While it’s true that I love going to church, this isn’t about me–it’s about Moose.

Church is Moose’s favorite place.  Even more than school, which he loves a lot, he loves going to church.  He may not be able to talk much, but he watches intently everything that is going on, he stands and sits (kind of) at the appropriate times, he hums along with the responses, he tries to say the words I know he knows in his heart, he shouts “Amen,” he practically runs to the altar on communion Sundays and, occasionally, he “dings” along with the bell that is rung during the Lord’s prayer.

I thought he was going to explode with joy during Holy Week, when we attended so many services.  He just loves being in God’s house.

Today is a rough day for Moose.  The transmission on our van has decided to die, and since we haven’t figured out where the $3000 to fix it is going to come from (and because they can’t miraculously replace a transmission overnight, anyway), we can’t really drive it.  It *should* be OK for short trips, like taking Moose to school, or Ladybug’s two-year check-up this week, but church is far enough away that we figured we better not risk it.

So, last night, we decided that since Mister is a Sunday school teacher, and Turkey and Bunny are the only two children old enough/able to go to Sunday school, the three of them would go to church and Sunday school together in Mister’s car today (and, thankfully, booster seats are easy to transfer between vehicles, unlike regular car-seats).

Turkey and Bunny got dressed in their church clothes as usual this morning, and I *was* planning on just letting Moose and Ladybug have a “jammies day.”  It’s not like we can go anywhere, anyway.  But, Moose snuck into his closet, and found his church clothes (he got the shirt and pants right, which surprised me), and brought them to me to help him get dressed.  It was important to him, so I let him get into his church clothes, even though I knew he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

And then, while he was looking out the window, he saw Daddy leaving with his two older siblings for church.  It was terrible.  A complete cry of anguish that made me cry right along with him.  He wanted so badly to be going to church.  Dare I say, he needed to be going to church.  But today, that just wasn’t possible (and depending on what happens with the van, I suppose we may have a similar problem next week–we are going to have to do something about it eventually, though).

And people say children don’t get anything out of church and don’t need to be in a service that is “for adults.” Perhaps we’re just underestimating them!  I know without a shadow of a doubt that Moose is getting way more out of church than most people could even imagine.