It is good to have Dilbert home, even though it means I have to start cooking again. I have slept better the last few nights than I had in months, thanks to exhaustion and a warm body next to me to fight off any bogymen who might come to get me during the night.
Saturday was a glorious day. We actually saw the sun in all its brilliant yellow glory and we had our first thaw in weeks. I was finally able to chip ice off the driveway and walks that I thought were going to be permanent reminders of my slothfulness. Yeah! I get to start anew and just in time for a big storm later today! Can you hear the sarcasm dripping from my words?
Yesterday was equally warm but very overcast. We sub-ed in Primary again. This time was better than last week but not as good as the week before. The twins are sweet little boys who are very well behaved, despite what their mom assures me is an inaccurate assessment. Another little boy, who has already turned 5, is only difficult when he is bored which isn't hard for him to achieve since he is such a smart little cookie. The Ukrainian girl was there again this week. She loves to thumb through the Children's Songbook and point out all the pictures of Jesus. Jesus is one word in English she understands. She is also pretty good with colors and animals, but the rest of our communication is done with gestures. She is frequently lost as to what we are doing, so I let her amuse herself with crayons (she absolutely loves to color and does a very nice job of it for a 4 year-old). She is very clingy which is typical of these adopted kids. We have three other Ukrainian adoptees in our ward so I've seen this behavior before. The crier was at it again, unfortunately. His insecurity manifests itself every time we change rooms. He immediately starts to cry for his mom again. After a few minutes, if there isn't any intervention by his mom or the Primary presidency, we can get him settled down again and then he is an angel. But if someone else gives him the "attention" he is looking for, he wont calm down. The most heartwarming change is in the little boy whose grandparents bring him to Primary. He's never been to church before so he didn't know how to behave, but he gets it now and is so good. He beams as I give him the "thumbs-up" sign, letting him know he is still being reverent and thus gets to keep sitting in the next row with his cousin. He has made a HUGE change. We practiced walking reverently to class and back to Sharing Time so they now behave in the halls, too. But it is exhausting. I know it will get easier. We have been "told" we are being called to teach the class but it hasn't happened yet. And the Bishop announced he was being released next week so we'll see if it happens any time soon. But in the meantime, I have been praying about what to do for these kids and I think we will start a "responsibility" chart so that the kids have a "job" in class. I think that will help their reverence and make them want to be there (who would want to miss the chance to be the line leader to the drinking fountain, after all!). I want to have a class song, too, that we sing as we start the lesson time (we play a quick game before we start the lesson, whether it is follow the leader or taking a ride on a make-believe bus to help them relax as we deal with the crier). Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
After our ward was through, I had another Primary to attend (as Stake Primary Music Chorister I attend all ward conferences). It was a great ward. I especially liked that the sharing time was done by a candy maker and he gave out mint truffles at the end. Yeah for mint truffles. I know it falls in the "pertains to the lesson" candy rule in Primary. Mint truffles are definitely pertinent to ANY lesson.
I came home exhausted after 5 hours of church, but it was a good tired. I made a really yummy dinner of Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breasts with a Cheddar-Mustard Sauce. It is a keeper! After dinner I jumped right into helping N and H with their history fair projects. I learned that the trials were a result of changing demographics in Puritan Salem. Because the community was concerned with rapid growth and the "pollution" of non-believers in their town, the atmosphere was ripe for the general hysteria of witch hunts. I didn't know that! H had just read Number the Stars so she was interested in World War II. That proved to be far too big a topic so we narrowed it down. She was able to call her Grandpa Bob and talk to him about what it was like for him (he was 10 when the war started). What a valuable opportunity for her to get some oral history from him! She kept saying, "I still don't know what it was really like!" so we had a chance to talk about what it is like being a kid during the "War on Terror". We decided it was pretty much the same kind of "fear" so kids then weren't so different. Of course it was much different for kids in Europe... Anyway, after a few hours of cutting and gluing, the displays were done and we got to bed on time. The same cannot be said for my neighbor who kindly brought brownies over and found us pasting. She didn't even know when the project were due and hadn't started them at 7:30 last night. Fortunately I had a spare display board (I had bought one for M before I knew her teacher was taking care of it in class--yeah again for Mrs. Farris!) so she grabbed it and went home to get started but not before getting a text from her kids letting us know that President Hinkley had passed away. What an amazing prophet he was and how blessed we were to have him and how blessed we were to witness the amazing changes he brought about in the church.
I am sad for us at his passing; I am sure he is happily back reunited with his wife and thus cannot feel bad for him. I grew up with a Grammy who had what I like to call a "farmers" attitude towards death. Life on a farm gives you plenty of exposure to life and death. It also creates a kind of "pioneer" attitude that, yeah, you are sad, but there are still chores to be done so make your peace and get back to work... So now it is back to the work of the gospel...
