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{A}’s 13th Birthday | 4th of July Weekend 2010 | Final Part at CatholicTV

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  {A}’s birthday wish, was to visit the CatholicTV station, in Watertown, MA. Now, some of you may or may not know, that we are a little familiar with CatholicTV, by having become friends with Fr. Bob Reed, who is the director of CatholicTV, and who also helps out with presiding over Masses at several parishes, including our own.

{A} was the first to develop a real friendship with Fr. Reed, as a result of the frequent masses she served, and the time spent with Fr. Reed in the sacristy.  That led to Fr. Reed asking us to be part of the pilot episode of a new show at CatholicTV called House & Home, which was filmed in the fall of 2008, and aired in the summer of 2009.  (It was a new show; they had a lot of ducks to get in a row. So we embraced our last bit of anonymity in those months. lol)   Since then, Fr. Reed has remained a treasured friend of our family. He’s such a cool guy. So, when {A} e-mailed him (as she does on occasion), to request a tour of the CatholicTV station for her birthday wish, Fr. Reed responded quite quickly with her granted wish. He also said he would personally give us the ’25 cent tour’  himself.   He said that the actual 5th would not work, but the 6th would be great.  He also asked that we be there in time for the ‘This Is The Day’ morning show taping.   We soon realized (when he called us later) that he wanted us to be part of the show too. Oh. lol. Now, one might think I’d be getting used to this being taped for television business, but no so much.  A little racing heart comes along with knowing your children will be taped for live TV….you know?  As we said, we really are not like that mylar balloon family.  But..anything for Fr. Reed.

As a side note, {A} and Fr. Reed have had another special connection, in that her actual birthday is his anniversary of ordination into the priesthood.  This would be his 25th year!!   So, we were happy to go the day after, or whatever day worked for them. The 5th was a legal holiday anyway.

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On the set of ‘This Is The Day’.  Now….I had never been on the set before, but I had watched the show.  I assumed, (and you know how that goes…), that there was a small audience whom we would be part of.  You know, maybe a few rows of those seats like at the movies.

No. Six folding chairs, set up just for us.  Oh my.  Right next to the cameras, lights, and overhead microphones recording the live show.  As I sat there next to my 4, occasionally spontaneous children.  Yes, I had given them a brief pre-chat in the car on the way.  But looking around, and as I heard the director countdown to the live taping “6…..5…..4…..3…..2……1…..<point of finger>”…..it warranted a moment of eye contact with my little blessings, that said “This is alllll business, Kiddos, but go ahead and enjoy it too! <wink>”….without saying a spoken word.

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Here is Jay Fadden, host of the show, and side-kick of Fr. Reed (or is the other way around?)……who is as smooth as ice, with cameras rolling, just like his side-kick.  I tried to listen, observe, and learn all I could through the first few segments, before WE were up there.  No, I hadn’t necessarily learned all I needed to know (or would be nice to know!), the first time around, with all of this TV business.

But I digress.  (Or..did I?  I forget now.)   But see the Mayflower on the side table there?  They put that out in honor of us being there on the show that day!  How sweet is that?  I’m not sure what it meant, that it continued to be there for several following shows but….still!

So how and in what way were we part of  ‘This Is The Day?’  Well, if you have ever watched the show (because CatholicTV is a nationwide cable television station), you might know about the ‘Catholic Treasure Box’.  At the start of this show, that airs Tuesday and Friday mornings, Fr. Reed presents a riddle, to give clues to what answer may be in the Catholic Treasure box.

So this day, the riddle was as follows:

Parents and children, in home secure, we find the church’s most humble form.

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The answer is:  FAMILY.   That would be us….<enter family>.  We did not fit in the box.  We didn’t even try.

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We sat on the couches, did a little segment chit-chat, they took several photos of us, and then we got on with our tour.  I’m not going to link you here, because really…..I wouldn’t assume you want to see it.  And you shouldn’t assume I want you to, either, lol.   But the show itself is a great show!  Just as the other is.

