Hebrews 10:25

So I should be going to bed. I've typed up the file that's due Monday afternoon, and I'll proof it tomorrow. I'm tired. But for some reason I decided to procrastinate on sleeping and catch up with blogs, so now I feel like posting too.

I've had some interesting thoughts lately, but of course, never got around to writing them down when I had them. The most recent bouts of thinking have surrounded something I mentioned in my last post about how our church is taking an eight week break from Sunday morning services. We're working through The Tangible Kingdom primer in small groups as an alternative to having regular services. My understanding was that the exercise was supposed to help us lose our dependence on Sunday morning services as our way of doing "church", that we're supposed to learn how to do church throughout the whole week.

Well, I can see how that is a noble purpose, but as tomorrow will be week four and only the halfway point through our "break", I can honestly say, I don't think we're accomplishing the intended goal. There are a number of reasons for this, the main one being that I don't feel like there's been enough of an emphasis put on us as a church body to maintain contact with one another throughout the week during this whole process. Yes, we've been put in small groups. But the groups are very, very small -- as in, Tim and I are with only two other couples. Other than the close friends we already have from the church, we aren't in contact with anyone else from the church, and we haven't been encouraged or given opportunities to make that contact. It's really hard to cold call other people from the church to say, "Hey," when you don't know them that well to begin with except for when you would normally see them in church on Sunday. But at the same time, I miss being able to connect with those people.

That being said, I had originally started out this process being really excited to see what was going to happen over these eight weeks. I'm not that excited anymore. I don't think we're accomplishing what we were supposed to. Frankly, I realize now just how dependent I am on that Sunday morning service, and I don't think it's a bad thing. Yes, we are supposed to do church all through the week, but at the same time, the Sunday morning services have an extremely important place, and I don't think we should be downplaying that. It really is the most convenient time of the week to reconnect with people. Life happens during the rest of the week. People have jobs. Not to mention, there is seriously something to be said for needing that corporate worship setting to experience God in a way that you just can't while listening to worship music in your car while driving.

I have discovered that I desperately need my Sunday morning church services. I think I knew this before -- it was actually a lesson I learned one summer while doing a French immersion program in Quebec where I went five weeks without going to a single church service because the closest church to where I lived was still a good half hour hike in both directions, not to mention the fact that it was a French Catholic church. After five weeks of no Christian fellowship to speak of, let's just say I learned how important it is to keep meeting with other believers. This time around, I had hoped that the small group settings would fill in the gap a little bit better, but I'm afraid that I'm finding it's not quite cutting it. I don't know if it's my group, or the curriculum, or something else, but I miss going to church on Sunday.

I miss it even more this weekend while Tim is away at the All Ontario Youth Convention, and I'm stuck here at home with the kids trying to figure out how to entertain ourselves for four days while he's gone. Our pastor had discouraged us from going to other churches on Sunday mornings as a replacement; well, tough luck. By golly, I'm finding a church to go to tomorrow morning whether he likes it or not!

Anyway, that's my rant for the night. I think I'm finding it particularly frustrating because I just wish I could be at Convention with Tim this weekend, but can't be because I'm still nursing Kaylee. Well. Next year.

Bland and uninspired

Okay, so I was bad and didn't post for a while. I guess life got busy again. I think I was waiting for inspiration, but didn't have anything come to me for a while, and then, I didn't think about doing just an update post. I think maybe we'll stick with bland and uninspired today so you can all catch up on what life has been doing for us lately.

Tim has a new job. He has officially (and finally) quit working full-time for Artech and has gone back to driving for Northland Transport. He is doing long hauls, usually leaving Monday and back Thursday. Some weeks look a little different, but in general, he's gone about three nights a week. I'd prefer if that were down to two, but it has been their busy season with Easter and Mother's Day.

Kaylee is crawling, pulling herself up on furniture, and doing stairs (up, not down). She is also finally getting some more teeth, although has been quite miserable with it. She spent last week dealing with a fever and being utterly inconsolable, but the tooth that's coming seems to be a monster, so I don't blame her for being so cranky. I would prefer if she would go back to her happy self, which she has for the most part, but I'm not going to have any hair left after a while if this keeps up for too long.

Reuben is himself, a very busy two and half year old that has discovered he likes to come out of his bed, and when he wakes up at 6 in the morning, it makes for a very tired Mommy. I'm trying to find ways to keep him occupied from that 6 to 7 stretch so that I can get some more sleep before Kaylee wakes up for the day. Veggie Tales videos have become my friend, and I like that the old VCR's are a lot more child-friendly to use. (I know, my son has already figured out how to make it rewind/fast forward and then play again. It's scary what he can do with technology.)

I am managing. With Kaylee still not sleeping through the night, giving me at the most two or three hour stretches (on a good night), I'm quite exhausted. One night this week, she actually slept from 8:30 till 3:30, solid. I got a five hour chunck of sleep for myself, and I couldn't believe how much better I felt in the morning. What I wouldn't give for her to make that a habit! She's gotten much better at being able to settle herself to sleep when I put her down without me needing to keep my hand on her, so I'm hoping that will slowly translate to her being able to settle herself down through the night as well.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe someday soon inspiration will strike again for another more indepth post. Our church is doing an interesting 8-weeks without Sunday services thing that might provide some thought-provoking possibilities...