Greetings to all!

Hello! This is my first post on this blog, so let me provide a quick introduction. My name is Jennifer, and I have been married for almost 14 years to B., and we have two children: K., who is 9, and S., who is 5. In an effort to preserve a bit of their privacy, I won't be using their full names when they happen to be a part of my writing.

Our family began attending St. Peter's Episcopal Church in 2003; my husband did an internet search on Episcopal churches close to our neighborhood and found the St. Peter's website. I think we were instantly drawn to this particular church for two reasons: its traditional service and music fit my husband, and the service itself is similar enough to the Catholic mass that I felt at home. We both felt it a good choice to raise our children (I was pregnant with S. at the time) in a religious experience that allowed us both to participate in the life of the congregation; as B.'s home church is United Church of Christ, he felt prohibited from taking communion within the Catholic mass.

I have to say that being led to St. Peter's has been such a blessing over the past 5 years! Almost as soon as we began attending services there regularly, it seemed that every week the sermon spoke directly to some issue occurring in our lives at that moment. This became especially noticeable, for me at least, after the birth of our second child S., who was born with a rare genetic syndrome. We had no suspicion during the pregnancy that anything was wrong, and when we did receive the diagnosis it basically took the deck of cards which was our life at that moment and tossed them into the air. We have been able to "reassemble the deck", so to speak, but being the parents of a special-needs child carries with it difficulties, challenges, and also rewards that make for a very unique experience. Over the past 5 years, I have heard or read more than once that God "sends" special-needs children to special people whom he has chosen for specifically that parenting challenge. In that case, He sent us a great blessing along with the challenges; S.'s place in our lives has thus far served as the refining tool for our character and soul (although of course she doesn't know this!).

I will pause here, and wait until my next post to write about my experiences thus far with "The Bible Feast". I will say it has been both interesting and quite rewarding!

Thanks for reading,
J.