The Daily Hailey

Our morning before church was rough. A certain male middle child just couldn’t get himself together, and spend the hour leading up to church absolutely fighting against the rest of his family. It made for a pretty interesting time getting everyone dressed, jacketed, and out the door. But we did it! On a normal day, we may not have gone with him in that shape, and Solly not too far behind, but we were on the books for leading music. So, we went! Minus Dekker, who went to a birthday party, instead.

I got Rowan out of his car seat at church, and while his shirt was wet with tears from before, he had big smiles on, and reassured me he was happy to be at church and would have a happy attitude. Win! He stayed true to his word, and did a really good job through the service, even though it was a tad longer than usual. Laela went to childrens church, like always, so we had the little boys to juggle between us and my parents. Solly needed to sleep, so we put him down to sleep. He stayed quiet for a nice long time, but once he was ready to get up, it seemed like maybe he hadn’t slept at all. It was a bit of a wrestling match keeping him quiet and occupied, but it worked out. Both boys did well through church, and once it was over, Laela joined us upstairs and Dekker was dropped off to us post-party. It was a success all around!

Solly had hijacked the travel mugs, as usual. Brady and I tried to ask for sips in between, at least, but he’d just tilt his head up and stick his lips out for a smooch. Hence, the lipstick residue.

Once the service was over, an awesome friend at church went to our bench and scooped Ro into a piggyback ride. Thus began the laps with him squealing “Again! Again!” around the sanctuary. It was SO sweet, and he was content. Until it was time to go.

Ro wailed on the floor by the coats, refusing to put his boots on. He puts his boots on by himself every single day, twice a day, when we take Dekker to school. It takes less than a minute. But he just would not have it. He managed to get the one on through his fussing and laying on the floor, but the second one, he just would not! I offered him to walk to the van in his socks, but he got just enough help to make it happen and we hauled out of there SO fast! Ro was SO over it, as was I.

We made it home, and everyone besides Ro was chipper and happy. After fighting SO HARD to get his boots on, he was now unable to take them off. So he was helped and slid right into bed. He’s been solidly asleep ever since, about 2.5 hours ago, maybe more. Solly is just lulling awake now, and Laela actually napped, too! Wins all around.

All of these antics aside, it was good that we got to church. Sometimes it feels so fruitless to go to church, and I hold onto it because I think its great to be teaching the routine and the importance of church to my children. But its still SO HARD sometimes. Especially on a weekend when Brady worked on the Saturday. But it was good! We lead music, the little boys actually behaved beautifully throughout church, Laela went to childrens church, and other people got to put into our kids! I often forget how important that is, too. My church family is theirs too!

The afternoon snuggles can’t really be beat, either…