Communing with Christ

I'm sure I don't have to tell you..it's been busy!  We have been getting ready for Mary Claire's First Holy Communion this week.  Today was her big day.  We got up by 8am to get started!  Think: Prom.  We bathed her, practiced communion, rolled her hair, got her nails done (clear 'diamonds' for her fingers, and hot pink with two coats of diamonds for her toes), served her lunch, then began to get dressed, curled the hair that didn't take the rollers too well, and hurried off to church!
We were in such a hurry, I didn't even get to take my requisite picture outside the garage or front door. : (  She said, "Why don't you take one now?"  So I did.  Driving out of our neighborhood!  We caught a beautiful car I noticed as I looked at the photos tonight.  I can see it was in front of Damian Williams house-don't know who's car it is..  

It just ruins a beautiful dress to crunch it into a seatbelt, but I wouldn't dream of driving her around without one!  We rushed (and I mean, sped) to the church, only to W-A-I-T.  We made it on time (meaning no pictures outside, no changing my clothes 14 times, no time to try on clothes that fit...), and then they didn't start taking photos!  We were only the third in line, and by 2:20, I went in to see why we were moving (as we had to run to Rick's to pick up her cake between pictures and 3:15 for the group picture line-up!), and his daughter told me he'd forgotten the camera at home.  Umm..if your job relies on your camera, don't you pack it first?  I mean, I even remembered mine.

 This is my picture of her getting her picture made..I really wanted her standing up-with her dress in the picture.  This was Terrell Rohrbach's first year taking (our First Communion pictures) individuals, so maybe next year's kids will have a different pose option?
Anyway, then we saw the sun!!  We were leaving the church to go get the aforementioned cake (and fast!) but we stopped outside to take a few more pictures right outside the church.  Clay had taken so many beautiful ones last year out in that exact spot, so I wanted her to have some there too.  We had some sweet friends take a couple of me and Mary Claire together too-thank you, Sandy!

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Then in the crazy Fayetteville traffic, we encountered Arkansas State Troopers stopping traffic for a motorcade of big charter buses-I mean, only when when you're in a hurry!  They informed us that the cake should NOT be left in the car for three hours, so I had to call Ches and ask him to bring a cooler to the church!  We made it back late (surprised?), but in time for the group picture.  There were so many kids, I don't know if I'll be able to see Mary Claire's face in the tiny 5x7 I ordered her!  I didn't realize it wouldn't be just her class.  I learn something every day.  This is her in the crowd:

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I'm not so good on the red-eye removal, so sorry.  At least the camera caught her, it was really zoomed out!  Then there were no pictures in Mass, but we ordered the video, so we'll see it another day.  I couldn't really see her receive communion since her teacher was guiding the class, and we ended up on the first row.  I thought it'd be a great seat with a good view, but there's not a perfect seat.  Ethan was pretty good, I hesitate to say that, but compared to some weeks, it was pretty okay.  He really wanted his sissy, but we made it.

Then we stayed late and of course-took more pictures (you can see more of the pictures in the slide show below)!

Then we let her pick where we went, and she wanted to eat at IHOP!  What a cutie.  She saw a commercial on tv this afternoon, and it was about the kids meals, and there was no changing her mind!  There was (luckily) a new IHOP in our area (Ches looked it up online, since we weren't sure where one was!), and we all had breakfast-dinner: her favorite!  And it was all about her today.

Then we headed home for cake!  Does it get any better?  Stuffing yourself with pancakes, only to chase it down with cake and hot tea? Yum!  Rick's did an amazing job on the cake-I loved it!  The only thing better? The taste of perfection!  Ahh, so good.

Well, the picture doesn't show it so well, but it was beautiful!  Finally, we wound down with a game of Clifford Bingo.  A precious end to a precious day.

Thank you, God, for my sweet daughter who is so excited to be a part of your family.  We are all one body in Christ.  I can't wait to see all my other children in Heaven.  What a blessed day it'll be, when we all get to Heaven.. (a treasured song from my church childhood sings in my heart and head..)

..so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Romans 12:5