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This a shot taken in the master control room.  Fr. Reed showed us the whole place….no stones left unturned. Well…would we know if there was?  Maybe not.  But, we saw a whole lot of the place, and it was incredibly interesting.  Also, we can’t really express enough, what really wonderful people, work for the CatholicTV station.  Seriously….so friendly.  A real sense of family there, at that network.  I almost longed to go to work there every day, myself. lol  (Behind the cameras, of course.)

After seeing so much of the station, what they do where, and how it all works, Fr. Reed let us into this conference room, which I think, he thought, he had planned for {A}’s birthday.  However, the joke was somewhat on him……as his CatholicTV family had this celebration planned for him, for his 25th Anniversary of Ordination.  You can’t see in the photo, but the room is full of people.  Clapping people.

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He. Was. Surprised.   I think he thought he had the whole day planned in detail, himself,….and this room full of people, for him, was not on his agenda.  (Notice the sweet blush.) He said something to the effect of, “Well weren’t we going to sing Happy Birthday to Alexis?”.  Jay explained they would, but they wanted to thank him for his many wonderful years of service as a priest, and the difference he has made in everyone’s lives….and he added how, “The Richard Family was in on this the whole time… .”

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Ok…horrible shot here…..the camera actually went off by accident as I tried to hurry and GET this shot, where he was saying to our giggling trio, “WHY didn’t you TELL MEEEE???!!!”

So it seemed, he wanted to celebrate {A}’s birthday, and we were all there to celebrate his milestone anniversary.  See, after he had made tour plans with us,, we got a phone call from the staff, saying they were planning a surprise celebration for him, and could we keep him in “Studio A” for as long as possible.   Of course we were happy to!  We were SO HONORED, to have been there with him to celebrate.

It’s just kind of comical, because it seemed he thought he had some special surprises set up for {A} in this room, which none of us knew about at all!!  But there was actually a celebration planned for HIM in this room, that HE did not know about at all, but we did.  So….in the end, we were all surprised on some level.

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Fr. Reed, cutting his 25th Anniversary cake.

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Soon enough, the focus turned on {A}, as the room full of people/staff (off camera)….sang her Happy Birthday, ….

121 ….and presented her with these sweet surprises.

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I was going to edit the red of her face out of this photo, but I think it is so cute.  She was as embarrassed as the dickens. I don’t recall ever, having seen her blush like this. So much attention. But still grinning from ear to ear.

141_as-cake I really loved how the cake was decorated.  It seriously was so perfect for her personality.

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Cake…fresh flowers, and gifts……really.  She just asked for a tour, so she was SO surprised by it all.

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So here she is, just before we left, with her dear friend, Fr. Reed.  Who incidentally….truly did give her a birthday she will never forget.  To be there, for HIS special anniversary, meant more to her in the end, than anything.  She really thinks the world and a 1/2, of him.   He’s been a powerful and loving influence in her life, in many ways.


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{A} made this bracelet for Fr. Reed.  It is the branding colors of CatholicTV.   She has made him these before in other colors, and he really wears them!  He wore a red, white and blue one she made him, for the longest time.

20 He had a very special personal gift for her too.

Ok first, on a side note, something I have seen on TV happened to me.  Someone said to me, (in this case, Fr. Reed), “Would you mind if I had a moment alone to talk to your daughter?”.  “Uummmm….Sure!   We’ll be at the car.” lol

Then he talked to her, and gave her this unbelievable treasure of a gift, which has been a personal treasure of his own…..

…a relic of Maria Goretti.

See,  St. Maria Goretti is a 12 year old martyr, who was attacked on July 5th, {A}’s birthday, and also Fr. Reed’s 25 Ordination Anniversary.  She died on the 6th, and this was her Feast Day. You can read all about St. Maria here, or watch the little video.

Wow, wow, wow.  {A} treasures this, so very much, and we know she always will.

(Here is a closer cropped shot.  I really love this photo of the 2 of them.)

Thank you Fr. Reed, and everyone at CatholicTV, for making our girl’s birthday so very special, and memorable.  We also thank you for how warm and welcoming you always are to our family, and all you do for the Catholic and Christian community.  You are a true light to us all, as we continue grow in our faith formation, be it in person, or the glow of our televisions all over the nation.

