A Lighter Thanksgiving Song

Good luck getting this one out of your head.

Thanksgiving

This year I am thankful for...

1. My family. The whole lot of them, from the smallest to the oldest. We don't always understand one another because we can be very different, but happily love does not require complete understanding. I don't love anyone more than my family, even the ones I haven't met.
2. My church family. They really are family and I have always felt loved and at home with them. Church is my happy place and is exactly what God asks of His family. It's also a place for me to use my gifts to serve God and His people.
3. My friends. Of course, this is not an entirely separate category because many of my friends are part of my church family. These are the people I can laugh and cry with, the people who know me too well, the people who pray for me and who I pray for. They are also the people who know that sometimes words are not necessary or even helpful.
4. My job. I like what I do (most of the time) and my coworkers. I like the organizational aspects, I like being the boss (and having a boss to turn the worst problems over to), and I love teaching.
5. Vacation. It's been a pretty long week and month (and fall, really), and I leave for vacation in 3 days. I need this time to get away and regroup and relax.
6. Knowing that for the price of a bowl of carrots, peeled and cut, I get a full Thanksgiving dinner and an afternoon of fellowship today.

From the Children

I was doing a comprehension assessment with a grade 1 child yesterday. He read about children getting ready to go on a field trip and then I asked him some questions.

Question: Why would Mrs. Brown tell the children not to push one another?

His answer: Because if they were shoving they might accidentally hit the ejector button and the person would go in the air and float back down.

Official answer: So no one would get hurt. Accept other reasonable responses.

I accepted his answer as a reasonable response.


This morning we were talking about snakes in Junior Church during colouring time. One student insisted that all snakes are poisonous. I corrected that (and told them they should never pick up a snake anyway unless a grown up tells them it's okay). Another one told me that snakes stick out their tongues and lick you and then you turn into a snake. He insisted that it happened in a cartoon. I insisted that it never happens in the real world.

And...this morning I was called upon to unlock a room for the Junior/Senior High Sunday School class. I found my keys and went to the room to find the entire class standing around outside. I asked if anyone had tried the door and they told me that someone had. Then I tried the door. It was unlocked. Someone needs door-opening lessons.

Nicknaming a Child

Last week we had a visitor in Sunday School. He came with one of my regular students; I think he was visiting with his family from out of town. His name is Thomas. I told him that he couldn't be named Thomas because we already had a Thomas so he would have to change his name.

We tried Thomas 1 and Thomas 2, but that didn't sound right.

We tried Thomas W (his last name started with W) and it was okay.

Finally, we asked him his middle name in case it would work. His middle name is James. There are too many James's in the church (although none in our Sunday School class) so I didn't want to name him James.

We finally settled on T.J. It was short, easy to say, and seemed to suit him. His response was "Yeah, DJ TJ!"

Sunday morning I assigned a nickname to a new student, and possibly a career choice. I'm sure his parents will be okay with it.

Some Nonsense for Friday

I found this last night while reading over some old writing:

Bob the paperclip was very lonely. He lived in a kitchen drawer with a lot of other stuff. Bob tried to be friendly with the other inhabitants but to no avail. The elastic bands snapped at him, the twist ties tried to shut him up, and the pair of scissors was very cutting. Bob learned to keep himself in a dark corner.

That's all I wrote. I don't know where I was going with that one.

I am trying to get back into writing (which is why I'm digging out old notebooks and finding bits of stories and stuff). Maybe I'll figure out the adventures of Bob the paperclip.

What I Need Today