Alright, it's time. I have been holding a lot of these feelings and emotions in, but it is time to vent and release. I love my family and friends. I love how unique and different they are. I love that they have so much passion for what they believe in (religion, politics, whatever). I love they have opinions, but I don't love that I am judged and told I am wrong when my opinion isn't the same. I respect you, so why don't you respect me?? Now this does not include the majority of my friends and family, but just a teeny bit of them, but it is still hard. The decision that Chris and I make are our decisions, you may not agree with them, but why not support us?? We will support you if we don't agree.
Let me tell you where this stems from and what has evolved. Yes - Chris and I are different religions. I support him, he supports me. Personally, I love going to mass with him and seeing how it is different spiritually and politically from the LDS faith. I have learned alot. Chris has come with me to church and he says we are so missing out by blessing water and not wine for the blood of Christ; he is a nerd! When we got married we chose to keep religion out of our wedding and have a judge marry us. God was with us that day, do you not remember the beautiful weather the end of October! Anywho....we knew when we had kids that it would be a challenge with faith. Ultimately we decided, it's not our decision what our kids believe, it is up to them and we would support them anyone they decided, as long as God was part of it. So, when Weston was born, we were placed in a dilemma. The worst crossed our mind and we wanted to make sure Weston would be Welcomed by God and his open arms. I know that God would never turn away one of his children if they had not been baptized, but we were in total panic mode! We had Father Anthony give Weston a healing prayer and my Uncle's gave Weston an LDS blessing (along with Chris & I). While Father Anthony was there, Chris asked me if it was ok to baptize Weston with the Catholic faith. I was totally fine with it. The best part, Father Anthony did not make me promise to raise Weston Catholic, which is the common practice. I felt so relieved that I didn't have to make that promise.
But now, not to name names, but part of my family is not supporting this and giving us so much grief. I know what they believe and the is fine, but PLEASE, the decision we made was ours and we would never change it. So I ask.......what is my family going to say if Weston decides to become a Buddhist or Jewish, does it matter??? Is God in his life? Yes! Isn't that what is important? Like I said, I support what you believe, what you feel and what your opinion is, but why can't you do the same for me??
Ok - I feel better. Less frustrated, but still upset. One day it will hopefully get better!! To all of those that support us, THANK YOU!! I hope you feel that we do the same to you!
I love you!!! 'nuff said!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only parent that feels this way about raising my children. Having parents with two different faiths is a challenge, but when all is said and done, you have to do what's best for Weston (regardless of what others think.) Casey and I are kinda flipped; he has the strong LDS background and I have the non-denominational background. My standpoint is that if a vast majority of The Bible teaches us not to judge; then is God really going to say "I'm sorry, you failed your life on earth because you didn't pick the right religion." I personally feel that there is good in all religions and I hope to raise my kids that way too. I think that you and Chris have done a fabulous job raising Weston and in tough situations, I think that the decisions we make regarding our childs well being is done so with a little nudge from God. You blessed him, you baptised him and look at how strong and handsome he is now....I say the decision made was the right one :)
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