It was a really pleasant and relaxed evening that got out of control, mainly by being so pleasant and relaxed :) But suddenly, Dad was late for an interview and the babies were up past their bedtime. And the babies were running out of steam fast. Or, in Martha's case, she was gaining steam fast...which is worse.
So Marriner's rushing out the door, Martha's brushing her teeth, I'm trying to put Jane in her PJ's and get her in bed 'cuz she's exhausted. Then I hear the crash from the bathroom. I knew what had happened. Martha insists on brushing her teeth standing on the edge of the bathtub. We tell her (strongly) every night about how dangerous it is, and it's a huge battle over the dumbest thing. But since Martha was by herself, she got to decide where to stand, and she'd obviously chosen poorly.
I put down Jane and went to comfort Martha, who'd hit her head pretty hard, but fortunately no blood. I decided to just read her a story and put her to bed. (You're not going to get a cavity if your mom doesn't check your teeth one night, right?) Jane wandered in, Ellis wandered out, and in the process, somehow Jane ended up shrieking hysterically. Maybe she pinched her fingers in the dresser? Ellis tried to comfort her, but she did NOT want her sister...
And at this exact moment is when Marriner came in and said, "How about I finish reading Martha's story before I take off?" I gratefully passed off the book, took Jane, and in 5 minutes, lo! all was just and all was right again! Part of me feels bad that I made Marriner late for his interview. But then I remember that he's still Dad, and he still has an obligation to take care of his family, so I shouldn't apologize for having needed him for a moment. Still, it does make a mom feel wonderful to know that in the moment when he had to choose between something important and something urgent (I'll let you decide which one we were), he picked us. And whoever it was he was meeting - sorry about making him late.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Monday, March 26, 2018
Gethsemane
Last Sunday, Ellis found a new song in the Friend magazine that she hadn't heard before and started playing it on the piano, and Lillian liked it, so she joined in on the violin. You know, just noodling around. But the song was pretty, and we offered to actually work on it and play it for Sacrament meeting, if the Branch President wanted.
On Wednesday, the Branch President mentioned that he was concerned because he didn't have enough speakers. "Why don't you have the kids play their song?" i asked. Eureka!
It probably would have been easier if we'd started working on it on Monday, but I've gotta say, I have some unflappable kids, and they made it work. Lige got the hardest job - we voluntold him to do the ASL. Of course, we didn't have any ASL yet - just English. Some research yielded a great ASL interpretation (see previous post) and Lige and I spent an hour watching the video over and over again in slow motion to understand each sign. It was cool to see it change from something I sorta understood to something I completely understood. It got better and better!
On Sunday, the kids did GREAT. The only bad part was Martha and Jane feeling left out and crying the entire song while I tried really hard to get them to do something (anything!) else. Snots :)
On Monday, we asked the kids to do it for the camera, for posterity. They were surprisingly reluctant, and were actually really frustrated when they made mistakes. They really wanted to present a polished product to their friends and family. But as with all home videos, someone made some mistake every time. In the video that was chosen, there are some minor signing mistakes, and one major piano/violin mistake. The kids made me promise not to put it on FaceBook, only to show it to Grandmas and Aunts. So if anyone asks, you're an Aunt. Unless you'd rather be a Grandma... Your choice today! And maybe just don't mention to them that you saw the video, either...
Happy Easter, everyone. I'm so grateful for the Savior.
On Wednesday, the Branch President mentioned that he was concerned because he didn't have enough speakers. "Why don't you have the kids play their song?" i asked. Eureka!
It probably would have been easier if we'd started working on it on Monday, but I've gotta say, I have some unflappable kids, and they made it work. Lige got the hardest job - we voluntold him to do the ASL. Of course, we didn't have any ASL yet - just English. Some research yielded a great ASL interpretation (see previous post) and Lige and I spent an hour watching the video over and over again in slow motion to understand each sign. It was cool to see it change from something I sorta understood to something I completely understood. It got better and better!
On Sunday, the kids did GREAT. The only bad part was Martha and Jane feeling left out and crying the entire song while I tried really hard to get them to do something (anything!) else. Snots :)
On Monday, we asked the kids to do it for the camera, for posterity. They were surprisingly reluctant, and were actually really frustrated when they made mistakes. They really wanted to present a polished product to their friends and family. But as with all home videos, someone made some mistake every time. In the video that was chosen, there are some minor signing mistakes, and one major piano/violin mistake. The kids made me promise not to put it on FaceBook, only to show it to Grandmas and Aunts. So if anyone asks, you're an Aunt. Unless you'd rather be a Grandma... Your choice today! And maybe just don't mention to them that you saw the video, either...
