Two Hours of Joy

I'm writing this so one day, when I have grandkids and my boys and daughter-in-laws tell me about the escapades their children pull in church, I can show them proof that I have lived through it.

We only have a two-hour block here. It is lovely to only try to keep Dylan reverent for two hours, don't get me wrong. The up-side is the short amount of time because our branch is so small that it can't really staff the positions needed for a three-hour block and one hour of Young Men's or Young Women's would be pretty hard each week with just one of each in attendance. It's nice that Sacrament Meeting is only one hour. Not one hour and fifteen minutes. The extra fifteen minutes make all the difference. Really. It does.

Now, the flip side. We are the only kids in our branch. We are the "nice young couple" that brings their kids to church each Sunday, the kids that make it so the not so young couples can't hear a thing the speakers say - especially since there isn't a microphone. We are the "family with all those boys" that try to keep the noise to a dull roar each week. We are the parents of the kid that says, not in his whisper voice and while doing THE dance, "I have to go potty!" during the middle of the talk. We are the family that spreads the Fruit Loops across the whole row. We are THAT family.

Each week someone from the branch comes up to us and tells us how great it is that there are kids in the branch. They tell us they have all been there. They tell us our boys are soooooo good. They tell us kid noise is what makes a branch feel right. They tell us that one day, all too soon, they won't be making all that noise and we should enjoy it while they are young. I'm still not totally convinced that it isn't an assignment from the Branch or Relief Society President to pat us on the back in order to keep us active. What would they call that calling anyway? Bishop's cheerleader?