Sundays... through my children's eyes

Sundays are exceptionally special days for our family. We are missionaries, so Sundays are our biggest day of the week... the culmination of a week's work. Everything that we do throughout the week is geared towards making Sundays, the Lord's Day, the best it can be.

I am going to begin a series of posts about Sundays here in Simferopol. I thought I would begin by showing you what Sundays are like through my children's eyes, because Sunday mornings always start out with the announcement, "Today is Sunday!" and cheers from the children. I think you will be able to see why through the pictures in this post.

Sunday mornings begin with deaf church, but I will be doing a separate post about these services. We presently do not attend these services (but more about this later). So, we enjoy a quiet morning at home which is actually our only quiet morning of the week. The other mornings are spent on homeschooling and visitation.

Sometimes we eat lunch at a local pizzeria, which is a very special treat for our kids. When we do not eat lunch here, we eat at home, usually because we are going to be picking someone up to take with us to church. Here are some pictures of our "pizza days:"

Our church day starts at 1:00 with adult choir practice. During this time, the children of the choir members play together under the supervision of an adult. At 2:00, all of the Sunday School classes begin.

Children's Sunday School class, taught by Katya:

At 2:30, the children go to children's choir practice. This is taught by Nelya and our church pianist, Marina.

(One of my all-time favorite pictures of my sweet Brianna, sitting in children's choir practice)

At 3:00, the main services begin and the children start out in the auditorium with the adults. Once a month, the children's choir performs for these services.

Just before the preaching begins, the children are dismissed to go to their own class. This class is taught by two different teachers, Katya and Lena. Several different young ladies assist during this time.

The teachers are great at preparing props, including this poster-board song, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath given unto us..."

Church is usually finished by 5:00. After fellowship and a 25-minute drive home, we usually find the children in the backseat around 6:00, looking like this:

Ahhh.... it's been another wonderful Sunday!