Dilemma with Church

We had a mild setback with solid foods the other day. I heated up on green bean cube and one applesauce cube. For those of you who wonder what I mean by "cube"…when I make Constance's food I steam whatever it is I am making, puree it till the food is the right consistency, and then put it in ice cube trays. One ice cube puree is the equivalent to one serving. Anyway, back to my original thought. We had been doing so well for two or three days about her eating solids twice a day. Yesterday however I was able to get her to eat maybe on teaspoon of applesauce and no green beans.

When it comes to our baby and the nursery at church we keep Constance in the church service with us...for several reasons. One of the reasons is that we are not comfortable leaving her in the nursery. One person we more than likely do not know, watching several children of all ages. Those pre-toddlers can be viscous and have no sense of the words, "be careful, there is a baby right there." The second reason is that we are going to implement a book called, "Parenting in the Pew," by Robbie Castleman. The woman who wrote this book did not start this practice till her children where four years old. Here is the insert on the back since I could not find their website:

Sunday morning isn't a success if we have only managed to keep the kids quiet. And there's more to church for kids than trying out their new coloring books. Children are at church for the same reason Mom and Dad: for the privilege of worshipping God.

Burning with an infectious passion for worship, Robbie has learned how to teach children to praise God. She shows us how important it is to take our children's worship seriously. And then, with nitty-gritty advice and a touch of humor, she shows us how we can help our children (from toddler to teenager) participate in the most worthwhile and exciting act anybody can do.

"Worship is a challenge," Robbie admits. "With children it is a bigger challenge." But Jesus promised that the stones will cry out if we-and our children-forget to praise God.

While this is all well and good and we look forward to the time when Constance can comprehend what we are asking her to do; but that does not help us now. Our vocal baby, who is happiest right after she eats (which happens to be right before we go to church), likes to talk in church. In our SMALL congregation her happy babbles are heard in every corner of the four walls. So that she is not a distraction we take Constance out…which means that one of us misses the sermon. As bad as this sounds, I do not necessarily mind missing the sermon. I am tired of myself and my church being "dead." However missing it all together does not help the journey.