One o'clock church

This Sunday our time for church is moving to 1pm instead of 11am. 1pm church is tough for a lot of people and for a lot of reasons. Ours:

(How about some "church-themed" pictures to go with this post? Hmm?)

Henry is a snazzy church-dresser. And he's a stinker, playing in the gym when he should be in Sunday School.

1. Henry won't take a nap on Sundays and I'm imagining that going to nursery is going to be even more difficult for him since he'll be extra over-tired.

2. The biggest question in our minds is how we're going to work Sunday dinner with Rob's family, which is an hour and a half away. Realistically, if we were to go to dinner Sunday we wouldn't get there until 6pm. To then leave again after a couple hours for the long drive home? Not preferable.

 Dad is home from meetings and ready for church, Henry is just getting started.

HOWEVER:

1. Henry is better than most toddlers at missing a nap. And besides, he doesn't like nursery anyway, so it's not likely to make too much of a difference! We'll figure something out.

2. Maybe we'll replace Sunday dinner with Saturday dinner + sleepover + Sunday breakfast. We love staying the night at Rob's parents' place! We'll figure something out.

Cool guys headed to church on Maui. Church shoes optional.

Our poor Bishop must have had a lot of complaints because he asked our Stake President to speak to our ward last Sunday about the move to 1pm. I'm so glad I wasn't super vocal about not being happy about the change. We did mention to him that Sunday dinners with family would be hard and even though it was hardly a complaint and definitely no blame was placed on him or anyone else, I regret even saying that. Since hearing from our Stake President I've decided to have a good attitude about the change. AND GUESS WHAT? There are plenty of great things about 1pm church that I'm looking forward to. Here's what I've thought of so far, including some plans we have:

• Rob's meetings are still in the morning, but he'll be home a few hours before church starts. I'm excited to have him there to help with Henry and to just be with us every week (instead of every-other).
• I can make a fun and yummy Sunday breakfast. I won't do it every week, but once or twice a month would be fun. And yes, I've just started a Pinboard for this very purpose.
• Our mornings will be slow and free of chaos. Lots of time for reading scriptures and church magazines. Lots of time for playing with Henry. Lots of time to watch church movies. Lots of time for facebook serving others.
• We can hold our family council Sunday mornings instead of Sunday evenings.
• I can hold my meetings Sunday mornings instead of using up a week night.
• The less-active sister I visit teach might be more encouraged to come to church because it's easier to get to at that time.
• We can go on a leisurely family walk.
• I can take a really long shower.

Baby Henry ready for church.

So, I'm getting super stoked for this Sunday. I'll be back again next year to talk about the move to 9am church...