Farewell Sunday & Nixed Habits!

Today we said "Farewell, and Thank You!" to our former pastor of almost five years, Father Wood. We were notified in August that his duties as pastor were transferring to a different parish, though he would continue teaching at the Seminary. Fr. Wood has seen me through some of the most difficult times in my married life, and it's sad to see him go. He was instrumental in rennovating our church, and establishing catechism classes. I'm sure we'll still see him around occasionally. Our new priest, Father Iscara, is not really new; he has been around since the very beginning of our attendance at St. Philomena's, and even baptized our Liam. It's been helpful having a familiar face to ease the transition.

The parishioners of St. Philomena's held a "Farewell BBQ" for Fr. Wood today after Mass. We enjoyed the beautiful day outdoors with good food and company, and the kids were entertained with yard games.

Father Wood is pictured in the black cassock in the center of this photo.

I am also happy to report that today marks FIVE YEARS SMOKE/NICOTINE FREE for me! As I've mentioned before, I made a lot of really bad decisions in my late teens-early twenties, and that was one of them. I was 19 years old when I started smoking, with much pride in my so-called "will-power" that I was just going to try it. Nine years later I decided enough was enough and quit cold turkey. I've been severely tempted to "just have a puff" on several occasions, and was mostly saved by the complete lack of tobacco in the house. I begged Eli not to leave any extra packs of cigarettes at home. Speaking of, I am also very proud of my husband, who celebrated TWO YEARS SMOKE/NICOTINE FREE last month!

20-year-old-I-can-quit-anytime-me