December 28th

I was pleasantly surprised to find a new copy of My Daily Visitor in the mailbox today. I love them! This quickly turned to a tad bit of disappointment when I realized that it was the Nov/Dec edition. So... there are only 4 days left counting today. I will go back and read the ones I missed but still it was a little bummer.

Todays reading

Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler's snare. ~ Psalm 124:7

Today talks about the Holy Innocents and I do of course see how this can relate to the abortion debate that rages on today. I have to agree with Fr. Caropi though that if we stood up for what we believe that this debate would over and done with.

But it also talks about how these children had done no wrong and had no way to defend themselves. It likens it to Christians today who are still persecuted (be it by their government or society.) It reminds us that if the world hates us, know it hated Him first.

Thankfully I have not known persecution for my beliefs. However, I'm just growing into them. I do know that I sometimes hear comments (mainly from my own family!) about my decision to join the Catholic Church instead of another church. I find myself bombarded at times by invitations to different worship services, prayer groups and even attempts to get my son to participate in activities. This is great in some ways but in other ways I sometimes feel it is manipulative. We have a pretty set program right now with church. We have our RCIA and CCD classes every Sunday morning, Mass of course and our RCIC classes. Anything that threatens to disrupt those is quickly disregarded. These are my priorities. There will be no out of town trips until after Easter for us probably. Not because we cannot miss a class but more because I don't want to. Also I am trying to set a routine for my family. I'm afraid that in the beginning to miss Mass or classes would set me up for trouble down the road. I want this to be a priority for us.

I took down the tree today. I know.. it's early. I was cleaning and the next thing you know I was tossing ornaments in a box. I really did have a wonderful Christmas holiday but like I said in a previous post, I feel that something was lacking. I am looking forward to starting new meaningful traditions that are not so commercial. I want to learn more. I want the children to learn more. I want to experience the true reason for the season. I feel like I missed the boat. Honestly, the tree simply kept reminding me of that.

I am now bringing my elliptical machine back inside so I can start an exercise program for the new year.

I recently lost almost 50 lbs. My bloodpressure went down and I felt fabulous! Then my episodes started, the depression came, the anti-depressants come and the next thing I knew I had gained 25 of it back! Maybe more now lol I haven't weighed since before Christmas! I am really starting to feel the desire to do some good things for myself. To get off my butt and exercise (this will help bring my bloodpressure back down and my weight. It may even help with the depression.) I want to develop a prayer habit. I desperately need that in my life and am so darn unorganized and scatterbrained that I feel like I almost need to schedule it in along with learning to pray throughout the day.

I'm working on it. It's not the same without our RCIA classes. I really miss them. I can't wait for the return of our regularly scheduled programming :-)