A new kind of church

We tried a new church yesterday, and it was unlike any church we'd ever been to. As we walked from the car(once we'd finally found a place to park) to the information center, I was trying very hard not to point or comment to loud; already feeling like we had a glaring sign on our foreheads that we were not only visitors, but from another part of the country as well.

The church was not just a little church building, but in fact several buildings, spread out over an entire campus. I never did find out the membership number, but I'm pretty sure it was larger than the town of Andover. They don't have churches that size in New Hampshire. A very friendly woman gave us a map, and a tour, and walked us to where we needed to go. Both Spencer and Paxton tried the kids' classes, and - aside from a scared and confused moment when Paxton's class switched buildings and he was afraid we wouldn't find him - had a good time. He said he was ready to stay by himself, so we'd dropped him off, but he didn't understand how it would work or where we would meet him. A bad parenting moment. We joined them for the kids' services, which was a great presentation of songs, puppets, and lessons. After the service they went back to their classes, and this time Mike went with Paxton, and Everett and I went with Spencer, to make sure everyone was ok. They enjoyed the rest of the morning, and both want to go back next week. Next week we'll see if Everett is interested in the toddler class, and when everyone is happy and comfortable and ready, we'll check out the adult services.

We visited Sandi, Mitch, and the kids yesterday too, and spent the afternoon playing at the playground. We picked up the Usborne books we'd ordered from her too, and the boys went to bed happily reading about tractors, castles, and dinosaurs.