I'm kidding about that title...kind of. Ty has to travel around to different wards on Sundays now which leaves me solo with the kids for sacrament meeting. Just for record keeping's sake, one of our first weeks in the Hyde Park ward Otis slowly left our seats, looked back at me with a smile then ran. I knew better than to chase him. At first I gave him my evilest eye look and pointed and mouthed, "get back here". But I ended up having to get up and follow him as he ran around and around while I walked my most reverent walk behind him until I cornered him in the front corner near the stand where he kicked at me until I grabbed him and took him out.
A few weeks ago at one point during ward conference he threw his shoe and ran up to the stand while the bishop was speaking--we spent the rest of the time in the hall.
Today he screamed out, "Oh my God!" (something Mormon's do not say) just as the opening song ended.
I get alot of sympathy nods and "I've been there" looks from older women in the ward. Of course, I also get some, "tsk tsk's" here and there. But I consider most Sundays a success if I leave the area we were sitting with no permanent damage done.
So after a particularly bad Sunday, a woman in the ward (with no kids herself) told me she had something for me and hoped it didn't offend me. It is a quiet book that she made by hand. She had been a nursery leader and made quiet books for all the kids (talk about magnifying your calling) and had an extra and thought we could use it. Tears filled my eyes most of the day as my kids were playing with the quiet book. I appreciated the book more than she will ever know. Not because it keeps my kids even close to quiet, but because she genuinely just wanted to help. These are a few pages from the book.
I am surrounded by some really amazing people here. People that are so different from me and I love that. I don't mean to comlpain about church, and obviously if it didn't believe in it with my whole head, heart and soul, then there was no way I would put myself through the torture each Sunday. But it's true and I'm a happier person because I believe that.
