Sunday after church we were all just hanging out at the house. Benny asked me if I would do his seminary makeup homework for him. I shook my head no and told him that I didn't even get mine done when I was in seminary. He told me he just had to answer simple questions, "like what is the name of David's adulteress?" I answered, "Bathsheba." I had to laugh and then shared with him an experience I had when I was teaching a sharing time for the primary kids. We were talking about how the prophets in the Old Testament all had faith and did what Heavenly Father asked them. I held up a picture of David and Goliath and asked the kids who knew the story. One boy raised his hand and described in great detail the story of the young boy and his defeat of the giant. I complimented his storytelling and went to move on. Then this boy's hand shot up, "Then when David was a man he looked out the window at a woman who was in the bath." I told him we weren't getting into that story this week, but unfortunately in a room full of 5 boys the comment was anything but shoved under the rug. Hands shot up with questions like, "Why was he watching her in the bath?" "Was she naked?" "What did he do next?" I just ended all questions and told them to ask their dad.
The next week we were asked how the boy was acting in primary. His dad informed us that he'll probably act more grown up because they had THE talk. I laughed because the boy is only eight. I told benny the story and he then branched off of it, "I am going to tell my kids early on about the talk so there are no awkward moments later on." I made fun of him saying, "Oh right so you will say,'look son do you see that bird? Well speaking of birds oh and do you see that bee? Strangest thing.'" Benny looked confused and i said, "You know the birds and the bees, the squirrels and the. . . " I asked what the squirrels went with and mom said, "trees. Wait squirrels don't do trees. But then again birds don't do bees!" Benny and I lost it. We were laughing so hard. Then Benny asked Mom if she had had the talk with me and Barrett. She said she couldn't remember it but she did remember in elementary school when I came home and asked her what white trash was. She said she asked me, "Who is white trash?" and I told her it was me. By this time I was in tears laughing as I remembered in first grade this little black peer of mine who let me know she thought I was white trash. Mom talked about how she was going to go to the school and have a little talk with this gal. I told her that I had forgiven her because she is the little girl who was being abused and had showed me some of her scars and wounds. I came home and told Grandma and I remember fighting with Grandma not to call the police because I had promised this little girl that I wouldn't tell. My how little I knew. I still remember Grandma telling me that it was okay to break a promise if it was going to prevent somebody from getting help. I remember getting after Grandma as she made the phone call to report it. I let her know that I was never telling her any secrets ever again but it didn't stop her. The next week this little girl and her brother were taking out of the home and removed from our school. Years later I ran into this girl and she was doing fine, couldn't seem to be happier. I asked her if she had seen her dad and she let me know she never saw him since elementary school and let me know how great it was. I am so grateful for my grandma who made that phone call and taught me that lesson. I am also grateful for the opportunity to laugh at times that may have been hard in the past or had hurt feelings. They were memories I had forgotten and it was fun to share them with Benny even though some of the conversation wandered into the inappropriate zone. I needed a good laugh.
I love Halloween! I love the colors and I love the excitement of the children who are getting their costumes all ready and getting excited for their candy. I had festive nails during the weeks in October. Above are my jack-o-lanterns and below are my neon green spiderwebs.
Here is Mr. T in his costume!
Jake and I went to the haunted house at Kranz. It was my first Haunted House and they did a good job at decorating. There were some funny memories at the Haunted House and as we stood in line outside freezing we sipped our cider and hot cocoa. Jake also bought me these beautiful flowers. They are some kind of mum and they just look like big puff balls. It is now November 16th and they are still alive! I wake up and they just seem to grow. They are beautiful and I think they just might be my new favorite flower!
