On Good Friday we headed down to the Basilica in DC since they were having veneration of relics from Christ's passion. I had no idea there were so many relics related to His passion! Unfortunately the line wasn't very long but no one was enforcing the "take a brief moment and then move to the pews" rules, so the line was barely moving. (Dearest people: when there is a line behind you, that is not the time for ALL of the piety!) After a good ten minutes with little progress and all kids ready to not be in line we made our exit and headed to the Franciscan Monastery.
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| The new dome- the artist originally said would be impossible to ever have a mosaic there and then ended up completing it! |
Every year I love seeing what's different and what's the same about the Monastery. One bittersweet difference I noticed was that the the sign for the Poor Clares down the street was gone. I did some Googling and the last five nuns went some to a nursing home and some to their original convent in OH. Their story is really neat to read, though! Another order now resides in that house, but it's sad to hear of "eras" coming to an end.
It was so endearing observing Heidi color in her Lenten calendar every day of her own accord. She wanted to do blue, red, and green just like her teacher was doing. :)
On Easter we made sure to arrive to mass 30 minutes early (unlike last year when I kept assuring Tim our usual arrival time was fine...this year our parish held TWO masses in the 9 and 11 o'clock hours and it was still really crowded!)- the girls were troopers, and I'm so glad we didn't feel rushed or crammed in.
Haha, the doctor I see for my thyroid and who the girls have seen a few times sat right behind us and offered to take our picture after mass- I didn't even know he was a parishioner and it was one of those awkward "Does he recognize us? Do I say anything? Do I apologize for the exploits of the toddler?" moments!
After mass we headed to my sister's for brunch and an egg hunt. Even through Holy Saturday the weather for Easter kept looking chilly with possible rain but it ended up sunny and wonderfully warm in the early afternoon!
After a short afternoon food coma rest at home we went to my parents' house for dinner with just them and Tim's brother + fiancee.
It was a great Easter and we're still happily celebrating!
