House Blessing and Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is my patron saint in part because she is the patron saint of my parish. The reason I was waiting to test until Sunday was because I though it would be apropos if I did have a positive.  Our parish was having a special Mass and gathering afterwards to honor her.  I had asked Mr. W if he would join me at Mass.  I figured if it was positive I'd want him to celebrate with me, and if it was negative, I'd want his support and to not be alone at church.
Obviously it was not positive so I was feeling emotionally raw during Mass and appreciated the ceremony and the company.  Three candles were lit near her stature on the altar, which I thought was a nice touch.

 Instead of the regular Sunday readings were were able to have a gospel reading from John about Mary Magdalene learning of the empty tomb. During the homily Fr. spoke of how her reputation had been tarnished and how in the last century she was finally restored. It was a long Mass though with the extra incense and readings. Close to 2 hrs and the boys were close to major meltdown by the time it was over.  I was still feeling down so I didn't accomplish much even though I had big plans to make a special Magdalena cake.
Since this is my very first home buying experience I thought it would be nice to have the house blessed.  I've never participated in one before, but I felt like this house deserves it.  I hadn't gotten around to calling in to see if Fr. M would come out when I read  in the bulletin that Deacon J would be doing house blessings during the month of July; what perfect timing! It just so happened that we scheduled it for the day after St. Mary Magdalene's feast day so I decided to make the remaining recipe for her in my Cooking With the Saints cookbook.
Unfortunately Mr. W had to work late again so he missed the blessing entirely, which left me alone with the boys and preparing dinner and entertaining Deacon J.  The boys were a little rambunctious during the blessing so I couldn't quite focus on the prayers as much as I would have liked.  He sprinkled Holy Water all along the front of the house, inside on the main floor, and the back yard and vegetable garden. And us too.  My Little Helper took a while to warm up and was in cross mode for awhile, but eventually warmed up by dinnertime to give thoughtful answers to Deacon J's questions. Deacon J is from Eastern Oregon and will be ordained in the spring.  He'll be 35. I find it very refreshing that we have been having so many Seminarian interns and Deacons coming through our parish.  In my experience boys who are raised Catholic largely grow up to be without faith.  It is nice to see that it is taking hold somewhere and that young men are answering God's call. I wonder if that will be in the future for either of my sons?
The Magdalenenkuchen, or Magdalene cake, was good.  The recipe calls for a dough used as the first layer in the pan, then a layer or orange marmalade, then a second layer which is more the consistency or regular cake batter.  Once baked a glaze is made which calls for Cointreau and orange juice and then sliced almonds sprinkled on top.  The recipe calls for toasting those sliced almonds in a pan with butter, but since I knew how much butter I had just put into the two layers of cake I decided that I'd skip that last butter toasting step.
I was having camera troubles, but here is a picture of the cake.
 
Here's a beter pic after Mr. W fixed he camera for me, you can see the layers.

I mentioned to Deacon J that two of the recipes associated with Mary Magdalene included almonds and wondered if they were somehow one of her attributes.  He wasn't sure and couldn't find anything on his iphone.  Yes, my deacon is more tech savvy than I am.  It's the new generation of the church!