"You don't have a church?!!"

Today, with my digestion in overdrive, I try to write through my food coma discomfort. I feel none of the standard creative tingle, but I do have to jot down the funniest thing that happened yesterday.

We went to Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's side of the family, and it was actually a lot of fun. The girls enjoyed themselves and behaved beautifully.

My aunt, Jen, is about a year and a half older than I am. So, even though it seems like her kids should be cousins with my kids, they are actually my cousins.

We had Thanksgiving at her church, which was great and completely expected, but the real laugh came right after we started eating. Her middle daughter, Jaydee, who is three or four, explained to everyone that we were in "her church."

She then asks us, "where is your church?"

I laughed but then thought hard about what I could say without confusing this little girl. So, on perhaps an evasive whim, I said, "well, it is far away from here."

Then, Emma, (I love her honesty) said plain and simple, "We don't have a church."

Jen's oldest child, Kameron, dropped his fork and said in utter disbelief, "YOU DON'T HAVE A CHURCH?!!"

I was trying so hard to cover my face so they didn't see me laughing, but then couldn't contain it when Abbi (apparently thinking that Kameron hadn't quite heard Emma) clarified by yelling, "WE DON'T HAVE A CHURCH!!!!"

It was amazing. I couldn't help but just bust out laughing. I don't know if anyone else thought it was funny, but I'm pretty sure there were a few chuckles. I can't even describe how much I love those little girls.

We had a conversation on the way home about how important church is for many people in our family and that we always want to be respectful of that. We told them that it is something very special and that if--when they're older--they decide they would like to go to church, we will support them. But, we also told them that we don't want them to ever feel bad that we don't go to church as a family, even if other kids don't understand that and think it is strange.

All in all, it was really a great way to finally find some humor in an otherwise awkward conversation. You can always count on children to disregard the unspoken rule that some topics are off limits and get to the heart of the matter. They always seem to get straight to the point and I think there is plenty for us to learn by their example, especially for me.