Going back to church

 Guess what - we went to church last week!

Confession: if it was up to me, I'd rather stay home.

Not that I don't love church - I do! But right now, I can take the sacrament, watch sermons, and discuss the gospel from home. When we go to church, it's the same...only we have to find everyone's shoes. And we have to worry about staying germ-free. What does that spell? Stress!

Further confession: I know it will get better. For example, we'll find everyone's shoes eventually. And as we get used to our "new normal" we'll do a better job of figuring out how to make it less stressful.

So I'm not really THAT sad about going to church. But I seriously need to buy some new shoes. We had two kids worshiping in crocs last week.

The worst part was the music. Of course, in an ASL branch, singing isn't a central part of the experience, but for me, it is. When we walked in, there was no prelude music. That's usually my job, but I know that everything we touch, we have to sanitize, so I stayed away from the organ. Also, I wasn't sure if my kids could sit on their bench without touching other stuff or running around. So, no prelude music. It made the stringent sanitary procedures more stark. After a bit, I felt a bit on edge. I suggested, "Why don't we sing a song, to help us feel like we're at church?" So we started to sing...then we were reminded that singing isn't allowed. Sigh. We had a signed opening song - the quietest song ever - which helped me feel a little better. But I MISS SINGING! Sigh again.

After church was done, we were excused one family at a time, and left without talking to anyone. Tripple sigh.

I think it would all be ok for me if we could sing. Maybe I'll talk to the branch president about at least getting some prelude music. 

And thank heavens it won't stay this way forever!

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This week, we had church at home again, and I decided to start pushing ASL back into our church routine. Of course, the most effective way to do this is with incentives. (Cough, bribes...nope, actually, they're different. Even though they look the same...) ANYWAY...I told the kids we could have Primary in English, or if they wanted to do it in ASL, we could have an Otter Pop at the end. They voted for ASL, but it was hard for them to keep it the whole way through. Again - signing and comprehension are not nearly so much of an obstacle as the difficulty of just keeping their eyes turned in one direction! Sam got grumpy in the middle - I think signing makes him grumpy - and got sent to his room to cool off. Everyone else had their Primary lesson and enjoyed their popsicle. Sam tried about 15 more times to get through the Primary lesson - each time getting frustrated, yelling at his Mom, being sent to cool off, and coming back to try again. But guess what - he finally did it! Two hours later, he ran off with his popsicle. 

It was a long day of trying to be a calm, kind mom. I made it, but only because bedtime was observed strictly...maybe even a little advanced.. :) :)