Ignorant Historian

Early Morning and Late Night Babysitting!

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a teacher at heart.  One of the many things I’m passionate about teaching is geography/culture.  I think we Americans fall WAY behind in our knowledge that indeed, there are other people in the world besides us and perhaps their culture isn’t funny/weird but actually contains things of value to us.

Anyway, one way that this passion comes out is that I teach the kindergarteners at church geography when we learn about missions and the like.  They all know where Turkey is, no problem, but the use of our world map has interested them in learning about more places.

This past Sunday, a couple of boys were eagerly looking over the map and finding places that they knew.  One boy astonished me by finding Bulgaria on the map and saying, “Hey, you could go there when you’re in Turkey since it’s so close.”  I believe I’m above-average at geography, but even I only knew that Bulgaria was somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Later, they showed their childlike eagerness again and said, “Look!  We’ve found China!”

Only problem was that they were pointing at Canada, hehe.

So, I gently corrected them, told them that China was in Asia, and pointed out the big area that was Asia.  On their second try, they identified the right country.

I just love that they were excited to find the places they’ve learned about.  Later in the lesson I took some time to show all the children pictures of my past visits to Turkey so they could get an idea of what the country is liked.

Seeing the women with their hair covered, one little boy asked in all seriousness, “Are the women bald?”

Oh, to have the eagerness to learn like a child.

Photo by ToastyKen

Here’s an excerpt of my Q&A session with the kindergarten Sunday school class about my upcoming trip to Turkey:

Child: When are you going?

After Party on the Block (our Halloween alternative…helps the kids know that it’s still in the future).

Child: Are you coming back?

Yes, I’ll be coming back.

Child: How long will you be gone?

I’ll be gone for one Sunday (I’ll be gone Friday, November 6th until Saturday, November 15th).

Child: Will you go to jail?

If they put me in jail, they will get in a lot of trouble.

Child: How will you get there?

By three planes…one of which will take from now (it was about 10 AM) until dinnertime.

Child: What time of day will it be when you come back?

In the evening, I think.

That’s what the children wanted to know about my trip, what do you want to know?

This weekend I played mom to 5 active kids ages 2 1/2 to 8.  It was exhausting, but a lot of fun.  I’ll call them Tweedle Dee 1-5.

Though I’ve only had the oldest 3 in my Sunday school class, Tweedle Dee 4 (4yo girl) has always been particularly attached to me.  She continued that this weekend by crawling up into my lap any chance she got.

Friday night we watched Star Wars VI, and I awed the kids with my Star Wars knowledge as they bombarded me with questions, especially about the earlier movies that they haven’t seen.  I promise I’m not a geek…I just enjoy the movies and have seen them each a few times.  I got to explain what a clone was to them…that was fun.  I even used Star Wars (again) to explain different life truths…I promise I use the Bible occasionally, too!

All Tweedle Dees went to bed without a problem, and I didn’t hear a peep out of any of them all night (though that may have been because I kept them up later than they’re used to).  The hope was that they’d sleep a little later in the morning, but I was still awoken at 6 to Tweedle Dee 5.  I was thankful that it was still dark because she was easily convinced when I told her it was still nighttime and she needed to go back to bed.  I wasn’t so lucky when Tweedle Dee 4 woke up at 6:30, but she was fine with playing in the living room by herself after I threatened her not to make noise to wake up her siblings.

After that, I was able to “sleep in” until 7, which is still slightly before my usual wake-up time.  Luckily, the youngest two were easily appeased with getting to lay in bed with me, so that gave me a little bit more rest.  Tweedle Dee 3 (6yo, and the only boy) shocked me by continuing to sleep after all the girls were awake and being typically loud children only feet from where he was sleeping.   My attempt to get some more  ZZZs while they were occupied with a movie didn’t work, because they proceeded to wake me up anytime they saw me close my eyes.

I brought them each an activity or coloring book with me, but I kept that a secret until mid-morning, only letting them know I had a surprise for each of them if they behaved.  Of course, it was strategic for me as well to give them something they can do quietly!

Everything went well until I dared to take them to the playground late Saturday morning.  Tweedle Dee 1 got blisters from the monkey bars and absolutely fell apart, causing the dominoes to continue to fall as each other child had a breakdown of their own.  Fortunately, I thought on my feet and after filling them up with food, I instituted 30-minutes of absolute silence, which allowed me and one child at a time to clean up the apartment.

