Thank you, Asbury!

So, after not going to church consistently or hardly at all for...well...forever, we FINALLY got to church today. We tried Asbury United Methodist because it is close to our house and my husband wanted to. I need to preface with WHY we do not go to church. We are a God loving group and most of us truly desire a consistent church life, but one of us does not...the boy likes to stay at home and is not one to embrace new environments and people. This is not the whole reason we have been lost sheep. We do not give our children such ultimate power. The main reason is that, A) we are rarely home on weekends and 2) if we are home, it is because someone is sick. So, this weekend we were home and mostly well in that the ill child has been on antibiotics for 9 days and thus I have deemed him socially acceptable. After much deliberation we decided to attend Asbury for the first time instead of our home church...which, for the record, I love. Asbury is HUGE and this offers a lot of benefits. The boy was NOT thrilled...the girl was elated. We got there in plenty of time to get the kids checked in and even ran into old friends. I literally peeled a weepy boy off of my leg at the door and agonized over leaving him. Took the girl up stairs and watched her go from excited and outgoing to overwhelmed and timid the minute we walked in the door to her class...which was HUUUUUGE. I did not agonize about peeling her off of my leg. I knew that she would interact and immediately have a dozen new friends. Hubby and I went to church. The message was good and the music was impressive. The service ended and it was the moment of truth...what kind of children would I retrieve? Obviously we picked up the more nervous child first...and he was closer to the sanctuary. The boy bounded through the door proclaiming, "MOMMY! I had FUN! I want to come here AGAIN AND AGAIN!" There came my biggest prayer of thanks for the day. My son LOVED church! Thank you, Jesus. We hurried upstairs to retrieve the girl to find her surrounded by friends from Girl Scouts and school. It was perfect and she was also so happy. Hubs liked the church and the size and his control over his level of interaction, so it looks like we may have a new church home. Me?...I just want us to go to church. I can be happy anywhere. It is not where I would necessarily choose to go if it were all about me, but I will enthusiastically attend because my family is happy...my family is happy at church. It is a great day.