Going to Church Alone

About a month after Luke was born, my husband had to be away on a work trip, which meant that I was left alone with the 5 kiddos for about a week and a half(we went and visited him towards the end otherwise it would've been 2 weeks.)

Luke was still staying up until close to 2 am crying every night, and then getting up a few times in the middle of the night, and then the older kids were usually up by 7:30 or so. It was a little crazy, but we got through it.

Anyways, Sunday morning rolled around, and I decided to be brave and take the five kids to church by myself. I told myself that it wouldn't be a big deal and convinced myself I wouldn't draw any unnecessary attention to myself.

Because a woman with 5 little kids never draws any attention to herself. Ahem. ;)

So I was racing around Sunday morning getting everyone ready to go, plus getting myself ready, sweating like crazy and not realizing it was only 40 degrees outside I dressed everyone in short sleeves and forgot to put on any jackets as we rushed out the door to church. When we pulled up, it had started to rain. Awesome.

Thankfully, a sweet couple saw us pulling into the parking lot, realized I was alone, and rushed over to help. They even took off their jackets and put them on the kids and  helped carry them inside the church.

Now I should mention that whenever I go anywhere I take a huge double stroller with me that feels a little like pushing a semi through aisles, and on this particular day one of the wheels wasn't working, so now I'm hot. Feeling like a terrible mother who didn't dress her children appropriately. And frazzled because my stroller isn't getting past the crowds of people too easily.

So much for not drawing unnecessary attention to myself. :)

At this point a sweet friend of mine saw me in my frazzled state(and I'm quite sure my face wasn't doing a very good job of hiding my bewilderment), and offered to help me get the kids into the sanctuary. I happily took her up on her offer, and figured if I could at least get Lily and Max dropped off in their Sunday school classroooms, church would be a breeze.

But that day neither of them wanted anything to do with Sunday School, and didn't want me to leave them. I didn't want to leave their teachers with crying children, so I decided to brave taking all five kids into worship with me. Thankfully my sweet friend happily offered to hold Max, and we survived..for a little while at least.

After about 10 different potty breaks, 2 stops to the mother's room to nurse, and one near melt down I was starting to question exactly why had I done this to myself.

Once church was over, I gave up any last shred of pride I had, and accepted help from anyone who offered.

Thankfully we made it back to our van without any problems, but it was definitely a learning experience!