When it comes to going to church on Sundays we go through spells. Sometimes we will go months without missing once. Then we will go weeks without thinking twice about not going (OK, true for the rest of my family but as you can see I beat myself up about it for days afterwards).
It's not that Bret and I loath church. I actually like going to church together as a family. The problem is always everything else. Bret works a lot of weekends. This means that 1) we don't get to spend very much time with him and 2) we have to find time to go when he is not working/sleeping/or recovering from working.
The kids are just not at an age where I can manage them both by myself during the hour long mass. Emily is actually really good during mass and manages to be quiet and sit still for the most part. Palmer on the other is just not there yet.
I think that is the other reason we kind of subconsciously dread going. We really don't feel like we get much out of church when we spend most of the mass making sure that the kids are quiet and sit still. We take church related books or coloring books and *gasp* we usually take some sort of snack for Palmer too. On good days we feel great when leaving church but on bad days we feel exhausted and frustrated that our 2 year old couldn't be quiet.
I laugh sometimes as we are leaving because I see the other parents with the same grimace on their face as they are relieved that mass is over and that they can then take their children home and beat them (of course we don't beat our children nor do we advocate it but I'm just saying that at times you might want to).
So do you go to church weekly? What do you do to keep your kids quiet? I would really like to get back into the habit of going every week but with Bret working the next 2 weekends in a row and then a trip to KS it sure is an ideal time to make a real effort. Instead I tell the reverent women in our lives (our mothers, grandmothers, and great aunts) to pray for our souls. Laugh you might but let me tell you sometimes I think these women in our lives that pray so fervently have a direct line as we have seen the results of in our lives many times over.
