Thankful!

I wrote this just after THanksgiving, but I forgot to hit "publish" on it. Sorry about that!

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A few weeks ago, I had this fabulous idea that my kids should all do a musical number in Sacrament meeting. I know, lots of you can't sing in church right now. But guess what - you can SIGN in church! Neener neener :) 

Actually, I forgot that you can't sing in church, and told my kids that some of them should sing the song and some of them should sign. Alas, the idea went over like a lead balloon. The big kids thought that was soooo little kid (ok, the song really is a little kid song, so they weren't TOTALLY wrong...) and the little kids didn't want to get up in public and sing. Sigh.

But the next day, I came downstairs and found Lillian fiddling with the song and starting to interpret it. So, I ventured to ask the Branch President if we could do it in church, if we actually got it together. 

This is not a trivial question. There's a basic rule in ASL that some things should be done by deaf people, and some things should definitely NOT be done by noobs (new signers). Interpreting songs is somewhere in that area. We've sung songs and had someone else interpret the song before. And we've signed in a group, like with the Primary. But we've never performed a song interpreted by ourselves with no deaf person involved before. So Marriner consulted his music experts, and Lillian was approved. Really, it's not that different from a traditional ward - unless the Bishop is very musical, he'll ask the ward music chairman to make sure the music is appropriate. But it caused much apprehension in this case, and great excitement to be approved!

Oh, except for Sam, who did NOT want to sing in church. But then we remembered that we actually can't sing in church...soo...we recorded the singing ahead of time. It was still a huge chore to get Sam to join in, but I'm glad he did. He has a lovely voice. And Lillian did such a great job of signing the song. I'm glad we got it to work out!

Several people commented on how Lillian's super-big smile made them so happy. It turns out, she was emulating our friend Jamila, our favorite interpreter for the church. She always makes you just so excited to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ just by watching her smile and enthusiasm when she signs a song. Lillian wanted to do that for everyone who watched her. It's wonderful to have such amazing role models! I'm not sure if this link will work for you, but if it does, you can see what I'm talking about here: https://www.facebook.com/jamilahubb/videos/10157391380760069

The tragic tale of the broken finger

 Guys, this story does not teach the right lessons at all. :)

On Monday, we said our family prayer, then Jane said her personal prayer with me. Jane and Martha have been really horsing around before, during and after prayer lately, and we've had some...strong...words from parents about it. So everyone was relatively calm. But after Jane's prayer, she did a little bronco buck and her knee came down on my pinkie finger, which was on the ground pushing me up. I heard a pop....dang it. (No, the moral of the story is NOT to skip praying!) And it hurt! The kids ran for ice, and Marriner just held me while I cried for a few minutes - I'd been having one of those irrationally emotional days already, and this was just the icing on the cake. But at some point I realized that the pop I'd heard...that must have meant something. So off to the urgent care we went. And guess what - it was broken! We've taken bets for years on which of my kids would be first to break a bone - I just didn't think it would be MY bone! 

The urgent care told me to go see an orthopedic dr, which was funny since I was already looking for an orthopedic doctor for Lillian! She's had a nagging pinkie injury from playing violin! So on Tuesday, she and I walked up to the office of the orthopedic doctor together. They handed me a form to explain that I was accompanying a minor and therefore allowed in the building with her. (Covid-19 restrictions.) I was like, nope, I'm a patient, too! Everyone thought our matching pinkie splints were adorable. I seriously think we made their day - it must be a little tiring working in a doctor's office right now. Well, I guess we're glad to help where we can!

The plus side of this is that I have an excuse not to do most of the chores I really didn't want to do anyway. :)

The down side is that I can't play the piano or sign. So yeah, church tomorrow...can't play, sing or sign the music...well, I guess I can sign a little, just sorta gimpy. And that's just how my worship will have to be!

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Merry Christmas! Since I wrote that ^^, Christmas has come and gone. Church was canceled because someone with Covid was in the building the week before, so they had to close and sanitize. I truly missed Christmas Sunday with no organ music. 

