Coralee didn't have to play the organ today. Bonus! I actually got to sit next to her during Sacrament Meeting. This is a very rare occasion. If this wasn't a bonus enough, I had a second person available to help me keep the kids properly behaved.
We have too many children now to completely separate them. It used to be that one child could sit at one end of the pew, then a parent, then a child, then a parent, then a child. Matthew is still being held by one of us, but that still leaves a couple of children who are lucky enough to sit together. In today's arrangement, Nathan and Jeffrey were the lucky ones.
The meeting, for the most part, went pretty well today. The more challenging child, Matthew, decided it was time to be fed early in the meeting. This required Coralee to be excused, and there I sat with the other four children. I could see their minds working in sync almost immediately after Coralee left the chapel.
Jeff and Nate started poking each other on queue, "Mom has left, let the brother thrashing begin."
I leaned over to Jeff and Nate and I said to them, "Please fold your arms and sit reverently, or else I will have to separate you."
Nathan looked up at me and said, "Dad, I don't want you to separate me." It was all I could do to not burst out laughing.
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I think I have figured out that God gives us children so we can stay awake throughout the church meetings. Gospel study is probably more important during the parenting years over what may be considered the grand parenting years. As long as the children are active, you remain conscious. How would it look if your son crawls to the back of the room, climbs on somebody's lap, then starts playing with the light switches and you're not awake to notice? You'd soon be labeled a bad parent, and you'd be carried off by a paddy wagon and placed in a dog shelter until somebody decided to adopt you.
Today, however, Matthew actually was sleeping through Sunday school. It doesn't help that I am sitting in a room that is already too warm to begin with. They allow me to sit on a padded chair and the Sunday school teacher has a nice, soothing voice. Now, add to this a small child snuggled up onto my chest and nuzzled up next to my face. That little warm body is a guaranteed cure to insomnia.
I found my head dropping constantly. When I would snap my head to attention, I would look to my left and then to my right to see who witnessed the turbulence. Unfortunately, today, I was a source of entertainment for some in the classroom. I caught a few smiles as my head continued to drop.
When I was finally able to snap out of it and stay awake for the remainder of the lesson, I looked around the room and noticed a few of the High Priests snoozing. I figure this is acceptable, because after all of the parenting years out of the way, they are probably still trying to recover the sleep they had lost in their younger, parenting years.
I did see an Elder sitting next to his wife who was snoozing. He doesn't have any children yet, but he and his wife are only a few weeks away from having a child. I couldn't understand why he was snoozing before the parenting age. Perhaps he was just trying to store away some extra Z's. You know, it's kind of like food storage! When he later faces a natural disaster (children), he can always sustain himself from the Z's he stored away earlier in life.
His wife was cute. She noticed he was sleeping, so she gently tapped his leg to try and get him to wake up. He reacted by tapping her gently on her knee. His eyes remained closed.
Her knee tapping became more consistent, and with more force. After what looked like a love tap earlier, it now appeared to be a sledgehammer coming down on a railroad spike. He eventually opened his eyes, smiled at her, then went back to sleep.
We have too many children now to completely separate them. It used to be that one child could sit at one end of the pew, then a parent, then a child, then a parent, then a child. Matthew is still being held by one of us, but that still leaves a couple of children who are lucky enough to sit together. In today's arrangement, Nathan and Jeffrey were the lucky ones.
The meeting, for the most part, went pretty well today. The more challenging child, Matthew, decided it was time to be fed early in the meeting. This required Coralee to be excused, and there I sat with the other four children. I could see their minds working in sync almost immediately after Coralee left the chapel.
Jeff and Nate started poking each other on queue, "Mom has left, let the brother thrashing begin."
I leaned over to Jeff and Nate and I said to them, "Please fold your arms and sit reverently, or else I will have to separate you."
Nathan looked up at me and said, "Dad, I don't want you to separate me." It was all I could do to not burst out laughing.
--------------
I think I have figured out that God gives us children so we can stay awake throughout the church meetings. Gospel study is probably more important during the parenting years over what may be considered the grand parenting years. As long as the children are active, you remain conscious. How would it look if your son crawls to the back of the room, climbs on somebody's lap, then starts playing with the light switches and you're not awake to notice? You'd soon be labeled a bad parent, and you'd be carried off by a paddy wagon and placed in a dog shelter until somebody decided to adopt you.
Today, however, Matthew actually was sleeping through Sunday school. It doesn't help that I am sitting in a room that is already too warm to begin with. They allow me to sit on a padded chair and the Sunday school teacher has a nice, soothing voice. Now, add to this a small child snuggled up onto my chest and nuzzled up next to my face. That little warm body is a guaranteed cure to insomnia.
I found my head dropping constantly. When I would snap my head to attention, I would look to my left and then to my right to see who witnessed the turbulence. Unfortunately, today, I was a source of entertainment for some in the classroom. I caught a few smiles as my head continued to drop.
When I was finally able to snap out of it and stay awake for the remainder of the lesson, I looked around the room and noticed a few of the High Priests snoozing. I figure this is acceptable, because after all of the parenting years out of the way, they are probably still trying to recover the sleep they had lost in their younger, parenting years.
I did see an Elder sitting next to his wife who was snoozing. He doesn't have any children yet, but he and his wife are only a few weeks away from having a child. I couldn't understand why he was snoozing before the parenting age. Perhaps he was just trying to store away some extra Z's. You know, it's kind of like food storage! When he later faces a natural disaster (children), he can always sustain himself from the Z's he stored away earlier in life.
His wife was cute. She noticed he was sleeping, so she gently tapped his leg to try and get him to wake up. He reacted by tapping her gently on her knee. His eyes remained closed.
Her knee tapping became more consistent, and with more force. After what looked like a love tap earlier, it now appeared to be a sledgehammer coming down on a railroad spike. He eventually opened his eyes, smiled at her, then went back to sleep.
Dude, it's 'paddy wagon'. Not 'patty wagon'... you're confusing it with patty-cake. Considering your material (the kids and all) it's an easy mistake to make. Just so you know, there are discerning eyes watching your posts.
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