My kids want to be The Piano Guys.

A few weeks ago, someone needed some emergency help, and I abandoned my older kids at home to run and help. Friends, can I just tell you what good kids I have? These kids see their mom run out the door somewhat frantically, and they put their heads together and decide to help Mom out.

First off, they cleaned up breakfast all by themselves. Without being told to. Like, all the way, all the way. That's something that's never happened before!

Then they decided to write a piano song to play when I came in the door so I could come in and have some nice music to help me not be stressed out. I don't think this is the sort of thing my sisters and I thought of when we were kids. (Sorry, sibs, guess we just weren't so cool after all.) So after some discussion (which I predict might have been heated at times, maybe just as well that Mom wasn't home!) they decided to write a Piano Guys song. So this is what I walked in the door to hear (because they set a watchman at the window to make sure they knew when I pulled up):

Of course, I didn't record it the first time, I had to make them play it again so I could take a movie. Which is a really funny part of our society. But aren't you glad I did it, anyway?

I think my favorite part is how Ellis lets Martha play the last note. They're artistic enough that they don't want her to ruin the song, but humane enough to not want to leave anyone out.

Ah...I love these kiddos.

Martha-moo, sign-er-oo

This week was Martha week :) She's cute. She can sign. She usually whispers at the same time. She has an adorable smile. She makes us all happy. (Except when she skips her nap. 'Nuff said.)

I was very bad and took a movie of her saying her prayer a few days ago. Alas, my camera beeped when I pushed the record button, so she knew she was performing. But she's still cute, anyway.

That thing she's saying at the end that looks like food: That's an M for John Mikkael, who had gotten appendicitis that week.

Here's Martha's other cute video, from our branch service project. She was working with Sister Robinson to put things in bags, and she just thought it was great :) As you can tell. The noise in the background is hair dryers, drying paint on the bags.

Alright, we're all feeling happier now. Have a great rest of the day!

An interesting development...

Every week, I play prelude music on the organ to set a reverent mood in the chapel while people are gathering. Though many people can't hear, there are still a lot that can, especially the kids, who need some reminders to be quiet and get themselves ready for the sacrament. So it's good.

When we sing, we use pre-recorded hymns with people singing in the recording. It helps those of us who are singing to not feel like we're singing in a vacuum, and it works well for signing. Since the person leading the music isn't conducting the beat, it's harder for the organist to set a good tempo and such. One time, the music conductor was deaf, and we just didn't end at remotely the same time. But she could hear the pre-recorded music a bit better, so she'd never had that problem before.

Last week, the cord that hooks the conductor's phone into the sound system went missing. I was called upon to play the organ at the last minute, hooray for backup plans. Or maybe not - if our family wasn't there, how many other people would care if they just skipped the music and signed the song together without it? But whatever, we got music.

This week, the cord was still missing....

Lige is one of the music conductors. He does the music by playing the video of the song in ASL on my tablet, with the sound playing over the speakers. Tonight we realized that he'd better change his plans for this month, in case the cord is still gone! He's going to have to write down his signs or something, because he can't watch the movie and have the organ play, too. What if the organ is just a little bit faster than the movie?

Maybe we need to start praying for the cord to show up! :)

200 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches!

This is for Ellis, Lizzie, Lillian, Cameron, Andre, Xander and KJ, to remember what they did.

In February, we decided to do a service project. Our goal was to earn enough money to make 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to give to Martha's Table.

From their website:

MAKE TRAIL MIX OR SANDWICHES

Every night, our mobile food truck, McKenna’s Wagon, rolls out to serve hundreds of homeless and hungry neighbors a hot meal, fresh fruit, trail mix, and sandwiches.

We ask that sandwiches are either peanut butter and jelly, or meat and cheese, and are made with whole wheat bread. Please individually wrap sandwiches in bags so that they can easily be distributed, and refrain from applying condiments to extend shelf life. When possible, we ask that sandwich bags are labeled to indicate sandwich type, or are stored in boxes labeled either “Peanut Butter & Jelly” or “Meat & Cheese” for ease of distribution, and so that we can determine which sandwiches require refrigeration!

