Sunday: Church, cricket and friends

Today was a church day. The second Sunday of the month, which means it's the week that I take Bilbo because it's the only week (due to lack of children's workers) that they are able to separate infants and juniors in Sunday school. He can't stand it when they have the big gatherings on the 1st and 3rd Sundays and gets nothing out of it those weeks so I stopped taking him on those weeks some time ago as there's no way I'm going to force him to go - that would only make him hate church and would just be mean. It really surprises me that in a church our size, of circa 2,000 members (more like 400 on any one Sunday morning), we have such difficulty gathering a team big enough to be able to have infants and juniors seperate every week but that's another story and frustratingly not one I feel I can help with at the moment as my youngest, Freddy, needs to stay with me - and I don't have anyone else he will go to - so I wouldn't be much help. Part of the problem, I believe, is that the young adults mostly go to the evening service so aren't readily on-hand to volunteer in the mornings but I know this and other things are being looked into for next year so we live in hope, thankful for the leaders who are working hard to build team etc :)

On first and third Sundays the children's work has generally been loud and stage-focussed, though that has been starting to change recently but the big room full of people and dancing and singing etc, still doesn't appeal to Bilbo, which is fair enough. He likes the more intimate, relational second Sunday set-up so I was looking forward to him benefitting from and enjoying that today but sadly it turned out that there weren't enough helpers even for that one week this month so all the primary kids (bar reception who are always with the 3-4 year olds) were together in the big hall. Bilbo was having none of it so ended up in the adult meeting with me and Freddy. I braced myself for a nightmare because this scenario has never meant anything but- before now. However, he was basically fine! I mean, he was moving around the entire time and blowing whistles on and off but he didn't go into loopy mode at any point. i couldn't quite believe it! He read a couple of baby books and played with Freddy happily. I didn't gleen as much from the service as I would have had he been in his group but i wasn't running round like a headless chicken which makes a change for me at church so I was relatively happy! I would prefer him to have been having a lovely time doing activities he enjoys and getting to know other people in the church I guess but the main thing is it was a positive experience for him and it wasn't particularly stressful for any of us.

I have been a bit of a nomadic Christian lately - certainly on 1st and 3rd Sundays anyway because I have needed to be in places that work for the kids. it's been a nice way to get to know other Christians as well. I discovered my local parish church run a special children's service on first Sundays so I've been going to that those weeks, and the church linked to our school does Godly Play on 3rd Sundays, which Bilbo really likes though Eddie not so much. It is an alternative multi sensory, playful approach to exploring bible stories with children and the response time is wonderfully and freely creative just as Bilbo is as a person! On 4th Sundays we have been going to a local Messy Church (not the one mentioned yesterday) and have also now started meeting with people from our main church for lunch and afternoon jaunts to the countryside which is also 'church' of course :) But lately all this has left me feeling a bit unsettled and like, while the kids are well catered for, there's little nourishment for me which I mustn't overlook, for the sake of us all. Needs change all the time with children but it looks like what's going to work for the next little while is probably Bilbo just going to a messy/church every other week and on the 1st and 3rd Sunday mornings that can become his daddy time as their dad doesn't currently go to a church. We do go to our school church's Messy Church on the last Friday of every month and also to the the Messy Church I mentioned yesterday so I don't really feel he's missing out and I'd rather he enjoyed it when he does go than felt he was made to go and didn't enjoy it.

This afternoon we had fun watching our church cricket team for the first time. it was reminicent of my childhood because I grew up watching my dad play cricket every week of the season with picnics and blackberry-picking on the edges of the pitches :) Bilbo wasn't easily entertained which, on my two hour's sleep, wasn't easily rectified today, but he eventually settled when someone pulled up in a campervan and started a fire outside it which is always fun to watch :) it was nice to be with friends and to meet the team but I wasn't very animated company today - I've been a bit of a walking zombie!!