Thad

On Thursday, Thad officially became a Catholic. Many of you might be wondering why. Honestly I can't speak for him, but this was something he decided entirely by himself. I had never cared that he wasn't Catholic. When we got married, I said that I would like to raise our kids Catholic, but that if he felt strongly about his church, that was fine too. His answer was always that he never felt connected anyway so let's just stick with my side of things.
Along came children...and religion classes for Ryan, Sunday school for Kate, and that is when you really do get forced to decide if you want to continue exposing your children to religion. Last year, Ryan went through two big sacraments: Reconciliation and Communion. Ryan had workbooks for both events that we had to complete with him. For Thad, this was an opportunity to learn about what the church teaches--in a very plain and clear way. I was able to relearn things I had learned as a young child. Much of it, I had discounted over the years.
Add to all of this, two very cool priests who are friendly, fun, outgoing, and open to questions. Gone are the days of the very old and intimidating priests from when I was a child. So through my niece & nephew's baptisms and Ryan's communion, we have been able to hang out with these people on a different level.
Throughout all of this, Thad spoke often to me that he finally felt a connection to church, religion, and developed a stronger sense of faith. Luckily he was able to convert rather quickly and privately. Monsignor Mike always said to Thad, "You go to church more often that many Catholics." So he escaped the year-long process. (Yes it's that long!)
So as of Thursday, it's official. I am proud of him for taking the initiative to do this on his own. And for those of you who are wondering, don't worry, I am still a liberal Catholic. I didn't really know until it was too late to change my mind that many Catholics have certain views that I just don't share. I have told my priests this too...and since they think I am a nice person they have forgiven me....ha ha.

On another note, here I am at 32 weeks. Speaking of religion and prayer, I pray Thad can survive 8 more weeks of the evil hormonal Bonnie. It's pretty ugly...as is my weight gain.