Saturday was a glorious day. We actually saw the sun in all its brilliant yellow glory and we had our first thaw in weeks. I was finally able to chip ice off the driveway and walks that I thought were going to be permanent reminders of my slothfulness. Yeah! I get to start anew and just in time for a big storm later today! Can you hear the sarcasm dripping from my words?
Yesterday was equally warm but very overcast. We sub-ed in Primary again. This time was better than last week but not as good as the week before. The twins are sweet little boys who are very well behaved, despite what their mom assures me is an inaccurate assessment. Another little boy, who has already turned 5, is only difficult when he is bored which isn't hard for him to achieve since he is such a smart little cookie. The Ukrainian girl was there again this week. She loves to thumb through the Children's Songbook and point out all the pictures of Jesus. Jesus is one word in English she understands. She is also pretty good with colors and animals, but the rest of our communication is done with gestures. She is frequently lost as to what we are doing, so I let her amuse herself with crayons (she absolutely loves to color and does a very nice job of it for a 4 year-old). She is very clingy which is typical of these adopted kids. We have three other Ukrainian adoptees in our ward so I've seen this behavior before. The crier was at it again, unfortunately. His insecurity manifests itself every time we change rooms. He immediately starts to cry for his mom again. After a few minutes, if there isn't any intervention by his mom or the Primary presidency, we can get him settled down again and then he is an angel. But if someone else gives him the "attention" he is looking for, he wont calm down. The most heartwarming change is in the little boy whose grandparents bring him to Primary. He's never been to church before so he didn't know how to behave, but he gets it now and is so good. He beams as I give him the "thumbs-up" sign, letting him know he is still being reverent and thus gets to keep sitting in the next row with his cousin. He has made a HUGE change. We practiced walking reverently to class and back to Sharing Time so they now behave in the halls, too. But it is exhausting. I know it will get easier. We have been "told" we are being called to teach the class but it hasn't happened yet. And the Bishop announced he was being released next week so we'll see if it happens any time soon. But in the meantime, I have been praying about what to do for these kids and I think we will start a "responsibility" chart so that the kids have a "job" in class. I think that will help their reverence and make them want to be there (who would want to miss the chance to be the line leader to the drinking fountain, after all!). I want to have a class song, too, that we sing as we start the lesson time (we play a quick game before we start the lesson, whether it is follow the leader or taking a ride on a make-believe bus to help them relax as we deal with the crier). Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
After our ward was through, I had another Primary to attend (as Stake Primary Music Chorister I attend all ward conferences). It was a great ward. I especially liked that the sharing time was done by a candy maker and he gave out mint truffles at the end. Yeah for mint truffles. I know it falls in the "pertains to the lesson" candy rule in Primary. Mint truffles are definitely pertinent to ANY lesson.
I came home exhausted after 5 hours of church, but it was a good tired. I made a really yummy dinner of Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breasts with a Cheddar-Mustard Sauce. It is a keeper! After dinner I jumped right into helping N and H with their history fair projects. I learned that the trials were a result of changing demographics in Puritan Salem. Because the community was concerned with rapid growth and the "pollution" of non-believers in their town, the atmosphere was ripe for the general hysteria of witch hunts. I didn't know that! H had just read Number the Stars so she was interested in World War II. That proved to be far too big a topic so we narrowed it down. She was able to call her Grandpa Bob and talk to him about what it was like for him (he was 10 when the war started). What a valuable opportunity for her to get some oral history from him! She kept saying, "I still don't know what it was really like!" so we had a chance to talk about what it is like being a kid during the "War on Terror". We decided it was pretty much the same kind of "fear" so kids then weren't so different. Of course it was much different for kids in Europe... Anyway, after a few hours of cutting and gluing, the displays were done and we got to bed on time. The same cannot be said for my neighbor who kindly brought brownies over and found us pasting. She didn't even know when the project were due and hadn't started them at 7:30 last night. Fortunately I had a spare display board (I had bought one for M before I knew her teacher was taking care of it in class--yeah again for Mrs. Farris!) so she grabbed it and went home to get started but not before getting a text from her kids letting us know that President Hinkley had passed away. What an amazing prophet he was and how blessed we were to have him and how blessed we were to witness the amazing changes he brought about in the church.
I am sad for us at his passing; I am sure he is happily back reunited with his wife and thus cannot feel bad for him. I grew up with a Grammy who had what I like to call a "farmers" attitude towards death. Life on a farm gives you plenty of exposure to life and death. It also creates a kind of "pioneer" attitude that, yeah, you are sad, but there are still chores to be done so make your peace and get back to work... So now it is back to the work of the gospel...
1 comment:
great post, I was there w/ you-- I remember being there for one of these nights w/you guys:> H asking GB --i could hear her But I still don't know what it was really like sort of like but why ? She is a girl after my heart, They really hated me in 7th and 8th grade Science for asking that question to death.
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