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For those who don't know... the Catholic Prayer is as follows

Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Jewish versions of Grace are as follows.

Blessed are You, our G-d, Sovereign of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

or

Blessed are You, our G-d, Sovereign of the Universe, through whose word everything comes into being.

I'll tell you one thing, your parents might support your conversion but it will take them ages to get used to it. My dad is constantly challenging my views on ham and when to feed the animals. My mom got on to me when I said I only celebrate Christmas with them because it's important to the family. Eventually once they see how truly serious you are about the whole thing, they'll probably give up. But as long as your under their roof I would suggest respecting their wishes. : )

Interestingly enough, when I was a kid I always prayed before meals but never included Jesus. In fact I never remember thinking much about Jesus at all.

Thank you everyone for the help and information.

Divash, I had never heard of the law saying that I can't eat Kosher food off of non-Kosher plates.
I guess I'll have to get my own soon.

Concerning the table...
I can't eat kosher food with a plate that has never touched non-Kosher food on a table where non-Kosher food has been served?
Just trying to get things straight.

Is this a universal Jewish custom or strictly Orthodox/Conservative/what-have-you?

Alastor:
I've mentioned this in other threads, but it bears repeating. All Jews used to just be Jews, no divisions. Ashkenazi Jews, specifically in Germany, wanted to fit in with their neighbors, so some of them split off into Reform, which did its best to fit in by designing their synagogues to look like churches and their services to look more like church service, and by dressing increasingly like the non-Jews around them. They dispensed, gradually, with the laws of kashrut, Shabbat, and Family Purity. In response to this, other Ashkenazim began calling themselves Orthodox, and kept strictly to the "old" ways, to Torah observance, even though they knew it meant not fitting in with the larger German population. Fast forward about 50 years to when some Reform Jews were in the US. Some of those rebelled against the Reform platform of non-halachic Judaism -- that is, Judaism that was cultural, ethnic, spiritual, but did not consider itself bound to the Torah's laws (the official Reform stance is that "halachah gets a vote, not a veto"), and they split off from Reform to become the Conservative movement.

All this splitting and faction-forming happened in the Ashkenazi world, not in the Sephardi and Mizrachi world. I'm Mizrachi. I'm not Orthodox because I'm not Ashkenazi. I'm just someone who chooses to observe the Law. When I say something like "This is the law, this is what the Torah says," I'm not saying "This is the way my congregation does it." What I'm saying is, "This is what the Law of the Torah and Talmud proclaim." There are Americans who don't obey American law, and there are Jews who don't obey Jewish law, sure. But that doesn't mean that the law is different for some Americans, any more than calling oneself Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, or Nosepicker changes the Law of Torah.

Also, Neuf is being facetious, and very humorously so. I enjoyed your post, Neuf. What an observant household NEEDS is only one set of glass plates, provided they don't have chips, cracks, or damage that would render them porous or able to retain flavors or qualities of the foods that are on them. Glass, at least among Sephardim and Mizrachim, is considered "always kosher." I have a glass casserole dish which I can use, clean well, and use again without worrying what it last held, or has EVER held, unlike with a clay, stoneware, or metal casserole dish. I can then serve whatever I've cooked on my new glass dishes (Corelle, actually) without worrying what the dishes last held, and have a glass of whatever I want to drink as long as I'm not serving milk in my drinking glass and meat on my plate. The only difficulty is with my cooking and eating utensils. I do need a set of milk, meat, and parve cooking utensils and also some meat, milk, and parve eating utensils, but these items are much cheaper to buy and take up much less storage space than having lots of dishes. I've put each of my three sets into a flatware divider, and they all fit into the same drawer of my china hutch. It can be complicated, sure, but it doesn't have to be, once you know what you're doing. You also need three sets of cookware (pot, pan, skillet), unless of course you were clever enough to buy yourself come Visions glass stovetop cookware. (Oh, and you'll probably want a Pyrex measuring cup and three different-looking measuring spoons, as well. But that's just little details.)

Ashkenazim can't do the thing with the glass bakeware and dishes, because to them, Corelle bakeware and dinnerware aren't kasherable (able to be made newly kosher if they are made non-kosher somehow).

Once again, I strongly encourage you to speak with a rabbi -- Orthodox or Sephardi/Mizrachi, to be absolutely sure that your conversion will be accepted by all Jews instead of only by one community of Jews, a problem often faced by Conservative and Reform converts. Tell him that you want to take classes on Judaism and are considering conversion; tell him you can't keep ideally to the kosher dietary laws while you're still living at home, but will be saving up for cookware and dinnerware to use when you're able to move out on your own. And most of all, ask him to set you up with a hands-on tutor to show you how to live by the laws of kashrut and Shabbat. You won't be able to do it perfectly at first, but you'll be getting a good head start on what you'll need to know, and have, to make it easier to begin once you're on your own.

And for now, don't worry about keeping kosher at home, although avoiding pork and shellfish would be a good start if you can do it without creating tension/offense among your family. Remember, the law to "honor your father and your mother" comes during the book of Exodus, while the laws of kosher eating don't come around until Leviticus. When one is forced to choose between two laws that are in conflict because of temporary circumstances, one decides in favor of the law which comes first. Right now, honor your parents by obeying them (though don't pray in the name of Jesus or any saints). Later you'll live to keep more laws. (Also, until your conversion is complete, the laws of kashrut don't even actually apply to you, so you can eat whatever you want.)

That's my purpose of being, with my tounge superglued to my cheek.

Go to the reformed one and get the general idea of sabbath and the holidays and their meanings.

The prayers are the same in the reformed as in the orthodoxy... You may just find an "Orange on the Seder Plate" in a reformed temple than an orthodoxy one.

Is there anywhere I can get tons more information on Sephardi customs? Basically more stuff on how it differs from Ashkenazi Judaism. Lol, I kinda hate to say it but using glass sounds WAY simpler than what I had in mind. I'm such a tight wad.