First of all…

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have told you about the last week of Winter Quarter when Daniel’s ADHD meds appeared to have just crapped out. I spent three nights dealing with him hitting me, screaming, and spitting before I could get a doctor’s appointment on that Friday and we almost ended up having to take him to the ER on that Wednesday night because he was so out of control. It turns out that he had an ear infection in his right ear and the same drippy throat he gave me and he wasn’t sleeping because he was so uncomfortable. (Funny story: when his incredibly awesome pediatrician moved to examine her, he said, “no touch!” very sternly. Yeah, no. When you are preventing Mommy from sleeping and getting homework done, you lose your right to not be examined.) Some antibiotics and Dimetapp got him back to almost normal.

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have commented on Mike Pence and the Billy Graham rule and M@tt W@lsh’s stupid assertions on the subject by doing a 7 Quick Takes post of 7 reasonable occasions when men and women should be allowed to meet alone.

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have told you how much I adore the first Sunday of Lent in the Episcopal church because it’s the Sunday we sing the Great Litany and my choir here in Washington spreads out in a U-shape around the congregation and passes each petition from person to person. It’s liturgy geek nirvana!

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would tell you about how much in love I am with Audrey Assad and how her song “I Shall Not Want” has been in my head and leading me to pray.

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have shared our Palm Sunday anthem with you so you could get it stuck in your heads too!

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have told you about doing Confession with my priest on March 28th and why I do it as an Episcopalian. Lots of tears on my part (it had been 4 years since I had done it) but it was worth it and very healing. She also did Anointing for the Sick on me because of all the scars on my arms. (Can we just say that it had been a bad weekend and leave it at that?)

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have told you about Maundy Thursday at my church and the quick Eucharist service and stripping of the altar before heading to the fellowship hall for pizza and a finger food potluck interspersed with foot-washing. There were so few of us that Helen (my priest) invited us up into the chancel area for the Eucharistic prayer. My congregation was joined by the Spanish-speaking congregation so it was a bilingual Eucharist and the Communion hymn was “We’ll Know They Are Christians By Their Love” which *TOTALLY* is appropriate when you have the two congregations mixing and Communion being given in two languages. It was one of those moments that is a glimpse of heaven and filled me with joy at being Christian and experiencing it.

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have told you about Helen convincing the kiddos in the Spanish congregation to let her wash their feet and how touching it was to see her sitting on the floor with one of the two year olds and his very somber face while she stuck his feet in a Rubbermaid container of water and chattered at him in Spanish. When she was washing the feet of one of the little girls, I almost offered her the nail polish in my purse that I keep for pedicures but I didn’t know if her parents would have been OK with her getting her fingers or toes painted. Meanwhile, Helen’s oldest son washed my feet and gave me one of the best footrubs I’ve had.

If I had not given my blog up for Lent, I would have told how much I loved my Lenten discipline of reading only religious books and reading instead of surfing Facebook while I am out and about. I finished Father Tim’s Church Survival Guide by Fr. Tim Schenck and Seven Last Words: An Invitation to a Deeper Friendship with Jesus by James Martin, S.J. before picking up Spiritual Sobriety by Elizabeth Esther.

So glad to be back with y’all!