First Communion

After Jesus was resurrected on what we know as Easter Sunday, he spent the next 40 days instructing his disciples how to carry on his teachings.  It is believed that on the 40th day he took them to the Mount of Olives where they watched him ascend into heaven.  And this is why the 40th day after Easter is called Ascension.  This year, it is also the day that Stinkerbell took her first Communion.

She has been preparing for this day since February.  Though the training wasn't as rigorous or as time-consuming as MadHatter's was (you can read about that here) it was nevertheless full of learning about the role that confession and communion play in her religious life.  They learned by making crafts, telling stories, learning Bible verses and even baking bread from scratch.  She spent two full weekends and various other days soaking it all in and making sure she was ready to make her first confession.  With that was behind her (she was very nervous about it), she relaxed a bit and truly looked forward to the day she could celebrate all of the work she had done.  And so did we!  We are extremely pleased with how she took ownership of her learning and never once wanted to skip out on class or cut them short.  She did a fabulous job during the service and we could not be more proud of her. 

We were not allowed the camera's in church but they did have a professional photographer there taking pictures so I hope to share those soon.  I did get a few quick snaps off, as did all of the parents because we're all still parents at the end of the day.

 Gorgeous, right?  Who doesn't love a  country church surrounded by rapeseed and wheat fields?

From the night before (I love the iPhone for it's HDR capabilities and ability to capture that sky and still capture her!)

I snapped this one about halfway through.  Only Stinkerbell would pull out the page markers of her bible and braid them during the service.  I did stop her but I understood it, she couldn't follow along anyway because the whole thing was in German.

The whole class