Church Of The Little Flower

  When we arrived in Coral Gables, we decided that before we went to the hotel that we would stop at one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. My mom went to this Catholic church as a child. I never went to a mass there, but my mom would bring me and my sister for a visit every so often to take a look and walk around because it's so beautiful.

This was the first church I ever stepped in and it was grand and magnificent in my eyes as a child. And looking around today, it is still as magnificent as it was then. They just don't make churches like this anymore.

My mom wanted to get married in this church and wanted her children to get married in this church. Sadly no one in our family ended up getting married there, but it certainly was a nice dream. :)

Welcome to the Church of the Little Flower...

The narthex of the church is so beautiful. So many memorial candles available for lighting...

Briana lighting a couple of candles. When I was a kid, we used real candles and fire - now you just hit a button and it lights up...

I lit a few myself...

Looking in toward the alter...

The ceilings are so high and I love the stained glass...

The breathtaking alter...

I sat down in a pew and Doug and Bri gave me a few minutes to myself. An overwhelming feeling of sadness came over me and tears welled up in my eyes. I was missing my friend Carole. I was missing all my grandparents. I was overwhelmed just being back in this beautiful place...

After a few minutes, I got up and walked to where Doug and Bri were. They were checking out the second floor of the church where the organ is housed. The view from up there is breathtaking...

Me and my gal...

There is a beautiful blue stained glass window in one of the stairways that leads to the second floor...

It was surreal to have my daughter with me in this church...

We probably spent around a half an hour there (maybe a little more) and there were just a couple of people in the church. It was lovely to have the church so silent and peaceful.

I could have probably spent much more time there, but we needed to get going. We were getting pretty hungry because we hadn't had lunch yet and we needed to head toward the hotel.

Next stop, lunch. And your probably going to laugh at where we ended up. A great memory from my past. It's a dive - but an awesome dive. :)