The Daily Hailey

You know those front rows at church that people rarely sit in? At least thats often how it happens at our church. We call them “dummy rows.” Isn’t that gross? Unflattering? Yup, it really is. To be fair, we have a few people who brave the front rows on the regular. We are not part of that group at all. With our decent sized group of small children, we have nothing but reasons as to why we should sit where we do – in the back. We often have to walk a kid out for one reason or another. Sometimes they talk loudly, or whine. Or they fall off the bench and cry. Sometimes they want a drink or have to use the bathroom. Sometimes Waverly needs to wiggle without being held. Sometimes someone gets angry when reminded to be quiet and screams “NO!” at you. Sometimes the goldfish spill. Sometimes, bringing kids to church isn’t glamorous at all! Sometimes, it feels nearly impossible to get there.

But, we try, because its important. Summer is when we are the worst at getting there, and being in a particularly difficult stage with a kid or two doesn’t make it easier. But, we try. And today, we led worship, so rather than waving the white flag and asking for help on Facebook this morning (like I wanted to) we hauled them all to church.

As tends to happen in summer, we had a much smaller group of people in attendance. We were leading with Carrie, and we mentioned to one another how we should try and ask people to sit closer to the front, just so we weren’t all SO spaced out from each other. But then we took it in a different direction and opted to sit up front 😳 In the middle 😳 Right up there, where any misstep would be a distraction for the whole church to see… No pressure. Thankfully, most young families followed along and sat up front! The family who usually sits in front of us was pretty gun shy to move closer, being that they also have a handful of young kids, but even they made their way up with us!

Guys. This was probably the best decision we’ve made in a long time.

The kids all mixed in together. Laela was sandwiched between two of her friends from school a few benches up, and Dekker was one bench ahead of us which a little guy he’s friends with. We had my mom, Rowan, and Solly on our bench, but I eventually slid one back because Rowan wanted our pastor to sit beside him instead, lol! I can handle your rejection, Ro. So I sat one row back with another family, with Waverly, and she patted our pastors back to get his attention and cooed at him while he wasn’t up front. Not to mention, she had a captive audience behind us to make eyes at, so she was set for entertainment in every direction.

Not only were we all mixed up with other people, but the kids could SEE! Being so much closer meant they could pay attention better. I don’t think any of our kids even noticed that there wasn’t a children’s church program today. They were all so happy with their new spots.

As we left church, they requested we always sit up front. And I kind of think we might. We had one teary moment with one kid, and one time I carried Waverly out for a minute. That was it. No one was annoyed or mad about it. I’m sure they noticed, but our church loves its children, and it really shows.

I’m so so glad we sat up front this morning.