A Delight

 There was a moment this morning when Mike and I were sitting quietly in the front room and he looked over at me and said, "Today is a good day. It's been a while since we've had a good Sunday." I'm sure parents with littles can relate. Most Sundays I wake up with a vision of a perfect morning before church in mind. If the children squabble and fight throughout the week, surely we can make Sunday a better day! And then before you know it everybody is asking you for things all at once. "Mom! Where's my church shoes!?" "Make him stop poking me!" "The baby spit up again!" "Mom!" "I'm hungry!" And I can feel my face getting hot as frustration in the home builds. Then after a certain child pokes his brother for the millionth time that morning I kind of lose it. And I feel like my Sunday is ruined. 

But not today! Today was a good Sunday, and not because everything was perfect, but because I tried my best to have a good attitude despite the bumps along the way. Since we missed taking Easter pictures we braved the wind and cold today to get a few quick shots. Hyrum got a new suit for Easter and Joe got new church shoes (which he refused to wear) and I wanted a picture of my boys in their Sunday best.

 After a quick lunch we were off to 1:00PM church. Sometimes Joseph falls asleep on the short drive there and if we are lucky we can lay him on the bench and he sleeps through the first meeting. When I pulled up and heard him sneeze in the back seat I knew we were in for a long Sunday, but we cheerfully pressed on. As I walked into the building I realized that I had split the zipper on my skirt. I tugged and pulled in attempt to fix it with no luck. I left the children seated reverently with Mr. Stannix and took Finley home with me so that I could change. He had just filled his diaper anyways and could probably use a change as well. I quickly changed (and brushed my teeth because I didn't have time to earlier) and got Finley settled. By the time we made it back the meeting had begun. Finley was asleep in his car seat so I brought it into the chapel with me (even though we NEVER do) just to keep him asleep. I opened up the doors to the chapel in a hurry only to find all of the young men lined up at the back since they had just finished passing the bread. Embarrassed, I mouthed a "Sorry" and waited in the hall for the water to be passed.

 I went in and found our bench MUCH fuller than we had left it and felt terrible about bringing the huge car seat in. The boys fought over who was going to sit on my lap, Hyrum bonked someone in front of us with his arm and they were both being so loud. Just when we got them settled Finley woke up and then all three of them fought over who would entertain him while he sat in his car seat. Hyrum then fell funny off the bench banging his knee and began crying loudly so Daddy quickly took him to the hall. Then Finley began crying because he was hungry and there was no way I could leave Joseph there on his own, so I got up to leave while whispering for Joseph to follow me. Well, that two year old was bound and determined that he was NOT going anywhere without his shoes. I stood, or slouched in the aisle while I watched him struggle to put on his runners before he would follow. The first one went on the wrong foot and didn't quite fit, so then he tried the other foot, got frustrated and switched shoes. Meanwhile my face was beginning to burn and I am sure I was red from head to toe. I didn't really want to crawl over the family beside us AGAIN just to grab Joe and exit again. Thankfully the man sitting beside us recognized my frustration and quickly put on Joseph's shoes. I am certain that two year olds have more determination than I will ever have in my life. I met Mr. Stannix in the hall and explained the whole scene and we had a good laugh about it.

 I spent the last bit of that meeting in the mothers room changing the boy's bums and nursing the baby while Joseph rocked on the second chair. When it came time to drop Joseph off to nursery his lip turned to a pout and he burst into tears at the door. I knew it was probably because he was just so over tired. I got down to his level with Finley propped on one side and he threw his arms around my neck and sobbed. I was due to play piano in Primary any minute. Thankfully Daddy came down the hall and saved the day! I scrambled into the Primary room just in time for the opening song while Mr. Stannix ran out to the van. Camilla had made some things for her class (gifts are truly her love language) and left them in her mexican backpack in the van. Mr. Stannix came in with the wrong bag, it looked more African than Mexican. We giggled in the back of the room since I had told him it was in the Mexican bag, before I ran out to get the right bag. I arrived back just in time to play the piano so that we could all sing happy birthday to the kids who recently had birthdays. Finley slept through the rest of Primary while I played for two separate singing times. Choir was canceled after church so I loaded up all the kiddos and we made our way home. Joseph had fallen asleep on the way so I carried him in and plopped him on the couch in hopes that he wouldn't nap long. While I took the "I'm Hungry" complaints I preheated the oven to throw in a homemade frozen lasagna. Then I made up some cheese and crackers to tide over hungry tummies until Dinner. Daddy got tied up with Priesthood responsibilities and we didn't see him until an hour after church had finished. When he came home I was fast asleep in a chair with Finley on my chest. We had just survived another Sunday, but this time it was better. This time it was a delight all thanks to the scripture that Mr. Stannix shared with me that morning before we left for church.

“If thou turn away … from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, … and shalt honour [the Lord], not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” Isaiah 58:13-14