And one more HaPpY BiRtHdAy to you {A}.  You truly carry a light of your own, and we are blessed to have you as such a big part of our life, and our family.  We love you, more than you know.

Thanks to all of YOU, our faithful blog readers, for your patience in waiting for this last post!  I was SURE I would have it out before July was behind us anyway, but I missed that boat.  Nonetheless, we hope you all enjoyed sharing in our celebrations. {A} thanks you all for the thoughtful birthday wishes too!!

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Our Family’s Episode of CatholicTV’s House + Home: A Late Report

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Those of you who are long time visitors of a our blog may remember that last year (2008) our family was asked to be filmed for the pilot show of a new series being created by CatholicTV, called House + Home.  The premise of the program is to feature various  Catholic families, that vary in family size and lifestyles, and how they live out their Catholic faith in their daily lives, in their homes, and as a family.  Each episode would feature a new family, and we were the first to be asked and filmed, thus being the pilot show. How crazy is that?!

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We blogged about filming day when it took place back in October.   In that post, we said we would let you all know when our episode was to be aired.  But…we didn’t end up doing that, so this is a very late post. Our episode actually aired about countless times throughout the month of June, on CatholicTV.  It was just a crazy time, and we were actually in the midst of completely revamping our blog, and during the process of that, were getting more hits on the blog than ever, because of the show airing, in which Fr. Robert Reed talks about our blog, and even visits it with our kids on film.  And o.k., maybe we were procrastinating a little bit. We were a little startled by all of the attention the show was bringing to us, and we didn’t think it needed our help. lol  So….we just never ended up blogging about it before, but we are really, really excited to see other families featured, because we know we will be left inspired, and it will simply be good tv viewing that we can count on and enjoy.

Since our filming day, there was a little span of time before they resumed filming for the show, featuring other families.  So ours has been the only one being aired and promoted, heavily throughout June, and I think randomly since.  But it is always on their web site as well.   CatholicTV‘s web site is a really fabulous site (and as Fr. Reed wants everyone to know, it’s in high definition!! lol….he’ll be pleased that I mentioned that…lol)…..because you can not only watch any program you want to at any time, but you can also watch CatholicTV LIVE 24/7.  We love that because guess what?  We don’t even get the  CatholicTV channel!!  It is a national television station, but unless you get the BIG digital package of cable, (w/ lots of UNCatholic channels too…; ), that channel doesn’t come in.  SO….we watched our own show on the computer ourselves.  So if you don’t get the CatholicTV channel, and you go to the site, save the link!!  It is awesome Catholic programming, naturally, for adults and kids alike.
(Updated Note: It later became a more standard television station.)

Since the show has aired, it has caught the attention of various Catholic and secular news medias, so we have been asked to do several interviews that have been printed in various publications including Catholic Online, and The Pilot (which was pretty exciting, minus my off-moment facial expression.)  We have another interview coming up for the Old Colony Memorial.

Most all of the news reporters, as well as people in general have asked and wanted to know why we agreed to let our family be filmed for this program.  I especially am one that is most comfortable being behind the camera, perhaps because I have control there, as a photographer.  So being in front of a camera of any kind, never mind a national tv video camera  (also high def by the way ; ) , was a bit out of my comfort zone, as well as my husband’s.  The kid were SO FINE with it.  So humility has played a small part in it, but is a part we decided to embrace, in agreeing to be filmed, despite our discomfort.  The virtue of humility may be defined as: “A quality by which a person, considering his own defects, has a lowly opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God sake.”   Therefore, to reject doing the show, to us, would speak of putting ourselves and some vanity we wanted to protect, before our God.  So that there was the biggest premise of our decision. (Still uncomfortable though.)

