Friends

Margaret pointed out to me that I never posted the conclusion to the "to go to church or not to go to church" saga. So here goes. I asked an older lady whose kids are old enough to take care of themselves if she would be willing to sit with us. She hesitantly said yes. I didn't feel great about her hesitancy - so I was still debating not going at all right up until I put my dress on Sunday morning. Finally I decided that I would go for at least the first hour and after that I would probably take the boys home and have Naomi come home with a friend. I prayed for peace and help the whole way to church. We managed to get there early and sit nicely in our pew. The lady I had asked to sit with us wasn't there yet. Right as she came in one of my friends who has 4 little kids came by and asked if we wanted to sit with them since she was aware Richard was out of town. I decided that was a great idea and went over to let the other lady off the hook (turns out her hesitancy was just that she wasn't sure if my kids would be comfortable with her). We did great sitting with my friend. There was one point where Naomi had to go to the bathroom and somebody infront of us took Isaiah, somebody a couple of rows back had Asher, and I was able to take Naomi no problem. It really was a "it takes a village" kind of moment. At the end of Sacrament Meeting Asher was still with the lady a couple rows back so I asked her to take him to Nursery. Naomi ran off to Primary with her friends and I went to make Isaiah a bottle. But Asher wouldn't go to Nursery. So the lady that had Asher swapped me Asher for Isaiah. She fed Isaiah and kept him for the rest of the meetings. I stayed with Asher in Nursery the whole time (don't get me started on that). I can't believe I made it through all three hours, but I did!

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I have great friends who I couldn't have done it without. Also, I have a great, loving Heavenly Father who helps me when I really need it - even if it's by sending me friends. Those friends of mine probably have no idea the amount of peace that they gave me that day. It probably wasn't a memorable Sacrament meeting to them at all. But I will always remember their kindness.