I woke up this morning...

with a very strong desire for confession and mass. Granted, neither of these were available at 3am when I was wide awake, tossing and turning. I almost got in my car and drove to adoration. I could not sleep and I was up most of the night wrestling with the age-old questions, "Am I the person God intends me to be? Am I acting in such away that is pleasing to God? and How do I get there... How do I become and act like the person God intends for me to be?" I am well aware that the answers for the first few questions are 'no'.  I am not always who He wants me to be. My actions aren't always pleasing to myself, let alone Him (or others for that matter)!  For the rest of the questions, I didn't come up with any brillant solutions. I love plans and I don't have a single  one.  I just know I HAVE to do better. I hate letting myself and others down and God down as well.  Not a good feeling.  I have to pray more, be kinder, love more freely, be sincere, be less sarcastic or not at all, judge less and really thinking before I act. I just have to try and trust that God will get me there and help me along the way.

In other news... Day 3 bloodwork is today. My cramps are stronger than normal this month. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

The Nuptial Mass - Worth the wait!

When someone asks me what my favorite part of 'getting married' was... I always say, the nuptial mass!  It was the culmination of everything I had ever dreamed about.  It was the wedding mass of my dreams and I had the man of my dreams waiting for me at the end of the aisle.  I had waited for this one mass my entire life -- and it was certainly worth the wait!

The mass was the one element of the wedding that I put my whole heart in.  We had to request special permission to even have a nuptial mass from our bishop, since Doug is not yet Catholic.  In our diocese, it is common policy to have the wedding rite outside of the mass, if one party is not catholic.  Our priest and we both agreed that for us, this policy did not work.  We had been attending mass together every week since our second date and we wanted to start our marriage by attending mass.  We were the first couple ever in the diocese to make such a request and the bishop granted it!  We were so excited!!  So here it is... the massive picture filled Nuptial Mass Post!

You already know about the having the choir sing at the wedding.  That made all the music at the mass SO beautiful!!  The prelude music was absolutely amazing!  

The other element of the mass that I was soooo excited about -- The Knights of Columbus!!  I LOVE these men!! My dad has been a Knight since before I was born and is now a state officer!  He's a fourth degree knight and I couldn't imagine my wedding without a Honor Guard!  They were amazing!  My dad was also so excited!  He lives and breathes the knights -- I think he would have worn his feather hat if I would have let him!  Ha!  How awesome do they look?!

 

My mom being escorted by my cousin Gordy.  The choir was singing, "On this day, O Beautiful Mother," which was played at my parents wedding.

The procession begins... The choir sang The Litany of Saints, as everyone processed in the church.   It was so powerful to hear the litany, invoking the saints for prayers for our marriage.  We were able to pick some saints, including the angel Raphael (I did novena after novena to him!), Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Elizabeth, St. Peter, St. Francis, St. Monica, St. Theodore, St. Joseph, St. Anne and St. Gianna.... 

My great friend Donna

Beautiful Bridesmaid Jessi

Yep... it's Beth from Beautiful Day 

MOH Mary... followed by the flower girls

Then it was time for the walk of a lifetime... 

Seeing Doug for the first time... 

One of the best hugs ever, right after Doug told my dad that he'd always take care of me. 

The first reading, one of our all time favorites, Tobit 8:4b-8

"Allow us to live together to a happy old age."

The responsorial psalm, Psalm 145, sung by a teen who has the most beautiful voice I have ever hear.  A true gift from God.  "I will praise your name, my King and my God."

The second reading was read by my good friend and future priest, Dominic.

Romans 12:1-2, 9-18 "Do not conform yourself to this age... Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection..."  

The Gospel followed, after the beautiful Festival Alleluia! 

Matthew 22:35-40, " You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Fr. Richard preaching a wonderful homily... 

Laughing at the homily... I think this was right after Fr. Richard told me true love involved accepting his cat! Still working on that one!

