Mother's Day

It was a quiet Mother's Day weekend for us. Because it was rainy, we think, Sam slept until 7. My sleep has been really off, so a lot of yesterday and today was just getting rested up.

Yesterday we went for a walk into the local burb again. It was a nice afternoon. We had pizza at a place Emily likes. The place has a bar feel to it, with dimmer lights, neon signs, music, and so on. Sam loves this and danced to the music and charmed the staff. It was a nice break. Today we had dinner out, also at a local mall. It was a lot of fun. Sam loved looking at a fountain, playing with a balloon, climbing stairs, "talking" to the girl at the next table, and watching buses and trains.

Today we went to Old Church for worship. Actually, New Church appeared to have another activity somewhere else, about which we had not heard. So we decided to try an 11 service at old church. This was our first time driving there. The truth is that driving here is really not so bad, but I've always been a nervous driver and big cities still throw me.

We made it downtown, parked, and went to worship. Sam lasted for about half of worship, and then he and I went and checked out the nursery. I still don't know entirely what to do with kids in church here. There's no infant nursery and toddler care really only exists at bigger churches. I still haven't entirely figured out how welcome kids are in regular worship, and whether parents just skip church or do something else. It's an issue in suburban America, and an issue here. If we move to this bigger church, it may be I could go to worship in local language for an hour and then swap with Emily while she goes to the English worship. But still not exactly a family time.

I think we need a break here sometime soon. New Year's, which is normally the major holiday here, was not restful for us since it poured the whole week and we mostly looked after Sam and cleaned. I'm thinking of trying to take most of June off of language. Maybe we could get a beach week, do some staycation time, and get reset for the summer.