Our Sunday School class had a remarkable moment, though. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Deaf people from all over the country have visited our Sunday School class by zoom. This week, a brother who worked with us in the temple before and is learning ASL joined in. We were discussing Moroni's statement in Moroni 10:8 "And again I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God. The new brother asked about the sign for deny - we were using one sign, but the ASL Book of Mormon used a different sign.

"Well," the teacher replies, "let's ask Minnie Mae." Minnie Mae translated the entire Book of Mormon herself, and is one of the people who drops in to our class sometimes. I mean, what are the odds that when you ask a question about word choice in the Book of Mormon, the person who made that choice is there to explain it! What luck!

Minnie Mae basically said, "Gosh, I don't remember why I chose that sign over the other sign." Ok, well, that part was disappointing. :) But then she added a testimony that hit both me and Marriner like electricity. "I can tell you that I studied and considered every single word in the whole book - every it, the, or an. (Here she showed herself flipping through dictionaries and reference books - yikes, pre-internet! Tough job!) And I will tell you this - there is no way that book is not true. Don't deny the gifts of God."

(Now it's worth noting that the ASL Book of Mormon was recorded 25 years ago, and the language has evolved a lot since then. Most of the time when someone asks that question, the answer is, "the language has changed." But it wasn't in this case!)

Thanks, Minnie Mae, for your special testimony. I hope I always remember the incredible gift the Book of Mormon is in my life.

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A funny thing about Zoom - it knows who to spotlight by who is talking. So when you're using sign language, it just spotlights whoever has the most background noise (No, it's not always us! We usually keep our mic on mute! Tee hee...) But when people are joining on a small screen, you really need that spotlight to be able to see the person who is signing clearly enough to understand them...soo...our church meetings are now a paragon of order and politeness. When you want to answer a question, you raise your hand, then the teacher manually spotlights you, and THEN you can answer. And by the time everyone waited that long to know what you had to say, it had better be profound. :) It like those meeting with a visiting apostle where they pass the microphone around so people can answer questions! Except, you know, with only 10 people!

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Ok, one last story, then I'll quit. My sister came over to visit the other day. She lives about an hour away, and she joined us for lunch. It was my daughter's turn to invite someone to pray. Now our family has been praying only in ASL for a few months. Said daughter noticed that her aunt would obviously have to pray in English (or Tagalog - which I would have been happy with!) and ingeniously invited her to say the prayer. You could see the delight at her trickiness in her eyes :) Aunt Nicole graciously accepted the invitation, and then an awkward moment ensued. Then, "So guys, usually when you're about to pray, you close your eyes and bow your head..." We all looked at each other a little confused, which wasn't hard, because, yes, we all did have our eyes open still. Then we realized that our habits have changed in the last 3 years. She's right, usually people do close their eyes as soon as they expect a prayer. But not us! We keep our eyes open, just in case the person who is going to pray says it in sign language! :) (Even if they announce, "I'll say the prayer in English" we don't believe them. Many a time someone has said that, then without thought jumped into a prayer in sign language! Or vice-versa!) As soon as they say, "Dear Heavenly Father..." we all close our eyes and bow our heads. Most of the time, a couple of late eye closers don't stick out, but we were busted this time :) So we all closed our eyes. But it was tough, an irrational feeling of, "but what if I miss the first part of the prayer?" was still niggling at me. :) 

And that's what's been going on in our neck of the woods the last few months. We're a mess, but it's a fun mess!

Understanding the Sacrament

 We started "normal" church again this week. Not really normal, but we have in-person Sacrament meeting every week now! It's so crazy! It seems like so long ago that we woke up and drove to church...

Our new schedule has Sacrament meeting in the (gasp) morning! Ok, 10:30 isn't THAT early...but it does cause a showering crisis in our family. Years and years ago, we quit doing showers and baths on Saturday, because the kids always managed to get dirty again by the time we went to church. So, we do our cleanin' up for church Sunday morning. And getting 8 showers done in time for 12:00 church is just about right. 10:30 church is where we need to be pretty focused to get it done on time. Sigh :)

As we were taking the sacrament this week, a thought entered my head which I presume was the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. I realized that the little kids probably didn't understand the sacrament prayer very well, and it might be more meaningful if we translated it together. So for our Primary lesson, we got the videos of the sacrament prayers and went through it one sign at a time, one phrase at a time. The kids and I signed along with the video, over and over again until we knew it all.

