Ellie's First Holy Communion

O My loving Jesus!  I love Thee.  I am about to receive Thee into my heart.  I open my arms to Thee.  O! that the great God should come to me, a little child, and dwell in my breast!  O stay with me forever.  I do not wish to live a single day without Thee.

~An act of love and desire from Jesus, Make Me Worthy

This past Saturday Elisabeth celebrated her First Holy Communion.  We were blessed with nice sunny weather for her big day.  I cannot tell you how incredibly happy I felt when it was time for her to go up and receive communion.  Ellie was simply beaming afterwards.  It was an amazing day.

I took lots of pictures of her, but we didn't get many pictures of her with the whole family.  In fact, I'm not sure if we have any of her with just me and Bryan.

She was very excited about the cake, cupcakes and lollipops that I made for her party.

Before I dropped her off with her class before Mass, we took a few pictures outside at the church.  I realized much later in the day that my lens had some spots on it.

The children processed in two at a time just before Mass began.  I loved that Ode to Joy was the music they selected for the children's procession.  We weren't allowed to take pictures during the Mass, although I did sneak a few of one of Ellie's adorable friends in plain view of the deacon who is our DRE and our pastor.  I couldn't help myself.  She kept turning back with the biggest smile on her face and I knew I had to capture it for her Dad who couldn't see her from where he was seated. Unfortunately, there was no way for me to take any pictures of Elisabeth while she was sitting in the pew with her classmates or of her receiving First Communion, but there was a photographer on hand to capture the moment.

Ellie is simply beaming in this picture with our pastor.  

I just love the expression on her face in this picture.  It looks like a mixture of wonder and happiness. 

We had a small party back at the house after the Mass.  Poor Ellie isn't much of a morning person so having to get up so early to be at the church and ready for 8:30AM took a lot out of her.  By the time we got back to the house a little after 11AM she was spent.  All the excitement of her big day took a lot out of her.  Within minutes of our last guests going home Ellie was asleep on the couch.

She is so thrilled that she can now receive the Eucharist at Mass.  Yesterday the children's choir sang at the noon Mass and she had the biggest smile on her face when she went up to receive communion.