Cry Room Chronicles XIV

This week provided a special challenge since Angie was up most of the night feeling ill. She didn't come to Mass (she went to the urgent care clinic instead), so Jacob, Lucy and I went to 9:30 Mass at St. Louis. I was a little nervous about having both of them double-team me.


We arrived a little late; as we were walking in we heard the end of the Gloria being sung. In the Children's Chapel we discovered our 8 a.m. friends Timmy, Kim and Luke, along with another dad and his daughter about Lucy's size but seemingly a little older.

Jacob went into reading mode pretty quickly. He kept asking me if it was okay to read the book that he just got off the shelf. I didn't say no to any of them, (1) because they were keeping him occupied and (2) they are stocked in a church cry room, how could they be objectionable? One book's cover said it was My Little Prayer Book but from Jacob's reading, clearly the lyrics of Old MacDonald Had a Farm were printed inside, which he sang quietly. Lucy joined in for the part she knows: "Eeee-iiiii, eeee-iiiii." They were cute but distracting.

Lucy finally learned from the other kids to put the rosary beads over her head and around her neck. She walked around for quite a bit like that. She also traded beads back and forth with the other girl. They both seemed content. As is her custom, Lucy handed me a bunch of the song books and other children's books. I didn't see her giving books to anyone else, though maybe she was being coy.

All in all, they were pretty well behaved and I didn't really have to worry about things. Jacob almost missed the collection again but he didn't beg to go upstairs for communion like he usually does. When we finally did go upstairs, he got a drink of water from the fountain and put the change I gave him for the poor box into the box next to the book rack. My attempt to explain which box benefits the poor and which one is for buying books was fruitless this week. I'm sure he'll eventually figure it out. By that point, we may have put enough change in to buy something good. Again, it being a church book rack, it'll be hard to find something bad there.

The Lord was definitely with us going to communion. Lucy was happy to be carried and Jacob held my hand the whole way, so neither one wandered off. We did go by the choir and musicians. We stopped and Jacob watched them for the rest of the Mass. I half-watched him and half-prayed. I felt like I did a lot more praying this week than in previous weeks.

The only bad thing was the "Old MacDonald" incident coinciding with the sermon. I honestly can't remember what the priest talked about. The gospel reading was the famous You cannot serve God and mammon passage. Even re-reading it now sparks no memories. Oh well, maybe next time, as Jacob likes to say.