Perturbed

Last night, at Ash Wednesday Mass, I was perturbed.  I had to do a lot of asking God for patience and tolerance.  Mass was crowded.  That was the most people I've seen at Mass in a long, long time.  It was almost like Midnight Mass.  The CCD kids (that's "Sunday School" for you Protestants!) and CYO (youth group) kids were all piled in the pews.  That was great...no problem there.

The 8:00 p.m. Mass was billed as a "bilingual" mass.  Okay, no problem, the church we attended in SC used to have bilingual masses a lot.  However, the Eucharistic Prayer (the most important part of the Mass) was always said in English so that the majority of attendees could understand what was being said.  Last night it was said in Spanish.  And, to make matters worse, the priest celebrating the Mass always says that part of the Mass so low that you can't hear it, and with there being so many people in the church, there was no way to hear it.  So...you've got a bunch of kids in Mass, hearing a language that they're not fluent, and a priest that can't be heard.  Amazingly they did a good job in trying to be quiet, but then you've got a bunch of babies talking and crying.

The beginning of the Mass was in English, then it switched over to Spanish during the readings.  No big deal, we all have English/Spanish books so we could follow along.  The Gospel:  in Spanish.  No homily, followed by the distribution of ashes.   Eucharistic Prayer:  Spanish.  The Lord's Prayer:  Spanish.  He switched back to English toward the end of the Mass.  I will have to say:  Hearing the Lord's Prayer being sung in Spanish was beautiful.  Knowing that, this one time, the Hispanic & English communities were in unison almost brought tears to my eyes.  In our parish, there isn't a whole lot of "mingling" of the two communities.  I don't know why, there just isn't.  I'm sure the "bilingual" Mass is one way to intertwine the two, but I had to work hard at not letting my emotions consume the reason I was at Mass last night.  It was hard, I'm not going to lie.  But. I think next year I'll take a half-day off and go to an earlier Mass.

Ash Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. The season of Lent begins on March 9th this year...do you participate and if so, in what way?

We'll start off the Lenten season by going to Ash Wednesday Service.  In the past I've given something up, but the past couple of years I've tried to do a little something extra instead of giving something up.

When OS was about 4 or 5, we went up to get ashes on our forehead.  But, he was having none of it.  He wouldn't let the priest put the ashes on his forehead.  Seems like there was some yelling involved.  I don't know if he thought they were hot or what.  

2. Traditionally pancakes are eaten on the day known as Shrove Tuesday which is the last day before Lent (March 8th this year). So....butter and syrup? Blueberry? Chocolate chip? ewww, no thanks!! What's your pleasure when it comes to eating pancakes?

Danish pancakes are the favorite in our house.  It's really a crepe that we put peanut butter, nutella, and sometimes mashed bananas down the middle, roll it up, and put syrup over it.

3. Spring is coming. (It is coming, right?) What's your favorite springtime flower and do you suffer from seasonal allergies? Two questions I know, but they're lightweights.

Jonquils are my favorite, since they're the first flowers that pop up.  It's really neat to be driving down the road and just see a little clump out in the middle of a field.  

I don't have allergies; yep, I know I'm one of the lucky ones.

4. "Our opinion of people depends less upon what we see in them than upon what they make us see in ourselves." Author unknown. Agree or Disagree? Why?

Ah, that's a really deep question.  I can see how it would make sense, but honestly, I'm too tired to really think about it right now!

5. Since it's "March" and also the season of Mardi Gras....have you ever been in a parade? What's the best parade you've seen?

Oh, my.  How I hate parades.  Unless it's the parade at Epcot.  Or something professionally done, not the little hometown parades.  It drives me crazy how they'll let anybody in who will pay a fee, and it's all about them advertising for their business.  Oh...the answer to the question:  I was in the band, so I've been in quite a few parades.

6. You would jump up and down and shout for joy right now if someone told you___________?

I've won the lottery.  Or, Bravo called and asked me to guest star on the Real Housewives. (I'm kidding, people!)

7. How clean is your car on the outside? Inside? Is there junk in your trunk?

It's not too bad on the inside.  It needs to be dusted, and I tend to throw things in the backseat and then not take them out, but it's really not too bad.  But, we're not going to discuss the dish towels, dish rags, and the pump lids that have been in the trunk of my car since November.  They're clean, but haven't made their way back to the concession stand.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I got this e-mail from a friend a couple of days ago:

Evening Prayer

Someone has said that if Christians really understood  the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Did you know that during WWII there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped  what they were doing every  day at a prescribed hour  for one minute to collectively pray for the  safety of England , its people and peace? There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America . If you would like to participate: Every evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central) (7:00 PM Mountain) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for a return to a Godly nation. If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.    Please forward this to your praying friends.

 

Incredible Weekend

What a great weekend!  Friday night I did laundry since I knew I was going to be busy on Saturday and Sunday.  (This isn't the incredible part, believe me!)
What better way to spend a Saturday than watching high school kids performing?  I'm talking percussion (winter drumline) and winterguard.

YS plays the baritone in band, trumpet in jazz band, and bass drum in drumline.  This was the first time they have performed, or even had a drumline.  There are 2 classifications for drumline:  1 does a choreographed show, the other doesn't.  YS' drumline didn't march.  There were only two drumlines in their class, and they got the higher score, which means they came in 1st!  They were pleasantly surprised, to say the least.
There were a couple of guards at this competition who were just amazing.  The guard that won the more advanced class had this werewolf theme going on.  Their showmanship was amazing; the way they carried themselves and their expressions were very dramatic.  And the equipment-work that they did!  They had flags and rifles flying all over the place!  There may have been a couple of drops, but not more than a couple.  I don't know if the picture will do them justice:

After the performances, while they were waiting for the judge's marks, music played and the kids danced:

That's my shy YS doing the worm.  In front of everybody.  And, he got lots of cheers.
Sunday morning I woke up to rain, then, when I was getting ready to leave for Mass, it started snowing:

(The white things in the picture are snow.)  The flakes were so big and heavy, that when I left for Mass, I could hear them hit the windshield.
After Mass, one of my sisters (the one who gives me "stuff") went into the big city to go to the "Women Today Expo".  Lots of vendors, lots of free stuff, and....look who I met:

If you don't watch the Real Housewives of Orange County, you won't recognize Gretchen.  Oh, y'all...she was so incredibly nice!  When she came out for the meet & greet, she had her coat on.  I told her that my sister & I figured she had her coat on because she was ready to get out of "hick city", and she laughed and said, "hick city...listen to you."  She went on to say that she really liked it here and that everybody was really nice.  She is even prettier in person, but when she stood sideways she just about disappeared.  She's so incredibly thin, but not in an anorexic kind of way.  As a bonus, here's who else we saw:

Yep, Gretchen's boyfriend, Slade!  I thought he'd be the biggest jerk alive, but he was also incredibly nice.  I told him I'd been watching since the beginning, and he said, "Sorry you've gotten sucked into it."   I think he said that just before this picture was taken.  My nephew's wife is a photographer and was taking pictures at the event, so this was taken with her camera...by my sister.  She was suppose to be in the picture (not my sister...she had no idea who they were), but my sis was having a little bit of trouble with the humongous big girl camera.  So, she didn't get a picture with Slade.  I hated it for her, but am so glad that mine turned out!  And, look:  He has his arm around me!
After the expo, my sister & I went up into the Sunsphere.  This sign was in the elevator:

Seriously?  They have to have a sign like this in the elevator?  The view was nice, but it could've been a lot better if the sky wasn't overcast.

Yep...all in all, a pretty good weekend!  Have a wonderful FAT TUESDAY!