised Lutheran so parts of the liturgy and songs were familiar. We sang "On Eagle's Wings" and "How Great Thou Art" which are 2 of my favorite hymns.
A couple things didn't make sense to me though. They sprinkled incense over the casket at the end of the service, Why? What does that represent? And why did the priest refer to the baby as a saint? He was talking to my friend's kids and told them that they had their very own personal saint in the family and that they could pray to her and she could help them. That doesn't make sense to me. I thought the process of making someone a saint in the Catholic church was a long, involved process including documenting miracles performed and other things. Can any of you, my few but faithful readers, help me understand this?
I did learn something new though. Today, December 28, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the baby boys under age 2 that Herod had killed in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. Having the funeral on this particular feast day seems appropriate somehow.
Bill and Lena's Peru Update - May 2019
6 years ago
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