Happy Easter, everyone. I'm so grateful for the Savior.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
The song stuck in your head
My kids are doing "Gethsemane" in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. Have you heard this song yet? It's so sweet and profound!
Lige is signing, Ellis is playing the piano and Lillian the violin.
So Lige walked into the room, and he's signing, "suffer, suffer." And I'm like, "Are you ok?!?" He looks up, surprised. "Oh, sorry, got that song stuck in my head."
Lige is signing, Ellis is playing the piano and Lillian the violin.
So Lige walked into the room, and he's signing, "suffer, suffer." And I'm like, "Are you ok?!?" He looks up, surprised. "Oh, sorry, got that song stuck in my head."
I'm halfway there!
I decided to work on memorizing the Articles of Faith* in ASL for a project. The kids need to learn them for Activity Days, and I can't teach them something I don't know! I mean, we could learn them in English...and maybe that will be more useful in the long run? But I decided to learn them in ASL, too!
The church has the Articles of Faith in ASL, and we've tried to learn them before. But the guy who signs it is blazing fast. Marriner learned them, but the rest of us just dropped our jaw and said, "Wha???"
Then I discovered something really lovely: you can change the speed on YouTube videos! Suddenly the world opened up to me, and I can proudly say that I have now figured out the entire Articles of Faith! (Except one sign in the 2nd and one in the 13th that I can't understand...)
How slow do I have to watch it to understand? 1/2 speed, baby. I'm halfway there!! Yay!!
-----
*From LDS.org:
The Articles of Faith outline 13 basic points of belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith first wrote them in a letter to John Wentworth, a newspaper editor, in response to Mr. Wentworth's request to know what members of the Church believed. They were subsequently published in Church periodicals. They are now regarded as scripture and included in the Pearl of Great Price.
They are:
1 We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2 We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5 We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6 We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
7 We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9 We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Joseph Smith.
The church has the Articles of Faith in ASL, and we've tried to learn them before. But the guy who signs it is blazing fast. Marriner learned them, but the rest of us just dropped our jaw and said, "Wha???"
Then I discovered something really lovely: you can change the speed on YouTube videos! Suddenly the world opened up to me, and I can proudly say that I have now figured out the entire Articles of Faith! (Except one sign in the 2nd and one in the 13th that I can't understand...)
How slow do I have to watch it to understand? 1/2 speed, baby. I'm halfway there!! Yay!!
-----
*From LDS.org:
The Articles of Faith outline 13 basic points of belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith first wrote them in a letter to John Wentworth, a newspaper editor, in response to Mr. Wentworth's request to know what members of the Church believed. They were subsequently published in Church periodicals. They are now regarded as scripture and included in the Pearl of Great Price.
They are:
1 We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2 We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5 We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6 We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
7 We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9 We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Joseph Smith.
Monday, March 19, 2018
The power of Jello
This has nothing to do with ASL.
On Sunday, half my kids had lost it by the end of church. (It was the younger half. Why did you even ask?) Jane tripped on a bag and lost it, Martha was left alone with the assistant Nursery leader (gasp!) and lost it. And...I don't even remember why Sam lost it. He was mad at someone throwing away his paper on accident or something like that. Anyway, I had some tired and grumpy kids after church, and Sam's continued crying had been long-since tuned out by a mom trying to pack up and get home.
Sam's cries were not lost on his friend, CJ, who was moved to compassion for him. He came up and very kindly told me, "Sister Merrill, what you need to do is go to the store, then you can get some Jello, and you can take it home and make it for Sam, and then he'll feel better."
And that's why we had Jello for dessert last night. I don't know that it worked on Sam, but it made his mom feel better, anyway :)
On Sunday, half my kids had lost it by the end of church. (It was the younger half. Why did you even ask?) Jane tripped on a bag and lost it, Martha was left alone with the assistant Nursery leader (gasp!) and lost it. And...I don't even remember why Sam lost it. He was mad at someone throwing away his paper on accident or something like that. Anyway, I had some tired and grumpy kids after church, and Sam's continued crying had been long-since tuned out by a mom trying to pack up and get home.
Sam's cries were not lost on his friend, CJ, who was moved to compassion for him. He came up and very kindly told me, "Sister Merrill, what you need to do is go to the store, then you can get some Jello, and you can take it home and make it for Sam, and then he'll feel better."