Some of the signs were tough even in English. None of the younger kids knew what "benefit" means. (This is the sign used in "bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all who partake of it".) They totally struggled with the opening, "O God, the Eternal Father." What does "O" mean? Yeah, it's not a word we use a lot in every day language any more. 

After we were done with all the practice, which frankly was longer and more tedious than I would normally ask from a Primary lesson, I congratulated the kids on their hard work and told them how great it would be to be able to understand what they are saying next week. Martha laughed and said, "Or, I can just read the captions, like I do every week..."

Touche, little girl.

The Primary Program

 Today was the day! It was the PRIMARY PROGRAM! Enjoy it while it lasts, the video might not be up for long...my kids are in the first and last song, if you want to skip to the parts they're in.

Weren't they so cute?!?

Interestingly, today went just like most Primary program days...frantic and stressful leading up to the show. There were some last-minute technology changes that had me emailing and posting on FB the changes, then realizing I forgot to feed my kids lunch, then stuffing a sandwich in my face while yelling at people jobs to get set up...sigh. Even without leaving the house, the Primary program still causes drama :) But it was lovely to not have any kid drama. Nobody getting nervous and refusing to go up, nobody crying in the middle of a song and running down to their mom...the kids all performed beautifully! Of course, I was privy to some of the drama from 3 weeks ago, when the videos were due... And speaking of due, the whole reason we recorded the kids instead of just having them take turns on Zoom was because one mom was due the week after the program and was worried she'd have the baby before the program...and she did, the day before. Good call there, Mom!

Sam, Martha and Jane thoroughly enjoyed seeing themselves on camera. They probably paid attention to church better than any other time during the pandemic :) It was a little tricky to keep them sitting down... During the actual church service, the sound didn't come through. This is ok - it's a deaf branch. It gave us a much more authentic experience, for sure! But after church, the kids wanted to watch the songs again, with the sound. So we did, about 3 more times.

The kids have all grown up so much in the last 8 months. Our 3 boys who are graduating from Primary at the end of the year all look like deacons now. They're big and capable and intelligent. Eight months ago, I couldn't picture them hanging out with Lige in any meaningful way...but that doesn't seem like such a stretch any more. 

We don't have any Sunbeams, but Jane and Alora are coming into Primary in January, and both made complementary appearances. They provided the cute factor very competently. Jane couldn't keep up with the whole song, Nephi's Courage, but she totally knew the sign "obey" and always did it with vigor :) I didn't sign the song the same way I usually do, copying the video on the church website. I tried to simplify it a lot to make it easier for the young crowd. It was still a bit challenging for them. I've been thinking a lot lately about simplifying translations to make it easier for young kids. I'm curious what I'll think about this in the future, but for right now, it seems to make sense to keep the signs simple so the kids can actually get each sign, even though that usually sacrifices a little of the meaning. (For example, the song says, "I know the Lord provides a way, He wants me to obey" and we signed, "I know the Lord provides a way, I will obey.")

I told my sister after the broadcast, watching the kids today was exactly what I'd been craving for the last 7 months. Zoom parties with friends and other interactions are great, but little kids preaching the gospel is just what the soul needs. The kids are so darn human, so positive, so cheerful. They're my friends, the people I spend (spent) every Sunday with. Only even better now than before! It was just a fabulous day. 

So, next week we go back to having church every week, except no Primary. I sorta wish we could do something together, but for now, I'll just miss my cute kids. I'm glad things are moving forward, and look forward to actually having Primary in-person again!

Hanging out with my sisters

Three of the four siblings in my family now live in the Metro DC area, and it's really quite fun. Because we're all very careful about minimizing our interactions with others, we feel comfortable getting together and doing fun things together. We've sorta formed an social life pod. We miss our other sister in Utah, but it's been a big blessing to have family nearby.