But we had other reasons we wanted to do the show.  One as we mentioned, was because we support and love the concept of the show.  We knew WE would certainly be interested in seeing how OTHER Catholic families live out their faith in their daily lives, so we thought others probably would too. We wanted to aid in ‘kicking off’ this great idea, to help encourage it to become a successful series.   Some other reasons are:

*We are called, in commitment to our Catholicism, to evangelize our faith.  Since we are not the type that have very strong skills in sharing the Word of God,  with the people we encounter in our daily lives, this seemed like a pretty good way to do it. We knew we were indeed capable, in sharing the best way we could express, how we live our day to day life as a family. So it was an offering of evangelizing in the way of example.

*We LOVE our lifestyle, and the Catholic faith that is so intricately woven into our daily moments, from within our family, our businesses, our homeschooling, our serving others, and every other area and situation in our lives.

*It was an opportunity that just doesn’t come along very often.  We are always inspired and encouraged by other Catholic families, their practices and traditions, perspectives and lifestyles, and it was our opportunity to at least try and give back.  It was a hope that in some way, some other family may see the joy and fulfillment in our family, that comes deeply-rooted from our faith, and be inspired to develop the faith in their own families as well.  Or, for other Catholic families, who DO live much like we do, and feel so alone and different in today’s society, to see that there ARE other families….many other families, who live like they do.  It was an opportunity to reach out, connect and network with those families.

*As a home schooling family, it was a real educational experience for our children!  They would not just learn, but witness, participate in and experience all of the hard work that goes into the production of a television program.

*It would be a wonderful keepsake, in the form of a memory and a film piece, of our children’s childhood, for them AND for us in years to come. And for the generations that follow.

*Also, it should be noted that we love Fr. Robert Reed and we would have a pretty hard time saying ‘no’ to him, for anything he asked of us.

We have not regretted participating in the promotion of this show at all.  We’ve had lots to say about it, in the various news articles we have shared our thoughts with.  While it has drawn far more attention ourselves than we ever anticipated, which we are still adjusting to and are still not 100% comfortable with, it has overall been a ‘good thing’ for our family, and for our Catholic community.

In closing, we would just like to express our heartfelt thanks to the many, many people who have seen and supported the show, and/or our episode,  and have called, sent e-mails, commented on our blog and just came right up to us in person on the street, in stores or as members of our parish family (St. Bonaventure’s Parish), to express that they saw us on tv, and how much they enjoyed the program.  We truly appreciate all of your kind words and thoughts. Your support and expressions of faith lift us up.

Most of all, we would like to thank Fr. Reed, for more reasons than we can ever express, really.  We are thankful to you, Fr. Reed, for responding to your personal call of faith in your vocation as a priest, as you touch millions of lives in a loving, inspiring and effective faith-building way – reaching out to adults and children in so many areas.  For all of the mini-Latin lessons you have given {A}, and for being a powerful, significant example of many things, and in many ways, than you will ever know or realize.  (In {A}’s words), for all of the funny memories and times you have had together in the sacristy before and after serving Mass together.  We are also humbled and touched, that you would recognize and embrace our efforts, however full of stumbles, in living out our Catholic faith as a family. You have made a wonderful impression on our family as a whole and as individuals, for life.   Overall, we just think you are a really cool guy, and we have come to love you very much.

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This is a separate post, but related enough that I thought I would tie it in.  It’ll be a whole lot shorter. Promise.

{A}’s’ birthday fell on a Sunday this year.   This made her SO happy because it is not only her favorite day of the week, but she was serving as well, which she loves to do.  Fr. Reed happened to be presiding over that Mass, on her birthday, and shared with the congregation that it was 24 years ago that day, that he was ordained as priest!  So {A} was thrilled they shared that special date, and Fr. Reed expressed after Mass what a funny little coincidence it was too, as we stood around chatting.

Then, he said that he had something for the kids, but said they needed to split it, and use it for their college education.  Then he proceeds to pull out of his pocket, a million dollar bill, and he handed it to them.  The little ones just giggled of course, while {A} prayed it was real. lol.   Of course she knew it was a joke, being no such thing as a million dollar bill.  But it sure looked real!   It was crinkled and everything!  He also gave them chocolate bars with WOW wrappers on it.  (WOW is a CatholicTV Challenge show for kids, of which Fr. Reed also hosts.)

