Letter to my mother

Mom,

Glad to know you're back. Be sure and tell us all about your trip.
I'm imagining that you've earned major brownie points with the Lord...
probably got a first class ticket into heaven now! :-) Saint Sandi...
sounds kinda good!

We went to our 2nd mass at St. Peter's Episcopal. We really like the
church. Very moderate and tolerant of different viewpoints, much more
contemporary than the Catholic Church. Honestly, I feel like I was
raised Episcopal and just didn't know it! Fr. Tom (the Episcopal priest
there) came to our house this afternoon and spent 90 minutes talking
with us about our family, the religion, some Q&A, and just getting to
know each other. It was really nice to talk to him, and he seems a very
nice person.

In fact, the boys both celebrated their first communion today. The
Episcopal's don't make as big a ceremony out of first communion as do
the Catholics. They celebrate Eucharist each and every week, like
Catholics, but it's not as important as Baptism, theologically. First
communion is a parental decision, and we decided that the boys were
ready this weekend. They did it, and enjoyed being a full part of the
service. To celebrate, the boys got to choose a celebration lunch, and
they chose... drumroll please......... McDonalds. Great. Heck, I
bought dessert.

We also learned that Oliver North is a member of our congregation. He
was at the same service as us this morning! I told Fr. Tom that this
would certainly be a way to get Dad back into Church! He'd probably
drive down from Minnesota just to go to church with Col. North! I'll
get pictures next week!

Anyhow, we like the new church. We're going to spend some time getting
to know it slowly, but we already know a few of the people from
preschool and scouts. So we're not going in totally cold.

Hope this letter finds you well, and be sure to tell us about your trip.

Oh, yeah, before I forget. Those Target gift cards you got the boys, I
wonder if you still have the receipts for them. The guy at the store
said they were never validated, and we therefore couldn't use them. If
you still have the receipt, I will send them to you and you can get your
money back or get them revalidated. Let me know what you want to do.

Talk to you soon.

Love,
Scott