In which Lige limps to the finish line

It's a little past my bedtime, and I've had the same conversation with myself about 10 times before finally settling down to write. It goes like this:

"I want a little snack..." and I walk upstairs. I look around the kitchen a bit.

"Oh yeah, actually, I'm not hungry. I'm actually sort of full."

"But I feel lousy. Eating will help me feel better!"

"No, you're not hungry, you're tired. Going to sleep would help you feel better!"

"But I can't go to sleep yet...so...can I eat some ice cream instead?"

"Actually, that doesn't even sound very good. I guess I'll go get something done."

I'd be really proud of my self-mastery if I hadn't repeated the conversation so many times :) But I think I've finally stopped wandering around my house and settled down to write something. And I'm thinking about my experiences this week, and if I had any interesting ones....

I think I'll give some time to Lige this week. Whenever Lige comes up in conversation, he's described as "a good kid." That's him in a nutshell. He had a really busy last week of school. He had an application due for a national science fair he'd qualified to enter, a project for all of his combined classes due (yay for his teachers not quitting two weeks before school ended!) and a big piano concert on Saturday. He had 2 big dress rehearsals on Thursday and Friday nights, 3 hours each, then the concert. With everything, he really didn't have very much time to practice his song, and he was nervous about that.

I hadn't realized how nervous he was until after the fact. I ran into the mom who was in charge of the green room at the library. I don't know many of the families in the piano studio, but this family has the same violin teacher, as well, so we're starting to get to know each other. :) She has a very religious family, similar to ours, and it turns out we have one more thing in common - she learned sign language years ago when she served with her church's Deaf ministry! She told me that she was impressed by Lige because when he got nervous, he would go to a couch that was fairly private and start signing. She (knowing ASL herself) was very interested in what he was doing until she realized that he was praying. Then she turned her head and gave him some privacy. But she still told his mom about it. Because moms know that other moms are happy when they learn their child is praying without being told.

Poor Lige, he got done with his piano concert and the next day started showing signs of the stomach virus that has been making its slow way through our family. He spent most of the day Monday on the couch wrapped up in a blanket, despite the toasty temperature in our house until we finally broke down and turned on the A/C at dinner time. But Monday evening, he didn't get to rest any more. He had to pack for Stake Young Men camp, so he could leave at 7 the next morning! He made it, he got a good night's rest, and was off on time in the morning.

In the afternoon came the text from his leader with the things he'd forgotten :)

But never fear, Wednesday night is Bishop's night and Lige is not only the Branch President's son, he's the only kid from the branch attending, so he gets 100% of the Branch President's attention. If he forgot his stuff, he shall have it!

After all, he's a good kid, and he makes a lot of sacrifices for the cause. We don't mind him occasionally getting a perk, as well. But he'd better not get used to it....oh wait, his dad will probably be his branch president until he leaves for college. Ok, fine, Lige, you never have to worry about packing everything for camp ever again.

My first Iftar

Today is the end of Ramadan (and Flag day, which is important, but not related to this post). My main relationship with Ramadan is trying to remember to not invite my Muslim friends to go to a party or a camp out with us while they're fasting. But since we don't have a TON of Muslim friends, it doesn't make much of a difference in my normal life.

Actually, I have one funny story about Ramadan. A couple years ago, my family adopted a refugee family from Somalia who had just arrived in the US. It was a great experience, we enjoyed befriending them and learning about each other. During Ramadan, I talked to Duniyo (the mom) and she explained to me how it works. She seemed a little wary at sounding weird, and I was happy to let her know that my church fasts, too! She asked how often, I told her, "Once a month, for 1 day." She replied, "Just 1 day?" I laughed and admitted that our method of fasting was much more pleasant than theirs. But whenever I'm feeling hungry on Fast Sunday, I remember that conversation.

Ok, so give Muslims respect, Ramadan isn't exactly easy religion!

Ramadan is a month of fasting every day during sun-up. After the sun sets, you wash, pray, then you can eat. This meal is called "Iftar".

Last night, a Deaf Muslim group sponsored an inter-faith Iftar - to share their religion with others, and to learn about other religions, as well. A member of our branch was asked to represent our church, so I went to support and enjoy.

(Actually, Marriner was going to go, and I was going to be a homebody taking care of the kids...but Marriner got the stomach virus that's now made it's way through half of our family, so I went instead. Not to wish a stomach virus on anybody, but I'm sorta glad I had to get out of my comfort zone - as in, the part of me that doesn't drive anywhere in the evening because I hate traffic! - and go do something cool!)

Leaving home in the evening - ugh. Going to an event where I don't know many people and have to make polite conversation - that's hard for most people, myself included. Attending an event in ASL - surprisingly not scary to me any more. Oh, I still don't understand half of what's going on. But I now know how to ask someone to tell me what a sign means, or to spell slower, and it just doesn't stress me out any more. I just enjoy taking in what I can, and contributing to the conversation when I can, and when I get lost, I just wait until it comes back to something I can understand.

