Under the Assumption...

We are very fortunate to have a great community of friends and family who are all too happy to help us celebrate an important feast.  Many of our friends have annual feast day parties (Immaculate Conception, Epiphany, Annunciation, etc.) and we decided to add one to the rotation with the the Assumption.

We say this often, but it is worth repeating.  It is not enough to live in a counter-cultural way in our own home.  In order for our children to truly grow in the search of truth, beauty, and goodness they need more than just what happens in our home.  They need to see a whole community that embraces and cherishes their faith.  We have a lot of friends who are raising their children in a similar way and we are inspired by them as individuals and as parents.  Ryan and I grow in our own faith through them and they set an awesome example for our children.

The Solemnity of the Assumption is to celebrate Mary being assumed into heaven, body and soul.  We must suffer death due to sin. but Mary was sinless so her body did not need to be separated from her soul.  To celebrate this and give the kids a tangible way to imagine it, we gave every child a balloon, and after saying a Hail Mary, they released their balloons to float up to heaven and be with Mary (and God, of course!).

It was a blessed celebration for our family, and while it involved WAY TO MUCH sugar for all the children, we are happy to have enjoyed it with some of our favorite families.

Here are some photos of the action:

If this had been all the sweets it probably wouldn't have been bad, but the amount grew exponentially when the party started!

Kids love balloons - end of story!

We got a chuckle thinking of the popular story in the media this same week about the "trend toward not having children."

John Paul and his best little friend processing while singing Alleluia - one is definitely better than the other at singing and as a hint, it isn't my child!

*Friends if you got any great shots we'd love to see them!