Looking for inspiring ways to organize a sandwich making get together? Click here for our fun sandwich-making kit! 

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We went with the PG&J because  it's cheaper, easier for kids, and we don't have to refrigerate. We figured that if each kid earned $5 and donated it, we'd have $35, enough for 100 sandwiches!

So everyone went home and worked. Cameron earned money cleaning the church. Xander took care of his neighbor's dog. Ellis and Lillian made sugar cookies, posted a picture on Facebook, and some kind neighbors bought their cookies and even donated extra! Everyone else told me what they did, but I can't remember them all right now. But they were all wonderful. Here's what we ended up with at the end:

Ellis, Lizzie, Lillian, Cameron, Andre, Xander and KJ's $5 donations	$35
Coupon at grocery store	$5
Donation from Ms. Ross, Ellis and Lillian's neighbor	$20
TOTAL	$60

And, when I went to the grocery store, the food was cheaper than I expected - the food for 100 sandwiches only cost me $26. So you know what I did? I went and bought enough for 200 sandwiches!! It filled my shopping cart up. I got some boxes, too, so I could carry 20 loaves of bread. It turns out they weren't enough boxes, though!

Now I was a little worried. 200 sandwiches is a lot of sandwiches to make in 1 hour! I hoped that we could get the work all done in time.

On Wednesday night, we all showed up at the Kendrick's house. They have a perfect dining room table for making lots of sandwiches. We had the boys on one side and the girls on the other, each making sandwiches as fast as they could. Sister Spanbauer packed the sandwiches in the boxes.

 Soon the jelly started to run out. The jelly spreaders really made it stretch until the bread was gone, too. The boxes ran out and Sister Kendrick was sent to search for something to put the rest of the sandwiches in. When we were all done, we had 5 sandwich bags left. We'd made 195 sandwiches!

My favorite thing about these pictures is the picture of Jesus Christ behind us. That wasn't done on purpose, but whenever I look at the pictures I remember why we did this project. 

Ellis and Lillian weren't content with *almost* 200 sandwiches, so they went home and made 5 more sandwiches. Now we have 200!

The next morning, everyone had to go to school, so Sister Merrill (that's me!) took Sam, Martha and Jane to help her drop off the sandwiches. We drove to the address and couldn't find anywhere to park, so we drove down the alley and found the back entrance. Lucky us, that was where the donations go!

We had to take a picture of Martha at Martha's Table because, "Hey, it's MY table!" We gave them the extra unopened jar of peanut butter from our soiree the night before. And $10 that we hadn't spent on groceries. They can use that to buy extra sandwich bags they need, when they get food donations.

We took all the boxes (Sam was a great helper!) over to the loading dock and asked a guy working on carrying stuff around where to put it. "You can just stack it right here. Thanks! Do you need a receipt?" Since none of you pay taxes, I told him you didn't need a tax receipt (you can ask your parents to explain that if you want.) So that was it. I asked him if he'd take a picture of us to prove that we'd been there to all of you. 

Everyone there (we saw 3 or 4 people in the 5 minutes we spent there) were really busy. They were working hard to get all the food they give people in the right places at the right time. They were really glad we'd contributed, but didn't really have time to stand around and tell us how amazing we were. I thought of what Jesus taught:

"Verily, verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor; but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father who is in heaven." (3 Nephi 13:1)

I was glad they hadn't made a big deal about our donation. I would rather do something quietly and have Heavenly Father happy with me than having a bunch of people I don't even know patting me on the back for making sandwiches. Heavenly Father knows why we did it.

This is what it looked like when we drove away. Not very different than when we arrived, but with 3 boxes and a bag of sandwiches they didn't have before. 

Good job, kids. 200 people are going to have a sandwich tonight that wouldn't have.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25 34-40

First Phrases

One of the Primary girls brought a friend with her to church. She didn’t know ASL, but that wasn’t a problem most of the time. In class, her friend interpreted for her. In Sharing Time, the teacher spoke and signed (“simcom” if you want a little vocabulary word. It’s for “simultaneous communication”) In Singing Time, I do a lot of talking anyway, because, hey, we’re learning songs in English and ASL. You sorta have to talk to teach an English song. So she just went with the flow.

