A holy weekend. A holy First Communion. A holy funeral. Holy moly.
We spent the majority of our weekend in church. With Tommy's rehearsals for First Communion, the wake, the funeral, First Communion, just about all of our time was church related. The kids were in nice dress clothes most of the time too. They spent a good amount of time like this:
(I came downstairs from getting dressed and found the kiddos like this. Too cute not to snap a pic.)
The kids were to get dressed in their nice clothes and then forced to try and sit, and not rough house, while they waited for us to go from one event to the next. Don't feel too badly for them, though. They lived on sweets and sugar this weekend so, in their book, it was a good weekend. Lots of cake and ice cream and cookies and snacks at every event and I just wasn't in the mood to be the blow hard so they really had at it. Besides, the kids really were extremely well behaved and I think they deserved a bit of sugar.
Tommy's First Communion went swimmingly. He was so excited and happy and it was easy to catch his enthusiasm. My holy little guy. Very proud of him.
That same night we had Todd's father's wake. There were tons of people. Jerry touched a lot of lives. And the general consensus was that if you didn't get along with Jerry then you couldn't get along with anyone. The man had no enemies. He was a wonderful man.
The funeral the next day was moving and special. I know Jerry was very proud watching his wife, his children, his grandchildren, and the rest of his family and friends paying tribute to him. Each of the grandkids read a petition (Grace got a bit of stage fright and decided she'd rather come back by mom), Cassie (grandchild- 12 years old) read a very moving tribute to grandpa, and Todd had everyone laughing and crying as he spoke about his dad. It was wonderful.
We honored Jerry's generous nature by having an open bar at the luncheon and enjoyed the wonderful meal. The luncheon was on at a golf course restaurant and the sun shone warmly on the rolling hills and the sparkling pond. It was a beautiful day.
It has been a very long, emotional, draining week. With the rush of activity over the reality of it all sets in. The void.
Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts and birthday wishes. I appreciate it all very much.
11 comments:
Hey Kat :) i always feel that once the funeral is over...the 'healing' can begin...glad all went well...i was thinking of you...
I'm glad for all the high points. What a wonderful milestone for Tommy. I know you, Todd and the kids will have a hole, I'm so sorry. You'll continue to be in my prayers.
Such a sad time, but it looks like there was some joy interwoven between. Thank you for sharing photos of your beautiful family. I'd forgotten about first communion banners! So special. What a celebration of new life in Christ. Hugs.
Sounds like a terrific funeral...actually...I mean as funerals go. Love those photos of the kids sitting so patiently and being to good. I am jealous of your parenting skills. My oldest grandson's first communion is coming soon as well. I am not Catholic, so not sure what to expect, but we will be there.
That top photo is so cute, and hope you are all feeling peace this week!
Steph
what a whirlwind of emotional activities. wow. i am glad you have loving family and a church family to support you through it all. glad also that there was much to celebrate amongst the sadness of loss. it sounds like your father-in-law was a wonderful man and your kiddos were angles when you most needed it.
While sad and terrible, what a time of celebration and rejoice, too! I know it was a tough week.
I know this week will be enough tougher with the slowing down. Praying for you all.
Yes, this does sound like an emotional weekend. You have much to be proud of. I will continue to keep you in my prayers this week.
What a week, for sure! The kids look great and congratulations to Tommy!
beautiful post and your such a sweet mom...
Now that song is in my head "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty...."
I LOVE the pic of all 4 kids in the chairs! So cute.
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