Happy Sunday

Today was lovely: 57 degrees above 0, a warm wind, even the first rain of the year this afternoon. Walking into church this morning, it was pleasant enough that we didn't need to be wearing jackets! Such beautiful weather. Hopefully the warmth will continue, the rest of the snow will melt quickly, and all of the mud will start drying out.

Since today's Gospel reading included the story of the two disciples who walked with Christ on the way to Emmaus and recognized Him in the breaking of the bread, our pastor spent part of his homily reminding the congregation of the importance of approaching the Eucharist with reverence; it's been a long time since I've heard a priest remind everyone that only Catholics in a state of grace (and what that means!) may receive. It's so important for priests to say this, because there have been so many decades now of many many Catholics receiving poor catechesis, there are a lot of people who honestly don't know that to receive in a state of mortal sin is itself a grave sin. It's not about excluding people from the Eucharist; it's a matter of encouraging and helping people to reconcile themselves with God so that they are able to receive the grace of the sacrament. You can't welcome God into your heart when you've nailed the door shut—you have to pull out the nails and open the door first.

The wind knocked out our power for about an hour shortly after we got home from Mass, and we decided to take advantage of the afternoon to go for a drive. We didn't exactly have a route in mind when we left, aside from "taking the scenic route to the ice cream shop," but we wound up going on a bit of an adventure around the area where we live, keeping an eye out for For Sale signs and driving by houses. It was fun, though we didn't wind up seeing anything that we wanted to call about. I think I'm close to accepting that we just aren't going to find what we want (not in town, garage, wood heat) in our price range, but I'm not really willing to give up any of those things... and Matt's still holding onto the belief that eventually the right place will come up, so we will see what happens. If the right place DOES come on the market, after looking this long—this is our third year—we'll definitely know it when we see it!

Little Bear was, of course, thrilled to realize that we were going to get ice cream, and was more than happy to share each of our dishes. Even the "small" dishes of ice cream are too much... next time, we will have to get just one dish and share it three ways, if we can agree on one flavor; Matt always wants chocolate (but not dark chocolate), and I almost always want vanilla, but occasionally dark chocolate sounds perfect. Little Bear is easy: he just wants ice cream, no matter what flavor it is!

I take that back; we all shared a dish of green tea ice cream once, and he was not a fan. Most flavors, though, he's perfectly happy with.

Matt suggested going out on the deck and taking a photo out in the wind and sun when we got home from Mass, so I'm linking up with Fine Linen and Purple today for What I Wore Sunday:

Navy blouse, Old Navy Maternity, hand-me-down
Grey slacks, Duo Maternity, hand-me-down
Grey sandals, Dexflex, Payless Shoes

Have a blessed week!