So, it was another happy day for the kids, loaded with more smiles and giggles brought on by Fr. Reed.

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The Filming of Our Pilot Episode ‘House+Home’ for CatholicTV / A Behind the Scenes Look

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October 2008 – This past Wednesday was the filming day of our family at our home for the pilot episode of ‘House+Home‘, for CatholicTV.  We did it! And what a day it was! In this post we are sharing all of the chaos and behind the scenes happenings of filming day at our house.

To fill you in on the premise of the show, the series of House+Home takes viewers to Catholic family homes. In each episode Fr. Reed visits the family, and learns how they use faith, hope and love to turn their house into a home, and how they as a family, live out their Catholic faith in their daily lives.

Nerves (Big-Time) & Our Incentive

The night before, it started to hit us, what we were about to do.  As Michael and I plopped into bed about midnight, the night before, Michael whispered into the dark, “We’re crazy.”….and we both busted out laughing hysterically.

In the first place, we were a bit self conscious about the state of our home, and having it all filmed for tv, as we were still in the process of working very hard on the house and yard after a major renovation. Our home and yard projects were far from done, with much still left undone, and not particularly looking very nice! Not to mention, we were also just personally nervous and somewhat uncomfortable at the idea of being in front of TV cameras. However, we believed in the premise of the show, and hoped our going first would encourage many other families to follow in our footsteps and also share this beautiful faith, and how they too uniquely live it out daily in their own lives. We certainly had personal stories and testaments of our faith to share, and knowing too that it is the love, of Christ and family, that makes a house a home, (and not the projects completed or not) we felt called by God to respond with a ‘yes‘, after Fr. Reed asked our family to be filmed for this pilot episode.

It was also one of those experiences that don’t come along every day (certainly never in our days).  What a wonderful and educational experience for the kids, to not only see television production, but be a part of it, and to realize all of the hard work that goes into making a tv show.

Fr. Robert Reed (president of CatholicTV, and host of the show) had filled us in very well in the prior weeks, of exactly what to expect throughout this filming day. There were no surprises. (Well, maybe a few little ones. lol) Somehow, though, when the crew started arriving, setting up all of the equipment, and having little crew huddles talking about their plan and work to be done, we felt the nerves start to set in!  But it wasn’t long before we were filming segments, and there was no time to even think about nerves, because we were so focused on what we were saying and doing.

Sharing/Showing What We Can

Of course I took any behind-the-scenes photos I could get in.  There aren’t many though, because I was on camera myself most of the time!  But here are some behind the scene snapshots I managed to take, to share, and record this day for the kids. I won’t bother telling you about the entire day, because honestly, there’s a lot and I’m not sure I could remember it all. It was many hours of footage. But here’s a preview, and I guess you’ll just have to watch the episode to get the rest!

“Ready, aaaand . . . .ROLL!!!”

The filming started with our guest, and host (and creator, I believe) of the show, Fr. Reed arriving:

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We welcomed him to our home, chatted a bit in the sun room, and then we gave him a tour of the house and our studio/work areas.

Interviews

After wards, we all had interviews with Fr. Reed. {A}’s (our oldest daughter) was first, outdoors in our work-in-progress-yard, ‘up in the mountains’, near the huge pile of tree brush and stumps, which is only still there because it is where some of A’s chipmunks live.  (She has hand-tamed a large number of chipmunks.  See for yourself HERE.) We were all hoping they would come out for {A}, as they always do, but with the crew all around, it wasn’t happening. They were too shy and scared.  Earlier though, one of the crew guys did happen to see out the slider door,  one of the chipmunks come up on the deck and around our door, waiting for {A} to come out and feed him, though.  Anyway, we couldn’t hear {A}’s interview down in the yard, but I did get this shot of them up there filming it.  Her interview will be a bit of a surprise for us all.

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After that was what they called ‘the triplet interview’, which I had no idea they planned on doing. (Surprise #1)  { J, O and S}, did really well.  We couldn’t actually hear all of that either, but it looked like it was going really well.  We’re anxious to hear what they said. (And can only imagine!) Bet it’s going to be cute!

