I Go To Churrch......!

Now that the fall is upon us and school has started, all of our church's activities and classes have as well. Steve goes to a program for 2 and 3 year-olds called 'Wee Church' on Sunday mornings, Wednesday mornings he attends a class called 'Little Lambs' while I attend a Bible Study class for women, another class for toddlers on Wednesday nights while we attend our parenting class, and on the days I attend MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meetings, he attends a 'Moppets' class. Whew! And I thought this kid would be bored since the park district cancelled his class due to poor enrollment. I actually am glad they cancelled it now as I think he would be too busy if he went to that too. I do not want to schedule every minute of my child's day. At any rate, Steve LOVES church! It is so cute! He always wants to go; he has so much fun there. I am so glad.

My faith has grown as I have gotten older. I do not think I could have gotten through my mother's illness and subsequent death without it. I have questions, I don't always understand or agree with what God does, but I have faith that is is not for naught. I did not always have this faith though.

My mom, brother and I went to church every Sunday, but my father did not. He was raised to be a very strict Catholic. Since he grew up in the city of Chicago, he went to Catholic school for most of his schooling. If you could swing it back then, you did NOT send your child to the Chicago Public Schools. They were bad back then too. So my father was THE kid who could never sit still. You teachers know what I am talking about. My father is also very good at math, and would work ahead in his math book. Very bad, according to the nuns who taught school in those days without a teaching degree. Still floors me. Well, as a 'consequence' for all of this the nun would smack him with a yard stick. You had to put out your arms, and then they'd hit you. Because he could not sit still, he was getting hit on a daily basis. BTW, this did not help curb his energy. The man still can't sit still! Also, if you were not at church on Sunday mornings, you would get this consequence. Nice, huh? My father's parents never attended church, so he went by himself. In those old Chicago neighborhoods, you could walk anywhere, so getting to church was not a problem. My father has such bad memories of his treatment by the nuns, that he denounced church altogether. My mother, on the other hand, was raised Protestant and in a good neighborhood, so she went to public school and never had a problem. She enjoyed her church community very much. So it made things interesting on Sunday mornings. You know, being a kid I wanted to sleep in, after all 'dad does'. I just did not enjoy church back then. I did not want to go. My poor mom. My father always attended our church programs as well as on holidays. So that was a compromise, I guess. My father attends church more now, but still has a problem with God after what he saw my mom go through. I give him a lot of credit though. He made an appointment with our pastor to discuss his anger, as well as all his feelings. He never would have done that years ago. My church 'family' was so good to my mom, and is still so good to my family. They were instrumental in my working through my grief, while maintaining my faith. I never knew such good people existed.

Because of all of this, it just tickles me when my son gets so excited about going to church. The days he knows that we are going, he walks around saying, "I go to churrch......I go to churrrch!!!!" He is having fun while learning about God. BTW, he attends 'Wee Church' while we are attending the service. I love that, because Steve could never sit through a service. Plus, he is learning and having fun at the same time. Can't beat that!