When kids are little, Sundays can be very hard. These little fireballs of energy clash with fancy shoes, hard pews, and quiet voices. Generally speaking, sacrament meeting is pretty much my most dreaded hour of the week. After seventy straight minutes of wrangling Eli while begging the girls for whisper voices, I'm exhausted and cranky.
In most ways, today wasn't particularly different. After a monumental effort to get to church on time, Eli fussed so obnoxiously that he got taken out into the hall before the service even began. Talia was tired and kept putting her feet up while lying in the pew, thereby exposing the entire congregation to her yellow Winnie-the-Pooh undies. Brooklyn sat quietly, although the purse she insisted on wearing on her head like a cock's comb may have been distracting.
And yet despite the typical chaos, today's Sabbath was sweet. Instead of stressing, I savored the joy of being with family on this holy day. Talia gave her first talk in Primary, with lots of help from her big sister Brooklyn. Watching them stand up together was priceless. Talia looked so eagerly to Brooklyn for guidance; Brooklyn, in turn, was so proud to help her little sis. By the time the talk was over, tears were rolling down my cheeks--partly because the scene was so sweet, and partly because it was so hilarious. After all, not every talk on the Word of Wisdom encourages you to eat lots of healthy foods like watermelon...and lemons.
As for Eli, he played happily in nursery until a stinky diaper made him unwelcome company. Since I was teaching the lesson in Young Women's, the nursery leaders brought him to Jason, who then stuck his head into my class. There's nothing sweeter than a man asking for the diaper bag. :)
On the way home, instead of getting frustrated with the girls for competitively racing past us, I fast-forwarded ten years to when I'll miss the sight of their bouncing blond ponytails and the sound of their high-pitched screams. (Okay, so maybe I won't miss the screaming, but you get the idea.)
Instead of preparing a fancy dinner, we roasted pigs-in-a-blanket over the fire pit in our backyard. Instead of hurrying inside to clean up, we sat together and watched the sun set. I wish I could say that we pulled out our sleeping bags and camped on the trampoline, but alas, it's a school night.
Yes, the carefree days of summer are over, but perhaps that makes unscheduled Sundays even sweeter--particularly when enjoyed all together.
6 comments:
It was indeed a beautiful day, although I'm not so sure that me changing the stinky diaper was quite as sweet from my perspective as it was from yours...
"And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen." ~Terri Guillemets
"Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie - not perfect but who's complaining?" ~Robert Brault,
Enjoy it - it sounds much better than to sit in sacament meeting by yourself and I have to tell the truth - the furthest away from families with little children. They are cute to watch during the talks - but not so great when making screaming noises while passing sacrament. ... and actually when they called me the be the nursery leader I quit sitting with a family with four little children - I was so selfish to admit that I at least need 70 min. to listen to church talks and get some kind of spiritual uplifting before I am stacked away again in nursery for the rest of class time. We had sacrament meeting at the beginning of classes now for a couple of months - which means that I am the one sitting in sacrament meeting with the pencils and drawing the lesson picture all colorful. But now they switch sacrament meeting to the end again - I guess - now I can color the lesson page for the Sunday next then :) I do love the kids in nursery, but after 2 hours with 8 kids age 18 months (4 kids) and 2 years (1 child) and 3 other Kids who are almost 3 years old or are 3 years - its hard!!! I am usually the one who takes the kids with the full diaper out of the nursery and bring them to the parents :) Yes, I do have assistants. Since yesterday I have a second assistant. She is special and I have to remember to give short and very precise orders to her and have an eye on her as much as on the kids. The other assistant is nice but scatterbrain - I have to remind her a lot about things. So at the end of church - I haven't really spoken to any adult; only listened to talks; told Jonathan at least 30 times to sit down - and Charlotta at least 20 times the same; have carried Gideon to his Dad or Mom and they bring him back; have changed Mathilda's dress again - because she cannot hold a cup by herself very well yet and spills it on herself; read the same Teletubbis book to Cora (every Sunday) and I am really starting to hate Teletubbis; etc. etc. etc. I guess - I am really ready to have a break from nursery at this point - but the Primary President told me that they might not release me after 1 1/2 year - because I am just too good in my calling and I do care about it. Ups, I better stop here - I am whining :)
Grammer mistake: The kids who are screaming are not the ones who pass the sacrament in my ward :)
The imagery of Brooklyn with a purse on her head is priceless. And I wish we could have heard Talia's talk! And from a medical standpoint, watermelons and lemons are pretty healthy.
So fun to hear about your Sunday. I gave up on fancy dinners for Sundays about a year ago, and it has made our days so much more enjoyable, especially at the stage our kids are at.
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