And that's why we had Jello for dessert last night. I don't know that it worked on Sam, but it made his mom feel better, anyway :)
Praying in ASL
On Wednesday, I got a text asking me if I could pray at our Stake Relief Society conference on Saturday. They'd asked some other people to pray who were unavailable for some reason or another, so they were asking me as someone who was sure to be coming and wouldn't mind being asked last-minute. I'm cool with that :)
For some reason, I sorta felt like as a member of the ASL branch, I ought to pray in ASL. Then I thought, "that's silly, I can pray a lot better in English." Or, "That would draw unnecessary attention to myself." Or "that will just confuse a lot of people." And there were a lot of reasons, but still, it seemed like I ought to be using my "church language." So I floated the idea, and it was enthusiastically accepted.
So, I prayed in ASL.
There ended up only being one deaf person there, but a whole bunch of people who sign better than I do, and in the end, I felt a little awkward about the whole thing. Certainly not because anybody gave any negative feedback - everyone was very supportive. But I was just nervous at being misunderstood. I wasn't praying in ASL to be a novelty or show off. And I'm just nervous that someone felt that way.
And, I'm trying to avoid saying this, but I guess I'll just be honest. I'm afraid of sticking my hand up to be an ambassador for the branch or for Deaf culture in any way. The reason is simple: I barely have my pinkie toe dipped in Deaf culture. But I also feel a compulsion to share what I'm learning with other people who are standing on the shore, a little nervous about dipping their toes. In some ways, I'm exactly who they need to hear from.
So, I prayed in ASL.
For some reason, I sorta felt like as a member of the ASL branch, I ought to pray in ASL. Then I thought, "that's silly, I can pray a lot better in English." Or, "That would draw unnecessary attention to myself." Or "that will just confuse a lot of people." And there were a lot of reasons, but still, it seemed like I ought to be using my "church language." So I floated the idea, and it was enthusiastically accepted.
So, I prayed in ASL.
There ended up only being one deaf person there, but a whole bunch of people who sign better than I do, and in the end, I felt a little awkward about the whole thing. Certainly not because anybody gave any negative feedback - everyone was very supportive. But I was just nervous at being misunderstood. I wasn't praying in ASL to be a novelty or show off. And I'm just nervous that someone felt that way.
And, I'm trying to avoid saying this, but I guess I'll just be honest. I'm afraid of sticking my hand up to be an ambassador for the branch or for Deaf culture in any way. The reason is simple: I barely have my pinkie toe dipped in Deaf culture. But I also feel a compulsion to share what I'm learning with other people who are standing on the shore, a little nervous about dipping their toes. In some ways, I'm exactly who they need to hear from.
So, I prayed in ASL.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Things that don't translate
I have a friend, Regina, who is one of my favorite people in the world. She is so patient with me, and is my go-to source of new vocabulary. Every conversation with her is interrupted about every 30 seconds by me asking what a sign means, but she seems to not mind, and be glad to help. Which is why I like her! And she's Filipino, so we have the same tastes :)
On Sunday there were a couple of funny translation moments. First, I interrupted her to ask her what a sign meant that I didn't know. She usually just spells it for me, but this time she stopped, paused, got a really blank look on her face, then turned to another deaf person in the room and asked her what that sign meant in English. The two of them looked blankly at each other and finally decided, "It doesn't really have an English translation." First time I've come across that in ASL. I told her I understood, there's this word "makulit" in Tagalog that I can't really describe in English, either. She looked interested. "Makulit?" she said out loud. Which I wasn't expecting! It turns out her mom had used that word a lot when she was growing up!
The conversation resumes, and another sign comes up that stymies me. Unfortunately, it seems like something I should know, but can't quite place, and I pause a minute over whether I'll look really stupid if I stop her and ask what it means.
It's a good thing I paused, it was Ellis's name sign.
Ahhh...just another day in the life of a language learner!
On Sunday there were a couple of funny translation moments. First, I interrupted her to ask her what a sign meant that I didn't know. She usually just spells it for me, but this time she stopped, paused, got a really blank look on her face, then turned to another deaf person in the room and asked her what that sign meant in English. The two of them looked blankly at each other and finally decided, "It doesn't really have an English translation." First time I've come across that in ASL. I told her I understood, there's this word "makulit" in Tagalog that I can't really describe in English, either. She looked interested. "Makulit?" she said out loud. Which I wasn't expecting! It turns out her mom had used that word a lot when she was growing up!
The conversation resumes, and another sign comes up that stymies me. Unfortunately, it seems like something I should know, but can't quite place, and I pause a minute over whether I'll look really stupid if I stop her and ask what it means.
It's a good thing I paused, it was Ellis's name sign.
Ahhh...just another day in the life of a language learner!
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