A Sunday Drive

We went to church for the first time in six months this weekend. Graham cried when we left him in the nursery again. It's always hard to walk away from him like that. Still, we took the pager they give to parents so they can page in case of emergency (or if your child won't stop crying) and left for the sanctuary wincing at every shriek. Eventually, Sam went and got him for communion and all was well again.
I've always been nervous in church. The first few times we went I felt like at any moment I was going to be called on by the preacher. For what reason, I don't know. It wasn't rational but it was very real. I'm better now. I really like the preacher and find myself enjoying his sermons quite often (when we go.) But I still always feel like an outsider. I guess it's because I've never belonged to any church, so I always feel like I'm crashing a club that I wasn't really invited to. I've got hang ups with church, but I'm working them out.
I did respond to the preacher's message of "finding your mission." Eddie (said preacher) mentioned that the church has an Edwards street ministry. They feed, clothe and/or house the needy, I'm assuming. Also the church will be involved in several Habitat For Humanity building projects. Both of those appeal to me. In the past few years I've felt a need to expend some of my energy to help other people. I complain about how our government treats people unfairly and does more to hurt people in need than to help them. Yet I've done pretty much nothing to help people myself and I waste a lot of time and energy doing not much of anything. So church this weekend made me realize that I need to give a lot more than lip service to my beliefs.

After Church we ended up driving to Purvis. We were headed to Sam's to do our grocery shopping when Graham fell into a much needed nap. We chose to just keep driving instead of waking him up. We found ourselves in Purvis at the Flower Bed Nursery. We had a great time looking at all the different kinds of plants and flowers. I remembered how much I love the "succulent" varieties.

I think that's the category that jade plants fall into. Their leaves are so thick and waxy that they look almost more like strange animals more than plants. I'd love to get some of those for our house. Graham and I had fun dodging the sprinklers and Sam brought the camera in so we both took turns taking pictures of Graham and all the plants and flowers.

We loaded back up in the orange-mobile, Honda Element, and decided to stop right down the road at Granny's antique shop. We couldn't resist the sign (pictured here - if I can figure out how to post it.)
There were some friendly older ladies sitting at the table inside that Graham took to immediately and vice-versa. We sat him in the chair next to them and let him eat cookies and tell them about how much he likes robots and Spiderman while we looked around. We found a few really cool things and I went nuts with the camera.

I found a funny novelty toy of a guy who pulls his pants down to moon you when you squeeze a plastic bulb with a hose attached to it. I forgot how much fun antique shops can be.

After Purvis we met up with our friends Clinton, Marti and their 4 yr old Zander at Chili's. Zander greeted us at the door and gave Graham a big hug and grabbed his hand to show him the way to the table. I thought Graham might be a little testy, or weepy, being pulled around like that. But he really took to Zander and had fun playing with the toys Zander offered to him. It was a nice moment to see Graham beginning to realize that he had a friend. That was pretty special. Zander entertained us all by telling "jokes." These consisted of him saying things like "How did the nose get in the boogers?" "How?" "They squished in there. GET IT?!!!." Priceless joke telling. It was priceless day all around. It reminded me that the most ordinary of days can become extraordinary and we should take the time to let those moments happen.