Tag: mass

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Day 1 in STL – 2022

This morning, Shecklet #4 and I went on a walk in search of decent coffee. Hotel coffee leaves much to be desired. I never thought of my self as a coffee snob, but the longer I drink it, the more particular I become. Perhaps that’s because I don’t like strong coffee and I miss my daily cup from the Keurig.

Our journey took us down the “Historic Main Street” of St. Charles, MO. The temps were pleasant (much nicer than back home) and it was a bit muggy from having rained overnight. After several blocks, we found a cute coffee shop where I ordered a vanilla latte and then we headed back to our hotel.

Our friend, (Shecklet #3’s Godfather) who is in STL for the Christmas season, met us at Immaculata Catholic Church and said Mass for our family and our friends, who were also in STL for the week. The church was beautiful. (Photo credit below goes to Shecklet #2 who asked to take photos of it after Mass.)

After Mass, we gathered in the rectory for lunch. Msgr. Gardin was kind enough to open his kitchen and dining room to our group. Fr. J. and Jake grilled steaks and burgers and Fr. J. prepared sea bass and sides. It was wonderful to get to share a meal with this great group! Sometimes God does show you why things don’t work out like you originally planned.

After lunch, Jake took the teenagers and tweens to the mall to see a movie – Avatar 2 in 3D. I went with our friends to the other side of the river (Troy, IL,) for a few hours. Before returning to MO, we drove down the highly-decorated street of our friend’s brother. The houses in the cul-de-sac go all-out and even have lights choreographed to music on a radio station. It is quite the sight!

After the movie ended, our group went to The Hill in search of a restaurant. We ended up at an authentic pizza place. Shecklet #2 said the pizza was some of the best he’s ever had. For dessert, we crossed the street and had gelato. Yum!

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Christmas Eve 2020 🎄

It was a snowy, chilly Christmas Eve. We finally received a substantial amount of snow yesterday along with strong winds. Today the whiteout conditions subsided enough for us to have one of Jake’s sisters join us for the second half of the day. We went to 5pm mass and then came back to the house for pizza soup (Grandma Fran’s recipe,) garlic bread, cookies, and a movie – Elf. (The church was almost empty so we took the opportunity to take a few pictures – masked and non-masked.)

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5/19/20 – Additional planning

Astrid’s Grandma Patti (Jake’s mom) offered for us to use the baptismal gown that Jake and his siblings were baptized in to wrap around Astrid when she is laid to rest. The dress was made by her Great-grandma Lois and is a similar design to the one that Grandma Lois made for the Shecklets’ baptisms. Jake brought the gown over to the funeral home yesterday afternoon.

Today we heard back from our Judy from our parish, who has been guiding us through planning Astrid’s funeral mass. We did some minor additions to music and asked for Shecklet #3 to change roles with Jake so she could read the intentions at mass. Shecklet #1 will read the first reading (Wisdom 3: 1 – 3, 9) and Shecklet #2 will read the second (Philippians 3: 20, 21.)

Two of our friends worked together to create a Meal Train for us for the next few weeks and we have been blessed with two meals thus far. Much like when we returned home from my brain surgery in CA, being provided a meal during a time of recovery, and in this case, recovery & loss, is a gift that means so much. I know people say “it’s the least I can do,” but really, it means way more to us.

I keep scrolling through the photos we took of our time with Astrid in the hospital. We still have not had a chance to look at the ones taken by our nurses, but we will get there. The organization, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, that is available to take photos for families experiencing the loss of their babies was not able to come to the hospital to take photos for us, but they do offer a retouching service. Once we’ve looked at all of the pictures we have of Astrid, I plan to send a selection to them in hopes that they can be retouched if possible.

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5/18/20 Funeral Planning

Funeral planning.

Those are two words I never dreamed I would be writing about my child. How do you go from telling your husband you’re pregnant to selecting bible readings and music for your baby’s funeral mass?

This isn’t what we want to be planning. We want to be picking out a car seat, choosing a crib, stocking up on diapers.

As I told one of my aunts tonight, emotionally, this is the hardest thing I have ever done. I feel like right now we are just getting things done/prepared for Thursday’s funeral mass & burial and then after that, the larger waves of grief will hit. Then there are the milestones that we won’t actually be celebrating with her on earth – her due date, first holidays, first birthday, etc.

And yet, I know that she is in heaven and she isn’t hurting. She is with Great Grandma Fran, Great Auntie Helen, Great Grandma Veronica, Sammy, her Papa Dale, our goddaughters Gianna and Faith, and so many other loved ones. The kids know their sister is a little saint, we can ask her to pray for us, and we have the hope of seeing her again one day. I’m so grateful for our faith.

I hope I can look back on the readings we chose for her funeral mass and find comfort when I’m struggling. She is a child of God. She belongs to Him. We were given a short time with her, but as it says in Philippians 3:20,21 “..our citizenship is in heaven.” She is where we all should long to be one day.

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Easter 2020

Mass together at home – joining our parish family virtually.

Brunch – egg bake, fruit smoothies and orange rolls.

Movie afternoon – Aunt Larissa joined us.

Jake grilled for dinner. Steaks and hotdogs because of course, it’s snowing!

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Virtual Mass

We are so grateful for our pastor, Fr. Jim, and the staff at our parish who have made it possible for us to participate in mass virtually while in-person masses have been suspended.