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.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Simple Necessities
Our church started a food pantry back in January, and they have been distributing food once a month, as well as for emergency situations. Although we live in a county with one of the highest average incomes in the US, there are also a lot of people just barely scraping by. Our food pantry is definitely filling a need, and we all love to bring food in for it. Pretty much whenever we are out shopping, we try to spend about $10 and see how much we can get. We've found some amazing loss leaders, especially at Wegmans. Twice they have had bottles of laundry detergent for $1.99 a bottle! That is an amazing price, and we've bought 12 or 15 of them at a time for the food pantry.
Anyhow, we have wanted to serve in other ways, so when there was a meeting, I volunteered to help sort food for the shelves. The pantry is getting lots of donations from various local stores. Sorting and organizing is one of my loves--you just can't tell from my own house, LOL. I love to organize other people's stuff! So today Nathan, Luke, and I went over to the church in the afternoon to get oriented so we can just help whenever we have time and they have a need. It was a lot of fun! Bob was on leave today, which is happening more often than not lately, since he is trying to burn his "use or lose" leave before going on terminal leave and retiring. This meant I could take both older boys, which rarely happens! The plan is that every so often I'll go work for awhile, taking 1 of the boys along to help, and for me just to spend time with the boys one on one.
The pantry had gotten some boxes of stuff donated from Target, lots of toiletries, medicines, and vitamens/supplements. I was really excited to see some of this stuff--some basic important things like infant tylenol and children's allergy medicine, and also stuff like anti-smoking lozenges. I would think stopping smoking would be such a great step for someone in hard times, but what a difficult thing to try to do with no help! There were a ton of multivitamens, which I would also think would be such an important resource for someone without much money. It's definitely great if they can stay healthy! I had no idea stores gave this sort of thing to food pantries, and all we had to do was sort them and check the expiration dates on the cartons!
There were also some . . . less basic things, LOL. Like the eyelash curler. I am sure when someone has lost a job and is struggling, the first thing they think is, "Oh no! I don't have an eyelash curler!" Also, there were 2 "Mangroomers". For those not in the know and who are too lazy to click the link, these are "do-it-yourself electric back shavers". We were cracking up at those ones! Funny to see that there, along with the flour, spaghetti noodles, cereal, and canned goods! Well, just because someone has fallen on hard times doesn't mean their personal back grooming should have to fall by the wayside. There was also a refill bottle of butane(!). It said on the bottle that it was to refill your creme brulee torch. So if you are needy and are in the D.C. metro area, we can hook you up so that your creme brulee torch never has to go out! At least we can all stay civilized, even in hard times.
Anyhow, we have wanted to serve in other ways, so when there was a meeting, I volunteered to help sort food for the shelves. The pantry is getting lots of donations from various local stores. Sorting and organizing is one of my loves--you just can't tell from my own house, LOL. I love to organize other people's stuff! So today Nathan, Luke, and I went over to the church in the afternoon to get oriented so we can just help whenever we have time and they have a need. It was a lot of fun! Bob was on leave today, which is happening more often than not lately, since he is trying to burn his "use or lose" leave before going on terminal leave and retiring. This meant I could take both older boys, which rarely happens! The plan is that every so often I'll go work for awhile, taking 1 of the boys along to help, and for me just to spend time with the boys one on one.
The pantry had gotten some boxes of stuff donated from Target, lots of toiletries, medicines, and vitamens/supplements. I was really excited to see some of this stuff--some basic important things like infant tylenol and children's allergy medicine, and also stuff like anti-smoking lozenges. I would think stopping smoking would be such a great step for someone in hard times, but what a difficult thing to try to do with no help! There were a ton of multivitamens, which I would also think would be such an important resource for someone without much money. It's definitely great if they can stay healthy! I had no idea stores gave this sort of thing to food pantries, and all we had to do was sort them and check the expiration dates on the cartons!
There were also some . . . less basic things, LOL. Like the eyelash curler. I am sure when someone has lost a job and is struggling, the first thing they think is, "Oh no! I don't have an eyelash curler!" Also, there were 2 "Mangroomers". For those not in the know and who are too lazy to click the link, these are "do-it-yourself electric back shavers". We were cracking up at those ones! Funny to see that there, along with the flour, spaghetti noodles, cereal, and canned goods! Well, just because someone has fallen on hard times doesn't mean their personal back grooming should have to fall by the wayside. There was also a refill bottle of butane(!). It said on the bottle that it was to refill your creme brulee torch. So if you are needy and are in the D.C. metro area, we can hook you up so that your creme brulee torch never has to go out! At least we can all stay civilized, even in hard times.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Church Thoughts
We're still here in Ohio, although we are heading home Tuesday. We had a fun time Thursday over at Amy's house (and no one got sick!), and then Friday we spent the day with Beverly and her family. She has 5 kids, and all 12 kids got along very well and played very nicely together so that Beverly and I could spend a long time talking and catching up! It has been 5 years since we've actually seen each other, but it didn't seem anywhere near that long with blogging and Facebook. We have a lot in common, so it was fun to talk about homeschooling, having more kids (or not), and other things.
