Hello Again!

 It's been a little over a year since I took a hiatus from the blogging world. After much prompting and prayerful consideration, I've decided to return.This will be a work in progress as I decide what to move over from previous blogs, and strive to follow the path that our Heavenly Father has laid out for me.

Finding grace in imperfection...

Rest assured, I will fail. I will fall short. I will disappoint you. I am imperfect, flawed, and utterly human. I make mistakes every day. I make choices that many people do not agree with. I will never be able to please everyone.

I will, however, love wholeheartedly. I will be genuine. I will be authentic.

This last year has taken me on an interesting journey of discovering grace. Coming from a very legalistic background has made accepting God's grace an almost insurmountable challenge. I had to come to a point of accepting that I can never do enough or be good enough to deserve His mercy. But yet, He loves me anyway. Even more than that, I had to accept that He created me. This seems obvious, of course. Even little children know that. But, He really did create ME. An imperfect, flawed, silly girl with a heart that breaks too easily. He created me with my weakness for being stubborn and hard headed, an impatience for things not being the way I'd like, and a black and white mind in a world full of grey. He knew I'd love glitter and pink. He knew I'd be giddy for cute little dogs. He knew that a new pen would make me light up like a Christmas tree. He created ME. And He loved me, just the way He made me. That doesn't mean that He wants me to stay in a state of imperfection, or use my weaknesses as excuses. But, He already loves me. He's promised to never leave me. God has given me grace to live a truly Christian life. He's provided what I need so that I can live to honor Him. He loves me, His precious imperfect daughter.

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,  whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins;  it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus." -Romans 3:21-26

Why a Catholic blog?

My reason for writing a Catholic blog is two fold. Firstly, we are Catholic. Our faith shapes our daily lives...how we think, feel, and act. It would be impossible to separate faith and the day to day happenings in our world.

My second reason is to provide a source of information. We have a lot of friends, good friends, that are not Catholic. They have little exposure, or perhaps even negative exposure to what being Catholic means. I wanted to provide a window into what we believe and why. I get a LOT of questions about our faith and why we do the things we do.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable in thy sight,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." -Psalm 19:!4

Family Update

Life seems to have entered a new phase in our household. We've transitioned from a house full of little ones, to having three school aged children, a preschooler and a toddler! We've been in our new home for a year and a half now, and it's really beginning to feel like home. God has blessed us with a good circle of homeschooling friends. And, I think we've finally found a parish that's just right for our family. This past year has been an interesting journey, to say the least. Many things have changed, and many more have stayed the same.

I think I shall close for now. I look forward to this adventure!

Pax Christi,