Sunday Memories

Sunday mornings are usually a bit lazy around our home. We prefer to go to the 10 a.m. service rather than the 8 a.m. service. When the kids woke up, I told them I'd make pancakes for breakfast, but then I started doing something on the computer...and it was 9:45 by the time I got off. So they had to have cornflakes instead of pancakes. Tobi was quite put out. He said, "Mom, why were you wasting time on the computer?" Yeah, sometimes I need a reminder like that.

Well, the 10 a.m. service starts anytime between 10-10:30, so we left the house at 10:15. As we reached the church, it became apparent that the first service was not out yet; there were no parking spaces and people were sitting outside the auditorium listening to the service. After asking around, we discovered that there was only one service that started at 8:00, and it was going long. I was sick the Sunday before which is probably when they announced that there would be just one service the next week. So we just came back home and had home church.

We've had home church a few times in the past, and the kids really like it. Tobi read and preached from II Samuel 9 about David's kindness to Mephibosheth, Saul's crippled grandson. Lily led the singing, and David prayed.

After our home church, I decided it was a great time for the boys to clean their room which had recently turned into a disaster area. I have discovered that it doesn't work just to tell kids to "Clean your room." They are easily distracted as they are cleaning. They just start playing with the toys they are supposed to be putting away. So I sat there with them and gave directives. I set a time limit of 20 minutes. Tobi was positive they could not finish in that time, but they did.

Then we went off to a nearby hotel to swim. It was sunny, 85 degrees, and we had the whole pool to ourselves! It's been really fun to see the kids develop their confidence in the water recently. After about two hours, it was time to go. As Tobi was drying off, he said, "It really feels good that we cleaned our bedroom before we came swimming." Yes! If only we can build on this breakthrough.

After a short stop at home, we went to Bezer Home to celebrate the 10th birthdays of two of our children who live there.

When we got back home, I took two thin camping mattresses outside and put blankets and pillows down. We've only done this about three times before, but David absolutely loves it. It's really incredibly peaceful to watch the clouds in the sky and read books to the kids. I made a comment about it being similar to camping, and then the kids decided they wanted to build a campfire. So for the next half an hour, they worked on their little campfire. When it was time to light it, I decided it was a good time to teach Tobi about matches. He had never lit a match before. He probably used up about 50 matchsticks trying to perfect his technique. Their campfire never went beyond the crumpled up newspaper. I think their twigs were just too wet.

Later after the two youngest went to bed, Tobi and I finished watching WALL*E from the place where I fell asleep the last two nights. I really enjoyed the movie. I think I could make a lot of comparisons between it and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I like to make sure that Sundays are fun family days. I can tell that the kids really enjoy it and notice it. Tobi has started talking about Sunday routines. I love building positive memories for them.

Oh yeah, we had pancakes for supper.