(You can read Part 1 and Part 2 of Heather’s conversion story here. Scroll down for earlier posts.)

Dying Easter Eggs with my daughter yesterday, I thought I would take a few moments and talk with her a little bit about the Rosary. Yes, it’s something new to me, but it’s also something that I’m finding a great deal of comfort and happiness in. It was a rare moment when my six-year-old son was away, so I really wanted to take advantage of the time we would have alone.

We each held our rosaries and began. When we got to the “Our Father”, I had to chuckle to myself. “Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be they name” turned into “Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hello be thy name”. “Forgive us our Trespasses” became “Give us dress passes”. It was really quite beautiful though because while she may have stumbled on the words, she was doing it and what’s more she wanted to do it.

When her attention began to wane, I pulled down our little statue of Mary and showed it to her there, at the kitchen table. “Mary’s praying!” she said excitedly. I nodded. And before I knew it she was racing to the bookshelf to get a little ceramic angel my aunt had given her. She placed it on the table next to Mary. I thought for a minute that it was improper for a statue of Mary to be sharing a space so close to a ceramic angel of unknown origins…not to mention a kitchen table full of dyed eggs. That’s when it all made sense. Mary was a mother, and she was showing me how to be one too.

Emma thought that a statue was important…maybe a statue of someone praying, as was the angel. Maybe she even thought that she was helping. As mothers, don’t we want to encourage our children to be helpful? As a mother herself, wouldn’t Mary have encouraged this too? And then when I looked at the tray full of pastel colored eggs, I realized what these eggs symbolized and my eyes filled with tears (this happens to me a lot these days…am I the only one?). Here was the perfect opportunity to tell my daughter the Easter story, and the gift of this teaching moment was handed to me by Mary herself!

As Easter draws nearer (and thus, Easter Vigil), I find myself overwhelmed by the support and prayers of so many…including those of you who have been reading my posts. I’m humbled and so very grateful for all of it.