sundays

Sundays are pretty great around here. I start out early, wake up and get ready. I wake Henry and Nora and they pop out of bed, and I mean that; I only have to ask once. I know, it sounds impossible. Trust me, it's not like this any other day of the week. There are valid reasons for this act of God... I print out the music sheets for church, get my guitar and whatever else I need to bring that Sunday, and the three of us are off to church. We leave here at around 7:30. Jenny wakes up after we leave because she doesn't have to be there for practice. Cana Community Church is in Worcester, so we go through Holden center and stop at the Bagel Inn, the secret behind the miraculous rising of my children. Nora gets a plain bagel, untoasted, with olive and pimento cream cheese, Henry gets whatever he decides he is into that day, but its always toasted, and I have some sort of bagel with miami spread (my favorite!!)

We get to church an hour and a half before everyone else to practice with the worship team. The team varies all the time depending on who is available. Today it was my friends Jared and Ruben. Jared played bass and Ruben played piano. I play guitar. All three of us are capable singers, so it works out pretty well. We practice for an hour or so and then go down stairs to the chapel to set up for the service. Our church meets at the Greendale People's Church and we use their little chapel (they have two). They use it right before us for their smaller communion service and they don't want all of our mics and other things in the way. So we set up and tear down every Sunday. Our church is actually pretty spectacular. David Gentleman is our pastor and is both smart and kind. I could go into why I love my church, but it would take a while, so maybe I will wait to give that its own entry later on.

We get home around lunch time. We eat and hang out here together until supper. The kids only have one hour of screen time, so they burn through that pretty quick. We are left with hanging out with each other until supper.

 We always eat supper together at the big table in our kitchen, and on Sundays we try to have something more substantial. Tonight was a roast chicken with stuffing (rice pilaf for Nora because she hates stuffing... Who hates stuffing?!?!) We pretty much make everything from scratch. I actually love he way we eat. We buy good food and cook it well. Both Jenny and I are capable cooks. I sometimes wonder if Henry and Nora will continue this with their own families. I hope they do, but it is hard. It takes a lot of time to cook everything from scratch, and those pre-made meals are so easy to throw in the oven/microwave.

After supper Henry goes to Boy Scouts until 8:30. Then the kids have half an hour of reading time and they are off to bed. The picture above is of Henry and Nora watching the old Parent Trap, you know, the Haley Mills one. They loved it!! I loved it too when I was young. These Sundays are like a calm eye of the storm, a purposeful break in the midst of an over-busy week. It is time to settle in and prepare for all the work that comes the next day. They are something that I protect. I rarely allow them to have friends over on Sundays, and I try not to complicate the day in anyway. It is now 8:22. Time to go get Henry from Scouts. Nora is sitting right next to me watching me type this. Chaucer is lying on the rug in front of us and we just finished watching Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Eight minutes until reading and sleep.