Going to Church is Fun to Do

I don’t think I ever updated the blog on what Neal and I are currently involved in, church-wise.  Back in March when our ward boundaries changed and we became part of an adjacent ward, we were called (early on) to serve in Primary, Neal as the Primary Music Leader (leading and teaching music to children ages 3 to 11 yrs old) and myself as a Nursery Leader (a teacher for a class for children ages 18 months to 3 yrs old). 

As for Neal, he has had a lot of time spent with his particular calling and he has a fun energetic personality for that calling.  It is a time consuming calling but I think he is enjoying it and all the funny little quirks that come with it (Primary kids say the funniest things…)  I think, all in all, he has served in this calling for, what, 4+ years, not consecutively.  I particularly feel the blessings of this time around as Aedan seems to be learning right along side of Neal.  For the month of April our Primary learned a song called Sacred Names of Jesus from a past Friend issue, a short and simple song with optional duet that tells of many names Christ is known by in the scriptures and how we say these names with great reverence and respect.  The other day, Aedan randomly said to Neal, “Prince of Peace, Lamb of God” and we had to think about where he was getting that from and then it dawned on us that it was from the song.  He only hears Neal practicing it at home so I was quite surprised that he picked it up. 

As for my calling, I had always broadcasted to anyone  who would hear the fact that I wanted a Nursery calling after I was released from Stake Primary.  It took a while but I finally got my chance.  Anyone would admit that it isn’t the best timing as I will be having a baby in a few months but I am enjoying it while I can.  I will say that Nursery doesn’t come completely easy to me and I feel like I am working hard at it (mentally, spiritually, and physically, mostly the latter!).  I would almost be brave enough to say that anyone who feels Nursery callings are way easy either has never served in the Nursery or else does not fully grasp all that needs to happen in there.  I suppose you can say that about any calling really.  I love the kids, love the manual, love the activities, hate the poor air circulation in the room :), and love seeing the progress of the kids over time.  But I am wiped out afterwards, not sure if I can totally attribute that to pregnancy though. 

What has helped me the most? Meeting most of the kids at their home before they show up to my class (made a world of difference the first few weeks), using music ALL the time, using the Nursery lessons for our FHE the week before giving the lesson so I have a trial run with my own kid and I am prepared well in advance, giving the parents short lesson summary printouts of what we did in class and I know many of the families actually use them in the home.  I’m still learning and there seem to be new challenges each time I go but I’m enjoying it while I can.  I don’t know if Aedan benefits so much from me being in Nursery – I check up on him to see what he has learned (which I already know as his class does the same lessons as ours) and today when asked what did he learn about in Nursery he said, “We learned about Jesus and Mickey Mouse.”  I can’t quite make the connection…

I should probably write down all of our ideas for our callings as it seems we keep finding our way back into Primary.  I’ll save that for some other day and for some other blog …

*** I know the pics above aren’t directly church related but they are from one of Aedan’s friend’s birthday party (the kid in the yellow striped shirt) this past weekend.  It involved going to a park on a real school bus which was too cool for the kids.  He has been in the same Nursery class with all of these kids at one point or another.