When we first started at our church, Pastor Angela asked if I wanted to help with Sunday School. I immediately said “no.” Give me a room full of adults, and I know just what to do. Kids? Forget it. They need crafts and snacks. Most terrifyingly, they see right through you and how you’d rather be lying in bed with magazines than listening to their thoughts about God.

So I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve been enjoying teaching Wyatt’s little 6-8 year-old Sunday school class. We light a candle when they first come in, and I ask them how their week was. They are always bursting with news. Irene went to her Grandma’s house. Nora got in a fight with her brother, and Annie got a new stuffed animal for Valentine’s Day. Wyatt eagerly pumped is hand in the air, dying for me to call on him. His news:  ”My mom got a new iPhone.”

It’s true. Wyatt and Yancey have been making fun of my obsessed ineptness all weekend. I couldn’t sleep last night, and I truly think it was due to iPhone Excitement. I got up at midnight and went back to bed at 2:00. I prepped for Wyatt’s class; cleaned the kitchen; started these muffins; and yes–browsed the App Store.

The Sunday School curriculum says things like , “Supplies needed for February 21: 6 indsustrial-strength crab pots; bandsaw; live bait; 12 yards of baling wire; and 400 rounded popsicle sticks.” Good Lord. I’m not that committed to my child’s learning. So last night at 1:00 a.m., cutting 20 footprints out of construction paper (don’t ask), I was surprised to feel so content. The house was quiet, my newborn iPhone was happily sleeping, and I felt for a moment how precious those six kids were that would be coming to my class in the morning. Sunday School isn’t about morals or getting indoctrinated. If you’re in my class at my church, it’s about growing up together, about looking past the answers to the amazing questions that children will ask if they’re not surrounded by know-it-alls.

And it’s about muffins. Last time, I scrounged a snack last-minute–a bag of tangerines and oatmeal raisin granola bars.Wyatt hates that variety, and was mortified we didn’t have chocolate chip ones to bring. Remember that feeling? That you’re the kid without the cool snacks? He felt much better about the snack situation this morning, helping pass them out and distribute seconds. I didn’t tell them about the oat bran and zucchini.

Sunday School Muffins
These are a riff on Morning Glory Muffins. I guess I’ve been Muffin Queen lately. I suppose there are worse things to be.

2 cups flour
1/4 c. oat bran
2 ts. baking soda
2 ts. cinnamon
1 ts. salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
4 large carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
1 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 and butter 15 muffin cups or line with cupcake liners.

Mix dry ingredient together in medium bowl and set aside.

In large bowl, combine grated carrots and zucchini. Add flour mixture and mix with your hands to coat. Add vegetable oil and eggs, stirring to combine.

Fill muffin cups to the top, and bake for about 25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and tops spring back a bit. Let cool for 5 minutes in pan, then remove.