When we moved from Colorado, The Hubs and I both knew we needed to get life rolling pretty quickly. We immediately joined a local parish and found ways to get involved, so as to make friends. There, we decided that we'd finally take the plunge and attend Christ Renews His Parish (or CHRP (its ok if you say that as "chirp" in your brain, I do) for short).
CRHP is a weekend long retreat. Of course, it is done through church and has a focus on prayer and God, but the big take away is PARISH. Making your church your HOME. You attend the weekend, and then spend 6-12 months (depending on how your local parish does it) in formation, prayer and planning to give to the next group of attendees.
The Hubs attended in the spring of 2012. He came home renewed and recharged and with some great guys as friends. As you may or may not know, I am a bit timid with new things and people, so I was glad he went first :)
I attended in Fall of 2012. It was terrible (what a sell, right?!). My stupid air mattress had a hole, so what little I slept was on the ground of the school library. I felt out of place and overwhelmed and full (man, you eat a lot). I considered walking home at 3:00 AM. But today, I am SO glad that I didn't. I survived the weekend and I knew that I had already met some amazing ladies that would be so important to my life.
The next six months were spent in prayer, fellowship and formation, creating the next weekend retreat. We met weekly for several hours, and then many of us headed to the local bar to really get to know each other. We also spent time together outside of those meetings: fund-raising dinners, play dates, Christmas parties, weekend trips to a lake house, or even just socializing in the lobby after Mass. We prayed, cried, drank (we are Catholic, after all), shopped and laughed together.
Which, coincidently, is what friends do.
We put on an amazing weekend. We really did. I guess the Holy Spirit really did come through for us, and none of us had a real reason to panic. I don't know about the rest, but I was relieved and sad to see that weekend come to an end.
However, since then, a lot of us are still hanging out. We've had 2 babies (and one on the way!), family loss, weddings, new jobs, new houses, marriage problems, kid problems, health problems, you name it. A lot of us have kids the same age that are now friends. Our husbands are friendly. I know I can put an email out requesting prayers, and they'll ALL pray for me. I know when I head to the next Fish Fry, I have someone to sit with. I know that I have a group of been-there-done-that moms to call on for any EBoo issue. I know that I have a home in this parish.
Even better, we have that times two, thanks to The Hubs also attending. Several weeks ago, EBoo landed himself in the ER for an afternoon. The Hubs was out of town, and one of his "guys" came and sat with me while waiting for the doctors to evaluate the kiddo. Amazing.
Ladies, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the last few months. All of the laughs, love, tears, drinks, prayers, help, advice, gossip, hugs and new experiences have changed my new life here.
 |
| C getting her ring blessed by the Bishop |
 |
| My Girls at our annual fancy fund raising dinner |
 |
| Attending the ordination of our friends son. Amazing. |
 |
| Another fund raising dinner. I think this is the most inclusive photo I have! Missing 2. |
 |
| Team 25: Prayer is the Key. |
No comments:
Post a Comment