There was a time when we were at the church a whole bunch. The children were small, I was desperate for activities, and my husband was enjoying the intellectual theology discussions in our Sunday School class. That time has passed, due in large part to severe burn-out from saying YES too much. And due to an influx of not-very-intellectual religious people who, as my theory goes, joined to be with their Bush-loving peoples. Or to assuage their fears after 9/11...whatever. And to a feeling that God, should he or she care, would really prefer for me to have precious family time instead of shipping my children off to craft hour whilst I decide what casserole to take to someone with yet another new baby.

But we do go occasionally, and I love our preacher's style and substance, and the church thing is calming in the way that many rituals are. I'm glad to be part of a community and since I believe, a la Middlemarch, that we are put on this Earth to help one another, a church is not a bad place to appear in every now and again.

There are tons of baptisms at our church each week - thanks to the aforementioned preacher and maybe the listed reasons for our congregation's explosion - and the children saw one this week. Now, they have set up an entire day care center in our home for around 36 stuffed animals/dolls. The day care center features a chapel, where all of their bibles (you get free ones at church) are piled on a stool and a bucket filled with water stands nearby. My son in particular seems keen on putting hands and water on each animal. So last night I snapped a shot of him as he had Baby Li-Li, a tiny stuffed panda, in his arms and was making a cross (well, more of an x or something) on its tiny head, saying, "I baptize you the name of the Father, the man, and the spirit". While the boy continues his baptizing, I have noticed that the girl has been filling out report cards. Power Ranger got a negative 5 rating, but Blue Bunny is up to a four. In the meantime, our house is not open for guests or visits and my husband cusses every time he trips over something on the way to the bathroom, but my children, they have found religion.