So I didn't get up the courage to take Avery to the nursery until last week. She is just so difficult, I was scared to leave her with anyone who wasn't family. Plus our church only has one service at 10am and that is usually right in the middle of her nap.
Anyway when we took her we felt like total rookies. I tried to open the little half door and walk into the room. Apparently that is a no no. We had no idea what we were doing, and I (Rustin was ok I think) was super nervous. I told them several times to come get me if she got too fussy.
So we handed her off and she seemed fine.
I know this sounds ridiculous but when we went into the service I almost cried. I just kept imagining her in that room with strangers and being scared and wondering where her mommy was. I fought the urge several times to go check on her. At the end of the sermon I found myself shouting at the pastor (in my head) to hurry up and finish because I needed to go check on my baby!
Since it's a small building we could hear babies crying at the end and I was sure Avery was the ring leader. Well we walked to her room and she was sound asleep in a swing! The workers told us all the babies started crying at the end. But apparently Avery slept through it all. Perhaps she does love sleep as much as me :)
Also that night we went out to eat with a couple from our church who has a baby a month younger than Avery. They had fun eating their puffs together.
Sorry for the ton of blog posts lately. Don't unsubscribe! This usually doesn't happen. Avery has been randomly napping a long time the last few days (shocking I know) so I feel like I have TONS of extra time. When you're used to squeezing brushing your teeth, eating a meal, doing dishes, etc. etc. (or just taking a nap) into 30 minutes and all of a sudden you have an hour and a half, it's like an eternity!
Rustin and I have made the hard decision to go to a new church. It wasn't easy because I have been attending The Village since I first moved to the metroplex back in 2005. I liked it because Matt Chandler was the pastor and I knew him from when he would come speak to the youth group when I was a youth intern in Wichita Falls. There were also several people from Wichita Falls on staff there, and it felt like home. I loved going to church there. It was through The Village that I went on my first mission trip to Guatemala in 2007. My small group was also amazing, and I had a great time serving as a leader in Kids' Village for a while. It's hard to find a church where you completely line up with them theologically, and can also find great community.
When Rustin and I got married and moved back from Colorado, we started attending again. But then we moved to Allen. The Flower Mound campus was almost an hour drive from our new home and we knew that was just too far. We visited churches around us but couldn't seem to find a fit. Then the news came - The Village was opening a Dallas campus! I was so excited! It was still 30 minutes away, but that seemed so much closer. Before we had Avery, the drive was no problem. We sort of even liked driving to Saturday night service and going out to eat somewhere in Dallas afterward. Or sometimes we would go to a fun brunch place down there with friends after the Sunday morning service. We also found a great small group in Plano. It was also a 30 minute drive, but we felt like it was worth it to have such great community.
Then Avery was born. I guess I knew this was coming, but kept putting it off because I didn't want to leave The Village. But having a kid changes things. Not only was the drive a huge hindrance now, there were several other things I had to consider for Avery. Since there are so many services at The Village, you can possibly go to the same one each weekend, but see totally different people, so I assume that's how it would be in Little Village (their preschool ministry), so she would have a hard time making friends if she doesn't see the same kids every week. Not only that, who knows where the kids would live. We would possibly be driving 30-45 minutes for play dates too. We didn't want that for her. We wanted her to have a group of kids that she sees every Sunday who also live close so she can hang out with them. That's what true community is - doing life together.
Once we made the decision to really start looking again for a church, I had a pit in my stomach. I LOVED The Village and knew nothing would compare. Besides that, we already tried out most of the churches in our area and couldn't find a good fit. Well one day I told Rustin about a church we hadn't tried that I had heard about - Allen Bible Church. He said he would go check it out while I stayed home with Avery. He came home that first Sunday telling me how much he liked it. I joined him the next Sunday while his parents watched Avery and much to my surprise I really liked it too! A super nice lady came up and talked to us for a while, and several people talked to Rustin the Sunday before when he had gone by himself.
I'm sort of a stickler for theology. I just can't go to a church if they believe something I don't think is biblical, but I completely line up with what this church believes. And... it's close! And there are even a few couples with kids right in our neighborhood!
Even though it was a very hard decision, I believe that we have made the right one for our family, and I think if Matt Chandler were to read my blog, he would agree :) ...and I can still listen to The Village sermons on podcasts!
Don’t worry – this post isn’t necessarily about my cat, but I am going to talk about her because she has just made me think about a few things lately and realize how blessed I am. Since my mom volunteers at the Humane Society, she unfortunately knows firsthand the amount of cats that get euthanized every month. The numbers are staggering, and that's just for Wichita Falls (and doesn't include dogs). This also doesn't include all the stray, starving cats or cats in homes that are abused. My cat's mom was found with her litter of kittens on the street. They were fostered by a sweet woman until they could go up for adoption, and that's when we got Carrie. I obviously don’t have the stats on this, but I’m guessing the percentage of cats in good homes compared to the number of cats born worldwide is very very low. She is so incredibly lucky, but she can never comprehend that because, well, she’s a cat.
Unfortunately most of the time I, like my cat, don’t realize how blessed I am. Rather, I usually look at those who have more than me and feel inferior. When I drive past the mansions in Highland Park, I always look longingly at them and wonder what it would be like to live there. Living in Dallas and being surrounded by so much flashy wealth, it's hard not to think you don't measure up.
But then I thought about my cat, and compared her "luck" to mine. I thought of all the people living in third world countries who are starving. Their children die of diarrhea because they can't get medicine that we can go to Walgreens and get for $2. I also think of all the people who are abused or sold into human trafficking. Even in the US, there are so many people who are living in poverty. Just like my cat, my mind can't comprehend the amount of suffering that goes on around the world and how incredibly blessed I am to have what I have.
A friend of mine posted this link: http://globalrichlist.com/index.php. You can type in your income and it shows you where you rank compared to the rest of the world. I'm sure when you read the title of my post, you thought "no, I'm not rich." But when you compare yourself to the rest of the world, it’s pretty crazy to see how rich you really are. Hopefully I can remember this next time I start comparing myself to others and feeling like I don’t measure up.
