"Single" Mom-ing

As I type this, it is Sunday morning, and I am home with the kids.

Landon had a stomach bug Friday (the throwing-up kind), and he is doing better but he complained his stomach was hurting a little this morning, plus two other kids are complaining of their throats hurting, so I made the call that we weren't going to chance going to church.

I feel like I should be there, yet it's nice to have a "day off". I heard grumbles from the two oldest that they had to miss the last day of "Spybot", the current theme for the lessons they are learning in KidZone. It's great to know that they are loving church!

I turned on www.lifechurch.tv to hear Craig Groeschel preach... Love him!

Because Jeff is the "front man" at church, he kind of has to be there, so when a child gets sick I ALWAYS have to stay home with them and so do the healthy kids, no matter what my commitments are. On Sunday mornings, or at any church event, I am basically a "single mother". Thank God I don't have to do it 24/7. Here's a typical Sunday:

*I, alone, have to get myself and four kids, around and out the door to get to church on time (usually early). A pet peeve: hearing excuses from families on how they can't get there on time because of their kids. If I can do it every Sunday and could do it with four kids under the age of 5, by myself. Two adults can get three kids around, or one mom can get a daughter around... No sympathy from me.

*I have to wrangle, four kids and any "stuff" ie bags (used to be diaper now it's a computer), Bibles, coats, etc., through a parking lot to the doors of the church.

*Once inside, I have to try to keep the kids corralled as we "unload" a few things and "pick up" a few things.

*I then have the journey from Jeff's office, through the people (which I seemed to get stopped a lot), past the food (which I have eight hands that want to grab it and four mouths that ask, almost every Sunday, if they can have some cake/cookies/whatever is out, even though the answer is always "No"- it's like the candy by the check-out), to the kid's area.

*Since we are there early so I can do my "job", the kids have no class to go into. Now I'm trying to set things up, while trying to keep the kids from half-way, not running too wild and getting into too much trouble. (I'm not always successful... do you remember me sharing about Kaylie pulling the fire alarm one Sunday morning? I also have "bathroom" stories about the boys but I won't share that now.)

*Once the kids are safely in their classes, I then get to serve one service and I get to go sit by myself in the worship experience.

*After church, I have to pick up the children, try to do a job of a KidZone leader, try to keep my kids close where I can see them. They usually run in four different directions as I'm trying to juggle everyone else for their various needs.

*We then hang around, what seems like FOREVER, waiting for Jeff to finish talking to a line of people, so we can go and eat lunch as a family. Lunch is usually around 1:30, it can be as late as 2:00.

That is my typical Sunday morning.

I am VERY thankful where we are at a church that hardly does potlucks. We usually do one around Thanksgiving and that is it. I thoroughly DO NOT LIKE (very close to hate) potlucks!

Why?

I think most of it has to do with the "single mom" thing again. At the time I was having to do potlucks more often, I had very young kids. I had a baby, which someone would usually hold for me, but I then had three young boys. Have you every tried to go through a food line, trying to carry 4-5 plates, trying to find out what they want to eat, and then you are also suppose to carry 4-5 drinks to the table? At the same time, they are wanting to go run away and play with their friends. It is near impossible!

Jeff may have tried to come and help but there was always someone to whisk him away to talk. I can honestly say 99.9% of the time his food was cold. He never got to eat warm food, and he wasn't there to sit and help feed four kids.

Apparently my experiences have "scarred" me, because just the thought of a potluck stirs that stomach churning, dreaded feeling.

I probably just shared one of the biggest downfalls of being a pastor's wife, but I don't want to leave you with the "Praise God, I wasn't called to do that!" type of feeling. Though there are negatives, just as with any job, there are many blessings. The biggest one:

Seeing, firsthand, the work of God.

I get to hear and see how He touches individual lives:
How He heals broken relationships...
How He heals diseases...
How He provides when there was nothing...
How He draws people to Him...
How He transforms sinners to saints...
How He uses me with all my weaknesses...
I get to see and experience His faithfulness!