Wednesday

The “pit” returned. (See "Tuesday" post)

After dinner last night, it occurred to Allie that even though she had Ms. Gregg as her new teacher, she wouldn’t also stay with Mrs. Georgeff… and it broke her little heart. We cuddled on her bed together as she sobbed into my shoulder about how she’d be missing all the other kids’ “name days,” about how she was nervous about things being different in her new class, about not being able to play with Caitlin or Rori on the playground anymore, about her fears that her new teacher would be “hard,” and about how much she loved Mrs. Georgeff. My heart ached for her. All this I knew she would feel—I had felt it before, too. Her little face was red and splotchy by the time I had her get in the bath, telling her a bath would help her feel better. And it did—it cleared her head a bit. When we said our family prayer that evening before bed, I prayed to Heavenly Father that He would help Allie to have fun in her new class and to make new friends. In her own personal prayer in her bed she prayed for the same things, and when she finished I leaned in and whispered to her that “I knew” Heavenly Father would help her through tomorrow, that He would help her to enjoy it. She smiled at me, and squeezed her arms around my neck.

And this morning she was happy. A bit slow and sluggish, but still happy. She smiled and giggled the whole walk to school. We walked past Mrs. Georgeff’s class to see a “former” classmate waiting for the door to open. As she walked by, she said, “Hi Tyler! I’m in a new class now.” He looked after her, confused, and I repeated to him what she had said. His eyes drooped, as he watched her walk away, and he let out a small, “Aw…” He liked her and would miss her. I can’t blame him—Allie’s a pretty cool kid. Ms. Gregg opened her door, and Allie did not hesitate one bit as she walked in the door. As I turned to leave, I peered through the window to see her sitting at her desk, bouncing in her seat, an excited smile on her face.

That little girl was absolutely devastated last night—declared to me she didn’t want to go to school anymore. But through her tears, she had faith the Lord would help her to enjoy herself in spite of her sadness.
What an amazing little girl.

Tuesday

My favorite part of today so far...

As we're leaving to take Sami to school, I noticed a dime-size spider hiding under the kitchen cabinets. Since I can't leave a living arachnid in the house, I put Drew down to kill the eight-legged intruder. Knowing how quick they can be, I resorted to be usual chemical warfare, grabbing the bottle of 409 from under the kitchen sink. I sprayed it till it tried to escape, and then squished it with a paper towel in its incapacitated state. Sami was curious, though.

"Why did you spray that on the spider, Mom?"

"Because it makes the spider slow, so I can kill it faster."

"Wow, Mom-- you're a super hero!" Sadly enough, I actually did hold my head a little higher at that moment. Come on, when will my daughter ever again refer to me as a super-hero? I had to soak that in.

My least favorite part of the day...

After coming home from picking Sami up from school, I checked my voice mail to hear a new message from Allie's teacher, Mrs. Georgeff. Allie was "chosen" to switch to one of the new Kindergarten classes... starting tomorrow, after having been in Mrs. Georgeff’s class for the last 4 ½ weeks. She had apparently already spent some time with the new teacher and was "excited." Call it "mother's intuition," but I knew this would happen. When the principal mentioned the possibility at Open House last week, I had a sinking feeling in my gut-- my Allie would be one of them. I came home to mention my feeling to Kevin-- he didn't understand, probably thought I was being a bit paranoid. But I just knew. It ate at me so much because the same thing happened to me in Kindergarten-- I was always sad about having "lost" Mrs. Seaver.

So after picking Allie up from school, we walked over to her new classroom to meet the new teacher-- a tall and slender, young, cute blond named Ms. Gregg. She was darling, with a bright, colorful room that smelled of cinnamon apples. Her blue eyes twinkled as she talked with Allie, excited about the new year. And Allie really seemed to like her, too. The pit in my stomach relaxed. Allie would be fine, I knew it. Ms. Gregg would be every bit as loving as Mrs. Georgeff.

My Time to Shine!

I had to laugh at the way Sami hogged the microphone today. Meredith, their nine-year-old "big sister," stood in between Allie and Sami at the podium, Allie and Sami standing on small wooden stools Meredith's mom Sarah had brought. After situating the stools, I thought Sami was too far away from the microphone, so I moved her slightly closer to Meredith. Then I made my way to the piano.

Mistake.

I sat on the piano bench, and looked up at the girls. Sami leaned over onto Meredith, her mouth practically eating the microphone. I whispered, "Sami!" trying to get her to back up, but realized I would need to actually yell for her to hear me... which wouldn't go over well with the bishopric and stake president sitting right in front of me.

I would get fired... Well, actually, considering the shortage of pianists in the ward, I probably wouldn't have gotten fired. I probably could have yelled... if it weren't for the whole "inviting the Spirit" thing.

But I could tell people were tickled just to see them up there, so I let it go. Kevin's parents had even made the drive from the Church ranch just to hear their grandbabies sing.

I played the introduction to the song, which was "Life is O'erflowing with Beautiful Things," a song that had been printed in the July issue of The Friend. Allie and Sami sang the first verse, Meredith sang the second verse, and all three girls sang the last verse. I chuckled to myself at every crack of Sami's voice or every gasp of air mid-word-- her mouth never left that microphone. Allie and Meredith both sang purely and beautifully, too, but it was just harder to hear them.

And then they were done! We walked back to our seats, and I looked out to see smiles and wet eyes. I, too, through my soft chuckles behind the piano, had fought the tears at times.

In spite of Sami's "American Idol" moment, their sweet angel voices had truly invited the Spirit. I had felt it, and so did many people in the congregation.

I told the girls later after church in the stairwell under Dad's classroom how that's what their sweet singing had done, how that is why Heavenly Father blessed them with that musical ability-- to bless others' lives, to allow the Holy Ghost to testify to them and others that Jesus is the Christ.

But before I could say anything else, Sami hit her head on the railing.

Allie on Fashion

Rebekah Jarvis, our Primary chorister, called me this evening. Here's what went down in Primary today...

Ben, one of Allie's classmates, and Laura, his younger sister, came waltzing into Primary a little bit late. Laura was wearing a poofy, colorful, flowery dress that caught Allie's eye. As Ben wandered over to his seat, Allie turned to him.

With all the seriousness of an adult, she told him, "Ben, your sister has great fashion sense."

As I told Kev about this after I got off the phone with Rebekah, with Allie sitting there with us, she smiled, "Laura was very stylish today!"

Hate to say this, Laura, but considering some of the outfits Allie puts together for herself, that's not saying much for ya.

The Coolest T-shirt Ever

Like I said in my last post, we went to the Manatees baseball game last Saturday evening. Halfway through the game Kevin laughed to himself, and pointed out some guy's t-shirt.

Okay... I want it.