Saturday 28 July 2012

I did it!

Well, obviously, with a lot of help from the Lord above who gifted & enabled me & support from my ever-patient family (I am trying to retain some humility here!)....but I did it!

Yes, I have received my Certificate in Lay Ministry in Pastoral Care, and I have a badge to pin on too!

This is the result of three years of hard work, constant study, pastoral encounters with friends, family, hospital patients and many mothers I have come across - and now I am qualified :-) And did you know during my time of study I was pregnant and now ThirdSister is nearly 2?!

There are plans afoot in the Parish to revise the way we organise visiting the sick, bereaved and so on, in which I'm involved.

But for now, the 3Sisters and I are having the summer off - so far there has been water play, trips out, library visits, the Church Fayre and ice lollies! Sadly my grandmother (the last remaining grandparent I had) passed away recently, so there's also been a funeral, and a lot of grief. But there are happy times ahead, and the girls and I shared stories about Grandma Phyllis by her grave this week - and this week many celebrated the Feast of St Joachim and St Anne (the names given to Jesus' grandparents), and held grandparents near and far in their thoughts. (There's a Catholic church dedicated to these two saints in Aberdeen, Scotland. I went to Aberdeen for a conference once. Just a thought!)

Anyway as you can see, my thoughts are all over the place trying to blog, and process what's going on around here - I've already shouted to be left alone, so I need to put my blogging away somewhere while I devote the summer to my children. But an update was due. More in a couple of months....