1,2,3,4,5,6....

Sometimes this is how I feel...minus the shoe

"Lord...please watch over these children...so I don't kill them" That is the thought that was going through my head today at mass.  It was a full weekend for us, meaning we had all six kids.  Now, we sit in the same pew every week. We have tried every possible seating combination to keep the children as best behaved as possible.  The problem is, there are three girls and three boys.  The girls cannot sit next to anyone because it does not matter who they are with, they will talk, touch, breath, annoy, whatever the person they are next too.  The two oldest boys, T and R without fail will try to cut off the others circulation any time they need to hold hands. The "Our Father" is sung, and I can see them twisting and squeezing the other one, their faces trying to hide the pain and of course humor in the situation...and then they get a glare from Dad-and they still are trying to break the others hand, just not as obvious.
Today, I had little T playing with my skirt.  I was so afraid she would lift it up and show off way too much to the rest of the congregation. The two little girls were rather well behaved, only moving around when we had to move one of the older ones around. 
Somehow, we managed to move around spots about six times...before communion.  I am pretty sure four of those were before the Gospel.
I read an article not too long ago about children being part of the mass.  Our church doesn't have a cry room anyway, and personally with all of the kids out of diapers, we wouldn't need one anyway.  I hated it at other churches when I would have to take a baby into the cry room, for it to be filled with much older kids. Kids who were too old to play with the toys in the room, and the mothers just sitting there. I could understand, maybe, if they had a baby, but many did not.

And by normal I mean....

Moving on, I have tried everything to keep the kids under some control at mass.  I used to bring snacks, but now I feel like they are even too old for that. Toys-no, because they are too much of a distraction for everyone else, or the poor kid near us that doesn't have a toy...
Now, they have mass books, or will bring some sort of "church book" and a rosary.  This is working well with the older ones (the boys, surprisingly, who seem to want to pay attention-when they aren't silently playing mercy during the prayer), but the girls...well, we are still trying to figure that one out.

Yet, we survived. Just as we always do. No one is taken out of church to be reminded of their behavior, no one cried, and no lighting struck anyone down.

Just keep praying

And you know what?  I love it. I love every minute of it. I love sitting in church with my beloved, holding his hand. I love watching the kids pray and sing.  I find it funny watching others count how many kids we have when we go up for communion. I can see some of the older ladies count silently, mouthing "one, two, three,four, five, six..." and smile at me gently, communicating to me "Honey I have been there, I will pray for you".

90% of the time, they are perfect!

So, while I will reconfigure the seating chart for next week, I count my blessings, and thank God for all of them...all six of them....because without every single one of them, life just isn't complete.