Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings are the craziest time of the week for our family. As the wife of a pastor/minister, I have the responsibility of getting everyone ready for church by myself on Sunday mornings. I know I am not alone in this--many other wives and mothers are doing the same thing, at the same time each Sunday. While we all laugh about how crazy it is, we agree that it is well worth it, and it truly is a joy. It's such a small struggle, with such a great reward. The next time you see your minister's wives on Sunday mornings, with their little flock, give them a big high five! It's one of those things I never thought about until it was my turn to do it.

Nick leaves around 7:30, and the boys and I don't need to be at church until 9:15. I have learned ways to make it easier along the way, and I am still learning each week. This will be something I'll be doing for many years to come, although it is hardest right now with small children. I know it won't always be so crazy. But I think it'll be quite a few years before we have quiet, relaxing Sunday mornings, with no spankings, and time spent in the Word and prayer before we come to church.

Here are a few things I've learned along the way.

I always shower on Saturday night. On the weeks that I shower on Sunday mornings, I end up sweating even more, and it's as if I haven't showered at all. While our bathroom doesn't come close to looking like this, my showers on Saturday nights feel very close to sublime relaxation.

Nick and I wake up fairly early on Sunday morning. He gets dressed, and I put on my make up, dry my hair, and put in my rollers. (Contrary to popular belief, rollers are much faster than anything else for me.) Hudson wakes up at 7, and I feed him. Then he plays happily (yay!) while I make breakfast and lunch. This morning, I popped open a can of cinnamon rolls, baked them, and gave Nick two on a napkin as he walked out the door.

I got Elijah out of his bed at 8. Then, I fed Hudson his oatmeal cereal, and Elijah very excitedly ate his cinnamon roll.

I have learned that Sunday lunches are tricky. Both boys are very ready for naps when we get home at 1:00ish. Elijah has often feasted on 500 goldfish crackers in the nursery, and rarely eats much at lunch. So I know that I either have to do a crock pot meal or we do PB & J. There's nothing in between.

This morning I threw in a roast, sliced a potato, and dumped in some baby carrots into the crock pot after I fed Hudson and before Elijah woke up. (I love those new Crock Pot liners!)

Then, it's time to get everyone dressed. I have already picked out our clothes and ironed them on Saturday night. I can't try on 50 outfits like I used to on Sunday mornings, wondering if my shoes match when I walk out the door. Those days are gone. I put on whatever I've picked out the night before, and I check for ANY shoes at all when I get to the car. It's not unusual for me to put the boys in the car barefooted and then go back inside to find shoes that match. If I ever show up to church barefooted, just smile and give me a hug.

While I get dressed to and take my rollers out of my hair, I put the boys on our bed. This morning, Elijah liked to "hide" Hudson under the pillows. I don't know if Hudson signed up for that game. I did a lot of refereeing.

Sometimes, I put Elijah back in his bed to play there, and other times I put in a movie for him to watch. Hudson is almost always content wherever he is. Thank you, Jesus.

This Sunday in particular, I took chocolate-dipped strawberries as a "thank you" for Elijah's nursery workers. I made them on Saturday night. So I put those out on the counter, as a reminder to not forget. Of course I wanted to "accidentally" leave them so that I could eat all of those chocolate strawberries! Once we got to church, I called Nick to meet me in the parking lot so that I could carry the strawberries in and he could help me with everything else.

While I got Elijah dressed, I put Hudson in the exersaucer. I chuckled when I saw that Elijah had put our black baby doll in Hudson's play area. (Remember her, Roarks?)

Then I got Hudson dressed. Mr. Spit-Up is last to be dressed. I successfully get the boys into the car, with their diaper bags, which I packed on Saturday night, of course.Hudson's bag has an extra outfit, a bottle, burp cloth, diapers, wipes, and a bib.

This particular Sunday, Elijah was in a very grumpy mood. He wanted to wear his Crocs, his Elmo shirt, and he didn't want his hair brushed.

And the shoes lasted 5 seconds.

His little backpack has diapers, wipes and a sippy cup of diluted juice in it. (I love that little backpack by the way. I plan to pack it full of goodies on Sunday nights when we take him into the service.)

We made it to church, and it was well worth it!

When we got home, I noticed that the boys matched, and thought it would be cute to get a few pictures. I don't think anyone else though it was a cute idea.