Did you Get All That, Because I'm not Going to Ask you Again?

I will not lie. As I check off the "agenda" in the church bulletin every Sunday I get more and more anxious as we draw closer and closer to Children's Church. I am not at all convinced that Ellie is going to dutifully walk down the aisle, sit on the alter steps, listen to the sermon, then proceed back to her classroom in an orderly fashion. She's done pretty good so far, very little in the way of outbursts, but still....

Enter Haiti. Late last week we received an email from one of our ministers requesting that we get our children involved in the Haitian relief effort. We were to explain what was going on in an age appropriate manner, discuss monetary support (i.e. how much of your piggy bank money are you willing to part with, in Ellie's case, $4 in quarters and a dollar bill, not bad, although she kept the twenty), and consider making a Health Kit. We worked on it. Made the kit. Discussed how much mommy and daddy were giving. The works. She stuns me on Saturday night when she asks if we can "pray to God about Haiti." She asks him to help them get their houses back and make them better if they got crushed. Very impressed.

Then comes Sunday morning. The minister tells them that a big tractor trailer is coming to Georgia to pick up the Health Kits. Suddenly I hear a familiar high pitched voice: "GEORGIA???!!!?! I LIVE IN GEORGIA." Mind you, I'm on the second to the last row, Marietta First United Methodist. She was loud. Yes, the minister says, I live in Georgia too, isn't that neat? What happened next I learned after the fact from a friend sitting close to the front.

The minister says "let's pray for the people of Haiti and the workers helping them." Ellie looks over at her friend on her left and says, "I don't need to do this. I prayed to God last night. Y'all go ahead though." Apparently the four front pews were shaking in hysterics. Ellie proceeds to hum "Alice the Camel" through the prayer and then skitters back to class.