One of the funniest things to me about when we get together is the language connection we have. 

My sister Nicole served a mission in the Philippines, like me, and we both speak Tagalog.

My sister Ashley took ASL in HS, and has stayed involved with the language. So we both speak ASL.

So I can talk to my sisters in different languages....just not at the same time... :)

ASL usually wins. Because many of the kids know at least a little, as well as Ashley's husband. And because both Nicole and I are rusty on our Tagalog. And because Tagalog isn't super useful for talking when there's food in your mouth, which is 90% of the time I use ASL at home. Just kidding.

Look at that handsome group of multi-lingual people! We have ASL, Tagalog, Spanish and Russian. Languages that we dabble in: German, French, Russian Sign Language, Japanese, and Brittish :)

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I spoke in church on Sunday. It wasn't a particularly brilliant talk, but it was a landmark - first time in 3 years that I haven't come home feeling glum that my talks are so bad! Yeah baby! I felt like I was able to explain some thoughts and feelings with enough sophistication that they didn't sound like a Primary kid talk. My last talk was awful, my hands just did not work with me. This time I prayed pretty specifically for the gift of tongues (er, hands) to be able to express myself freely. It was way better. Definite confirmation of God's hand in my life there!

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We got a giggle out of Jane's reason she couldn't tell us what people had talked about in church today: "Everyone was just being too noisy, so I couldn't understand!" Uhhh...Jane....it was in sign language....

We have an Eagle Scout in the room.

 So...actually, we've had an Eagle Scout for years, Marriner earned his award back in...1992? But Lige earned his back in January, and never got to have his court of honor. It was scheduled for March 15th. We all know how that turned out. That was the day after the kids came home from school for a "2-week break"...

Last week, Lige's Scoutmaster, Brother Scott, texted, "Hey, I have the day off on Wednesday, what if we do a drive-by court of honor for Lige?" So we decorated the driveway, bought some donuts (cuz they sounded good) and had a little private ceremony. Grandma joined by zoom and a neighbor cheered from her car. 

Here he is!

Here's our big crowd for the ceremony...

With his Scoutmaster

Pins for his parents and mentors

This is what happens when you give your 7-yr old the camera and tell him to take pictures....

Sitting down to a birthday dinner, and realizing we'd probably better take at least one picture of him without his mask on....

Preparing for the Primary Program

This week was all about Primary Program prep.

The Primary Program is an annual event where the kids take over the worship service. Usually they work for months in Primary (Junior Sunday School) to learn songs in ASL and practice talks. The weeks before, we go to the chapel and practice using the microphone. It's sorta my main job at church.

Not to say the same thing in every. single. thing. I. write - BUT....this year has been different!

Despite not having any Primary meetings since March, we decided to go ahead with a simplified program by Zoom. We gave each kid an assignment (a song, talk or scripture, depending on age) and asked their parents to record their contributions. Then our local tech-genius will put them together into a program to be played at our worship service on October 18th.

It seemed like a great idea on paper, but getting the kids to record their parts was more than I bargained for! Sunday afternoons, my kids turn into....wiggle worms.... We got one song recorded, but hadn't been able to learn the second song well enough to record last week. I was really nervous all week about how to get my kids to show up on camera this week!

The answer came in the form of...revelation! I had a little voice whisper that my kids might do better if they had an audience to perform for. Hmmm....so one night, I got my parents (who were up really late in France) to watch my kids show-off their songs. The kids totally took the bait. Everyone was so happy. Family ties were strengthened. And I got my precious video!

The last thing I needed was a video of Sam playing the accompaniment for one of the songs. I thought that one would be easy, but it ended up being the hardest of all, as he hadn't practiced the song much lately and kept messing it up. After an agonizing hour of trying to record it and messing up, we decided to make it into a duet - he played the top hand, Lillian played the left. And that worked out. We got the video. They got cake in a mug (b-r-i-b-e....) 

