How to get to church on time with little kids

Once again, I was recently asked how I get my family to church every Sunday on time. 

For the past seven years I've always been at church every Sunday morning with babies and/or toddlers. (My one and only exception to every Sunday is contagious illness.)

Through the years I've had many questions and comments about getting to church with little ones, and an occasional "How do you do it?" 

Maybe because it's the weekend?

Maybe because it's so early in the morning? 

Maybe because I clearly look stressed and I'm dripping with children?

(Nah, can't be that... wink)

So, would a blog post about what I do every week to make this happen be in order?

As it stands, my children are currently ages seven, five, three, and one, and our getting-ready process is a lot easier than in years past.

There was a time in my life that I had a three-year old, a one-year old, and a newborn I was nursing.

That was hard!!!

But we still made it to church.

The few tips I'll be sharing in this post are what I've being doing every week for years.

They're simple and won't blow your mind, but based on the "How do you do it?" question I've been frequently asked, I wonder if what I'm about to share would be helpful?

In order for this not to become too long of a post, I won't get into:

--- Why I believe in dressing up for church

Or

--- Why I believe in going every single week.

Maybe I'll address these in future posts, but for today this will just be the nitty gritty of how to get to church- - - on time.

Just a heads-up before we get started... The pictures I'm sharing in this post are not meant to be "pretty", they're meant to be helpful.

Ok! Let's get started....

~~~ How to get to church on time with little kids ~~~

1. Accept that it's hard.

There came a point early in my parenting where I just had to come to terms with the fact that gone are the days where I can be out late Saturday night, roll outta bed at the last minute Sunday morning, and easily drive myself over to church.

When you go into a situation knowing that it will be a challenge, but choosing to do it anyway, you'll be able to handle that challenge a little better.

Repeat after me, "I can do hard things!"

Yes, girlfriends, we can do hard things, but we should be careful not to make things harder.

For example, staying out late Saturday night and keeping small children awake past a reasonable hour is only going to make you and your family tired and irritable Sunday morning.

Another example, having an attitude of, "Well, we'll just see how it goes in the morning and if we feel like it, we'll go to church." 

No, no, no! 

If that's your attitude, you won't make it to church and if you do, you'll likely be late!

I understand as well as anyone that it's hard! But we can still do the right thing!

Sometimes the right thing to do is the hard thing to do.

{{{ "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..." Hebrews 10:25 }}}

2. Plan Ahead

I have what I call my Saturday Routine.

It was created from a thought I had years ago, which was, whatever can be done before Sunday, I'll prepare Saturday night.

(This is where the pictures start.

I carried my phone around last Saturday and snapped pictures while I did my usual routine.)

1. All outfits get picked out and layed out Saturday night.

I go into the girl's room and do this:

                                

                                    Tights, shoes, hair bows.... Everything gets set out.

                                           Then I go into the boy's room and do this:

                               

                                It's hard to tell but there are two shirts hanging on the door.

                                                 Then I go into my room and do this:

                               

                 I get out my shoes and shine them up if they need it. I also set out my jewelry.

    By doing this I have completely eliminated any potential Sunday morning panic attacks from not having what we need. There's no worse feeling than trying to get yourself and your kids dressed to go somewhere and you realize an essential garment that is needed for an outfit is in the wash!!!!!! If I realize that something that I need for Sunday is in the laundry, it's Saturday! I can wash it up in time!

   

                   (Side note, in case you're wondering, I do not pick out Micah's clothes. 

                                 He has informed me that I'm not the boss of him. Hahaha)

                                                     2. We all shower Saturday night.

                                      ( I have no pictures of this because that'd be weird.)

                        There's no time Sunday morning to shower myself and four little kids!

                                         I always get this out of the way every Saturday.

                                    3. All jackets and bags get placed on the kitchen table.

                               By bedtime Saturday night, my kitchen table looks like this:

      

      What you see here are the boy's shoes set out, the diaper bag and my purse, and our jackets.

                                     I have packed the bags and lint-rolled the jackets.

                                     This may seem like a lot of work, but remember:

                  {{{ "Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.... Hebrews 4:11 }}}

                                 ( Rest meaning the Sabbath, and the italics are my own.)

                                                          3. No fancy breakfast 

                In some families, Sunday morning is the time to linger over the newspaper 

                                                        and homemade pancakes.

             They must be Seventh Day Adventists and have already been to church... wink.

                  In our family, Saturday morning is the time for Dad's famous omelettes or 

                                      Mom's homemade pancakes, not Sunday morning!

                                           Every Sunday morning we eat the same thing.

                                                  Instant oatmeal and a piece of fruit.

                                                 I set it all out Saturday night like this:

                                         

      

                          

                                  

                   (A helpful tip: Feed all children their oatmeal before getting them dressed!)

                                                            4. Dads must help!

                                                        Micah and I have a system!

                              He does a lot to help get the kids fed and dressed every Sunday!

        If you are a frustrated mom who's doing everything on Sunday mornings, it's possible your    

                            husband doesn't know the stress and work-load you're under.

                                                       Consider asking him for help! 

        Most men want to help their wives but don't know that they need help or even how to help.

                                 Be specific about what you'd like him to do and kindly ask!

                                                                    

                                            5. Set your alarm and wake up early!

            If you are not in the habit of going to church on Sunday mornings, this could seem cruel.

                                            But once again, sleeping in is for Saturday's.

                    I've never known a Sunday morning in my life (except when I've been sick) 

                              where I haven't gone to church, so this is normal for me.

                  When my alarm goes off it's dark, it's early, and I don't want to get out of bed.

                        But getting up and getting started always pays off and is always worth it!

                                                                     Last thing:

    

                      6. Plan to leave 15 minutes before you actually have to leave

                                                           For us it looks like this:

                                                      Our church begins at 9:00am

                                                         We live 30 minutes away

         If we told ourselves that we don't have to leave until 8:30, we wouldn't be making steps 

                   toward the door until then, thus, not getting on the road until 8:40, then

                                                                 We're late!!!

                                                    (I know this from experience.)

                     We've remedied this by telling ourselves that we have to leave by 8:15.

                                                     We've never been late since.

         (Well.... except for the times Micah insists on stopping by McDonald's for coffee even 

                          though I politely remind him WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!!!!!.....

                                                     Ok, so not so politely, whatever.)

                                          

                                                          I think that about does it!

                          Was this helpful to you? I'd love for you to leave me a comment!

                      Are there any tips you could share on getting to church with little kids?

                                  Thank you so much for reading! I'll leave you with this:

    {{{ " Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your

           work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God." Exodus 20:8-9 }}}

                                                                   ~ Courtney