Praise injury

Our church has a very sophisticated security system in the preschool area. You walk in to one of four laptop stations, give the last 4 digits of your phone number and the volunteer prints out nametags for your kids and stickers with randomly generated letter number combos that correspond to the letter number combo on the kids' nametags. If there are any problems with your children during the service, they flash your number on the Jumbotron screen in the worship center. Trust me -- no parent wants their number flashed on the big screen for any reason.

Luke has been having some trouble in the church nursery. Actually, he has been having alot of trouble. I had to stop going on Wednesday nights after they flashed my number three Wednesdays in a row. Wednesday services start at 6:40 pm and aren't over until about 7:40 pm. We usually start Luke's bathtime and bedtime routine around 7:15 so he would just start crying around that time. I'd go get him and he would be fine.

We decided to start going to the early Sunday service at 8:30 am. For those of you that know me well, you know that this is very difficult for me because I am not a morning person. But we figured that we could make it back home by 10 am for Luke's morning nap. We live 1 mile from the church. The last two Sundays they flashed our number on the big screen towards the end of the service. Luke was crying in the nursery, again. Poor baby. He is just not used to being away from me. And I think he is going through that separation anxiety phase. Did I mention we normally sit up front? That is such a long walk! Well, this past Sunday I told Kevin that we were going to sit in the back in case our number came up again. Wouldn't you know it. Third time's the charm. The pastor is just about to wrap it up and our number flashes on the big screen. Why don't they just include the words "Parenting Failure"?

I head back to the nursery expecting to hear Luke crying. Imagine my shock when Fletcher is standing there crying with a paper towel on his nose. For an instant I am relieved that Luke actually made it through a whole service. The director said the kids were singing "My God is So Big" and using music sticks. Um, yeah, whose idea was that? One of the kids whacked Fletcher on the nose after Fletcher "accidentally" whacked the other kid on the finger. After much parental interrogation, this is the story Fletcher is sticking with. The swelling has gone down and it is not quite as bruised. He's in VBS this week. Lord help us all.