Putting others first

I have been trying to find myself or find the best version of myself as stated in Rediscovering Catholicism! In doing so I kept running across all this information on self help and putting yourself first etc. I started to think,  "okay I need to work on myself so this sounds all about me that should be right!" The only problem is what happened to putting others first and loving everyone? Would Jesus have really said, "sorry people I really need to put myself first!?" I don't think so. The other comment that really kept rubbing me the wrong way was to only keep people around you who make you want to be better. To some extent I agree with this, but what about all the people we are leaving behind?! Don 't we care about them and helping them better themselves too?! I think if we start wanting to help everyone around us, no matter what their problems may be, that's when we start being better versions of ourselves! Is that not the core teaching of christianity? Love your neighbor as God has loved you, not love only those neighbors who are giving something to you in return!

Birthday Time!

So this week was quite busy. All three of my kids were born in April so we had a big birthday party for them. My youngest was turning one which in family tradition means EVERYONE is invited. We ended up with about 30 people at the party! I decided months ago to do a Dr. Seuss themed party since we have almost all of his books and read them just about every day! I then decided to try to pull off a ridiculous cake (well to me anyway)! I had never worked with fondant and decide to make a three tier fondant covered cake as well as a smash cake for the one year old! 

Not only did we have this party to throw but I also volunteer and am a board member for a group that supports people with disabilities. We had our annual dance which happened to be our 30th year so I was also busy decorating there and attending the dinner and dance!

With everything so busy I had to make the cake Friday (the party being on Sunday). I have a great friend who always likes adventures so she came over and helped me work on the cake. We started at 9 after putting the kids to bed and did not finish until 2:30 in the morning. This was after we had already made the characters the night before! What a great friend! I am so thankful for her! Anyway, here is the final product! I think it turned out great for first timers! Most importantly the kids loved it! As you can see in the second picture the cake started to sink in after sitting put together for 3 hours. Sad, but oh well! The second picture also shows the green eggs and Ham smash cake for the one year old! He loved it! All said and done.....I am exhausted!

"Rediscovering Catholicism"

I just am not sure what to write. There are so many things swimming around in my head I don't know where to start! So Maybe I will start with what I am trying to make my first priority in life...GOD!
I have slowly grown into my own understanding of GOD. I grew up Catholic. I went to a Catholic Grade School. As a teenager I tried very hard to grow closer to GOD, but I have always felt like as much as I try I am just never close enough! My husband went through RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation as an Adult) and it was then that I really started to feel like I was getting a bit closer. The priest was very animated and said something that I have always remembered. He told us that there are certain things we may not understand (or agree) about being a catholic and that is okay. He told us that you but these things on a spiritual shelf and you take them down every once in a while and think about, pray about it and if you still do not understand you can put them back up there and keep revisiting it. I thought this was great! We have since moved from that parish and I have struggled again to keep close to GOD.
I am starting to understand that it is up to me and me alone to stay close to GOD. I am now reading a book titled, "Rediscovering Catholicism." It is a wonderful book that talks about living an authentic life. I can't wait to finish it and share more thoughts! I certainly pray that all of us can become closer to GOD, and have the strength to follow the path he has planned for us in life!

I'm here!

I still can't quite understand why I clicked that create blog link but it felt like something I was supposed to do so here I am. I have so many thoughts and loves in life that I don't want to make a blog about one thing just about all of the things in my life. GOD, kids, husband, health, cooking and just about everything that would be going on in just about any mother's life. So for my first post I guess a little bit about the blogger would do, right?
Well I am a wife of a wonderful husband. I am also a mother of three adorable kids (unless they are lacking sleep or acting like my husband's children). All of them have birthdays in April and will be 4, 3 and 1. I am a Special Education teacher by trade but decided to stay home with my kids when I was pregnant with my third. I think part of this blog will have some drive from my perspective as a stay at home mom as well as my perspective when I was a working mom. How often am I going to post you ask? I have no idea! I am hoping for once a week though:)