The Tales of John

We had another snow storm over the weekend so, needless to say, getting the two boys to church by myself was a very tall order.

  Hans was a wonderful husband and father as he shoveled off my car when he left that morning.  I miss the days when we had an attached garage.  I miss the days when we were able to put cars in the garage.  Our garage was built in the 1920s when cars were smaller.  When we first moved here I tried parking the small Sunfire in the garage and barely got in.  There is no way I was going to try to put the Explorer in the garage, just thinking about it brings back memories of the crunching, ripping and grinding of my side view mirror that didn't make it past the garage center post several years ago.  Anyways, back to the current situation.  I managed to make it to church 3 minutes after 10, so I was late, but still there.  Since I have a very active 3 year old it is a necessity to put him in his snow boots to get from the house to the car and the car to church.  Then we when get into church he doesn't want to take his beloved blue snow boots off.  After quietly talking to him and giving him the "mom eye" I finally got us into the sanctuary at 8 minutes past 10.  I was hoping for just this one Sunday to sit in the back so no one would notice that we were late.  But, OH NO, my son has to sit the same front row pew he does every week and he is not the quietest walker in the world.

Thankfully after sitting down we are on normal Sunday routine and behavior...for the most part.  On this particular Sunday we had a guest preacher.  John likes participating in the liturgy and may make some extra noises here and there, but when it comes time for the sermon he is usually pretty quiet.  When this pastor got up to preach he was not wearing robes and he decided against preaching in the pulpit and stood just between the first row of pews.  John listened for a bit and then continued to play, loudly.  At one point I leaned over and said, "John we need to be very quiet.  We are listening to Pastor's sermon."  John looked at me, looked at the pastor and then said, "He's not preaching a sermon, he's just talking."  You can't fool this kid.  If you aren't wearing robes or preaching in the pulpit then your "just talking."  It's funny how kids associate things.