This was my first non-church Deaf event (I mean, there were plenty of Mormons there, but it wasn't a branch activity). That was a stretch - I'm much better at signing about church things than random topics like, "What country is this food from?"

And, the food was from a middle eastern restaurant and an Indian restaurant, and it was delish. Just the type of food I like. I had to restrain myself from eating with my hands - that would be very bad for conversation :) The Indian thingy I had was so spicy it made me cry. But baklava wiped that away like a gem. Oh yeah, and there was a tray of lumpia, too, even with the sweet chili sauce. Wha? Awesome!

The middle of June

This is a post without a punchline, just journaling about our week.

Was it just last week that President Nelson spoke to the youth and gave them 5 challenges to prepare for the work of the Gathering of Israel? That's been a big part of the week. Marriner and I decided to join the youth in the challenges. First, he challenged the youth to take a 7 day fast from social media. I'm part of a Facebook group of a diverse collection of women committed to listening to people with different opinions to understand their positions (especially political) better. Not trying to convince anyone, just understand. On Saturday, a question came up about Mormons, and the Mormons in the group opened an "ask us anything you want about our church" thread. It was pretty amazing, one of the neatest missionary opportunities I've ever had. A lot of the members of the group just had some weird ideas. So that was neat. But I didn't feel like that was a great time to start a social media fast, so I waited until Wednesday to start. I'll admit - it hasn't been easy. I use Facebook when I'm tired and want to veg a bit. And what do I do when I can't? That's been a tough question to answer. I've read the news some more. I've tried to think of projects I'm interested in and research them a bit. I've tried to make myself get up and do something more often. Sometimes, I just want some adult interaction. So I've called friends some more, done things the old fashioned way - one on one. That's been good. But sometimes, I still want to get on the internet and tell everyone about the funny thing my kid just did. In other words, it hasn't been enjoyable or easy, but it's been good for me :)

Another one of the challenges was to make a sacrifice of time for 3 weeks to help the work of the Lord. We decided to use date night for that. Marriner set up for us to go with the missionaries to teach a new member lesson on Friday night. That was just fabulous. It was fun to get to visit and fun to teach. It reminded me of my mission sometimes, when you're trying to teach something, and you know how fabulous it is, but you're just hoping that what you're feeling is what you're actually saying. Of course, this is how we know the gospel is true - people still gain testimonies even though we do such a poor job of expressing things. One of the missionaries was brand new, so the two of us were pretty quiet. Marriner, on the other hand, is not quiet, and actually contributed to the lesson. Good for him :)

On Sunday, the branch president (who is really just a wonderful guy, I must say) asked all the youth to share a little 2-5 minute testimony of their thoughts and experiences from the fireside. Lige did a great job of signing really clearly and understandably about how he felt a call to repentance on being a missionary. The other youth gave really powerful testimonies, too. The neat thing was that they'd all listened to the fireside, then they'd all gone and acted, and had spiritual experiences as a result. How powerful is that! They were so inspirational to me.

Our sharing time lesson this week was all about hearing the Holy Ghost. The lesson used a lot of sound analogies to explain how the Holy Ghost works. Even though everyone involved in the lesson was hearing, it just kept striking me as inappropriate for a Deaf branch to have a lesson completely based on sound. I guess I want our class to be accessible to anyone who may show up - branch leader, visiting child, whatever. So I spent some time thinking and praying about how to adapt the lesson for our branch. In the end, we used a visual analogy, with the Holy Ghost sending a written message for them to receive. I was really pleased with how the lesson went (even though no Deaf person dropped by) and really felt like the Holy Ghost had helped me out.

Well, it's my bedtime, so no more stories from me today. Thanks for reading!

"I love and like EVERYONE in the WORLD!"

As I walked into the church foyer today, Martha ran off. I shouted, (as quietly as I could...) "Hey, Martha, come back!" but she didn't hear me. Ellis said, "She's going to give Sister M a hug." What?!? Martha has been so shy around the adults in the branch. But she went in to the chapel and hugged every single woman in there with the biggest smile you ever saw. (The men were all bustling about getting things ready, I don't know if she would have been brave enough to hug any of them...)

Martha's old nursery teacher was called to serve somewhere else, and Martha misses her terribly. She saw her during sacrament meeting and sweetly smiled at her for 10 straight minutes.

When she went to nursery, she decided for some reason that she's now friends with her new nursery teachers. When it was time to part, she told her teacher "I love and like you!" and gave her a big hug and her winning smile. Her teacher was shocked - usually Martha just gives her looks of suspicion :) Now they're best friends!

Martha's only 3. I prepared lessons and props, taught object lessons and songs, but in the end, I wonder if Martha didn't do more to further the work of the Lord today than I did. She shared the love of Jesus with everyone, lifting and lightening everyone she touched.

After church, she declared (in English), "Mom, I love and like EVERYONE in the WORLD!" What a great thing that is.

Sam's turn!

