Tap Tap Tappin'

February 27, 2012

The girls and I are just back from the trip to Raleigh, North Carolina for a tap dance convention.  We try to go every year, and it's such a good experience for the girls.  Mark Goodman brings a great staff with him, and the dancers learn so much.  While we were there, Cooper got to go over her solo with Mark.  He came and did the choreography during the September, and she has been rehearsing with Ms. Andee every Friday ever since.  He was very proud of her mastering the solo, and only changed a few little things.  It is quite a difficult solo, and this is the first time she is dancing in heels.  She has already broken on pair, but this second pair seems to be holding up better.  Good thing, since they cost so much!!!   Cymbre got to tap dance with her favorite teacher, Olivia, who does things with world cultures music.  Cymbre adores it!  Cymbre's knee always is very tender and sore, but this year she got to dance more classes than she has been able to do before....a plus in her mind.  Mark used her as an example in the class he taught.  She demonstrated steps and then showed off her slide!  Mark also made Cooper do an improvisation dance for a few bars all on her own....she told him that he made her dance when she didn't have anything to say.  He just told her that he was feeling it, so she could do it.  She did a great job.  Basically, he was dancing alone inside a circle, and then handed it over to Cooper, who then danced, and handed it over to someone else.  A new experience for her.  All in all it was a successful and fun weekend for the girls.

Now we are back to the daily grind here in Houston. 

This week I really have to get all the costumes finished...shouldn't be to hard as mostly it is just rhinestoning left to do and a couple of hair pieces to assemble.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the visit with Jack, Lucy, Caleb, and Holly.   It was over way to soon and the toys that thought they had been liberated from the attic are once again forced into retirement until another visit rolls around.  Jack thinks Gwamma has a special dishwasher because mine can wash toys!  Lucy went around calling out "Grandpa" constantly, but didn't really want anything to do with him.  She did love his tigers though.  We enjoyed visits to the Houston Aquarium and the Zoo.  Jack helped Gwamma make muffins, and enjoyed eating the cookies in the cookie jar.  Now I just need to get the box with the things they left here mailed off.

While I was gone, Guy sold our worn out van and bought a newer (it has 40,000 miles) toyota sienna van.  It is supposed to be some steel blue color, but I can't see much blue amongst the steel.  We actually got $1500 for the old van, which was about three times what we thought we would.  The girls are delighted that the new van has two side doors that open, and rear air conditioning.  Guy is just glad to leave me with a more dependable car to drive, and I am just trying to figure out all the bells and whistles.  The thing freaks out everytime you start it or turn it off....thinks it has to reset the CD player.....maybe today I will actually put a CD in it and see what happens.  It fits in the garage, so no more running in the rain to get to the house for mom....sorry Dad!  And now because the van will always be in the garage when the girls come home from dance, Cooper will be able to park in the driveway behind it.  Everyone will still be able to get out when they need to, and Cooper can stop thinking she has been kicked to the curb!   Although.....she is getting ready to leave for college in a year.

This week for my Sunday School lesson I am searching for a plastic toy frog.....will explain more later.  It's back in the teaching rut yet again!

Things with family problems have not improved, and I'm not sure that they will.   They are not problems that I have caused, but I am being blamed.  What a mess!  I just think that everyone needs to deal in the real reality, and not some made up stuff....and people who didn't grow up in my home should not be judging us.

Guess that's about all the news for today....must get busy!

Satan's Chains

February 5, 2012

Well, another Sunday School lesson is come and gone.  Today I took my small chain and my bigger chain and the hooks that hold them together.  Also took some dirty washrags.

The lesson was about the things that Lehi taught his sons shortly before he dies.  Some of them being that they needed to "shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound"....in other words.....repent, suck it up and keep the commandments, and get your lives in order....quit trying to kill your brother!  Be men!  Make that...Be righteous men.

I had Spencer come to the front and as I talked about how Satan does not bind us with hugh chains to begin with....no, he starts with little chains....really sinks his teeth into us, and then goes for the big chains.  While I was talking I bound him up in the little chain.....(he had to hold the end together because the hook I bought wouldn't go thru the chain....just a minor glitch!)  Then further discussion brought out that the more receptive we are to Satan's ideas, the bigger problems we have....ie...doing drugs, pornography, breaking the word of wisdom, skipping school...loosing our temple recommends...the list goes on and on.  We put a bigger chain on Spencer.  In the end the kids said that he looked like something out of A Christmas Carol....OK!

