My lesson today

I have been with the Beehives now for a little over two months, but have just noticed in the past couple of weeks that the girls sit by the same people every week, and visit with the same 1 or 2 girls every activity night too. It is interesting to me because there are so many of them! We have 16 girls in the class. Oh, they are so cute, but I like the idea of helping them to have comfort zones that are bigger than just 2 or 3 people! Wouldn't that be a great skill for them to learn now - to be able to stretch their comfort zones to include all of the girls in the group? Maybe it is expecting a lot of them, but I have high hopes that they could learn how to look beyond themselves and think more of helping others feel loved and needed.

I feel strongly about this too because the problem never seems to go away - I don't know how many times we talked in Relief Society about helping women in the ward to feel accepted and loved, and I have to admit that I have had times where my insecurites take hold, and I feel like the odd man out. Another reason this has been on my mind, is because it is something that I have had to work on consciously - I told Scott today that I would label myself a "recovering introvert". :) He didn't think that I should label myself, but it describes some of the tugging that I have felt from Heavenly Father over the years. Because I know the gospel is true, because I know that Heavenly Father loves me, and because I know that Heavenly Father can use me to help others that He also loves, I need to look outside of myself to try and lift others. I really try to smile, to call people by name, to ask them questions about things I know about them - most of the time it feels natural, and I really do care about people in general, but sometimes I have to push myself to Enrichment Night or to a neighborhood function because the socializing seems like an effort to me.

Anyway, with all this in mind, I gave the lesson today. The theme for the lesson was following the example of Christ, and it seemed to go well. I think the girls took away some ideas about things they could do in their homes and with the other neighborhood girls that would be more Christlike, and it was such a good reminder for me too! We wrote some of Christ's qualities up on the board, and as we listed "forgiving", "perfect example", "healer", "served and loved others", I thought to myself, and I said to the girls too, "Who wouldn't want to have all of these qualities!? I know that I want them!" You can't go wrong teaching a lesson about Christ -

Almost as great as the lesson topic though, was what we did beforehand. :) I had the girls sit in alphabetical order so their little comfort zones were all destroyed! (heh, heh, heh!) Then, they visited with the girl next to them for a minute and found out one good thing that had happened to them that week, then shared what their partner told them with the group. I loved seeing them mixed up all crazy! (That sounded a little bit like something Junie B. Jones would say!) They are all such good, kind girls, and were cute as they told about the good thing that had happened in their friend's life that week. My biggest hope in this calling is that they would know enough about God's love for them, so that they could forget about themselves and go forward in helping others.

My other happy feeling about the lesson comes because all of the girls commented. Usually we have three of the sixteen girls who answer all of the questions, so today, I asked a question, gave them a minute to think about how they would answer, then I called on specific girls so that we heard from all sixteen! Hooray! For next time, I need to come up with a better closer. I got to the end and really didn't have a clear idea of what I was going to say. Hmmm. It is good to have something to work on. :)

January birthdays

Today is Ethan's birthday, and Justin's birthday was last Thursday. Their birthdays have been really tender for me this year. I have felt so much gratitude that they could be in our family - that they are both so nice to the littler kids, that they enjoy goofing off together - even if the decibel level is not always to my liking :), and mostly that I get to be their mother. They are good boys. It is humbling to me that Heavenly Father trusted their souls to my care. Their birthdays are a reminder of the joy they brought into Scott's and my life when they were born, and a reminder of the joy that they continue to bring to our family. Happy Birthday, guys!

Adam's up and coming music career

I keep a little journal for all of our kids like Mom did for us. I have started doing Justin and Ethan's from my perspective, but still do the younger kids' journals in first person. Here is what I wrote from Adam's perspective in December:

"When Mommy or Daddy say goodnight to Lindsey and me, they sing us a couple of songs. My favorite is “Follow the Prophet” because there is a verse about me! I love to sing “Adam was a prophet, first one that we know. In a place called Eden, he helped things to grow.” I always smile really big when I hear my name in the song. I have four or five songs that I like to hear – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Up on the Housetop, Follow the Prophet, and I am a Child of God. I usually ask for the same song three or four days in a row, then move onto another song for a few days.

One night while Mommy was singing goodnight songs to Lindsey and me in our bedroom, Garrett was slithering around out in the hall. I was more interested in getting his attention, so went into the hall with him while Mommy sang a song to Lindsey. While she sang, I started singing too. I was trying to get Garrett to come into our bedroom, so held the blanket out in front of him and sang to the melody of “Follow the Prophet”: “Follow the blankie, follow the blankie . . .” I am quite a lyricist. The family still sings my song to the tune of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” – “I’m stirring a fish. I’m stirring a fish. I’m stirring a fish. It very not nice. Santa Claus is coming to town.” (And yes, the words are “it very not nice”.)"

Yes!

Three days and 116 pages later, I have finished scrapbooking 2005!!!!!!!!! Yes, I just typed in eight exclamation points, and they still don't quite capture my mood. I am going to enjoy this GLORIOUS feeling before I think too much about the prep work I need to do to get 2006 ready. :)