All School Mass

Being that the kids attend Catholic school, they attend weekly masses. Both of their grades attend on Tuesdays. Once a month though the whole school attends Mass on a Wednesday. Today was the first of the year. This one also coincided with Grandparent's Day, an annual event that Nana attended a couple of years ago. This year the kids did not have any grandparents in attendance (although they had many surrogate grandparents there to keep them company, more on that later). Each All School Mass is hosted by one or two grades and this one was hosted by 1st and 3rd grades. Coincidentally, the grades that Quinn and Keely are in this year. Hosting means that the readings and Prayer of the Faithful are done by students in those grades. The names are chosen randomly and picked about a week ahead of time so that they can prepare. Well, both kids got speaking parts in this Mass. Being that I am now primarily working from home, I had the privilege of attending to hear them firsthand. Quinn was first up, doing the middle part of the 1st reading. He did such a great job, didn't speak too quickly and sounded so mature up on the Altar. Keely had a part of the Prayer of the Faithful and she was literally beaming with excitement as she made her way up on the Altar with the other children. She nailed her 2 lines and proudly raised her hand to the Congregation when she said "We pray to the Lord". They both did great and I am proud of them...that church was full and it's not an easy task to get up and speak clearly and loudly in front of that many people.

While I was in the Church surrounded by people I know (including those surrogate grandparents I mentioned), I started to think about how much I love this Church and School. This is our 4th year in the school and it is such a great community. Each year, I love it more. I am almost brought to tears thinking about how proud I am that my kids get to be a part of such a wonderful caring community. It takes a village to raise a child, and that village is Blessed Sacrament Church and School. It has given us such a sense of belonging in Utah. It makes me sad to think that my kids won't go all the way to 8th grade in this school. I just wish we could pick it up and take it with us wherever we go. For now though, as long as we are in Utah our kids will go nowhere else!