Rod's Last Couple of weeks

It's been a busy couple of weeks for the oldest Rames child. So busy that Rod actually began to question the number of things he had going and whether he should give some up. Let's start with the biggest event:

Confirmation: From the AmericanCatholic.org website, "Confirmation is a Catholic Sacrament of mature Christian commitment and a deepening of baptismal gifts. It is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation for Catholics. It is most often associated with the gifts of the Holy Spirit."

In our parish in Redmond, Confirmation is celebrated MUCH later. It happens in high school when the kids are well into their teens. It's a bit different in Ireland. I can't say I know the answer as to why they do it differently, but it happens in the last year of Primary school (6th Class). The preparation for Confirmation is something that happens during the year and it is a pretty big part of their preparation for Secondary School (Jr. and Sr. High). Rod and class were confirmed on the 8th of March. This is a very special day for them not only for celebrating the sacrament, but they received the day off of school. Rod was a bit nervous and couldn't sleep the night before. He was worried that the Monsignor was going to ask him questions about St. Robert, his chosen name. Robert is the name of his Great Uncle, his very good friend in Redmond, and the confirmation name of his Grandpa. To his relief, no questions were asked. Here's an interesting link to St. Robert Bellarmine. Like all of us, he had his faults.

Right Reverend Monsignor Enda Lloyd officiated.

Rod's Confirmation sponsor was Colin Holmes. Colin is the son of some friends we met in Dublin and lives a few miles away. Martha and Colin's mom, Phoebe are as thick as thieves. Colin provides significant video game mentorship to Rod, so we figured spiritual mentorship couldn't be far behind.

And not only did Rod get the day off,

siblings of those being confirmed get the day off to celebrate with their families. JJ and Grace were very happy with this development as was Joe who had a rare mid-week day off.

We celebrated that evening at Rod's favorite restaurant in Dublin (Yo Thai). It's a teppanyaki where they cook the food on grills in front of you and do tricks with the food and entertain as they make it. It was a wonderful time.

Hurling: Rod is also participating in a few sports at this time. In one of my earlier posts, I talked about hurling and Rod had his first match. It was during the week, so Dad didn't get to go, but we did get a few pictures. We're planning on getting to a real hurling event on St. Patrick's day as they will play a big match in Croake Park where all the county teams vie to get to the championship.

Rugby: The rugby season continues. The team has struggled the last few matches, but Rod is still enjoying his time on the Old Belvedere U13 team. There is a weekend trip to Sligo coming up and Joe and Rod will be heading up for a weekend.

Swimming: The kids have also gotten back into swimming. Rod is doing very well, having moved up a few lanes since starting as his strokes have improved.

It wasn't all fun. Rod also has taken responsibility for doing the lawn, the old fashioned way. We weren't real excited about buying a mower here and our garden is very small, so we picked up an old fashioned push mower and Rod is keeping the lawn like his hair, short! And with spring seemingly upon us in Dublin, the grass has begun to grow.