I was Married, Confirmed and had my 1st Communion all on the same day.

On May 17th 2014 I had one of the biggest days of my life. 

At 3 PM Paul and I had our marriage concelebrated in the catholic church.

At 430 I was Confirmed and brought into full communion.

3 sacraments. 1 day. An amazing day of graces. 

But had you told me even a year ago that this is what I would be doing with my Saturday...I wouldn't have believed you. If you told me you did these things a year ago I would have not understood why in the world you would consider that an important day as joining a new church for me consisted of simply walking in and saying hello. As a protestant I never, ever wanted to be catholic. If you haven't read about how I got here please do so here.

This day came after lots of tears, lots of challenges, lots of heartache. It came after lots of learning, lots of growing and lots of steps of faith. I won't go into the details of this at this time, nor am I going to go into what went in to getting to each part of the day in this post. 

Paul and I got there about 245 pm. We walked into the chapel to meet Father Richard. He prayed and blessed our marriage, our wedding rings and thanked us for bringing our marriage to the church. His words recognized that we had been married and didn't say we hadn't but affirmed that our marriage was not just between us and God but to be brought to the church. 

Then I had to go and meet with Bishop Noonan and acknowledge that I believed in the doctrines of the Catholic Church and in what it is that the Eucharist is. I do. 

We then processed into the church, sat with our sponsors and awaited to be confirmed. Bishop Noonan spoke :  He gave a beautiful homily that I would have agreed with before I was ever Catholic and it reminded me so much more how my faith has not changed but grown, expanded. 

And then we were called up and anointed. The bishop traced a cross on our foreheads with this wonderful smelling balm. It was a moment of beauty and peace and grace, preparing me for the gift of the Eucharist. 

We sat, and the liturgy of the Eucharist  began. As I walked forward my mind and heart was flooded with emotion. I was about to encounter Christ physically. When I was part of various parts of the protestant church I could never understand how Jesus was to be everything for me. I could understand how He could fulfill me spiritually but being such physical people there was no physical way to connect with Christ. Now that I'm Catholic, I can physically encounter Christ through the Eucharist. The words to describe what it felt like are hard to come up with. A warmth and a joy filled my heart that could have knocked me over. All in a moment I felt full of His love. It made real in my heart just what His sacrifice for me was and how amazing it is that He loved me that much. His promise to be with me to the end of the age and to never leave me for forsake me suddenly had weight in my soul. I was mixed with tears of joy and sorrow. Joy to encounter Christ and sorrow for how sinful I am and how unworthy I am for such a gift. I looked back at my husband and saw his eyes welled with tears as if he could feel it all too from his seat. I watched him go up and rejoin the church, taking the Eucharist for the first time and saw his face as he was overwhelmed by the same flood of grace. I finally understood why the mass was focused on this moment. I finally could attest that it's NOT just a cracker and wine. I could finally confess that communion in the protestant church had never been so radical on my heart, even though it had met so much. It stretched my heart all in a moment to overflow and it's a feeling that hasn't shaken each time I've gotten to participate in the Eucharist since (9 times over the course of my vacation, as I went to daily mass).  I wish the words I've drafted could really paint the picture for you but I don't feel they do it justice. All in a moment it's like a ton of bricks hits your heart and yet you feel the arms of Christ wrapped around you. This gift is blessed. This truly is a sacrament of grace. This truly is Christ: body, soul and divinity. 

 A final picture with the bishop, and I was off to thank my family and friends for being there, knowing that many of them observing could only speculate in part as to what the Eucharist might be, but praying they would one day experience the joy and grace of this gift.

My sweet friends were there to celebrate with me and some graciously opened their home to celebrate this occasion. So thankful to celebrate this time with loved ones. (I didn't get pictures with everyone so I'll leave out pictures with friends so not to leave anyone out.)  So blessed to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

What was your confirmation like? Have you been confirmed? Ever thought about being catholic? Ever wondered what the Eucharist is? Have questions? Don't hesitate to e-mail me or comment: beautifulgoodtrue@gmail.com

<3
Anita

Grayson Thinks Pro-Life is Anti-Health

Planned Parenthood had a ribbon cutting for their new Kissimmee office today. Alan Grayson was a speaker at the event and shared with channel 9 " Their protests are misguided. What this clinic does is provide healthcare to people who otherwise would not be able to see a doctor when their sick. That's what the clinic is here for. and I think to protest against that indicates that they are anti-health."

While Alan Grayson believes we are anti-health, a large portion of the group outside protesting today, including myself are health care providers in the county, we are not anti-health. We are anti-abortion. We are anti-perforated women's uteruses, and babies torn from the womb. We are anti-racism with the targeting of this clinic being the hispanic community.

