Daily Mass was a struggle

The moment the door opened for us to enter into the church Snookie started whining/fussing. It is this super annoying sound he makes with every breath to let me know of his sheer anger that he is having to do something that HE DOESN'T WANT TO DO. Unfortunately all the boys have gone thru this at about this age (4). The entire Mass he sat next to me making that noise, and on occasion for no apparent reason he would bust out laughing... in MASS.

I was struggling, I was frustrated, I couldn't take him out of Mass for a 'conversation' because that would leave the other two alone in there... and I wasn't going to parade all three of them out of there... so I just sat there fuming (if humans could shoot fire from their nose... well all sorts of things would have been on fire in front of me). Over the last several weeks I have learned to ignore him during daily mass when it is just the 4 of us, but for some reason today I wasn't able to. I completely missed the Gospel Reading. I mean I was standing, but I had to keep grabing him because he was playing around or kicking the kneeler or rubbing his hands on the pew wall in front of him.

Finally it was time to sit and listen to the homily. As I sat there wondering why it was so bad today, I heard it... Fr. Gary said "God is full of surprises."; and I knew that Fr. Bob, my he rest in peace, was praying for me at that moment. Probably one of Fr. Bob's most famous comments was "Our God is a God of Surprises". Every muscle in my body loosened up, I was able to listen to what Fr. Gary was preaching, and I knew I could make it thru the Mass. Even though the boys were acting all weird for Outdoor Stations afterwards, I was able to keep my cool and be in the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Thank you Fr. Bob for reminding me you're still praying for us!

Oh, and as far as the kids... early lunch and nap time for them!