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Us parents had a couple’s interview, as well, also by Fr. Reed, of course. Ours was in the house, and the hardest part for us.  We had the big light on us, and it was like a real tv studio interview, with crew guys and equipment all around.  But Fr. Reed asked great questions about our faith, how it encourages and sustains us in our lives for us personally, and more. We think it went pretty well. Of course, we started thinking about what we forgot to say, or wish we didn’t say, lol…but no one knows those things.  For just regular people here, I think we did pretty well.  Ok, I did choke up once, because some questions were linked to emotionally deep stuff for us, but, I got it together. ; )  No photos of us being interviewed, of course, but they filmed it all.  It will be edited down, of course.

Cameramen were just all over the place, all of the time.  It’s true that you do start getting a little used to it, pretty quickly. Here’s just one of the guys in our unfinished stairwell to the upstairs.

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Sharing a Meal Together

We invited Fr. Reed to stay for dinner, as is part of the show (although we were happy to anyway), and made our family recipe/tradition of pizza together in the kitchen.  He helped make the dough. : )  When the pizzas came out of the oven, we gathered around the table, and had grace and dinner together, but of course we fed the crew, too! Here (below) they are, minus the photographer (for the CatholicTV Magazine), who left a little early before filming was done. (We wrapped up some pizza to go for him.)   Can I just say the whole crew is the NICEST bunch of guys, and were so great to work with! Just great guys. The guy on the left was the producer.  It was kind of funny to see the them squirm a little, though, when they found themselves in front of MY camera.  I guess THEY prefer to be behind the camera, too! Imagine that! But they kindly obliged. (Thanks guys!!)

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Blog Fan in the House!

After dinner, Fr. Reed took the kids to the computer, because apparently he’s a new fan of our blog! (Surprise #2).  They talked with him about their photos on it, and some of their adventures and activities, and then they went to CatholicTV.com.  The kids are very familiar with CatholicTV, and all of the shows Fr. Reed is on.  So they got a kick out of watching it on the computer, with him on it, and yet him also sitting in the computer chair next to them, watching it with them. lol

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Our Visit and Filming Ends

We filmed the good-by and end of our visit, with us waving, and Fr. Reed driving off.
But then Fr. Reed came back, off-camera. lol

After filming was done, and the crew was packed up and gone, Fr. Reed gave {A} a little Latin lesson, which he has done virtually every Sunday after Mass at church, for quite awhile.  It is he, who inspired {A} to take Latin as a subject this school year (at home), which she is doing very well in.  She loves it.  So here they are, as he gives her another one of his little lessons.

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Exhausted, Wired & Grateful

When Fr. Reed left for real, we were wiped out!! We were relieved we got through it, and it seemed to go so well. (I guess we’ll all see soon enough!)
We really enjoyed the whole process, though. It was just an amazing day we will always remember. Surreal, really.  As long and tiring of a day that it was, we are so glad we did it. The kids did so well, all day, and we’re really proud of them.  It was a big day for them. We certainly have a new and even greater respect for television production, and all Fr. Reed does at CatholicTV, every day!

Somehow though, the whole day’s experience really gave us a heightened sense of the real family that we are, and how very blessed we are. It also seemed to call for a family photo, via the timer in my camera.  : ) After the photo, as tired as were were, we were also wired and had some funny energy to get out.  So we all changed into jeans and sneakers, and went to the park (actually, we went to 2!) to run, climb, and even play hopscotch.

The next morning, after devotion, and before a regular schooling day, we asked the kids “What was your very favorite part of the taping day?”.  They all just smiled big as they thought and thought, and it was so quiet for a moment. And then {A} said “I don’t know…I mean, the whole day was just totally fun!!”….to which {J, O and S} replied…”Yeah!  The whole day was TOTALLY FUN!!“.   Indeed it was.

We’ll keep you posted when we know an air date for the show, and when the series begins.  Today was another special day, of which we’ll blog about next. Meanwhile, thanks so much, for checking in, and sharing in our experience with us.

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The Richard Family
(2008)

 

 


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