Lenten Intentions

I joined the Catholic Church at Easter 2004, which means that I've been "off the hook" for fasting each Lent since I became Catholic (pregnant, nursing, pregnant, nursing in consecutive years).  The rules for fasting are actually really lenient anyway, although I probably should put my 9 boxes of Girl Scout cookies somewhere less tempting tomorrow because even nursing moms don't need 4 Thin Mints and a Samoa between each meal. 

This Lent I'd really like to find ways to involve Peter at church that don't include shushing him ("I BE QUIET NOW, MAMA!") or time outs.  My church offers daily mass at 8:15am and 5pm daily and has perpetual Eucharistic adoration, neither of which I attend more than a few times a year.  8:15 is awfully early for our family and 5pm isn't much easier and I've stuck to those excuses for quite some time.  I remembered today that 9-10am on Fridays is children's hour in the adoration chapel and I think I might be able to pull that off for 7 weeks.  If I went through a mini-liturgy of some sort where Peter was encouraged to talk and pray and sing at his pace, it could help him learn the prayers and better understand what happens on Sunday.  Ideally, I'd like to find some friends with young kids who could join us -- if nothing else, knowing the other people in the chapel would help me feel less guilty when Leo climbs around their chairs or Peter starts yelling.  Mass has just been a struggle in recent months since Peter began talking non-stop and Leo wants to go under the pews to visit the people behind us.  We've avoided bringing them to the nursery (it only goes to age 3 so I feel like Peter should be able to stay in the pew semi-quietly soon anyway) so far, although I've been wavering on that lately.  When Dan and Peter go to church alone it goes much better than when Leo and I are with them. 

If bringing the boys to adoration proves to be more difficult than I can handle, I might see if someone wants to trade babysitting so I can go to daily Mass once a week by myself.  Whoa, how quiet and peaceful that would be!