Today the kids and I visited a different church. Often we go to the base chapel, which is where my parents go and where Bob and I got married 16 1/2 years ago. A lot of retirees are still there that we knew back then, so it is always fun to go back there and see everyone. When we were stationed here last time, however, we actually attended an off-base church. That church now has a new pastor, who is a bit of a cheerleader, rather than someone who really digs into the Word each week, which is one reason we wouldn't attend there again if we ever moved back.
But another reason is that they have sort of gone a different direction than we are, in terms of youth stuff. This is an area that we hadn't considered until the past few years when the boys started getting older. We started getting a lot less comfortable with the way that a lot of churches send the youth off doing tons of super fun and exciting things during services . . . until all of a sudden, the kids get too old and have to start sitting through church. Then they find it dull, and the church often responds by jazzing up the background behind the pastor, adding tons of video clips and drama segments, taking away any significant time really spent in corporate prayer (because that is really boring, and surely you can just sing more worship songs for the same effect . . .) And still, studies show that a lot of kids who grow up going faithfully to church very frequently turn away from church altogether when they reach college.
As it turns out, the Christian walk is not all excitement and goofy songs and games. It actually involves discipline, and I don't think the churches are often doing a good enough job of balancing that. I especially think that kids need to see their parents worshipping, and be a part of that as well. The church we go to in VA does have children's church until 3rd grade, so I'm not saying I'm totally against ever having your children be separate. But I do think it is very important for kids to start worshipping and learning how to sit still and reverently listen before they get into high school! And if the pastor is really good, then they might even choose to sit in the service before 3rd grade! Caleb and Jonathan both choose to sit with us in service, and Jonathan has even told us recently that he feels like God wants him to be a pastor, like Pastor Mike. We discuss the sermon together, and the kids often sing the songs we sing at church around the house.
Well, all that to say that it bothers me that, should we move back here, I don't know what church we would attend, so when we are back visiting, I like to try different churches. This time I googled "reformed baptist" in this area, and I found 3 churches, one of which we tried today. I must say we really enjoyed it! As we were driving there, Luke talked about how nervous he was, and how he didn't like visiting new churches. Me either! But as we drove away from there, he said, "Those people were all so nice!" And they really were. Everyone we saw engaged us in conversation, even more than just the surface chit-chat of "Are you a visitor? New to the area?" The families who sat in front of us and behind us both talked to us for quite a while. The family in front of us had 10 kids, so we didn't feel out of place, LOL.
This church only has nursery up to 2 years of age, and after that, everyone is in the service. There were quite a lot of kids, and when someone was loud, the parents just took them out, dealt with them, and came back in. So nice to see! There was also a nice mix of ages represented in the congregation. It definitely didn't have a showy worship leader or anything, and I am just fine with that. We even sang songs out of the hymnal! That is what I really miss, now that our church back home meets for morning service at a middle school. All the songs are on a screen. I used to love flipping through hymnals when I was little, and I think it helps keep kids engaged in the song when they can follow right along with the words right directly in front of them. So I liked that a lot. I liked the pastor as well. His sermon was on part of Luke 5, but I couldn't tell if he was preaching expositorily through Luke or not. I definitely prefer that style of preaching, verse-by-verse exposition.
So to sum it all up, I would definitely go back there! The people were just so nice, and the preaching was good as well. And they seemed to line up with what I am looking for as far as kids. No youth group mentioned!
Today the kids and I visited a different church. Often we go to the base chapel, which is where my parents go and where Bob and I got married 16 1/2 years ago. A lot of retirees are still there that we knew back then, so it is always fun to go back there and see everyone. When we were stationed here last time, however, we actually attended an off-base church. That church now has a new pastor, who is a bit of a cheerleader, rather than someone who really digs into the Word each week, which is one reason we wouldn't attend there again if we ever moved back.
But another reason is that they have sort of gone a different direction than we are, in terms of youth stuff. This is an area that we hadn't considered until the past few years when the boys started getting older. We started getting a lot less comfortable with the way that a lot of churches send the youth off doing tons of super fun and exciting things during services . . . until all of a sudden, the kids get too old and have to start sitting through church. Then they find it dull, and the church often responds by jazzing up the background behind the pastor, adding tons of video clips and drama segments, taking away any significant time really spent in corporate prayer (because that is really boring, and surely you can just sing more worship songs for the same effect . . .) And still, studies show that a lot of kids who grow up going faithfully to church very frequently turn away from church altogether when they reach college.
