On Changing the World

Once I thought that I would do great and amazing things and change the world. 

Then I thought I might do good, still amazing things, and change a smaller part of the world. 

Now I do little, ordinary things, and don't worry about changing the world. 

I encourage children to learn, to think, to know God. I encourage parents as they teach their children and come along side them as they endeavor to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. I listen to friends when they need an ear and try to reach out to know people better. I do my best to love the people around me even when I'm not sure I'm doing it right. Sometimes I share my thoughts on books and people and the world for a small readership. I write Sunday School curriculum, and I try to get students to read and write, and I edit papers for friends, and I write articles about women of church history, and I watch over children while their moms fellowship and learn and study the Word together.

Perhaps I won't change the world. Perhaps that isn't my job. What I will do is be faithful with what God has put in front of me and trust Him to change the world.

Just a Bit of Something

 In going through an old notebook, I stumbled upon this beginning of a story:

Max the Smallest Truck

Max was the smallest truck n the whole yard. Every morning the bit trucks would head out to pick up loads of dirt and gravel and rocks, and Max would wait... and wait...and wait. Every evening the big trucks would come back, dirty and tired, and talking about all the things they had seen that day, and Max would still be waiting. Every night he fell asleep sad and lonely and wondering if tomorrow would be the day. But there was never a load for a little truck.

I have no idea where I was going with this, or if I even had any idea beyond the introduction of Max. Poor Max, doomed to be forever waiting and sad.

Well, It's Something

Sunday School started again yesterday, after a 4-week break. 

My current curriculum is set up so we teach 5 lessons, and then do a review lesson. The review lessons are in a quiz format, and I break the kids into teams. The questions sometimes have a single answer, so only the team who is "up" answers; sometimes have many answers, and we go around the room with the teams taking turns getting as many answers as possible; and are sometimes turned into hangman, where each team takes turns picking a letter and guessing the answer.

Yesterday was a review week and I wasn't sure how much they would remember after the break. They did pretty well. Their main retention, though, was saved for my lesson on how to best guess letters for hangman from the last review week! They did much better this time; the man was never in danger of being hanged.

At least I have evidence that they listen to me! 

It's Just a Little Thing

Yesterday, we had a birthday ladies' tea for a dear friend. She took the time to talk about when she met each of us and something she really appreciates about us.

She did not mention anything related to singleness or children when she talked to me.

It's not a huge deal. It's just that often I feel like people at church see me as the single lady who cares for the children and that's all. 

It was nice that someone sees something else in me as well. 

December

December was long and busy and good. 

I finished my last fall meeting on December 1st, which was the earliest I have finished ever. I try to finish by the end of November, but that never actually works. I was pretty pleased with not going past the first.

Once that was done, December was all about the Christmas concert. There was the challenge of making enough angel costumes for our 16 angels (all of them at least 9 years old, none of them short enough for the "long men's t-shirt" costumes). Then there were practices, the dress rehearsal, and the concert itself. It was a good concert; the children were wonderful and the parents enjoyed it. Plus, I finally broke the 1 hour mark, so that was an accomplishment. It always seems like a lot of work for a concert that's done in 45 minutes.

For several weeks I had felt almost sick on and off, and informed my body that if it must get sick, it had to wait until after the concert. It listened, and two days after the concert I came down with a cold and spent the week inside trying to get better! I wasn't terribly sick; if I had still been working my previous job, most days I would be expected to take some cold meds and go to work. I was thankful for a life where it was okay to get sick, no one would get angry, and no one expected me to work.

Then it was finally Christmas, which is always a good time. I have spent Christmas with the same family since 2018 (except one year I was with another family, and we missed each other and we decided to never do that again). It was quieter as some of the children were sick and there wasn't as much company as there would normally be. It was also very happy and I was very loved and able to demonstrate my love for them.

There has been a pile of snow this winter, mostly on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. It's lovely and I love looking outside at the mounds and drifts and the falling snow.

The month (and year) ended with breakfast with a friend, lunch and shopping with my brother, and dinner at another friend's house with a family I hadn't seen in quite some time (not all on the same day!). 

It was a good month. It was a good year.

2025 in Books: Picture Books

It is time to give some loving to the world of picture books! I read a LOT of picture books, but I only track the ones I read to my Wednesday morning kids with a goal to see how many years I can go without repeating a book. So far it's three years! I read some other picture books, occasionally to other children (although there's some overlap with the Wednesday books); other books I read and decide aren't right for my children.

Some of our favourites from the past year....

• Many by Mo Willems, including:
• Leonardo the Terrible Monster
• The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster
• Knuffle Bunny Too
• Sam the Most Scardy-Cat Kid in the Whole World
• That is NOT a Good Idea
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
• Knuffle Bunny Free
• The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!
• The Pigeon Needs a Bath
• Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

• By Jan Brett:
• Annie and the Wild Animals
• The Turnip
• The Umbrella
• Mossy
• The Snowy Nap

• Amos McGee Misses the Bus, written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead
• Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
• The Dodsworth books by Tim Egan
• The Trial of Cardigan Jones by Tim Egan
• Snow by Uri Schulevitz
• No T. Rex in the Library, written by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa
• Dragons Like Tacos Too, written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
• Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, written by Jude Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett
• The Many Problems of Rochel-Leah, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Felishia Henditirto 
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake, written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond
• Blizzard by John Rocco
• Cold Snap, written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
• Don't Trust Fish, written by Neil Sharpson and illustrated by Dan Santat