Well, we all know Martha's main purpose in life is being really adorable learning sign language. But it turns out that Sam does really adorable things, too! He's just really camera shy - and more aware of parents being sneaky! But I caught him the other day, finally :)

As you can tell, he totally saw me, but he was having a fun time playing with my tablet, and he was afraid if he talked to me, I'd tell him to put it away. So we sorta mutually looked over each other's crimes.

This first one is Sam signing "I am a Child of God," which, alas, was interrupted by Lige wanting to give Sam a fancy pocket hanky :) It's really pretty close to the way we sign it in Primary, too :)

This next one is, "If the Savior stood beside me." Sam turns around when he can't remember how it goes because the signs are posted on the wall behind him to help Mom practice. It's a hard song! I don't think he actually USED the papers, though - they were up too high for him. I can tell because he's making up his own translation in that section :)

The other reason I really just love this video is because it's soooo realistic. I watch the ending and think, "Yup, that's my family in a nutshell! Signing beautiful songs one moment, smacking our sisters the next. And a mom who keeps on taking a movie instead of jumping up and stopping the fighting." Good thing I have my priorities straight! :)

Listening to the Prophet

Last night was pretty awesome. There was a a special meeting for all the youth age 12-18 to listen to the prophet, President Russel M. Nelson, speak to them. For historical perspective, the only other time the prophet has spoken just to the youth of the church was in 2000, with President Gordon B. Hinkley. I was not a youth (and I was in the Philippines) so I didn't get to go to that one. Fortunately, parents were invited to this talk! :)

Ellis is 11 years and 9 months old. We let her come, too. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Youth groups were encouraged to meet and watch the broadcast together, but this is more complex when your mom or dad has to drive you an hour each way to the church. So they decided to meet by Facebook! We all joined a group video chat before the broadcast, had brief remarks from the Branch President, then said an opening prayer. Then we turned it off and watched the broadcast with our families.

It's not perfect. You have to sign slowly. It's hard to tell who is signing to whom. But it was beautiful to me to feel like my kids aren't alone. Sometimes we feel pretty alone. And we don't mind. But feeling like part of a group is great. It's only 7 kids (if you count Ellis) from 4 families, but we're a group!

The broadcast was quite fabulous. The youth were given some specific challenges to help them become more useful in the work of the Lord. It turns out that they were pretty great ideas for moms and dads, too, so Marriner and I are joining in. I sure love our prophet. I'm excited to do what he asked. Because, you know, you're only as old as you feel, so I totally count myself in his target audience. Here they are:

1. Hold a seven-day fast from social media. ("Take a break from the fake." Awesome!)

2. Make a weekly sacrifice of time to the Lord for three weeks.

3. Keep on the covenant path. If you are off, repent and get back on the path.

4. Pray daily that all of God’s children might receive the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. Stand out. Be different. Be a light. Give to a friend one copy of the booklet For the Strength of Youth.

For #2, we had a hard time thinking of something we could do. Honestly, we don't spend much time doing things that aren't for the Lord, already. We sorta feel like that's the big measuring stick of life: if it doesn't make a difference in the long run, then don't do it. But we had a little inspiration that we could use our next 3 date nights to do service together. That way it's a date AND it's doing the work of the Lord! And since a strong marriage is the work of the Lord, it counts DOUBLE! Yeah baby :) 

In which blogging finally pays off

I have heard about people making money by blogging. Personally, I think being a professional blogger seems exhausting, but don't we all have a little dream deep down inside that our hobby will suddenly become really popular and we'll be rich and famous? So I guess there's a part of me that thinks that I should get SOMETHING for all of this excellent writing :)

You can tell it's excellent writing by the way I use emojis. Very professional.

It's not even an emoji. It's a colon-parenthesis smiley face. The height of writing sophistication.

But this week, my blogging paid off! It all started back in...like...2005 or something...when we met Donald and Laura Mueller in grad school. They were some of my favorite people pretty quickly.

Ok, now we'll skip forward to 2018, when the Mueller's son won his regional spelling bee and qualified for the NATIONAL Spelling Bee, held at National Harbor, a short 4 miles from our house!! They contacted us for traveling information, and of course they came to visit us when they got to town, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN. reuniting with them. (Another example of sophisticated writing...) They're still some of my favorite people.

Of course, now you are all wondering how their son did in the spelling bee - he did wonderfully! He missed the cut-off for the final by only 1 point, which puts him at about 46th (or was it 43rd?) out of 500 participants. Wow.

But the part that relates to this blog is that Laura had read my blog, including my gush about Tostitos chipotle salsa. So she brought me some!! I mean, who has friends that not only read your blog, but also remember things in it AND bring them to you?!? Me, it turns out! After they left this afternoon, I put my kids down for naps, got a bag of chips, and dipped in. It was lovely.

So, any of you other loyal readers out there... (.....crickets chirping....) Ah, never mind.

Us with the famous person! He's the one in the back by Marriner. And Laura - I chose this pic out of the 3 we took because this is the only one you could see the celebrity's face. Ha ha! Great at spelling, but still a kid :)