The Shrine of Christ's Passion

Tim's work schedule was all wonky at work since they switched from being a picking warehouse (where they pick what the sales people want and put them on their trucks) to more of just a distribution warehouse (where the sales people put an order in electronically, it is picked at one warehouse and sent on a semi, then Tim and his coworker unloads the semi directly onto the sales people's trucks). Today, we were surprised that on his six day of work, he only had a five and a half hour day. It has been nice having the evening together and then some time to myself tonight, which is probably why I can't sleep.

John and I had quite a journey during the time Tim was gone. I drove in another state for the first time in my life! I know, I'm thirty, but I have a lot of fear when it comes to driving and when I go outside of where I know, it is quite scary. Thankfully, I took the majority of the route before and my new On Star helped with the rest.

We visited the Shrine of Christ's Passion. My ladies' group at church was supposed to go last weekend. Due to low attendance, we had to cancel. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the day was quite rainy. After Tim left for work, I gave John some milk, packed his things and went. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes getting there, mostly due to wrong turns. I don't know why I was so stubborn about not asking for help sooner.

We get there and I get John into his stroller. They have a beautiful gift shop, but we pretty much made our way out. You basically stroll around through the Last Supper to the Stations and ending with the tomb. We just made it to the twelfth station. Somehow, we missed the rest. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

 Johnny's hand in Jesus'

John taking it all in. Or maybe he was just glad not to be in his stroller.

"Women, behold, your son." Jesus was speaking of the apostle who's name my child bears.

Love this.



It was an incredible experience. It just felt so terribly peaceful. I walked it carrying my son between stations thinking if carrying a twenty five pound child in 70 degrees feels like this, I can't even imagine how it felt to carry that cross. I also have gained a new appreciation of Mary since becoming a mother myself. I truly can't imagine the sort of strength that she possessed. She is really the ultimate mother role model.

I am disappointed to find out about things I missed. However, I think that will just give me an opportunity to return. Perhaps on a not so warm Friday that I'm off this summer or another weekend day where Tim is working. Letting John get down and explore the stations was probably the key. He ended up burning up a lot of energy. I hope he sleeps well tonight.

Here is the Shrine's website.