Inspiration: Going to church - no matter what

Several years ago, before Brandon and I even considered adding the Army to our list of life experiences, I heard a talk that comes back to my mind a lot these days.

It was High Counsel Sunday in our Branch and the High Counsel member had asked his wife to be the other speaker.  She spoke about how her husband was a member of the Air force Reserve.  When their children were little it seemed that he was always on assignment during Stake Conference.  She and the kids would always go to stake conference without him - and it was usually pretty hard.  One of her friends once asked her, "why do you even bother coming without your husband?  Everyone would understand if you stayed home?"  She responded with, "I want the kids to know that going to church isn't just something we do when Dad is around."

At the time Brandon and I were in the middle of wrangling the twins who were probably about a year old.  I'm sure the sister could see us in the congregation and assumed that we weren't listening to a word she said.  But I was listening. I thought about how hard it was to get the girls to church every week.  Sometimes I wondered what the point was for torturing ourselves with waking them up from naps, getting them ready, and then trying to keep them quiet for three hours.  The talk reminded me that church isn't just something we do when it is convenient.

Little did I know that within a year I would become a military wife myself.  But when it did happen I thought of her talk every week.  I took the kids to church by myself because I wanted them to know that church was something that was always part of our lives.

Today was my most recent adventure with taking the kids to church by myself.  I was a little nervous because the last time I did it - back in January - things had not gone well at all. We'd been late, Charlotte had a fever, Derrick learned to walk along the bench, we only had one binkie, and to top it all off I was so new in the ward I didn't know anyone to sit with.  I ended up taking two screaming twins out of the meeting while holding on to Derrick.  Three women followed after us and helped get the kids calmed down.  They even went back for all the stuff we'd left behind. It was awfully embarrassing and I almost considered never going back to church again.

If you can believe it, the day got even worse - a few hours later I found out I was pregnant with Baby D.  I've told you how I called my friend Karen for reassurance that having 4 kids close together was possible.  Well, she also helped me feel better about how my hour at church had gone.  She told me how she'd been nursing one of her babies in the mother's lounge when she thought she could hear someone playing the organ pedals during someone's talk.  When she got back into Sacrament Meeting she discovered it was her own child crawling over the pedals.  As always, Karen cheered me up and gave me the courage to keep on going with life.

So anyway, I was a little apprehensive about how Sacrament Meeting would go today without Brandon.  But I planned accordingly.  Several weeks ago I asked my friend if we could sit with her family.  She has several teenagers that I figured would love to play with my kids during Sacrament Meeting.  Yesterday I took a shower so I wouldn't need to today.  I also packed the diaper bag and my lesson bag and put them in the car.  Then this morning I got up, got dressed, woke the kids up, got them dressed, fed them breakfast, did the girls' hair  while they ate their cereal, put shoes on everyone, and got us out the door in plenty of time.  We arrived early enough to save our spot and take a few laps around the building to "get wiggles out."

Sacrament meeting itself was pretty uneventful - not counting the Cheerios Lydia spilled all over the aisle (a nice lady helped pick them up).  Or the fact that Charlotte and Lydia spent the whole closing song and prayer laying in the aisle crying about how they wanted to go to nursery.

The rest of church was another story. I ended up with 18 (EIGHTEEN!) 8 to 11 year olds in my Primary class.  Thanks to the other Sr Primary teachers flaking out, Brandon and I've been teaching the whole Sr Primary for the past 6 weeks.  It hasn't been a problem until today though.  Without Brandon around to be intimidating the boys all acted up.  We ended up sending for help and finding another teacher for all the rowdy boys.   Then the girls and I had a nice quiet lesson.  (Don't get me wrong - I love the boys.  They are usually really fun.  They nicknamed Derrick "Flash" because he crawls so fast.  They were so excited that he'd learned to walk.  But today they were just too much.)  

When I brought my class into Singing Time my friend asked how my week without Brandon was going.  I told her, "That was the worst hour so far."

I used to joke that the church must be true because otherwise there was no way on earth I would wake up my kids from a nap to go.  Even now, with all the things I have to do to go to church it is still worth it.  There is a strength and peace that comes into my life from feeling the spirit at church each week.  So even though it's hard work and I just want a nap afterward, I will continue to take my family to church.

Wish me luck though - next week I agreed to speak in Sacrament Meeting.