Every day can't be frickin' Aquarium day...

Hey kids,

It's hard to keep you guys entertained every day of summer. Luckily, if I present a mediocre activity to you with excitement and enthusiasm, even a dull project like printable superhero masks (SUPERHERO MAAAAASKS!??!? Whoooot! All right! Superhero! MASKS!!!!) elicits at least a smile and a few minutes of studied industriousness.

Like tonight: After supper, we walked down to the shops and had a sweet. See? Doesn't that sound simply divine? When in actuality, what we really did was walk down to the 7-Eleven and get popsicles.

We enrolled Wavy in preschool today. And sorry, it's not Montessori, baby. There's a long wait for Montessori this year, so your SLP suggested another preschool in the area that you can go to on an Early Intervention scholarship. It comes highly recommended, the curriculum is robust, it's safe, clean, it's hideously expensive... but it's Lutheran. I have nothing against Lutherans, we're just not a very church-going clan. I'm slightly squeamish about sending you here. Every morning will begin with a prayer, and Jesus Time (whatever that means) is at 11:15. The registration questionnaire that we had to fill out asked questions like, "What does it mean to you to be a Christian?" and the following:

........................................................

Please check and fill-in:
____ We are active members of Tr1nity Luther@n Church
____ We are active members of another LCMS Church
____ We are active members of another Lutheran Church
____ We are active members of a Non-Lutheran Church
____ We are not active members of a church in the area
_____We are looking for a church home
_____We are not looking for a church home at this time

What was your previous church background?________________________________________________

Please check all that apply and fill-in.
____ My child has been baptized in the name of the Triune God. Church:______________________Date:_________
____ My child attends Sunday School: Church_______________________________
____ I/we would like to have our child baptized.
____ I/we have questions about:
baptism _____
the beliefs of the Lutheran Church____
Sunday School____
what is taught during Jesus Time at TLC_______

........................................................

I made the mistake of telling your Nana over the phone today that I was uncomfortable with some of this. She kind of let loose like this is something that's been bothering her for a while. I'm surprised it's taken this long for her to get around to it. She's upset that you kids don't go to Sunday school and that we're not raising you in any faith whatsoever. It broke her heart, apparently, when Papa told Jakob over the phone a while ago that they had just come back from church, and Jakob asked him, "What's church?" She said she bought you guys a DVD about going to church, but has held off on giving it to you because she didn't know how your daddy and I would feel about it.

I figured, this being her birthday and all, that I probably shouldn't tell her that I waver between being an outright atheist and on better, happier days, being an agnostic. I can hear it now... "Agnostic? What the hell kind of hippy shit is that?!?!?"

I hope to not have to breach the subject again when they come to visit next week. We're not really ones to confront each other, so maybe today's phone call will be the worst of it.

It's not for that long, after all. And it's only two days a week, three hours each day. When you turn 3 in November, you will transfer into one of two specialized (and SECULAR!) classes like your brother did. I guess I won't worry too much until you bring home your first little fistful of tracts to tuck in the neighbors' doorjambs, and condemn your daddy and me to hellfire and damnation. But I am looking forward to the church potlucks!

Anyway, you start on Monday. So that means this weekend, we get to go shopping for a backpack and lunchbox! I'm hoping they have more to choose from than Hannah Montana, Disney princesses and High School Musical. Yay! SHOPPING! (excitement, excitement) At TARGET!!! (enthusiasm, enthusiasm)

Love you both. Sleep tight.