Church

Things are beginning to feel more and more like home here in NOLA. We joined Mary Queen of Peace Catholic Church this weekend and I think it's going to be a great place for us to worship and get involved/meet new people. Here's a link to the church website, if you're interested in checking it out: http://www.maryqueenofpeace.org/index_church.htm. We actually live closer to Our Lady of the Lake, but although it's a nice church and the people seemed friendly, it was just too huge for us (17,000 parishoners and they have to hold the 10:30 Mass in the school gym since its so heavily attended). While Mary Queen of Peace (MQP) is a large parish, it still seems like we'll get to know people easily and that's important to us. The Priests and Deacons are very interesting and I think they'll provide us with good guidance. They have a Pray & Play group for moms with young children, a monthly Family Dinner and a whole variety of other ministries to get involved in. I was already contacted to help prepare dinners for moms with newborns (once or twice a year), so that'll be nice to give back already.

Abigail and I went to the Pray & Play group this past Thursday (Joey was in school). They get together 3-4 times a month. Usually, there's an outing of some sort once a month and then the other weeks, the moms will attend morning Mass with their kids and then go to a play room to socialize and let the kids play together. This past Thursday was a trip to the "Pumpkin Patch," which is a term I use loosely around here, since I don't think pumpkins are locally grown here in Louisiana. The farm market down the street from us does have a nice set up of fall decorations, hay and pumpkins though and we got together there. I talked to about 5 or 6 moms while Abi played with the pumpkins. It was really great to meet some new people and everyone really made us feel included. Abi had a great time touching the pumpkins, eating the hay and looking at the other kids. The next Pray & Play is this Friday. We'll go to Mass in the morning, have a guest speaker on flu prevention and then let the kids play.

So, we're really happy with our choice of a new church. While we miss everything about St. Albert the Great and will go there when we're home to visit, I think we'll all enjoy MQP.

Our Little Punkin

Abi with some of her new Pray & Play friends