Church Adventures

Since church choir and Sunday school are both on break for the summer, I brought a slew of coloring books, blank paper, and markers to church today to keep the kids entertained.  We sat in the very back pew of the church so as not to disturb any of the people who were trying to pay attention to the Liturgy.

Madeleine did pretty well coloring quietly, until I made the kids stand up during the recitation of the Lord's Prayer.  Afterwards, Julia sat back down to resume coloring in her Care Bears book, while Madeleine instead began trying to scale the back of the pew in front of us.

MADELEINE: Why does everyone want their HEADS to be making us NOT be able to SEE?
ME: Shhh.  Madeleine, do you want to sit back down and color?
MADELEINE: Uh, no, I just want to keep looking at Father for a little while!

Madeleine has finally gotten the concept that our priest is a) not God Himself and b) not her second (extra?  spare?  additional?) father.  However, it turns out that she doesn't quite grasp the idea that Father actually does live outside of the church.

MADELEINE: But Mama?  Where does Father SLEEP in the church?

Eventually, Madeleine managed to get back to coloring, although she interrupted her artwork several times to ask me poignant questions.

MADELEINE: Mama?  What world was the world that JESUS was born into?

or:

MADELEINE: Mama?  Why does that picture have a CROSS on it?
ME: Because a cross is a symbol of Jesus.
MADELEINE: No Mama.  That's NOT why.  It's just STANDING THERE.  So Mama?  Is it a STATUE?
ME: Uhhh...
MADELEINE: (brightly) Yeah!  I think it's a STATUE!


After the service, I had to attend a choir meeting in the church library.  Julia was adamant about wanting to sit in one of the Sunday school classrooms so she could pretend to do homework at one of the desks.  Therefore, I left the kids in the classroom next to the library and popped in and out of the meeting to check on them.

Not that they were shy about coming in to get me over anything they deemed urgent.  Like:

JULIA: Mama!  Madeleine made some brownie crumbs and I told her to clean them up and she told me she needs a BROOM but we don't SEE one!

or:

MADELEINE: Mama?  Is it okay for me and Julia to RUN AROUND?

or:

JULIA: (handing me Madeleine's plate of fruit) Mama?  Madeleine says she wants to be DONE eating.

or:

MADELEINE: (looking pitiful) Mama, I BUMPED my HEAD.

Every time they would leave the library, they would slam not only the library door, but also the door to the adjacent classroom once they were inside.

They weren't disturbing AT ALL.

But it wasn't only questions and complaints they came in for.  I also received special deliveries of pictures they drew.

Julia drew some very sweet and lovely pictures for me:

While Madeleine, per usual, opted for totally creepy drawings:

According to Madeleine, these are Care Bears, but I think they look more like DEMON DEATH BEARS.  As for the apocryphal script up top, with the word "rowe" in the midst, I can only shiver...

I don't have any idea what this is a picture of, and I don't think I really want to know.

At any rate, the girls were really as well-behaved as can be expected of kids stuck waiting around for a long time, and I was able to more or less attend the meeting.  The added bonus of us being out at church was that we allowed poor, sick Daddy a chance to sleep without background crashing and thumping all morning.  And, of course, I had the pleasure of hearing all of Julia's dreamy observations along the drive to and from church.

JULIA: Mama!  I see a BLIMP!  I can't believe it!  I've NEVER EVER seen a blimp before, and ALL MY LIFE I've been HOPING and HOPING I would see one!

or:

JULIA: Mama?  I just LOVE the look of fresh paved roads.  I just look at it and I feel like I just want to EAT A BITE out of it because it looks so NICE and CLEAN.

So poetic.  I totally agree.  Whenever I look at freshly laid asphalt, all I want to do is take a chomp out of it.  Don't you??