Maya's First Communion

This past Sunday, May 15th, we celebrated Maya's First Communion at St. Catherine's of Sienna, Catholic Church in Portage, MI. Maya had been prepping for her 1st Communion all year at the Franciscan Chapel Center (FCC) in Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan. St. Catherine's, and Paula Mathieu were so welcoming, allowing Maya to jump in to do both her First Reconciliation (which she had to do on a random Saturday morning), and her First Communion. She had worked so very hard this year preparing, and I was worried she would end up missing it and having to start over next year.





Scott was not with us, but my parents drove down, and Scott's Mom, Dad, Sister Sara and her Fiancée Chance came over. The church we went to here in MI has a wonderful set of priests, a beautiful interior and was overall, a really nice place for her to make her First Communion. I volunteered to sit at the end of her pew, so I got to experience it with her, which for me, made it very memorable. There were 101 kids, and she knew who two of them were- but did not actually know either well enough to feel comfortable. She looks beautiful, and was so happy and excited (after she made her First Communion, she kept saying- I can't believe I just did that...I can't wait to go to church again next week!). We had a little dinner party at the Olive Garden after church which turned out to be very nice.

I also found out that St. Catherine's does Summer Sunday school for 3-7th grade- so Maya (hopefully) will be going for 6 1/2 days this summer (Sun-Fri in one week) and will have her 3rd grade Sunday school done for next school year. This will make our lives so much less stressful and more relaxing on the weekends in Tokyo!!