Some of my earliest childhood memories take place in church. Sunday school, potluck dinners, choir practice, vacation bible school, music programs, etc. My dad's whole side of the family went to the same church and three of my uncles were Baptist preachers. Our entire lives revolved around the church. My mom, raised Methodist but then converted upon marrying my father, led the adult and youth choir. I can remember watching her and my brother standing on the stage and performing duets during Sunday services. My grandmother and my mom were always busy cooking casseroles and bunt cakes for the Wednesday potluck dinners. My dad was Santa Claus for the annual Christmas program every year of my childhood. My baby shower was held in the basement of the church. Church, and Baptist Church at that, was all I knew.

At eleven years old this all changed. There was a scandal involving the pastor and in the end he left and so did we.

For the next few years, we attended other churches in our area, but the family and community connections that kept us involved at our first church could be recreated. Though religion remained a large part of my life, still praying nightly before going to bed and at every meal, as I entered a private Catholic middle school my religious practices morphed into those I was learning at school and from my new Catholic friends.

Over the next few years, into high school and then college, I began to consider myself more of a Catholic than the Baptist I was raised.

Now, almost ten years after my initiation into the Baptist church, I'm beginning my journey to becoming a member of the Catholic Church.