Cute moments:  Around the lunch table, Tweedle Dee 1, 2, and 3 were coming up with all the phrases they knew in other languages.  Then, Tweedle Dee 3 said, “Wichita.”  I was surprised he said it, but he said that in their AWANA Sparks book, apparently a character buys a ticket to the place of my birth (I don’t actually think that’s why they go, but you never know).  That led into a discussion of Kansas, since Tweedle Dee 1 is studying The Wizard of Oz at school.  I always love sharing with eager kids about, well, anything.

So basically, it was a lot of fun, but definitely gives me a more realistic picture of what my days will be like as a mother!

There are some days I’m perfectly content with being single and loving my peaceful life.

And then there are days like today when the desire to be a mother is so overwhelming that it brings me to my knees and tears to my eyes.

I love working with the children, I truly do.  I love the special relationship I can build with them as I teach them about the Lord, have fun with them, and talk with them one-on-one.  I love how they’ll crawl all over me (the youngers) and talk to me like I’m one of them (the olders).  I love the look they give me when I pat their back or run my fingers through their hair.  I love how their eyes light up when they have a story they’re just busting to tell me or when they’re laughing at my silliness.  And I love at the end of the day, that I can point them to their parents and say, “See you next time!”

But more and more each year, these little ones remind me that I don’t get these experiences everyday.  Though I get to see many of the children grow week to week and year to year, I don’t get to be the one to guide them day and night.  I want that.

But until then, I pray Lord, make these precious moments enough.

Photo by just Luh

Last night was the easiest night of camp or any camp-like activity that I’ve ever had.

I’m not sure if it’s just the calm before the storm, or maybe just that the younger kids really are easier.  Probably, it’s the fact that we only had 9 kiddies in our group and there were 2 other helpers.  Yeah, that’s probably it.

While I only had 9 in my group, my friend Jen (her group of kindergarteners rotates through the sports with mine) had 18.  Yeah, slightly unfair.  We’ve been told that’ll be fixed for tomorrow so she can stop pulling out her hair and I can start.  At least we’ll be a balding pair, right?

Really, though, I enjoy my group.  While we were waiting for all the kids to get signed in, we were shooting baskets.  After a while, I decided to go ahead and gather them up and sit down.  And they just sat there, not making a peep, not poking one another, not crawling around on the floor, for about 5 minutes.  That’s when I realized that I had to get them moving as the assembly portion hadn’t even started yet.  I know 5yos have a low tolerance for immobile activities.  So, I did what any other fun-loving children worker would do, and I “turned” the kids into frogs.  They had a blast hopping around while I tried to turn them back into boys and girls.  Definitely broke the ice, too!

Some kiddie-ism highlights:

Me: “What is your purpose?”
Child: “To obey Mom and Dad.” (haha, not bad, eh?)

Me: “What did we learn today?”
Child: “How to play basket-berry!”

I wish I could share with you video of the kids learning how to play basketball (each night we do a different sport, tonight is baseball…if it doesn’t rain) as it was adorable.  I only had one or two kids that had any clue how to play, so there were a lot of verbal reminders on what to do(“Dribble!” “Pass to a teammate!” “No, he’s not on your team!”  ”The basket is this way!”  ”Dribble!”).  More importantly, though, the kids had a lot of fun while learning not only about sports, but about the Lord.  I’m excited to see how the rest of the week goes!

Photo by e453753

Okay so that day I asked for in order to spin a yarn?  Yeah, it’s going to definitely be 2.  I’m going to TRY to have the story written to post on Monday.  Really, I am.

Nextly, I realize that what I’m about to say to you may end the blissful boredom on my part.

When I look at my schedule for next week, it contains a lot of purple.  We started using Google Calendars at work almost 3 years ago now, but only yesterday did I realize I could seemlessly include my personal calendar without sharing it with my co-workers.  So now, my work things are pink (the guys’ stuff are blue and green) and my personal things are purple.  I feel so much more on top of things now that I can keep up with things visually (I had previously primarily been using the calendar in my head).

So, that gets me back to my purple-filled week next week.  There’s two major things going on: a friends’ wedding (which I’ve volunteered to help decorate and make/serve food for) and Power Camp.

Ahhh, Power Camp.  Power Camp is a sports and

performing arts camp put on by my church for kids in our community.  Two years ago was our first time, and it brought me to my knees.  I have never felt more inadequate while working for children, and I’m usually the type to say, “The more the merrier.”  I had been thrown in to a leader’s role, and only found out that I’d be helping out about 24 hours ahead of time.

