Honestly, I would have liked more time to prepare. 5 days with a holiday in the mix was a little scary. I started praying specifically for two things: first, that my talk would be able to come together quickly, that I'd be able to get inspiration quickly about what to say, so I could have time to work on the ASL. And second, that I would be able to make sense, even though I wouldn't be able to practice as much as I did last time!
Both of those prayers were answered so completely. It was amazing to see. My last talk, I wrote out word-for-word and basically read the paper. This talk, I could sign a lot more freely. I had to practice a lot, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I've gotten a LOT better.
One of my favorite things about ASL is the visually interactive nature of it. It doesn't disturb others in the congregation if you sign at the speaker - it's not like someone yelling from the back of the chapel. So when I come to a sign that's new to me, and I'm not sure I'm doing it right, I make a "is that right" look with my face, and a few people from the congregation will nod or correct me, and I can keep going. Once I finger spelled a word I didn't know, and someone signed that up to me. Even in a formal setting, these people are so friendly and encouraging and supportive. Really, if you want to do something hard, get these guys to cheer you on.
As you all know, my kids were pretty poorly behaved last week. We had a lot of family discussion and creative problem solving this week, and things were soooo much better. We instituted assigned seating. This is how my family sits now in Sacrament meeting: Lige, Mom (with Jane), Sam, Ellis, Martha, Lillian. Lillian has to be on the right side of the pew, so we're not spread out all over creation. Sam and Martha may not sit together, nor may Sam and Lillian or Martha and Jane. When Dad gets home, he rates each person's behavior from 1 to 5 stars. We're going for a 5-star Sacrament meeting. It seems a little overkill, but gosh, things went better this week! Whenever Sam started to get grumpy, I'd say, "A 5-star Sacrament meeting doesn't have angry boys in it..." and he'd totally stop! Martha wasn't quite as easy to persuade, but not having someone egg her on really helped, so hooray for that!
After I spoke came Brother H. We had the same topic, and we'd both come to the same conclusion, which meant we had pretty much the same talk. When I say what I'm about to say, I want to be clear that I'm not being negative about my talk at all - I think it was a great talk, very guided by the Spirit. But oh, Brother H's talk was just wonderful! So often he expressed what I was trying to say, so much better than I could. I just about jumped for gladness every time he'd give a beautiful analogy to explain our point. I'm totally not to the point of making analogies yet :) But guess what - I am to the point of understanding a talk on a specific topic that I recently studied :)
Well, it looks like it's my bedtime. Have a great week, I'm taking off!
One of my favorite things about ASL is the visually interactive nature of it. It doesn't disturb others in the congregation if you sign at the speaker - it's not like someone yelling from the back of the chapel. So when I come to a sign that's new to me, and I'm not sure I'm doing it right, I make a "is that right" look with my face, and a few people from the congregation will nod or correct me, and I can keep going. Once I finger spelled a word I didn't know, and someone signed that up to me. Even in a formal setting, these people are so friendly and encouraging and supportive. Really, if you want to do something hard, get these guys to cheer you on.
As you all know, my kids were pretty poorly behaved last week. We had a lot of family discussion and creative problem solving this week, and things were soooo much better. We instituted assigned seating. This is how my family sits now in Sacrament meeting: Lige, Mom (with Jane), Sam, Ellis, Martha, Lillian. Lillian has to be on the right side of the pew, so we're not spread out all over creation. Sam and Martha may not sit together, nor may Sam and Lillian or Martha and Jane. When Dad gets home, he rates each person's behavior from 1 to 5 stars. We're going for a 5-star Sacrament meeting. It seems a little overkill, but gosh, things went better this week! Whenever Sam started to get grumpy, I'd say, "A 5-star Sacrament meeting doesn't have angry boys in it..." and he'd totally stop! Martha wasn't quite as easy to persuade, but not having someone egg her on really helped, so hooray for that!
After I spoke came Brother H. We had the same topic, and we'd both come to the same conclusion, which meant we had pretty much the same talk. When I say what I'm about to say, I want to be clear that I'm not being negative about my talk at all - I think it was a great talk, very guided by the Spirit. But oh, Brother H's talk was just wonderful! So often he expressed what I was trying to say, so much better than I could. I just about jumped for gladness every time he'd give a beautiful analogy to explain our point. I'm totally not to the point of making analogies yet :) But guess what - I am to the point of understanding a talk on a specific topic that I recently studied :)
Well, it looks like it's my bedtime. Have a great week, I'm taking off!
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