Olivia's First Communion

Olivia was so excited to have her First Communion today at St. John's Lutheran Church!  Olivia is the reason that we joined this church, so she deserves much of the credit for this road that she has traveled to reach her communion goal.

 

Joe and I grew up Catholic.  We were married Catholic and had both Olivia and Ethan baptized in the Catholic Church.  In college we stopped attending mass, and even after marriage we would attend maybe 2 times per year.  Many excuses...we wanted to sleep in, we were busy with graduate/medical school, etc etc.  However, the real reason is that we did not agree with the Catholic church anymore.  Our social values just did not match, so the sermons would make us uncomfortable.  Fast forward to Olivia at age 4 during a thunderstorm.  Me:  "Don't worry Olivia, that is just the angels bowling and God taking their picture".  Olivia:  "Who's God?"  Oh, boy.  Obviously our avoidance of religion due to our disagreements with the church was not working.  So what to do?  Go back to our Catholic roots even though we no longer agreed with those values?  Ignore Olivia's question and continue to stay away from religion?  Or find a new path?  Joe and I made the decision to start shopping for a new religion.  We went to four different religious services before feeling at home at St. John's Lutheran Church's contemporary service.  So, Olivia's First Communion day would never have arrived if not for the innocent question of "Who's God?" by a very curious 4 year old girl.

   

Olivia with her godparents, Uncle Thomas and Aunt Rachel.

 



 

Olivia with Pastor Ladd.