I did throw her into the deep end in Singing time. It was our second week working on a song, so we’d gone over all the signs the week before, and we were just trying to memorize it this week. She followed along pretty well, and didn’t seem to be scowling when I had a chance to look at her. (Which, admittedly, isn’t very much, because she wasn’t prone to wandering around the room. Go figure, she was 10.)

So, she came to church, hung out with her friend, and learned some sign language, in the form of a song. And now she can tell everyone, “I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” in ASL. Yup, that's the song we were learning :)

Becoming as a little child

I admit, I was a little glum the other day. I was just feeling a little lonely. My whole life, my social life has revolved around church. Well now, I spend all of church just trying to keep 6 kids together, and by the time we get done, the kids are REALLY done. If I grab a few minutes to talk to someone, it's accompanied by all the awkwardness of language learning. Add to that, my husband is gone a lot, and there are a lot of things he can't talk to me about. I'm not complaining, I think it's normal and maybe even good for you to have some solitary (if taking care of 6 kids can ever be called solitary...) and even lonely times in your life. But things that are good for you aren't always easy, right?

Have I already written about this before? Sorry. The rest of the story will be different this time, I promise :)

I was listening to Martha speak. It was pretty cute and funny, but it takes a long time to figure out what she's talking about some times. She just doesn't have the vocabulary to describe things! And there, in my glum mood of the day, I ruefully thought, "This is exactly how I am when I use sign language. Signing with me is just like talking to a 3-yr old."

One of the things I love about the Holy Ghost is the little encouraging messages he sends when you're starting to slip down the slope of negative thoughts. The thought came immediately and forcefully into my head, "You're exactly right!"

"What? That's not very encouraging! What kind of comfort is that?"

"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4)

"Oh..."

So, I hereby embrace my identity as the woman who signs like a 3-yr old. I have great faith that it is leading me toward salvation.

Just don't pat me on the head and tell me I'm cute. I'm not THAT much like a little child yet :)

Just the two of us...

Most of the time, a Primary will have a Primary presidency (3-4 people), a singing teacher, maybe 6-8 teachers, a pianist, and 2-3 nursery teachers. What does that add up to? 15-20 people or so. Wow. I had not appreciated what a huge number that was until just now! In our branch, we are a bit smaller, so we have 3 people in the Primary presidency, 2 nursery teachers and (hopefully) 1-2 class teachers. Seven would be a great number of people to run the Primary.

But today, lots of people were sick, and we only had 2 adults in Primary. Of course, 11 out of our 12 kids were there. Which does go contrary to how most people think germs work, but I guess the germs like old people this season. We actually had a plan for this type of situation

Person 1	Person 2
Teach the CTR class	Teach Sharing time to the Valiant class
Teach the Valiant class	Teach Sharing time to the CTR class
Help with singing time	Teach singing time
Collapse	Look around urgently for sugar

The Nursery kids are both 3 years old, and we let them come in to Primary with the CTR class. And that is how you do Primary with 2 adults!

It went pretty well except two things: I should have passed Jane off to her dad, because if you stop to take care of your baby, you've lost the 3-yr olds, and you might never get them back. And, you can't keep 3-yr olds through 11-yr olds really engaged all together. There's no such thing as striking a balance of being interesting to both ages simultaneously. In my case, I'm just way better with older kids, and by the end, everyone under 5 was pretty much just wandering around the Primary room. Hey, it was 1:45, they hadn't had lunch or nap, and they really didn't care if they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (that's the song we were learning) anymore.

For Sharing time, we learned how to tell the Joseph Smith story in ASL. The Valiant class did great, the CTR class didn't seem really interested. Ok, I totally lost half the class by the end. But later that evening, during dinner, Sam said he wanted to tell us a story. He proceeded to sign the Joseph Smith story in ASL, just like we'd learned it in Sharing time! Note that Sam was one of the lost half of the class! I realized that sometimes they don't look like they're listening, but they are. 

So, high fives to me and my partner in crime, er, teaching! And hopefully it gets easier from here!