So Sunday morning we set out to find a church. With a little online inquiry we found a church called St Faustina. It had a nice early 9am Mass and was only 10 minutes away from us. So we headed out in search of the church.
ZOOM … drove right by it. What the? Was that just it? In a Strip Mall? Um……………. Yeah we can’t do that. I come from a world of BIG churches… and this was NOT a big church. Nothing against St Faustina, but… 
So quickly recalculate our options… Jen found that 20 minutes away was the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary. Mass was at 9:30 and we would get there for 9:25. Lets do it. We arrived just as expected but there were police shuttling in people in both directions, there was a Valet, security guards… 
As we got closer we were like… “Where are we going? Are we in Italy, headed to church to hear the Pope? People were parking on the lawn, on the street, and maximum occupancy of 3600! How big is this place?!?!
Well it was big. And nearly full for Sunday Mass. Some comments to this photo on instagram were along the lines of “Its like a Catholic church amusement park” 
The girls each got a votive in honor of Aunt Rachael. 
Of course there is always time for an impromptu photo shoot in one of the many courtyards. 
Their nativity scene was like no other we’ve ever seen. Leighton didn’t want to leave. 
These are some of Leighton’s photos from her camera. 
More Leighton’s photos above. 