Jenna Tosh has stressed that abortion is “less than 10 percent of what we do.” However, in fiscal year 2011, Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando reported that the total revenue of the non-profit organization was $3,891,501, while $1,412,162 was earned through surgical abortion. This is about 3,000 abortions per year. The salary of the CEO in 2011 was $104,211. Less than 10% that they claim is still creating about 1/3 of their income. 10% has added up. In 2012 Planned Parenthood performed 327,166 abortions, a 2% drop from 2011. In 2002 Planned Parenthood performed 227,385 abortions, meaning they perform more than 100,000 more than they did 10 years ago. Moreover, according to their annual report it's not 10% for pregnant women. It's 10% (well in 2012 it was 11% of their total services). However that year, abortions made up 93.8% of Planned Parenthood's pregnancy services. For every adoption referral they performed 149 abortions. To say abortion is not part of their business plan would be a mis-statement.

Healthcare? Cancer screenings dropped 14% in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, and has dropped 39% since 2009.  Grayson believes I'm against healthcare, but this clinic that he claims is for the sick, isn't doing healthcare but the 70 doctors who have come together here are doing healthcare in Osceola County and the only thing we don't do is abortion. That "10%." We are a county that believes in life, we believe in family and we believe in God.

Grayson, this isn't for the sick. This clinic is for STDs, birth control and abortion. Abortions kills babies. Abortion hurts women. I am not against educating the public on safe sex practices or in treating infections. I'm for treating and catching cancers early, providing women with healthcare and
providing for the women and children in need. I'm just not for murder and that's what I told Nancy Alvarez today : "I'm not against women's health care, I'm against abortion. Abortion is something that ends the life of a beautiful baby and that baby, no matter how it got here is still a gift. And if a woman doesn't want to care for the baby there are hundreds of people who would love to take over," said Osceola County resident Anita Morin.
You can watch that here:
http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/group-protests-as-planned-parenthood-opens/vCbCr2/

I also talked with Mrs. Alvarez about the abundance of pregnancy centers and doctors who have been caring for these people all along. The only thing our county doesn't do is abortion.

So, Mr. Grayson we aren't Anti-Health we are Pro-Life, Pro-women Pro-Babies Pro-Family Pro-minority.

The first inalienable right is life. Please pray with me to protect the children of Osceola County.
Hopefully, the city officials of Kissimmee with see that the B5 zoning does not fit for planned parenthood, but if they won't there are plenty of people willing to stand up for them.

God Bless,
Anita

_______________

Planned Parenthood 2012-2013 Annual report was the main source for these statistics. They aren't made up by some biased group or organization. You can read that report here:  http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/AR-FY13_111213_vF_rev3_ISSUU.pdf

It's a matter of life and death.

Death has been all around me.

3 patients have died in the last few weeks. They each were sweet, and had I known my last visit with them was the last I would have spent more time. I would have prayed with them. I would have encouraged them that God loves them and shared with them the gospel. It's easy to look back and say I would have done this or that, and too often I miss opportunities because of desire to stay on time, to try and make sure I get lunch or leave close to on time, and to meet the demands of a  busy work day.

3 patients this past few weeks I signed up for hospice. Cancer. Chronic severe disease. It's admitting that there is nothing more I can do, nothing more that I can treat. The understanding of reaching the line of everything I can do for the patient... to cross over would be to start doing things to the patient. I share the hope of hospice, the gift of dying with dignity and truth of what hospice is and is not.

I listen on the phone as a loved one shares with me the heartbreak of loosing her love. I listen on the phone as a close friend shares the fears of her dad's recent medical diagnosis.

All of these people precious. All of the people I'm praying for their souls that God would have mercy on them, but my heart breaks, for the babies that are going to die in Kissimmee Florida if Planned Parenthood has their way, and opens their mega-center. It breaks my heart that millions of babies have died at the hands of abortionists.  It breaks my heart women don't feel supported to keep their children, and that death is what they choose. These babies we are praying for, these babies we hope to save both in Kissimmee and all over the world are babies that are a beautiful creation. They are miracles because babies aren't made like baking a cake- you don't put the ingredients in the oven and wait for the timer to go off. These babies are just that: babies, not just cells or tissue or a fertilized egg. It's a baby. A beautiful baby.

I can't stop the death of my patients when they are sick past what we can take care of currently with where we have progressed. I can pray that science would continue to progress and that new cures and treatments are found, but I can't stop death of these people. I can however educate moms and help them. I can help stop abortion from being the option for approximately 5000 babies a day. I can work hard, I can pray, I can give it all my spare time, talent and treasure and I can save lives simply by awareness. I can't do it alone. Please join me. Please pray with me. Please protect these lives and help these mothers. Please be willing to take in the children when their mother can't care for them. please be willing to babysit for the single mom when you can, offer food and clothes. Please stand for these babies who can't stand for themselves.

Please. These children need you and it's a matter of life and death.