The Adventures of....

CHURCH!! Ok, so you're probably thinking, "How adventurous could church be??" Well, let me just say....Levi!! lol This week the children's classes promoted to the next grade/level and Indy and Levi went to their new classes. They had a lot of fun and liked their new teachers. But, since Levi is now in the 4 year old class, he is no longer eligible to be in the nursery during the worship service. Okaaayyy...... This means that he had to go to the service with me. The new teachers presented him with his worship bag, which is a reusable bag he can fill with "tricks" to entertain him during the service. I thought they would have put something in there for him to do today, since the children's church won't start until Sept. 21. But, apparently not. So, he has a new bag, with nothing to do, and he has to sit through an hour (at least) service. Argh.

First, he announced to everyone around that he had to go pee pee, even though we had gone just before the service. Since that didn't work, he decided he had to go poo poo, so he announced that, too. I told him "No you don't. Now be quiet or I'm going to take you to the bathroom and spank you." He tried....sort of. About this time (Thankfully, we were still singing and the pastor hadn't actually started his sermon yet!), Indy collected the 4 little pencils from the pew hymnal holder and stuck two of them up his nose, sticking out, one in his mouth, and one he held above his nose. Then, he turns to me and said, "Hey, Mommy, look!" The old ladies behind me gasped and covered their mouths. I'm not sure if it was to keep them from laughing or if they were appalled! But, one of them leaned forward and said, "I'm from a large family, so I'm used to this." I was a little relieved. In the mean time, Levi kept squirming and trying to escape and asking out loud if it was over yet. Eventually, I took him out, to the bathroom, just in case and of course, he didn't go, even a little bit! A little later, the lady in front of me asked if he would like a tic tac. He, of course, said yes, so she gave him a cinnamon one!! Indy got one, too, and kept fanning his mouth, but Levi just made a loud noise and spit it out, then tried to wipe his tongue with his shirt. The poor lady said, "Oooo, let me get a tissue," which she promptly handed to me and he spit out the remainder and any residual saliva. She commented that next week she'd bring a different flavor.

By this time I was really getting exhausted. Now usually, each year, when the 4 year olds move up, they either announce this from the podium or post it in the bulletin so people will know that the wiggly ones are new to service and please be patient with them. And, of course, they didn't do that this year, so I'm mortified thinking everyone is being completely distracted by Levi and thinking horrible thoughts about my mothering skills. I think it was about this time (By now the sermon has started.) that I finally removed Levi and spanked him in a nearby classroom. We went back in for the last 10 minutes of the sermon and a he laid down on the pew and put his head in my lap. I'm sure everyone around was wondering what I had done to this poor child. Finally, as the service was winding down, in the middle of the closing prayer, Levi asks, very loudly, "Is it over now?" The lady in front of us giggled. I put my hand over his mouth and said, "Yes. Shhh."

When it was all over, I sighed a big sigh of relief. The ladies in front of and behind us commented on how good he was....HA! And, believe it or not, I had 3 people I don't even know, who were apparently sitting in the section behind us, come up and comment on how cute my kids were!!! I couldn't believe it!! Everyone was smiling and happy. No one mentioned how wiggly he was or how I took him out twice or even asked when children's church was starting. I was so relieved. I asked my friend, who has twin girls the same age as Levi, "So, how did the girls do?" She says, "Fine. [Girl #1] fell asleep and [Girl #2] just sat and listened." Well, of course they did!! I offered to trade them for Levi next week. Surprisingly, she declined. :-)

The service this week was about honoring the Sabbath Day (the 5th commandment) and not doing work, but focusing on the Lord. Personally, I think I did work just sitting in church today!! :-) Maybe next week will be better. I hope. :-)
Blessings,
Mylinda :-)

PS-It looks like we've dodged the bullet this time with Hurricane Ike. Praise the Lord! But, please continue to pray for those in it's path.