More Blog Material

Sundays with three kids are always eventful, although I have to admit I'm deliriously happy that we switched to a church that is 25 minutes closer and starts 2 hours later. Unless we're out of town, there's a really good chance that we're going to show up. Heck, sometimes we're even early! As we headed into the sanctuary Sunday, my child gave our pastor what I'm pretty sure was his first curtsy for a greeting. Then came the "meet and greet" portion of the service, which my kids love and my husband hates. Our new congregation is full of little old ladies, who my kids adore. The twins are huggers, which I'm fairly certain they got from their dad. Those grannies sure do grin when my little ones run up and throw their arms around them.
As the service progressed, it was time for the offering. The older gentleman on our side of the aisle looked at me, smiled...and kept going without passing us the plate. Was there something in my smile that said, "I'm broke today?" or maybe, "Dude, I don't think so!" I really don't think there was. What was I supposed to do? Wave at him like I was at a screening of Magic Mike? The words highly inappropriate come to mind here. Actually, both of my kids and I had cold hard cash to put in the plate. And if you knew how rare that is for me, you'd believe in miracles. I am a debit card kind of girl. So after the snub heard round the world, I smoothed things over with my kids as best I could. Then it was time for some of the most stressful moments of my week...children's time. I never know quite what's going to come out of the mouths of my little cherubs, but it's usually good for a laugh. I whispered that they could put their money in the collection plates when they got up front, as they were still sitting on the altar. So as they headed up the aisle, Savannah turns around, looks back at the offending usher, holds up her dollar with a flourish and says, "You forgot us!" Ah, yes, subtle as a train wreck. That's my girl.
The lesson for the day was about money, so the first question was, "What can you use money for?" Several kids listed things like bills, food, etc. I thought we were going to dodge the bullet when I heard one of mine say loudly, "And HAIR BOWS!" Just so we know what's important.
Our Sunday tradition after church is lunch at the local Mexican restaurant. Kirk had gone to the buffet and I was trying to get three hungry children ready to eat when our waitress brought our drinks. She strolled over to the table, leaned over...and poured my husband's entire glass of sweet tea on the table and me. For anyone who's never had the experience, ice cold liquid poured into a pair of sandals is not a pleasant sensation. The waitress headed to the kitchen for a towel while I tried to push the baby's highchair over so tea didn't run off the table and into her lap. The lady across from me felt sorry for us and got up to give me her napkin. I guess I picked a bad day to wear a maxi dress. At least it had a busy print. The material from my knees down was soaking wet. But on the bright side, when they brought a fan to dry the floor, it blew on my dress and gave me my own private air conditioning. So I guess it wasn't all bad.
After lunch, I had one quick errand before we went home. I needed to enhance a birthday gift. I had purchased an adorable monogrammed bag for a child we went to church with. When I showed it to my daughter, she was completely underwhelmed. "That's her present? Just a BAG? Well, I don't think she's going to like it very much." So off we went in search of a beach towel and sunglasses to go in the bag (my husband's idea.)  No less than THREE stores and lots of walking later, we were able to head home. Now there was a time in my life when, if you had told me that I would go in three stores after having something spilled all over my dress and being totally oblivious as to how it looked (no full length mirror in the Mexican restaurant) I would have told you politely that you were out of your mind. As it was, I had made up my mind that I was going to get what I needed while I was in town and if people wanted to laugh at me behind my back or assume that I had wet my pants, then so be it! Isn't it wonderful how children change us?
There was also a time in my life that I would have probably showed my butt when that waitress poured tea all over me. But she didn't do it on purpose, and more importantly, my kids were watching to see how I handled it. And yes, we still left a tip. Starting this blog has had a lot of unintended side effects, one of which is my newfound ability to step back when my day has totally gone to crap, shrug and say, "Oh well, more blog material!" Maybe our waitress has one, too.