As it turns out, the Christian walk is not all excitement and goofy songs and games. It actually involves discipline, and I don't think the churches are often doing a good enough job of balancing that. I especially think that kids need to see their parents worshipping, and be a part of that as well. The church we go to in VA does have children's church until 3rd grade, so I'm not saying I'm totally against ever having your children be separate. But I do think it is very important for kids to start worshipping and learning how to sit still and reverently listen before they get into high school! And if the pastor is really good, then they might even choose to sit in the service before 3rd grade! Caleb and Jonathan both choose to sit with us in service, and Jonathan has even told us recently that he feels like God wants him to be a pastor, like Pastor Mike. We discuss the sermon together, and the kids often sing the songs we sing at church around the house.
Well, all that to say that it bothers me that, should we move back here, I don't know what church we would attend, so when we are back visiting, I like to try different churches. This time I googled "reformed baptist" in this area, and I found 3 churches, one of which we tried today. I must say we really enjoyed it! As we were driving there, Luke talked about how nervous he was, and how he didn't like visiting new churches. Me either! But as we drove away from there, he said, "Those people were all so nice!" And they really were. Everyone we saw engaged us in conversation, even more than just the surface chit-chat of "Are you a visitor? New to the area?" The families who sat in front of us and behind us both talked to us for quite a while. The family in front of us had 10 kids, so we didn't feel out of place, LOL.
This church only has nursery up to 2 years of age, and after that, everyone is in the service. There were quite a lot of kids, and when someone was loud, the parents just took them out, dealt with them, and came back in. So nice to see! There was also a nice mix of ages represented in the congregation. It definitely didn't have a showy worship leader or anything, and I am just fine with that. We even sang songs out of the hymnal! That is what I really miss, now that our church back home meets for morning service at a middle school. All the songs are on a screen. I used to love flipping through hymnals when I was little, and I think it helps keep kids engaged in the song when they can follow right along with the words right directly in front of them. So I liked that a lot. I liked the pastor as well. His sermon was on part of Luke 5, but I couldn't tell if he was preaching expositorily through Luke or not. I definitely prefer that style of preaching, verse-by-verse exposition.
So to sum it all up, I would definitely go back there! The people were just so nice, and the preaching was good as well. And they seemed to line up with what I am looking for as far as kids. No youth group mentioned!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Reading Assignment
We are getting ready to drive to Ohio on Sunday, and I am busily packing and doing loads of laundry. Once we get there, I am sure blogging will be light. With that in mind, I'm leaving you with an article to read.
Our church is a 9 Marks church , and I was poking around on their website a few days ago. Our pastor went to a conference in July, and he wrote a travelogue about it. Mike has always reminded me of my brother Dan, and this article sounded to me just like something Dan would write! So all of you who know my brother (and those who don't--feel free too, LOL), read this travelogue and tell me if you think I'm right.
Our church is a 9 Marks church , and I was poking around on their website a few days ago. Our pastor went to a conference in July, and he wrote a travelogue about it. Mike has always reminded me of my brother Dan, and this article sounded to me just like something Dan would write! So all of you who know my brother (and those who don't--feel free too, LOL), read this travelogue and tell me if you think I'm right.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Not to worry . . .
I wanted all of you to know that we are all alive--the clone trooper cake did not get us. We've just been busy cleaning, and so I haven't had time to blog. The reason we've been cleaning, of course, is that we have people staying with us. That is what it takes to move us to real action these days, action beyond just picking up and vacuuming the parts easily observed. So now I can relax in the fact that the house is clean. Well, mostly. We did amazing things in the kitchen--the desk has never looked so empty! Our bedroom is a disaster area, however. Funny how that works! The study looks clean, but I know that is an illusion. Beneath the quiet surface of books lies a dormant volcano of papers, ready to erupt, strewing chaos all over the main floor as soon as we do anything in there like school. Obviously there is more work to be done, LOL. But we have more company scheduled for the end of July, so we have big plans.
We are having 2 girls stay this week with us. They are part of a volunteer crew of people from Southern Baptist Seminary in Loisuville, KY, who are coming to work on our church this week. Our church was built in the 1850s, and so it is a quaint little building whose maximum capacity is about 90, comfortably, with a lot of wasted space at the front (a second platform behind the preaching platform, for example). We are tearing up some of the wasted space and doing some rearranging inside to make it fit more people with doing anything structural. Should be nice when it's all done!
We are having 2 girls stay this week with us. They are part of a volunteer crew of people from Southern Baptist Seminary in Loisuville, KY, who are coming to work on our church this week. Our church was built in the 1850s, and so it is a quaint little building whose maximum capacity is about 90, comfortably, with a lot of wasted space at the front (a second platform behind the preaching platform, for example). We are tearing up some of the wasted space and doing some rearranging inside to make it fit more people with doing anything structural. Should be nice when it's all done!
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