1st Communion Stressors (and a recipe)

At our church, 3rd graders are given their

own Bible and participate in their 1st Communion.

This happens during a simple presentation

after services with all of the children

and their families present.

It is very sweet,

and low stress.

Not really!

It all started days before the event researching

whether the bread

was free of peanut and tree nut ingredients and cross contamination.

Luckily, the gluten free option and the individual cups of juice were safe for him

due to his severe allergy.

Who would have thought that you would need to worry about being allergic to the "Body of Christ?"

The night before Porter's 1st Communion, 7:37pm to be exact, we discover that our

typically very slow growing son has

 OUTGROWN ALL CHURCH WORTHY

SHIRTS, PANTS, AND SHOES!

Seriously.

So I rush off to the stores to buy all of the above before the 9pm closing time.

After purchasing several of each item to ensure that something would fit,

I proceed to Walmart to but the actual food for the family celebration

after church. 

 When I get there, I see this...

So now I feel that I am not only extremely unprepared for tomorrow's 1st communion but also

for the holy holiday of Christmas!

Are you kidding me Walmart?  Christmas is more than 2 months away.

I quickly steer away from any evidence of the holiday season, do my shopping and rush home.

At 10pm, I decide to try to make a new dessert that I had saved on my PINTEREST board.

Check out the version I attempted to follow HERE, but know that I modified it in a few ways...

1. Spray 13x9 pan with cooking oil.

2. Pour in family size brownie mix of your choice (vs. from scratch)

3. Crush up 1 cup of pretzels and sprinkle over the mix before baking.

(If you forget like I did, it still works out after 8-9 minutes of baking when you realize

what you have done wrong.)

4. Bake per box instructions.

5. Melt 1/2 bag of chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzle over the pretzels.

But if your chocolate chips decide to revolt and burn and turn into a large fecal-looking specimen, then...

5. Sprinkle half a bag of chips on top of the warm brownies instead

which looks so yummy.

6. Unwrap 15 caramels and place in a saucepan with 2 Tbsp. of heavy cream and melt.

Stir the whole dang time.

7. Then as if the dessert wasn't rich enough...drizzle the above yummy caramel on top.

8.  Wait at least mouth-watering hour before cutting.

Now back to the stressors...

After cleaning, prepping food, and washing Porter's new clothes we finally made it to bed.

Sunday morning we woke up, prepped the house a little bit, and

got everyone dressed and looking might fine.

We did notice that something was a little off with Porter's hair.

After approximately 427 washings, we could not get all of the red hairspray out of his hair and scalp

from his Reds spirit competition at school (which he won, FYI).

Porter didn't think it was so bad because is was pinkish for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

and a little reddish like the blood of Christ.

After all of that,

we had a wonderful time celebrating as a family with Porter.

He was very proud and even gave me an unsolicited hug in the middle of church!

Look at his cuteness rockin' the lavender shirt and tie.

(Notice Leah and Josie hugging.  It soon got out of hand.  Little twerps!)

He made sure that he drank every last drop after dipping his bread in it not once, but twice!

I am really happy for him and for all of the 3rd graders that participated.

I am thankful to our church for purchasing the Bibles and helping them learn to use them, praying for our kids

and giving a chance to celebrate with them.

I am so thankful to God, for Porter, his awesome future, and for our

ever supportive family.

Stressors...all worth it!