Night of Worship

Last Friday night we drove to Plano to Prestonwood (aka Prestonworld) Baptist Church for The Village Church's Night of Worship.  If you have ever driven by this church you would understand the nickname Prestonworld.  It is huge!  This is the only worship place that will hold all four Village Church campus's.  We have never been before, so we were pretty excited for a few hours of awesome worship.  Everyone says that it's one of their favorite nights of the year.  You might be wondering why I am blogging about this.  Well...what started as a well thought out plan to get there ended with Gonzo and I laying on the living room floor laughing about that "well" thought out plan!

It started at 7:00 in Plano.  Childcare was first come first serve.  Gonzo had another coach close the weight room and was home by 4:15.  We had plans to leave no later than 5:30.  I had the kids up and dressed and eating dinner when he came in.  He got ready real quick and we were pulling out of the driveway by 5:15.  We stopped at a Wendy's to get some dinner for him to eat on the road.  I sat in the back and fed the babies on the way.  Traffic was horrible.  I mean horrible, and we were both watching the minutes ticking away on the clock.  The thought of going to all the trouble of getting us across the metroplex in Friday traffic and childcare being full was a sad thought.  We didn't mind worshiping with the babies but sitting through it all with four kids was not going to be great, at all!  As we approached the exit that we needed to get off on we missed it because of traffic and had to go way too far up the road to turn around.  As the clock was ticking away we both were getting dark hearts thinking about how much of a beating this trip had already been.

Finally we pulled into Prestonwood parking lot.  Which is like a mall parking lot.  We had to park in the boonies and had to take the double stroller in because it was too far to carry the carseats.  So, I took Adda and Ella and started walking as fast as I could to try and make it before childcare was full.  I was carrying Ella because she takes her sweet little time when she walks, and Adda was running next to me with the backpack on.  Gonzo was behind us pushing the double stroller over grassy knolls and jumping curbs trying to keep up with us.  I can only imagine what people thought when they saw us!  They were probably all younger college age kids who weren't in a hurry to get there because they didn't have kids.  They were probably thinking we should have stayed home, or why are they running, or why are they taking that huge stroller in, or maybe even thinking they might want to wait to have kids for a while!

We made it in the building and it was packed.  I wasn't sure which way to go.  I did notice one thing right away...I didn't see any other strollers!  Oh, gosh!  I didn't even want to turn around and see the look on Gonzo's face.  My heart was getting darker.  I started praying for Gonzo's heart!  I'm pretty sure he was praying for my heart too!  We had made it this far, right?!?!  I found the desk to check the kids in and...you guessed it, childcare was full!  So we turned around and walked back to Gonzo and the huge double stroller. Our only option now was to find a place for all of us to sit.

We found a place on the far right side where we could park the stroller off to the side.  It wasn't horrible, but it was a beating.  Nobody was bothered by all our kids because there were plenty of kids in there.  We would start to get into the worship and then have to switch kids.  Adda loved it!  Ella was busy! Claire slept for a whopping 5 minutes while Gonzo was holding her!  Chloe was like holding a wild pig!  I was sweating because I wore my Uggs!  At one point I took them off and was standing in socks because I thought I was going to pass out while wrestling Chloe!  I randomly looked over at Gonzo to see if he was about to explode, all while continuing to pray for both of our dark hearts!

This was a picture taken and posted to The Village Instagram.  I described it to my mom like this, "It was good, but a beating!  It was like taking 4 kids under four years of age to a rock concert with lights and fog.  All with a huge double stroller, two backpacks, and two carseats!"

We decided to leave at 9:00 because the twins both looked like they might start bellowing any second.  Ella's diaper was about to explode with tee tee, and Adda was at her quota of swallowing gum for the night!  Gonzo had to go the long way across the whole crowd with the huge stroller to leave and we went out the side up the stairs.  As we walked out there were tables set up with cookies so we stopped to give the girls their prize for not getting to go to childcare!  Gonzo went to get the car so we didn't have to walk a mile with all the kids.      

Here we are waiting on Dad to bring the van and eating cookies!

We got loaded up in the car and there was some weeping and gnashing of teeth from all four children but mostly the twins.  I climbed in the back and did what I could to keep them happy.  45 minutes later we were pulling in our garage.  All children went to bed with no bath!  If you know us that doesn't happen very often, but we needed to get them to bed and catch our breath.  After they were all in bed, we both laughed and I think I said something like, our life is freaking crazy!  There was nothing fun about that!  

Sooooo, next Night of Worship we will either leave EARLIER or get a babysitter!  You live and you learn!!!

Our life is crazy!  Now you see why I LOVE my sit and do nothing time of day when I eat sweets!  For the record, we were glad we went!  Now we know what to expect!!!!!