I can't wait to see the Primary program in its fullness in a few weeks! I know some of the other parents were resorting to b-r-i-b-e's too, but the idea of having a normal, cute, perhaps hilarious Primary program just makes my heart happy, and I think the difficulty of extracting normalcy-on-camera from a kid are all worth it!

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In another observation, Martha has been praying for her extended family lately. Some aunts, uncles and cousins who live close together all got coronavirus from one of the high school students, so they were in our prayers. Only I didn't realize Martha was praying for them. She's always prayed for her family, but she's started doing family REALLY big. 

Family in ASL, from www.lifeprint.com

 

Martha will do it so big, she'll almost fall off her knees reaching in front of her. Sometimes she bonks her mom or dad kneeling across from her. I sorta laughed at her gigantic family sign, and noted to myself that we need to hang out with more Deaf people, so she can stop doing weird things. Then the other day, she bonked me, and I mentioned that she didn't have to do it so big. "Oh, no, mom, this is how I sign my big family - all my aunts and uncles and cousins. The little one just means the family that lives here with us." First off, I love the way kids use lots of descriptive language to express things they don't have the vocabulary for. Second, I love the way she gets ASL - that's exactly the way it works. You draw it with your hands. I don't know if an adult deaf signer would ever do that exact thing, but the principle was sound.

Back to School!

 It's late summer!! I know some of my readers call this "fall", but not around here. We're enduring our last heat wave of the year (knock on wood...pretty please!!_) and then hopefully we can have just normal late-summer days....but for right now, I'm hiding in my house. Except, of course, for when I go out to pick stuff like this:

But the big event of the week is school starting! Here's what everyone looks like so far this year:

Most of the kids have been using two computers - one from the school, and one of ours as a back-up, because the internet is struggling with all the stuff they have going on. One of Lige's teachers wanted them to run Zoom and 3 different Chemistry apps at the same time on their little Chromebooks. That didn't work... But things are starting to calm down as teachers, students and parents get a feel for what works.

We have the Junior/Senior High School downstairs in the family room, and the Elementary School on the main floor, in the dining room. We found that 5 people on Zoom in the same room, trying to interact with their teachers, was too chaotic. So we spread out a bit. Marriner is upstairs in his room, where is office is. Jane gets the living room to play (quietly!) That leaves the kitchen and the kids' bedrooms for me :) 

Being quiet isn't as hard as I thought it would be - if Jane doesn't have anyone to play with, she doesn't feel a need to scream. Hmmm.... :) But we do use a lot more sign language than we used to, just so we don't disturb people. Today I realized that this is actually really good for Jane! So I've been taking the opportunity to coach her on how to respond in sign language, and we've sorta go our secret code going on. That's the best part of ASL - it feels so secret-code-y!!

Of course, our attempts to be quiet don't always work. Today, I realized I needed to grind wheat to make sandwich bread (and no, don't give me any of that "why don't you just make white bread" stuff. Only wheat bread will do for me today. Jane even suggested we make cinnamon raisin wheat bread. Yum!) So, I waited until 2 kids were on break (that's the maximum number at any time. Have you guys seen my schedule yet? I must show it to you, it's exciting) and told everyone else they couldn't make any comments for a few minutes. It worked out.

(Here's the schedule. It's great. I love how nobody has a break at the same time. I also love how the middle school kids have way more breaks than the middle schoolers. *sarcasm)

I've got one more good ASL-related story from the start of school. Martha had a one-on-one meeting with her teacher yesterday. Mrs. Elumba was quizzing Martha on her letters and numbers, to see what she knows. I guess the teacher said to hold up the number of fingers of the number she saw on the screen. I saw Martha say, "two" and hold up two fingers. "Five, " and 5 fingers. "Six," and hold up her three middle fingers...a pause..."Well, Mrs. E, that's the SIGN for six!" Fortunately, her teacher had already heard that she knows sign language, so she got what she meant. Made me chuckle, though. And Martha was pretty funny trying to figure out how to put up 8 fingers, instead of signing 8. Turns out, she doesn't actually do that much. But my mom-self was laughing that it would have been just as hilarious if she'd tried to sign 8, because she can never remember the difference between 7 and 8, anyway :)