Sundays are always very busy for my husband Tom and I.  We usually go to 7:30 Mass.  We get up really early on Sundays.  We usually are up at 4:30.  Yesterday, though, we had to get up at 4:00.  We needed to take our oldest daughter to work.  She had to be there at 6:00 a.m.  By the time we shower and get ourselves together, it is 5:15 and we have to leave the house by 5:25.  We did not get to eat breakfast. 

After Mass we grabbed a cup of coffee and a bagel.  Now it is time to head to St. Mary's to teach Religious Education.  This is the first day of classes.  I haven't taught Religion Classes for a long time.  We were going to meet our students for the first time.  I was very anxious and excited.  We were going to teach fourth, fifth and sixth graders.  I had some preconceived ideas that they were going to be a hard class to deal with.  Boy, was I wrong.  First of all they were kind of scared about coming.  I was pleasantly surprise to find that they were really very polite and respectful.  There was one young boy, who was about ten or eleven.  He is going to be our star student.  He is so smart.  He knows all his prayers and can name all the sacraments.  He has a beautiful smile that can melt your heart.  The class went off very smoothly, thanks to all of the helpers and extra teachers that were there.  Class started at 10:30 and was over by 11:30.

Now it was time for our Formation Classes for the Secular Franciscans.  They start and noon.  These classes are the third Sunday of every month.  So once a month, we will be living at Church.  The class was ok.  We were all just visiting and catching up on what we did during the Summer.  Then we were hit with a bomb.  We were told that we had to journal everyday.  I do not like to write at all.  But I have made up my mind to do it.  It is part of my formation as a Secular Franciscan.  It is going to be a hard exercise for me to accomplish, but I am determined to do my best.  I love God and I want to be the best Franciscan that I can be.  After class, we had our regular Fraternity meeting.  It was so good to see all of our Franciscan Brothers and Sisters again.  We have allot of new people inquiring about our Fraternity.  It will be so nice to have new Brothers and Sisters to share our love and service with.  I know that this is going to be a year filled with blessings.