Would Mary like this?

Joseph's CCD started this week. This is a big year for him. First Communion prep takes two years and this year begins it. HOLY SMOKES! I have a kid old enough and almost ready enough to... recieve Jesus into his body! And I have to help him learn how to be somewhat, sorta, worthy of this.

Who's idea is this anyway?!

I took him to CCD and then went up to the church to pray for my friend and her late husband. I had Cole, of course, and Camille. It was pouring rain and storming so we dashed from the school and into the church. It was dark in there, and cool, with only dim lighting from candles showing us where to go.

We walked in, blessed ourselves and sat down. Camille kept asking what I was doing so I said to her, "My friend's husband died and I want to pray for them."

"I can't hear you pray!"
"I am talking to Jesus in my head."

"Oh." Then, "Mommy, where's Jesus?"

"See the little light at the edge of the Tabernacle? That means Jesus is in the Tabernacle."

"Oh." Pause. "Where else is Jesus?"

"Where else could Jesus live?"

"In my heart!"

At some point, she had to go potty so we went to the bathroom and came back. The storm was RAGING and she was a little creeped out by the dark church and the thunder and lightening. Since she likes babies, I suggested we go sit and pray with Mary in the little grotto.

Of course, she was up and down over the kneelers, asking about the roses, the baby Jesus, etc. She asked why Jesus was looking at us and I said, "Well, He's a baby like Cole. Maybe He likes looking at people and being nosey!"

Eventually she got tired of me praying in my head, so we prayed out loud: the Hail Mary, the Our Father and our bedtime prayer. Then...

"I'm going to sing!" She proceeded to sing and DANCE- shaking her booty, doing some disco moves and the Camille version of "Squirrels in my Pants" from "Phineas and Ferb."

Yes, yes my daughter shook her bootay at the Blessed Virgin Mary.

And you know what? I think Mary would have liked it.

I read Simcha Fischer's blog "I need to sit down" (linked on the right) and I love her new post, "WWMD?" She says, in part:

... imagine Mary wiping her nose, or yawning, or having heartburn.  Imagine her giving birth.  Or heck, imagine her having to go to the bathroom, but not being able to get up yet because she didn’t want to wake up the baby, who was nursing and allllmost asleep. .  . and then He bit her!  He always does that just as He’s falling asleep.  Oh, and now He’s poopy again, and she still has to go to the bathroom.

...But she was a real woman.  If you think that Mary actually always wore blue, always had a look of fond melancholy on her face, and always held her arms at a 45-degree angle from her sides, then you are paying homage to a statue, and not to God’s real-life Mama....

Mary is a mama, just like you and me and other mothers (but with a heck of alot more holiness and, oh yeah, the Son of God to raise, not these mere mortals!). I bet she found the same joy in the things us mothers raising these pesky mortals do.

And aren't we supposed to dance with joy at the feet of God? Filled with the Holy Spirit? Or something like that?

Since I wouldn't let her climb onto the alter-area to see the Tabernacle up close (you can do that in CGS, girly-girl), dancing at the feet of the statue of the BVM was close enough.

I did laugh at her "Backpack Boogie" but in her joy at dancing for the Mother of God... dance girly-girl. I hope she will dance before Jesus.