Be thou humble, in thy callings

Since this blog is my journal as well as my scrapbook, I had to write about my new calling as Gospel Doctrine teacher. Luckily, I team-teach with another guy, so I only have to teach every other week. But, this calling has been far more humbling than I expected. You see, I love teaching. I have taught gospel doctrine before in a student ward, I also taught Relief Society for two years, and I mean I'm the offspring of Brent L. Top--it should be an intrinsic part of my DNA. So, I wasn't nearly as intimidated by this calling as I should have been. With each lesson I have become increasingly more nervous and self-conscious. That doesn't even make any sense! It has just brought out some of my weaknesses and personality pitfalls. (For those of you who know me well, these won't come as news to you.) For example, I talk TOO MUCH and TOO FAST. Most of that is because I am nervous, but it is also that I have been learning so much in my study of the Doctrine & Covenants and the history of the church that I just want to share it all. But, I also am trying too hard to prove how much I know about the subject matter. I just want to be taken seriously by all the old men in the class. I am trying so hard to be a great teacher, that I am forgetting to really let the greatest teacher--the Spirit--take over.

I also have to admit that I need to be better about leading the class in a discussion rather than just talking the whole time. But, if any of you have a ward with a lot of elderly people you will understand what I'm about to say--I'm sort of afraid to open it up to comments too much because they sometimes say the weirdest things. That scares me a little. I know, though, that the people in the class need to be included in the discussion because each of us receives our own insights from the spirit, and we each have different experiences and perspectives that can enhance the doctrines. So, I'm trying to do better.

Those are just a few of my weaknesses. I guess I am grateful for the new experience and the challenge. It really is humbling me so much. i have to keep being reminded that this class is not about ME it is about HIM. I am, however, so grateful for this because it has scared me into reading my scriptures and studying the gospel more. I guess I had to be compelled to be humble. I hope I can keep doing better, but at least I know I'll be blessed just for trying.

California

The first week of March I went on vacation to Newport Beach, CA with my Mom, my sister and her 7 kids. (That makes 3 adults and 10 kids.) It was really crazy! It had AWESOME moments and AWFUL moments. It was quite an adventure. I'm really glad my Mom decided to come because I couldn't have done it without her. My two smallest children seemed to have a hard time with travelling and with being surrounded by so many kids all the time. But, Gavin had a blast with all his cousins! And. . . .the BEACH, oh the BEACH. Whenever we were at the beach all our troubles were forgotten. It made all the stress and chaos (and fighting with my sister) worthwhile.

I feel badly that my sister and I had some tension. She was the one who orchestrated the trip and paid for the accomodations and it was really, really wonderful of her to include me and my kids. (Thanks, Jess!) But, it's just a little nuts to travel with 10 kids--which included my baby, 3 five year olds, and my 2 year old who screamed most of the time. So, I got a little too impatient and a little too ornery by the end. But, now that it's over, I'm just remembering the fun times.

Me and 8 kids at Disney's California Adventure Park. (My Mom kept my two little ones.) Someone told us to go here instead of Disneyland and that it was better for little kids (3-5). . .but, once we were there we wished we would've done Disneyland. For anyone who goes, if you don't get the park hopper pass and you have to choose just one park, choose Disneyland. The good thing about this park instead of Disneyland was that the lines were much shorter, so we got to do a lot more stuff. But, Disneyland is Disneyland. This one was pretty much like any amusement park anywhere. It was actually really fun, the kids were really good, nobody got lost, and Gavin got to ride his first roller coaster.

Some tidepools at Laguna Beach. Do you see the starfish?

Sunset at Laguna Beach (we loved this beach!)

This is how Ruby hung out at the beach--in my front pack. She loved it!


Flying kites at Newport Beach. I hope my kids know that they have the best Grandma ever. I love you Mom!

Excitement

So, I mentioned that the past month has been more eventful than most. So, here are some of the things that have been going on:
1--We went to California for 5 days. I went with me and my 3 kids, my sister and her 7 kids, and my Mom. It was quite an adventure, to say the least, and I will do another post about that later because I still don't have my pictures from my sister's laptop.
2--I got called to teach gospel doctrine. Whoa. That is also something I will probably do a whole post about. I thought I liked teaching, but this has been more challenging than I ever expected! I also kept my other calling with Activity Days for the 8-9 year old girls. So, that's made for a few crazy weeks. (But, it makes me feel super righteous to have 2 callings! j/k)
3--Gavin had his 5th birthday. Yes, I have been a mother for 5 years! Wow! Fastest 5 years of my life. And like a sucker, I let him have a birthday party for all his cousins and friends. It ended up being 15 kids (mind you, my house is about 1400 sq. ft.) Thank goodness it was a beautiful day so I could send everyone outside.

Here are some highlights:

Superman themed birthday party (and that's his Superman pose.)
This is his present from me and Mike--I had to find this bad boy on Ebay. It has sound effects, red laser eyes, and a cape that "flies"--it was a hit!

Mike made the Superman cake. Mike was my own personal superhero because he helped me pull off a birthday party (complete with lunch) for 15 kids.

Aunt Jessica got Gavin his first bike. He's just learning how to ride and, even with training wheels, it makes me so nervous. But, it's also awesome. Gavin is starting to do things that when he was born we wondered how he would be able to do them with one hand. We thought we would have to engineer special handle bars for him or something, but he is adapting beautifully. If he isn't concentrating though, sometimes he does veer to the left! :)

Since Gavin upgraded to a bike, Nick got the old trike. I think he's pretty cute!

This is Ruby after the birthday festivities. I felt exactly the same way!!