i understand how you might feel unwanted. but i wouldnt give up. if your dc love the church, and their are other hs families there, i think bf i would give up i would go to the pastor and ask about this last weekend and see if he thinks there is anyone who could help you with the kids and holding a pew for you. i think you have a tremendous amt of courage with a dh as an atheist to be taking your dc by yourself! what a gift to the Lord! and to your dc! please dont quit! i know the that finding your place in a new church can be uncomfortable, but it is well worth it. we have been at our new church a year and a half now, and we are very glad we stuck through the uncomfortable unknown times and got to know everyone and made a place for ourselves. i agree getting there earlier could help, but im the queen of late, so im not judging keep up the good work mom! just wait for the Lord's blessings! he will surely be happy to see a daughter of the King bringing her kids up in his glory!
I'm a little confused and may honestly have missed something. Did you ASK the guy who was holding the door closed why you couldn't go in? Have you talked about what happened with the pastor/priest to see what it was you were supposed to do? When you did go in, did you ask any of the people on the aisle seats with spots in the middle if they would mind shifting down? If you were at the back and they were all facing the other direction, how would anyone have known you had a lot of awkward things with you and obviously needed to sit on the end? Again, asking honestly as it may be everyone could clearly see you [I'm picturing my own church set-up as I ask, and yours may be very different]. I know many people often expect our needs to be obvious, but, unfortunately, they generally aren't. You seemed to have expected people just to 'know' you needed help or that you were confused about things. I wouldn't abandon church altogether over this one particular event. I would make the effort to talk with the church leadership about what happened and ask what you are supposed to do in such situations in the future. It may be that they aren't aware that it might be helpful to have someone as an usher who can help late-comers get a seat. In fact, this might enlighten them to a number of needs they just weren't aware they had before.
