It has been a LONG time since I have posted. Come to find out, raising triplets is a full-time job. So, let's jump right in and talk about church with toddlers.
I have been going to church for quite some time now with them and every week is an adventure (as expected). All the ladies at church adore the trio. Our routine starts when we walk in. My boy has to make sure to say "hi" to everyone. Our middle girl is a tough nut to crack. That doesn't stop the church ladies. They are determined to make her smile or get a hi out of her. Honestly, if they get any sort of acknowledgment out of her, we are doing good. Our other girl of the triplet tribe is very quiet as well but has a priceless golden smile that makes everyone melt. They all get handed their own program and we head to our seats. Now as most do, I'm sure, we sit in the same spot every week.
Thankfully for us, we sit next to Amie. Let me just take a minute to explain why this is such a treat every week. Amie not only goes to the same church, but she also is our pediatric nurse. She is the type of kind-hearted, gracious soul you don't find often. When the kids were sick, she brought us dinner and ice cream and checked in on us frequently. She made the triplets super cute church bags with lots of goodies to entertain them when they would rather chat with others, but need to be quiet. She helps me unload and load when we go see her at work (that is another blog for another day). But most importantly she loves the triplets and makes them feel so special every time we see her. She genuinely cares and is always there for us. The kids sure do know how to find the needle in a haystack.
So back to our church adventures. Every week, when we walk in, the triplets scan the room for Amie. She steps out of the sanctuary to help me grab them (because let's face it, we are usually right on time or late). They all light up when they see Amie and start yelling "me me"! She is their shooting star. We walk in and sit down.
Trae (our boy) is her buddy and has first dibs on her. They dig through their church bags and find an activity to do. Every time we stand, they stand with us. When it's time to sing, the girls love to dance in your arms. Amie will start dancing with them and it just becomes a discrete little dance party in our pew. However, every good thing comes to an end. But Trae can't be done without one more celebration. After EVERY song, Trae claps his hands while loudly saying, "yay"! The congregation giggles and the pastor usually says something witty. Thankfully they don't mind Trae's input.
Soon it is time for the children's sermon. For those of you who don't have a children's sermon, this is when all the kids in the congregation go up and sit with the pastor while they give a mini-interactive sermon that relates to the main sermon for the week.
Amie helps me take them up to the front and we sit with our pastor and the other children. But it's not that easy... My three feel the need to say hi to everyone up there before the pastor can start. Trae walks around saying "hi" like he is at a reunion and is just delighted to see you after all these days. The girls feel the need to sit right next to the pastor. They squeeze their way in like it's their job. Trae isn't too thrilled with this, so chooses to sit on our pastor's lap. It's almost like he has to one-up his sisters. Our pastor will go through her sermon and then we walk back to our pew.
Now those of you who thought walking back to our pew wouldn't be a production in itself clearly don't know my little hooligans. They say "bye" to our pastor and then as we walk through the congregation, you hear three tiny voices very forcefully and repeatedly say "bye, bye-bye" while waving the ENTIRE way back to our seats as if they were in a parade! The congregation and pastor laugh with delight. Meanwhile, my face turns red and our pew feels like it is miles away.
It is now getting towards the end of church and is time for communion. Now my children are unfortunately very well acquainted with bread because when it comes time to fill three bellies, three endless pits I mean, it is very hard to do. That is when the bread comes into play. Any-who, back to communion. I go up to take communion and bring one of the babes with me. Amie takes another one and her husband or son takes the third. The trips get their blessing, but instead of politely standing and trying to figure out what they are saying, they stand there in front of the bread and sign "more". Aye Yi Yi! What am I to do.
After church, we leave the sanctuary and walk into the fellowship hall. All the ladies at the church head over to the triplets to say hello. If you didn't know what was going on, it would look as if everyone was gathering to watch the gorillas (triplets) at the zoo. However, I am not complaining. The children love the attention and nobody ever has anything negative to say. I myself enjoy hearing all the kind words about how well-behaved they are in church. Truly, I could not be more blessed. I have great kids and great support from everyone there who is always willing to help. I thoroughly enjoy watching my triplets grow up in the church and am anxious to see our next church adventure in the weeks to come.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." James 1:17
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