Last year, I knew that I would be helping out, but I t

hought that I would be in a helper role, not a teaching role.  Turned out not to be the case, so I got thrown in to teaching about 30 minutes before the first lesson.

This year, I told them they couldn’t shock me.  I knew I was going to teach, so there was nothing they could do to surprise

me.  I’ve already been told what group I’m working with and have talked to my co-leader, and we’ve split up the duties, and everything seems to be in order.   Though I prefer the older kids (and our children’s minister knows it), he put me with the rising kindergarteners because I told him I’d be flexible and that was where the need was.  That’s not a big deal though as I’m familiar with that age, as several of the kids in my group will be in my Sunday School class in a month.

That said, I’ve yet to find out what surprises might be in store for me, so stay tuned on that one.  So basically, I’m telling you all this because I KNOW I’ll need prayer.  Camp is in the evenings Monday through Friday of this coming week, so if you think about it, can you pray for me, but especially to the children that will be there?  For many of them, this will be the first time they’ve ever heard the Gospel.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  You know what I’ll be doing…charging up all my batteries to prepare for the long week!

Photo by Emrank

I teach Sunday school to kindergartners.  Though it’s not my profession (perhaps it will be someday), I love it.

When their eyes are drawn to the object in my hand, I love teaching.

When they let me play with their hair, I love teaching.

When their mouths hang open in disbelief at something neat and fascinating I’ve shared with them, I love teaching.

When they joyfully welcome a new friend they just met, I love teaching.

When I get to practically apply one-on-one what we’ve been learning to their personal struggles, I love teaching.

When they hang on every word and get frustrated when I pause or switch gears, I love teaching.

When they start making connections demonstrating they’re really getting the lesson, I love teaching.

When they draw a picture showing they get the lesson, I love teaching.

When they see me down the hall and can’t wait to give me a hug, I love teaching.

When a parent tells me their child has chosen to follow Christ, making what I’ve been teaching them their own, I love teaching.

Photo by Lilivanili

These questions come from Amanda, who got them from a class.  I guess there is some benefit in going to class.

1. What three things would be said about you and your life if you died today?

I think that it would be said that I loved the Lord, made a difference in the lives of children, and loved to learn.

2. Given the likelihood that you will not die today, and have time left to change some things in your life, what three things would you most like to have said about you and your life?

I would like it to be said that I shared my faith, encouraged others, and spoke truth through my writing.

3. If someone were to witness a week of your life, what assumptions would that person make about your values–what matters to you?

I think that they could safely assume I love to learn, as I spend a ton of time reading and writing.  I hope that it would be obvious that I value the Lord, but that’s probably not as clear as I would like.  I think that it’d be clear that I love children, too.

4. What values do you hold that are not evident from the way you life your life?

I value others, I really do, but this is a hard thing for me to do as an introspective introvert.  I’m way more comfortable in my reading chair than I am on the streets, but I need to be on the streets (or in other houses or wherever) interacting with others more.

5. What three goals are important to you as you plan your life?

Seeking to honor God in everything I do is an important goal that influences every decision that I make.  Another goal (if you can call it that) is to get married, but that has yet to change my on-the-ground plans.  Another goal is to be an encourager, which is why I choose to go on trips (though hey, I do like to travel, too).

6. What keeps you from achieving what you want for your life?

The biggest hindrance is my own sin.  Another hindrance to many of these plans is my own self-absorbed tendencies, something that my friends try to push me out of (which I appreciate, though I might not like!).

Photo by Randy Son of Robert

Today’s Mother’s Day, a day of celebrating mothers.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve celebrated this holiday as a daughter and a granddaughter, but today was the first time I imagined what it would be like to celebrate this day as a mother.

You all know I want to be married.  Not that it’s my chief aim in life, but this God-given desire is a big part of who I am.  I’ve always wanted to be a mother as well, but my mind tends to focus more on marriage.  You know, the whole don’t put the cart before the horse thing.

But today, unexpectedly, Mother’s Day got to me.  At one time I was at the point of tears, as adoption was mentioned, something that I really want to do.

I trust that God did not give me these desires to mock me, but that they serve a purpose.  Whether this desire will be fulfilled in physical or adoptive motherhood, I don’t know, but I thank God for each and every little one that He has allowed me to touch or teach.  After four years of serving as a Sunday School teacher and Awana leader, I have had the opportunity to teach/lead/love-on almost every child in our church from kindergarten through 9th grade.  As some of you know, that’s more than a few children.  I’m thankful for those parents who have shared their children with me.

I don’t give up hope of becoming a mother myself, but rather remember where my true hope lies.