The vows. Doug cried and I tried hard to keep it together!

We presented flowers to Mary and asked her to pray for our marriage and bless us with many children.  The choir sang a beautiful Litany of Mary. 

The prayers of the faithful.  We asked for prayers for our friends and family, those that were with us and those that were not present.  We prayed for the Knights of Columbus, The Frassati Society, all teachers and all those still waiting to find the spouse!  We then prayed a special intention. "For a greater respect of all human life, from conception to natural death, and all those waiting for the gift of life to bless their lives." During this intention... I thought and especially prayed for Sew, Life Hopes, AYWH and all the other bloggers out there.  It was AYWH who gave me the idea for this intention.   A similar one was used at her sisters wedding.  Thanks again! 

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

Fr. Richard and my good friend Fr. Dan during the Eucharistic Prayer.  Fr. Richard has an amazing voice and he sings the Eucharistic Prayer.  It is beautiful! 

Fr. Dan and us during the Nuptial Blessing.

The sign of peace.  

My dad and I do a special shake whenever we are at mass together... this day was no different.  

Communion followed as the choir sang a beautiful 'Ubi Caritas'.

The Final Blessing.

Finally... Mr. and Mrs!  The first kiss. Then the second... yep, a double kiss on the alter! 

The recessed to the Hallelujah Chorus!  After waiting our entire lives to find each other, we thought it was very appropriate.. and fun!!  Walking through the swords was also very fun! 

A moment alone ... one of my favorite images of the day.

Then the hugging began... 

The beautiful flower girls.

Wow.  I still am amazed at times that I met Doug, got engaged and we got married!  We are only five months into our marriage and it still feels surreal at times!  This mass was one of the best times of my life and I loved every minute of it!  It was definitely worth the wait!

Next up... the reception... only a few more wedding posts!  

I promise!

Oh my goodness... I can cook!

I'm not known for my cooking.  I have trouble in this department.  Big trouble! I cook every night, but it is NOTHING to brag about.  So, when Sew started emailing me links to The Pione.er Woman's website last week, I told her it wasn't possible!  I can't cook!  I don't know how to buy meat!  I don't even know what to ask for!  I just stand in front of the meat counter like an idiot and then run away! I don't know what to cook anything in either.  See what I mean... I'm challenged!  Then I thought of my DH and I knew he would like a real meal.  Not a so-so meal that he's gotten use to since we wed, but a REAL meal!  I decided on the Short Ribs!

I put on my big girl panties and went to the local butcher shop.  I stood there dumbfounded.  Granted, I've been in there before, but still.  I told him what I needed and then he asked how many.  Ummm... I had no idea.  We all got through that awkward moment, decided on a number of ribs and then I was on my way! I had the rest of the ingredients at home -- which was great!  Everything was pretty basic, so it worked out perfectly!

I started cooking a little later than planned... but it all turned out great!  It just took almost 3 hours to cook, but was worth it!  It was fun to use our new dutch oven and knives we got for the wedding.  They were still in their boxes.  I kept my computer on the counter and just followed the directions to a T.  The key, I think, were the pictures!  I knew what everything was suppose to look like -- and it made it soooo easy!!  I was amazed!  I kept texting pics to Sew and Beth the whole time I was cooking!  After all, I was pretty astonished it was actually turning out like it should!  Ha!  I made some super wonder over-roasted asparagus to go with the dish!  TO DIE FOR!  We are huge asparagus fans (I usually steam them) ... and these were wonderful!

So... here are some pics!

Getting everything ready... there's my new dutch oven!  Love it!

Following those pictures on my laptop!

I know!  Fail on the potatoes!  But they still turned out ok!  Ha!

Yummiest things ever!

Success! 

My DH said it was the best meal I've ever cooked!  There wasn't a lot of competition for that title... but it was good to know!  Now that I have a little confidence, I think I'll start cooking  'good' meals a little more often! YUMMM!