borrowed

^^ please note my brilliant play on words - as this post will be about Lent. (courtesy chuckle? courtesy cracked-smile? courtesy death stare it is.)

To you Catholic readers: happy Ash Wednesday to you. I ate an appropriate amount of chocolate and cookies yesterday eve - Mardi Gras, of course - in preparation for today. To you non-Catholic readers: well sometimes you guys like to give things up for Lent too right? I have non-Catholic friends who do; it's a good challenge. So hopefully this isn't totally unrelatable?

I've been thinking the past couple days, about Lent you know. The devious side of me was bargaining: "I'll just give up alcohol and most sweets for Lent." Well, ha. I'm pregnant. I'm doing that for the most part anyway. No alcohol since Christmas, and trying to eat as cleanly as possible - and not quite 100%, or frankly even 80% succeeding, but trying nonetheless.

Since I was old enough to participate in Lent, it's always been about giving up sweets for me. It was my go-to. Don't get me wrong - it's really hard for me to do that! But I've been pondering lately that maybe it's time for me to grow up. Up to this point, Lent for Jessie means taking something away. Not  doing something. Don't  eat sweets; don't  bite your nails; don't  drink soda. It's easy to gauge whether I've been successful in my Lenten endeavors, because the sacrifice was always something of a tangible, physical nature. Nope, I haven't eaten that cookie that's been staring me in the face.

I've been thinking that perhaps it'd be more beneficial, spiritually I mean (since physically, Lent has always been a great time for weight loss) to do  something. Especially now, with the recent news of Pope Benedict XVI, and in what promises to be a challenging period for our Church. Like: maybe invest more in my prayer life? maybe think twice or seven times before giving in to impatience and frustration? maybe STOP letting these pregnancy hormones dictate my mood in 14-minute revolutions? Noooo, seriously. I of Stone Cold Heart need to tighten up on the reins, because the fact that THIS Carter's commercial made my eyes well up

means sh-'s goin' down. And it can't go down like that.

Anyway, I don't want to get too heavy on you. I'm just hoping that Lent ushers in a new and improved Jessie, that's all. A Jessie 2.0, if you will. In other news, Jordan will be giving up throwing tantrums, throwing toys and otherwise being the resident renegade in Mass every Sunday. When I informed her of her resolution, she took it like this:

nooooooooooo

But we got a practice run in last Sunday: her only offense was to dance much too enthusiastically to the Responsorial Psalm (complete with head-banging to an imaginary guitar solo?), thus distracting other church-goers and making my shoulders shake convulsively with glee.

Anyway, a happy Lent kickoff to you. This one's gonna be a doozy right?