Passover

Ah and here you all though we were totally anti-religious, not so! Actually my dh made some grumbles about having to go to services but he enjoyed himself in the end so all was good. It's been a looong while since I celebrated Passover, my first husband was Jewish and I celebrated it a few times with his family but they were not the funnest of folk. The congregation we celebrate the Jewish holidays with out here with are some of the most wonderful people we've ever met. Really stellar people and let me tell you, not mainstream at all. They are the Messianic Jews (Jews for Jesus) and are not usually well accepted into the general Jewish population. Sad but true. We also got to see our friend who lost her daughter late last year in the car accident, a lovely lovely woman. Her husband decided to bail at the last moment but she, thankfully, still came. It was so awesome to see her and it reminds us that we need to make a much better effort to see them more often. We even were able to talk religion (they are very religious) in a very open manner (the dh's religious views are not always so openly accepted by the very religious) and found that they have (unsurprisingly) a similar view as ours as to organized religion. They've found themselves church hopping lately since many of the churches have not been meeting their needs. They belonged to a very large very popular church out here and since they buried their daughter not one person from that church has come to them to offer emotional support, it's been 4 months! Let me tell you I am shocked and disappointed but not surprised. Like 8 days after their daughter died the mom had her 41st b-day and was freaking out (as moms do when their child dies or when they turn 41, the combo, not so good) at 1 am so her hubby called up on of the elders of the Messianic Jewish Congregation that held services tonight and he was at their house sitting in their bedroom, suit and tie on, reading scripture to her until she was able to fall asleep peacefully. Now that is why we have organized religion. Not all this other enormous church/government/businesses mammoths that now exist for people to throw money into. I have had very little religious upbringing, well more like none. Which is very common, rather, the norm, in So Cal. It surprises me that the different parts of the country are sooo different. Religion is quite prominent here in Texas, everyone is Christian and assumes everyone else is the same. It makes me feel bad for those of other religions. Really when you take your kids to Chuck E. Cheese type places you don't expect to have all the toys that they win to have Jesus fish on them but they do. It's a midwestern form of religious intolerance and we don't like it. One of the biggies in the formation of the good ol' US of A was religious tolerance and yet we're finding that these major issues seem to be going though a backslide. That and the right to bear arms. DO NOT get the hubby started on that one. We consider ourselves to be relatively conservative but obviously not in the classic way.
Regardless, back to my point, I really would like to get the kid started in some sort of religious learning. For whatever reason (peer pressure, who knows) she shows an affinity towards it and keeping her in the dark about it will only lead to bigger problems. If I can get the wherewithall to get to services I think I'd like to go to the Messianic Jewish services. The downside? It's a good 45 minute drive away and dang it all if commutes like that don't just ruin it for us. That's why our friends don't go on a regular basis too. Good thing I wasn't born in the old cart and buggy days, I'd just roll over and die!