Church Day

Disclaimer: I am Mormon, as in a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. But I'm also a terrible Mormon (although trying to be better) Please don't hold me up as an example of what a Mormon is supposed to be. Because I am definitely not.
Now that I've said that, lets get back to my blog.
Today was a church day. With all the crap I put up with trying to keep my kids quiet in the "church" part of church (as opposed to Sunday School) you would think I would spend all week dreading when Sunday finally rolls around.
This, however, is not the case. I love going to church.
Since moving back to Palm Springs, I'm now back in my home ward. The congregation that I grew up in. Everyone is delighted to see me, and loves to see my kids. I think they just love to see me in church after so many years of running away from it.
I love to sing, I learned to sing on church songs, and they are what I sing best. Best of all, I can sing without Tyler yelling, "Mommy, no SING!"
And they gave me a calling. (A position in the church) I am the Assistant Nursery Leader. I help in the nursery and give lessons to the children between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. My dad and the bishop know who I am, and what my issues are, and they still invited me to this calling. And I think I'm doing pretty well at it. The nursery leader does too, apparently. But she's Elise's big sister, so she might be biased.
The kids did pretty well today, I had to take Kendyl out, but we made it to just 10 minutes before the end before this happened. Score.
For the rest of the week, these kids will be better behaved and kinder to each other than if we had not taken the trouble to go.
We haven't gone for 2 weeks in a row. Last week they were sick, and before that was stake conference. (Which means that church was held in a larger building too far away for us to get to.) So we've had 3 straight weeks with no Sunday break, and I think they really look forward to one day a week being different than the other 6.
I can't even begin to express how grateful I am to have this bright spot in our lives.
If you don't go to church, I suggest it. Don't believe? Who cares? It's such a beneficial distraction to your life. Is there any part of going to church that could be a negative thing in any way? Regardless of what you do or don't believe?
The kids learn to sit still and listen, if even for a short time. You get to socialize with other adults for a change. No one looks down on you for going to church, it can actually raise people's opinion of you. (Makes 'em think you're responsible) It teaches the kids good things; to be kind, sharing and living your life in a good way.
I dunno. I'm not preaching, I'm just saying what works for me and my family.
Since we've been going to church, we've lived a better, more productive, more harmonious life.
And I'm the more happy for it.

 

Oh, and I just NEEDED to add the Mormon barbie. Note: never go looking for Mormon images via Google search. Just an all over BAD IDEA. Unless you're launching an anti-Mormon campaign of weird Google images.