<--my church
Day 4: I am thankful for the chance to worship at my church on Wednesday evenings. The kids get out of school early on Wednesdays, so we get everyone's homework done and then get ready to go.
Our church serves dinner on Wednesdays to the congregants, made by the wonderful Miss Deedee (the pastor's wife.) It's only 3 dollars per adult and 1.50 per child. They also provide chicken strips and fries for the fussy youngens. :) Tonight we're having meatloaf, mashed potatoes & biscuits. There is always a yummy salad served too with a ton of croutons on top, and sweet iced tea and punch to drink. For dessert there will be little bowls of chocolate pudding with a dollop of whipped cream on top, and a cute little gingerbread cookie in the shape of a windmill stuck on top. (Jenna saw her windmill cookie and said "Look! It's a robot! Cool!" I wasn't inclined to correct her-it gave her such pleasure that the cookie was a 'robot.')
Dinner before the service makes church on Wednesdays so easy for me to go to, as I don't have to do homework, cook dinner, clean up and get everyone ready and then go to church. I love it! I also get more housework done on Wednesdays because I don't have to worry about what i'm making for dinner and how long that will take to clean up.
Our church is quite small and welcoming. We arrive and grab our plates of food and head into the small dining room with its collection of round tables topped with cheery red and white checkered tablecloths. We eat as a family and talk about what we might learn in church tonight. After everyone is done eating, the kids and youth go out into the grass lot and play for a bit before their class starts. Us adults go into the kitchen and help with dishes, putting everything away, etc. When the worship band starts up we know that the service is starting. The worship band plays a lot of great contemporary Christian music, and they play hymns sometimes too.
Often, I get my kids plates of food, sit everyone down, and sneak off into the dimly lit little sanctuary with its old fashioned pews and wooden cross hanging in front to just soak up a little quiet me time with God. I love to sit here and pray alone in the quiet darkened stillness. Sometimes I can hear little squeaky voices exclaim "Where's mommy?" followed by Christian (my son) or Tiny saying "She'll be back in a few minutes, go ahead and eat your dinner." They know exactly where I am, and I am so thankful that they give me this time to myself to get some praying done in a place where I feel so close to Him. The companionship, love and faithfulness I feel alone in this little sanctuary is unmatched elsewhere in my life. I feel like this once a week prayer time is my solace, my thirst quenching dose of living water to keep me motivated for the next few days. I always come out feeling rejuvenated.
Our pastor, Rick Scroggins, is a lively guy. He always makes our services entertaining while we learn the word of God. On Wednesday nights we go through the Bible in one year, studying one book each week (more than one if the books are smaller.) Tonight's study is in the book of Acts. When us adults go into the sanctuary for worship, the little kids (kinder-6th grade) go to Discovery Club, and the youth (jr. high & high school) head over to the Princeton Youth Krew (PYK). in the sanctuary, us adults fill out these little fill-in-the-blanks type worksheets as we take notes on the current book we are studying. The little ones always do a craft and hear a Bible story in the Discovery Club. Tonight's craf is a large orange pumpkin on a big white sheet of paper. Inside of their pumpkin each child has written what they are thankful for. I plan on hanging ours up tomorrow. :)
After church we all kind of hang around in the grass out front and chit chat and socialize for a bit. We catch up on how everyone's week is doing while the kids flit around playing and picking flowers in on the front lawn. We say goodnight to our dear church family and head home to get ready for bed (after all, it is 8 oclock and we have school in the morning.) I love our Wednesdays, they are so homey and quaint-it's like having a visit with family every week.
