Sunday of Firsts

Sunday, June 29th:
Because about half of the branch at church goes home for a couple of months for the summer (no exaggeration), there wern't any decons to pass the sacrament. So they asked Tim to help along with some other adults.

Before I go back to that, here's some background...
Hunter was once telling me about Spiderman. He has never seen any Spiderman movies, but tells me what he hears from his buddies. I think he is starting to develop the superhero phase that most pre-schoolers go through. He told me how powerful Spiderman was, and followed with "Mommy, I just loooovvve spiderman. I really Love him!" He was so sincere in his admiration for this fictitious character.

Okay, back to the sacrament. Tim says sure, and goes up with the other adults to pass the bread to the congregation. I was worried the boys would be rowdy if Tim wasn't there. Tanner laughed when he saw his Dad, and asked Tim to "Up Please!" when Tim passed to our row. But Hunter was ultra-still. His eyes were fixed on Tim. He was grinning. Confused, I leaned in toward Hunter. His smile widened and with star-gazed eyes, he said "Mommy, I love him (pointing to Tim), I loooovvve him!"

I think there are times in a little boys life where their Daddy becomes just as heroic as a superhero. It's something moms usually can't quite grasp. But at that moment, Hunter thought Daddy was saving the world by passing the bread to the congregation. Hunter was so proud of his Daddy.

Another first:
That same Sunday, Hunter gave his first ever talk in Primary. I remember thinking Hunter would always be little and never make it out of Nursery (he's always the oldest in his class, since his birthday is 2 months short of the cut off). We got to church early and went down into the primary room, turned on the mic and practiced. Hunter kept blowing into the mic and imitating his Dad's Darth Vader noises and laughing. I was curious how he'd do at crunch time...

His talk was on families and temples. He said the following:
1. President Ezra T. Benson said he wanted every family member's chair filled in the Celestial Kingdom.
2. One time my mommy took me to the temple, and I got to see a very big statue of Jesus.
3. Because of Heavenly Father's Plan and Jesus' sacrifice, our family can be together forever. Temples make this possible.

Okay, I forgot most of it...
But, when he got up there, he was very confident and poised. No Darth Vader even. He spoke slowly, clearly and I couldn't be more proud of my little future DECA competitor (okay, that's just a little wish)... anyway.

Sunday, July 6th Tim and I translated together side by side for sacrament meeting, yet another first. I was scared, then I just thought about what my tennis coach said way back in high school (I know, I know...) "If you go into a game already thinking you're going to win, you are more likely to loose. Take each stroke one at a time, and you'll come out conqueror". And that's what I tried to do. I didn't have to try to be the best translator ever, I just had to take things sentence by sentence. It was great. I actually enjoyed it.

Okay one more first:
Sunday, July 27th at church the topic was "agency" and using our agency to make the right choices. When the sacrament hymns are sung, I like to point to the words and whisper them in the ears of the boys so they can sing (okay, sometimes scream) the lyrics along. It's not always a success, and I don't do it as often as I should. But, this last week, I didn't even share the hymn book with the boys.

The hymn was "Choose the Right". That exact phrase is stated at least 4 times in each of the 4 verses. It is an energetic hymn, and Tracey Larson, the chorister had us all stand to sing it. I was surprised to hear Tanner shouting over and over "Choose the Right!" It didn't always catch one of the 4 chances per verse of saying it on exact timing, but it sure was cute. And sorry to the next speaker who was gently reminded by our enthusiastic 2 year old to continue choosing the right, at least 4 more times there after, during their talk.