Sunday afternoons are very unpredictable for our family, and are often extremely rushed. We get home from church and have tired and hungry--and therefore grouchy--little people for whom the meal cannot be put on the table soon enough. Of course, this means us "big" people find that naptime cannot come soon enough!

On a normal not-normal Sunday afternoon, the kids rarely all sleep at the same time. Daniel and I typically spend the handful of hours before he runs out the door for the Sunday night College Ministry meeting taking turns dealing with a 3-year-old who still hasn't mastered the art of staying on his bed until he falls asleep, trying to keep our emotional almost-2-year-old from wailing so loud the entire neighborhood is disturbed, walking the baby, etc. I've gone so far in my Sunday-insanity as to think that the kids actually work together to sabotage the afternoon by taking turns sleeping instead of all napping simulatenously and thereby giving Daniel and I a break!

The last two weeks have been quite the opposite, I must say. With no Sunday School at 9am, we have only to be at church for the 10:30am worship service. Since the drive is less than 3 minutes (not including getting into the van, of course, which is another 5-10 minutes in good weather), I have been able to bid Gabriel good-bye at 9am as he leaves for worship team sound check with Carina and then lay Bronwyn and Jackson down for naps. Bronwyn doesn't usually take a morning nap, but Sundays are definitely deserving of such things. This nap means that my two youngest are neither tired or emotional throughout the worship service, and this makes for a much more pleasant and far less stressful experience.

We've come home shortly after the service ends, since running around on my own after two toddlers with a 16+ lb baby weighing me down doesn't sound like fun or like a good fellowship opportunity. This 12:30ish arrival home means the kids have eaten before they had a chance to cry from starvation, and this means I'm not grumpy.

Naptimes have coincided for all 3 almost exactly at the same times (which is something I have yet to accomplish most every other day of the week), since Gabriel is tired enough after his exciting morning of watching a drummer that he falls asleep before the 2 hours Jack naps are expired.

But you know what? I'd rather a rushed morning and getting out the door by 9am at the latest (earlier if Daniel's leading worship), baby and little girl falling asleep in arms during the service if we're fortunate, bouncing a tired baby and distracting hungry toddlers while Daniel talks with the many people who need to talk to him or who he needs to talk, arriving home to the sounds of 3 very loud cries, eating a meal while Jackson sleeps which means Jackson being awake while the other kids sleep, etc. than have the peace and quiet all to myself.

Four more bedtimes... Three more mornings...

Yay!