Further discussion was about how we can break free of the chains.  Spencer decided he wasn't going to turn into the "Hulk".  We saw no evidence of him turning green and developing big muscles...so we decided that we needed to come up with a better solution for him to get out of his chains, because currently he wasn't able to move much.

The discussion turned to how do we make the break....return to a life without the chains.  We talked about repentance, sources of help, the need to read our scriptures, follow the living prophet, attend our church meetings, put the atonement into effect, and to just return our lives back into being a righteous person.  We talked about the qualities that righteous men have....being of one mind, unified, seeking the Spirit and the word of God.  All in scriptures that we read.

We took off the bigger chain....then further discussion about possible smaller steps to getting rid of the little chain.   Service to others, strengthening our testimonies, and utilizing charity in our lives.  In other words, becoming like our Savior.

The little chain was removed, and the dicussion turned to the scripture that "No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God".  They decided that if they were unclean, they probably wouldn't want to be in the Savior's presence when they leave this earthly existence....they wouldn't be comfortable there.  So, the thing we need to do is to not let Satan even get his little chains around us.  That makes being clean a little easier.

For the handout I gave them a white washrag that I had smudged in dirt with the scripture "No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God" written in permanent black marker.  And attached was a little piece of a chain with a tag that read.."shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound".

The kids got the point.

I showed the handout to the bishopric member who is over me, and he said that he had talked to several of my class members after last week's journey to the wilderness....and that they told him they can't wait to get to Sunday School to see what's happening this week.  He said adults and younger kids all want to attend my class.  I told him I was a teacher...that's my special gift from my Heavenly Father.  I spend hours each week preparing my lessons, and I try to make sure the kids are feeling the Spirit during the lesson.  Guess you could say it's working.  I'm grateful...some weeks it is really a struggle to figure out something creative that I can use to teach the kids.  All these hours of preparation pay off in the ability to not use the manual except to remember the scripture references we need to read.  The kids seem to all be participating, and that's a good guage about how they are feeling.  Now if I can somehow just keep the momentum going.....

They have asked Cymbre to speak next week in Sacrament meeting about the Book of Mormon being a keystone of our religion....she is using my lesson from the first week of this year, at least some of it.  I won't be surprised to see C3PO show up in her talk.

With everything else going on in our lives right now....teaching this class is a blessing to me.  It focuses my mind not on the tremendous trials we have, but on the teachings of the Savior, and then blessings we obtain for righteous living.  Sort of hard to focus on when EVERYTHING is going wrong in the other areas of our lives.

Now I just have to come up with an idea for next weeks lesson.

The girls dress rehearsal went well for dance competition....I should have taken pictures of the costumes, but some of them are not yet rhinestoned.  So photos will come later.

This week will be busy in getting little treats off the the grandbabies...finishing costumes, and lesson preparations.  Physical therapy exercises are helping to keep the pain level managable most days in my back...survival mode keeps me moving on the bad days.

Remember that you should be doing some service for someone everyday....so get out there and do it.

Mom and Dad love you all.  And especially those grandbabies.

Mom

These Darn Costumes!

February 2, 2012

These competition costumes are going to be the death of me yet this week.  I have been working steadily for weeks, and now this week when everything needs to be done, packed, and organized for dress rehearsal....I end up with a VERY painful root canal!  It's not very easy to sit up and sew and rhinestone when they give you vicodin for the pain in your jaw and it promptly puts you to sleep like a pathetic lump in the corner....I'm just saying!

I do have all the crystal rhinestoning finished, and the blue stones, and today I have done the purple stones.  Now I just have the hot pink, and leaves to finish handsewing and then two colors of rhinestones to glue onlt Cooper's jazz costume.  Those stones aren't here yet, but they should be coming in the next day or two.

Tomorrow is "Cooperpalooza", so we have to celebrate Cooper's 17th birthday.   I got a cookie cake and will pick up pizza and take it to school at lunch time.  She LOVES to share lunch with her friends for her birthday.

Dad took Cooper already to renew her driver's license, and she will have her church birthday interview this week hopefully.

Both the girls have earned their honor bees, and they will be given them on the 22nd at New Beginnings.  We told them we were not dragging this on like when Cymbre got her YW medallion.

That's all for now...must get these leaves sewn down.....

Mom