Drama, Drama, Drama

Sundays used to be a great day for Monte & I, pre-kids. We lived out in Surrey and chose to attend church in White Rock, at Peace Portal Alliance. They would offer the same morning service in the evening on Sundays, and so we enjoyed sleeping in and took the day at whatever pace we wanted until 6pm when the service started. We should have enjoyed more the "leisurely-ness" of those weekends... Of those laid-back Sundays that went according to our plan, to our schedule and we did what we felt like whenever we felt like it.

Sundays these days around our house are nothing but drama. Nate's copping an attitude that's difficult to deal with, especially when we're trying so hard to get out the door on time. He suddenly decides he doesn't want to go to church, and completely shuts down. He won't go to church, and therefore he won't go to the bathroom before we go. He fights the kids' church sign-in when we get there, and outright refuses to enter the room where a dozen other preschoolers are playing with toys (how dare us, evil parents, subject our son to such fun and play!). And then occasionally Cody concludes that the nursery is not the ideal place to spend an hour and a half, and so whenever I'm not trying to coerce Nate into kids' church I'm consoling Cody, attempting to calm him down enough to leave him under someone else's care so I can get in just a few minutes of grown-up time in the service. It makes me wonder if Sundays are even worth the effort right now. You know, when you're yelling at your little one to hurry up and get ready to go worship the Lord? Or sitting outside on the church curb with him during an extra long time-out? Sometimes I feel like I'm just relocating my work from home to church; it's frustrating to not get that break that I tend to expect out of Sunday church. However, being a parent has taught me that expectations are cause for disappointment, and my experiences as a mother are much more gratifying when I look for the joy in the circumstances. Now I just need to figure out how to do that... with grace.