Good Morning!

First things first…Gabriella wanted to say something.

Happy Valentine’s Day from us to you We hope your day is filled with lots of chocolate & candy!

Now this morning’s post may be a topic some of you are sensitive to, so I’ll just go ahead & throw it out there that I will be discussing religion. Now this isn’t going to be a post pushing religion on you, or bashing any religion, I am just going to discuss religion in general.

I have decided that I am going to give something up for Lent this year. I thought about it Tuesday night and I just feel in my heart it’s what I want to do.

Now let me back track a little bit. I was born & raised Christian. I went to a private Christian school for elementary & middle school. I ended up going to a public high school, which was VERY eye opening. Going from a TINY Christian private school to a HUGE public school was a shock to my system. I really think it’s a big part of the reason that I had such bad body issues.

Once I got to high school I kind of separated myself from church. I was pre occupied with running track & cross country (we had practice Monday- Saturday & an optional long run on Sunday…which I ALWAYS did- that’s when I first ran a full marathon!) that I put church on hold.

Once I moved to go to college, church was the farthest thing from my mind. I was too busy attending classes, but of course, like most college students, partying it up.

Oh yes, that would be me & my husband….way before we were husband & wife

Once I graduated, & Craig and I got married, things started to change. We both knew we wanted to start a family right away. Which we did

The one thing we also wanted to do was raise our daughter in the church. We didn’t necessarily have a preference on the church, but we just wanted her to be raised in the church.

Craig was born & raised Catholic. Once he went to college he was pretty much in the same boat as me. He still went to church on holidays, but it was not a weekly occurrence.

So when we decided to start attending church again, which was when I just found out I was pregnant, we weren’t sure which church we wanted to attend. We tried a few churches near our house, and eventually decided on a Catholic church.

The Catholic religion is very different than the church I was raised in. There are a lot of rituals and a lot of kneeling, standing back up, etc. Not that there is ANYTHING wrong with it, I just wasn’t used to it.

So now that I understand Catholicism a bit more, and after speaking with the priest, I have come to appreciate it. We have also decided that we are going to get Gabriella baptized at this church, so she will be raised Catholic. Now there are a few aspects that I differ on in my beliefs, and we will let her decide what she wants to do regarding those topics. Just to give you an example, in the Christian religion, there is no such thing as confession. We believe that you can speak directly to God regarding your sins, and that you do not have to ‘go through’ the priest. Just a personal opinion, and something that she can decide when she gets older.

With ALL of that being said (props to you if you have stuck with me for this entire post ) I am incorporating different aspects of Catholicism into my life. One of those being Lent. Also we did not eat meat at all yesterday, since it was Ash Wednesday & we will not eat meat every Friday until Easter.

So for lent this year I’ve decided to give up frozen yogurt. Will it be hard? ABSOLUTELY. I eat it nearly every night. But with the whole reason of lent is “giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence.” Frozen yogurt is definitely a luxury that I very much enjoy. Since I do enjoy it so much, that was one of the very first things that came to mind.

I know I can do it! It may be hard for the first week, but I’m sure it will get easier. Oh, and if you’re wondering, Craig is giving up beer for lent. We have each other to hold accountable…and we both are up for the challenge.

Are you giving anything up for lent?

Oh, and just one more picture because I thought it was cute.