There are lots of reasons we miss church; sickness, family events, vacations, etc. But when you miss church consistently it starts to wear on you. When Darling was born in the fall we knew we'd have to keep her home from church for a while until RSV season is over. I know a lot of places it's not a big worry and a lot of people take their newbies to church during the winter and never have a problem, but for us in our area it was a concern. So we made a plan, we'd switch off and go halfsies and we'd each get to go every other week.

I was still active, still going to my meetings regularly, and staying home with baby was a good decision. But I began to miss church, like long for it lovingly and count the days till it was my turn again. Life is a struggle without it; I'm not as calm, I don't have things together, I have less direction. Now we both go each week, which is wonderful, but I teach primary every other week, and even when I do get to go to Sunday School and Relief Society I miss large chunks of the meetings with feedings and diaper changes. I love being in primary with my rowdy kiddos and I adore being with baby at church, but I still long for Sunday School and especially Relief Society meetings.

So I fill in the gaps when I can. For those of us who have to regularly miss church because of darling babes, illnesses, work schedules, etc. I thought I'd share some ideas on some things to fill in the gaps:

The world's greatest champion of woman and womanhood is Jesus the Christ. (page 3, Daughters in My Kingdom)