Loving Life as a Large Family

As I’ve mentioned, we live in the middle of nowhere and have been church “homeless” for nearly two and half months.  Last night for Christmas Eve, we drove up to the next small town of about 1,000 to attend a Christmas Eve candlelight service.  As we walked into the tiny sanctuary one could feel all eyes upon this huge family of ten (Tyler opted to stay home and Daneyl is still in Utah) as we found our way into two pews.  (I think one woman still had her mouth hanging open as we exited thirty minutes later).  It only added to the mass of our family as we walked up to enjoy a moment at the Lord’s Table and we extended the entire length of the altar railing.  At one point, Keila leaned forward in fear that they were not prepared for our large group and would run out of communion bread.

There were no ushers so heading down was a bit tricky and Kaitlin yelled, pretty loudly at John in the middle of this sacred time.  Trying to worm my way between kids to find my seat after communion, I bumped the candles resting in the pew, causing a crash that echoed throughout the sanctuary.   I’m fairly certain that Tully, Sami, Mady and Keila spent most of the service with their heads hung in shame. 

When John and I started looking at the possibly of finding a new church, he did suggest we visit as a couple before we bring along the Clan, I now see what he meant.  No matter how well behaved we are, no matter how conscience we try to be, we are a large family and no matter what, someone will be loud or do something that draws attention to the fact that we are a dozen and even if, like last night we are short two people, we are still a  large family.

As we crowded back into our vehicle and looking like a Chinese fire drill, we laughed the seven miles home and are reminded that Christmas is about family and celebrating the true gift that God gave us, His precious son, Jesus Christ.