What a Day

We've had quite a time here today. We're still dealing with some sort of mild bug, which apparently only strikes on the weekend. Luke, Faith, Grace, and I were all sick last weekend. Friday Nathan wasn't feeling 100%, and eventually he did throw up once Friday night. He felt better then, and was fine Saturday. Saturday night, however, he awoke around midnight, thought he had more time than he actually did, and sort of vomited while turning his head. Some did make it into the trash can next to the bed, whil some sprayed in a lovely fan on the carpet. Then, in a complete surprise, Luke threw up at 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, and 6:00. What in the world?! Luke is never sick, and now 2 weekends in a row?! When Caleb woke up this morning, he said he wasn't feeling good either, so we let all 3 older boys stay home from church. Nathan and Caleb seem fine now, but Luke is struggling more. He basically just laid on the couch all day today and ate a bit of applesauce and toast. Hopefully tomorrow he'll feel more like himself. And hopefully no one else will get this second round.

It turned out to be just fine that the boys stayed home from church, as that was a huge source of stress for our day as well. Our church meets in a school auditorium because we outgrew our actual church building a few years ago. The nice thing about the auditorium is that everyone fits with no problem! But this past week the powers-that-be (PTB) decided they want everyone to squish together, so they were going to rope off the back sections. Originally when we first moved, they had done this as well, but as more big families came in, we needed the back parts of the auditorium, where the rows are shorter, so we could have access to the aisle, and so we would just move the ropes aside as needed. But this time they cooked up this idea to have huge black curtain/screen things all along the back where they were blocking off the back rows. So now if you move the ropes, you would be sitting behind a big black screen so you wouldn't be able to see anything.

Of course they said they would leave a few rows in the back section, but those rows were quickly filled. We got there this morning right on time, but we have to sign kids up for children's church, put Faith in the nursery, drop food off for fellowship meal, etc., so we can't just waltz in to the auditorium and claim our huge row of seats. When I saw the curtains this morning, I got so upset. I literally started crying, which is rare for me, but I am feeling quite hormonal and emotional lately. This was like the straw to break the camel's back.

I'm sure the PTB have reasons for this that they consider are perfectly important and reasonable, but for me, all I see is one more day of stress. We have to get to church early so we can claim 9 seats (on the aisle no less, so that pregnant me can get out to use the restroom during our 2 hour long service), or else our family is going to have to be split up and spread out everywhere, just like in the old small building. And if we are late, then we will be punished by not having seats, so that is stress, and if we are early, then we are just causing another family to have to be split up or just stand in the hallway or whatever. VERY stressful for someone like me who already hates being late, but unfortunately is responsible to get a lot of other people out the door, as well as have my house ready for our small group to come over right afterward 2 Sundays a month. So they can say it's not about me, but it certainly makes for a day where it is easier to choose to just stay home, rather than face the stress and humiliation of not being able to sit anywhere. This probably all seems like such a tiny deal, but there really is nothing less welcoming in a church, especially for a big family, than walking in and realizing you just don't fit anywhere.

So what ended up happening today: we only had Jonathan, Anna, and Grace, since we left the older boys at home. We went in to find seats after my little meltdown, only to find, of course, that the only seats left were up in the second row. I immediately turned around and walked out, way back to this area in another hallway that is curtained off for nursing mothers. I sat there in a rocking chair all by myself and relaxed. It was nice and quiet. Bob took the kids up to the second row, where the music was so loud Jonathan put his hands over his ears and shouted "NO!" So they got up too and went outside the auditorium where they have a TV screen set up so moms with little kids can be and still watch the service. The good news is that in only 8 more weeks we'll have another baby, so I guess it will be natural for us to be there, since that is where I see us unless they open up more rows or something.

After we got home, Bob and I were so tired after our interrupted night that we took a nap. Eventually Anna came up to inform us that Grace had cut her hair with scissors, NOT the paper, like she should have been cutting. Anna was quite upset about this. We called Grace up, but it was dark and I couldn't really see anything different, so I figured she had trimmed some little piece of hair with the little kiddie scissors. Wrong! After we got up and went downstairs, I could very clearly see that Grace had cut 2 big hunks from the back of her hair, almost down to the scalp. The hunks are separated by a long hunk of hair. There really is no way to repair it, short of buzzing the entire back of her head. I can hardly stand to look at her. I had wanted to get pictures taken before the new baby comes, but I don't see how that will work now. Her hair grows so slowly. This will literally take years to grow back. It is very upsetting to me, on top of everything else for the day.

So that was our very bad day. I'm still weepy, and I'm not feeling up for another week. I ate a ton of chocolate this afternoon, so now I'll probably have an 11 pound baby. Tomorrow Luke is supposed to get his second set of braces on, bright and early in the morning. And Friday we're supposed to drive to Ohio for about a week. I do need a vacation. And at least we won't have to deal with church next weekend.