1. In my last post I mentioned that Reid gave his first talk in Primary last Sunday. I actually spoke in Sacrament meeting that same week. Rather than having a weekly sermon offered by a priest or preacher, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints take turns giving talks from the pulpit. A member of the Bishopric decides on a theme for the meeting and assigns three (or two or four) speakers a topic from the theme. We're usually given two to three weeks notice to prepare.
My topic was compassion for others and I really appreciated the opportunity to study examples of compassion in the scriptures. Ben invited one of his colleagues to come and she was sweet enough to hold Nell through out my entire speech. Reid raised his hand the moment I took the pulpit. It was sweet, watching his eager little face stare at me, just waiting for me to call on him. Ha! I was asked to prepare a 15 minute talk, but ended up only having about 7 minutes to give it. I was crossing out paragraphs and full pages right before I took to the stand. Here's a link to the original talk; eight pages I had to cut down to four right on the spot (the speaker just before me actually used the parable of the Good Samaritan (he spoke on empathy), so that was easy to cut).
2. I snapped this photo after we got home from Church and the stress of giving a talk (and helping Reid with his) had disappeared. I actually took it so I could show my dad that Coraline got dressed at least once this week. We're not total bums Grandpa.
3. When I was a missionary in Malaysia I promised one sweet man I'd teach my kids to eat with "the original spoon." It was generally understood that missionaries who used their hands to eat had fully embraced Malaysian culture -- and trust me, I embraced it! I love Borneo Island! Anyway, Nell required no teaching. This girl is a natural!
My topic was compassion for others and I really appreciated the opportunity to study examples of compassion in the scriptures. Ben invited one of his colleagues to come and she was sweet enough to hold Nell through out my entire speech. Reid raised his hand the moment I took the pulpit. It was sweet, watching his eager little face stare at me, just waiting for me to call on him. Ha! I was asked to prepare a 15 minute talk, but ended up only having about 7 minutes to give it. I was crossing out paragraphs and full pages right before I took to the stand. Here's a link to the original talk; eight pages I had to cut down to four right on the spot (the speaker just before me actually used the parable of the Good Samaritan (he spoke on empathy), so that was easy to cut).
2. I snapped this photo after we got home from Church and the stress of giving a talk (and helping Reid with his) had disappeared. I actually took it so I could show my dad that Coraline got dressed at least once this week. We're not total bums Grandpa.
3. When I was a missionary in Malaysia I promised one sweet man I'd teach my kids to eat with "the original spoon." It was generally understood that missionaries who used their hands to eat had fully embraced Malaysian culture -- and trust me, I embraced it! I love Borneo Island! Anyway, Nell required no teaching. This girl is a natural!
4. She constantly cracks everyone up. Even complete strangers. I spent 14 minutes in a cardio class today at the gym, yes, just 14 minutes, and I was totally worn out. After picking up the girls from drop in child care we all took a seat in the lobby. Nell kept insisting we go watch Reid in his swimming lesson and I told her I needed a minute to relax because I was out of breath. She quickly responded "Here, you can have some of mine!" And then very sweetly leaned in to blow fresh air toward my mouth. The man sitting across from us got a chuckle out of that. And of course, when she announced "There, all better. Let's go see Reid," I had to get up and take them to the super stuffy swimming pool area.
5. Reid hit Nell with a full fledged punch in the stomach today. It was awesome. Proud parenting moment. I didn't even know how to adequately respond. He was sent to his room and I later told him he should never punch anyone. He mentioned he could punch Satan, but I stuck with my rule. We don't punch anyone, ever. Not even if they punch first (disagree with me all you want on that one, but I'm the parent and that's my rule). First, I told him he'd probably never see Satan, and that if he did the only way to really get rid of him is to command him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to leave. So we practiced telling Satan to leave, which I'm sure will come in super handy some day.
6. Ben and I watched the first two episodes of Fuller House tonight. We both laughed several times and I got a little teary eyed more than once. It's super cheesy and completely hammed up, but I think we could all use a little wholesome throwback to TGIF. Ben mentioned he'd be interested in a Family Matters reunion. So many good memories of family friendly Friday night TV.
7. Last night I watched the Republican debate. It was not family friendly, and it was only funny in a scary sort of way. Seriously, Trump and Cruz are the people we want to teach our kids to emulate and respect? No thank you. It is the first one I've seen this election season. I was cheering on Marco Rubio as he took on Trump. He was so cool and collected about it. I was really impressed. I hope and pray that either one of the Democrat candidates or Rubio or Kasich (who doesn't have a prayer) make it to the White House. Heaven help us if it's Trump or Cruz! It'll be interesting to see if the GOP has a brokered convention.
1 comment:
Great post. I'm never going to live down my comments about Lou, am I? She is adorable, as are you, my sweet girl. Loved Nell's comment about "giving you breath." Out of the mouths of babes...
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