Differing World Views

Miss Nita is always asking questions. The darling girl has an insatiable curiosity. This fact, coupled with her life experiences, however, make for some interesting conversations. I want to record some of her world views here so that I will always remember.

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Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary earlier this month. My kids always enjoy looking through our wedding album on our anniversary. They think it is hilarious that Hubby and I look "so different" now...since we are obviously super-old. ;)

As Miss Nita was looking at our wedding pictures, she asked "Where are Rose and Anne?" I explained that they aren't in the picture because they weren't born yet.

Miss Nita said, "What!? You got married before you had kids? Why would you do that?"

I started to explain, but only got one word out before Miss Nita continued...

"I think you should have waited until after you had your kids because then they could have seen your wedding. Didn't you want your kids to get to see you get married!?"

She went on to lament the fact that my poor kids did not get to see my wedding and how I had deprived them of that experience.

Hubby and I were doing our best not to laugh.

I explained that Hubby and I met before we had kids. I told her that it's okay for people to get married before they have kids and that some people prefer to do things that way.

She was not happy with that explanation.

I tried to console her by pointing out that my kids could always look at the pictures. She guessed that was alright.

Hubby had to leave the room at that point because his laughter was about to erupt.

Just for the record, my children really don't mind that they missed attending their parents wedding. They are content just looking at the pictures. ;)

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A few days ago, I was at the computer working on homework while Cakes and Miss Nita were coloring. Out of the blue, Miss Nita asked me if Hubby and I were best friends or if we were husband and wife. Without looking up, I told her we were both.

She gasped!

Loudly.

I looked up from the computer and was met with a completely appalled and disgusted Miss Nita. Seriously! It was the funniest face I have seen in a few months.

Anyways, Miss Nita, still looking disgusted with me, informed me that you cannot be both. She confidently stated that you can be best friends OR you can be husband and wife, but you can't be both.

Trying to hold in my laughter (again), I explained that the best kind of marriages are when you marry your best friend. I told her that Hubby is, in fact, both my husband and my best friend.

She just stared at me. And stared. And stared some more.

Finally, she shook her head, gave an exasperated sigh, and went back to coloring.

Hilarious!

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I almost forgot this last one! 

During Miss Nita's first week with me, while Hubby was at work, she asked me if Hubby was my boyfriend. I told her no, Hubby was my husband.

She said, oh. And went back to playing.

A few minutes later, she asked me if Hubby was my husband. I told her yes. We were married and he was my husband.

She responded by asking, "If Hubby is your husband, then who is your boyfriend?"

I told her I didn't have one.

She told me I needed to get one.

I told her that I was married to Hubby. I explained that when you are married that you don't have boyfriends anymore.

She informed me that her Mommy had a boyfriend when she was married so she knows that you are supposed to have boyfriends.

She told me, again, that I needed to get a boyfriend.

I told her I would think about it.

I told Hubby about this conversation when he returned home that night, including my acquiesence to Miss Nita. He just stared at me. And stared. And stared.

Then he informed me that he would be my boyfriend and my husband.

I told him I would think about it. ;)

Regular Visiting Teaching

I got a new visiting teaching route this month. I have a new companion and new gals to visit. Of the three gals assigned, two had phone numbers listed. Of those numbers, one actually worked. I left a message for that sister. Didn't hear back.


I searched for phone numbers for the other two sisters, but came up empty handed.


So...My new companion and I decided to do scouting visits.


I typed up the message for the month, put a nice "Hello" message at the top along with mine and my companion's phone numbers, and printed it on bright green paper. Bright green paper is lots easier to see than plain old white paper. I figured if no one was home, I'd tape the message to their front door. And once I knew where they lived, I could come back at different times to try and meet each sister.


My new companion picked me up about 9:15 this morning. We stopped at a bakery on our way out and bought a cinnamon roll far each lady. Why? Because Baked Goodies have magical, mystical powers. Some gals do not like surprise visits from church ladies. Some gals find it rude and decide that they do not like you and will never like you and further more they now do not like the church even more. BUT, if those church ladies come to a gal's house bearing baked goodies, they are usually forgiven for their surprise attack and welcomed into the gal's home. As I said, baked goodies are magic!


We got to the first gal's house and had quite an eye-opening experience. I won't go into the details here for obvious reasons. (In case you don't know what the obvious reason is, I will spell it out for you...p-r-i-v-a-c-y.) The thing I will share here is that this gal seems to not have had visiting teachers for YEARS.


The second gal we visited wasn't home. As I was debating whether to tape my message to her garage door or stick it under the windshield wiper of her guy's work truck, a neighbor came to see what we were doing. I explained that I was looking for the gal. He informed me that the truck was his. He was parking it at her house to make it look like someone was still living there. The gal herself had moved out several months earlier. She was now living in a town four hours away. 


This gal had only been baptized a year earlier. She should have had super-visiting teachers coming to see her for a year after her baptism to help her with the transition. I don't know what happened there. What I do know is that she has been gone for several months and her visiting teachers failed to report that. Which most likely means that her visiting teachers were not visiting her.


I couldn't believe that these two gals, who so obviously needed the love and support of visiting teachers, were passed over. I expressed my disappointment to my companion. She told me that she really hadn't had visiting teachers the whole time she has lived in this town either. She told me there was one lady who came to see her every so often (not the regular monthly visiting teaching), but that lady (I know for a fact) moved out of our ward over a year ago. This means that my companion hasn't had visiting teachers for over a year! And she is another one who could have really used the love and support of a visiting teacher.

We got to the third gal's house at that point. She was home and invited us in. We had a nice visit. She was so happy to have us in her home. And she was glad to see the treat, but even more excited to see the little handout I had made with our phone numbers on it. She seemed delighted when we told her to call us anytime she needed help.

Since returning home, I have been thinking long and hard about visiting teaching in my life. I try so hard to visit my ladies. I have since I was eighteen years old and was first given the calling of visiting teacher.

The first two years I lived in this ward, I had the same companion, Sister S. She and I tried to do an in-home visit every month. Sister S was kind of shy, so I was the one who usually made the appointments. If the gals we visited weren't available for an in-home visit, I asked them when was a good time for me to call back and just chat. I let them know that I was interested in them and their lives.


Sister S and I had one gal who just wouldn't commit to visits, so we surprise visited her more often than not, bearing baked goodies of course! We would only stay for a few minutes, but we CAME! We did our best to show her that she was important to us.

My companion was moved to a different route during the third year. I was on my own for a few months, but continued to contact my sisters every month. Now there were a couple of times when I was only able to call them because our schedules were crazy, but I contacted them one way or another every month! I can't same the same of the gals who were assigned to visit me. I can probably count on my fingers the number of times a visiting teacher has actually come to my home to visit me or purposely called to visit with me. This is kind of sad considering that I have lived in this same ward for three years. I'm not writing this because I'm mad or feel left out or anything. I know life gets busy. I'm not trying to judge.

I just wonder...what has become of Visiting Teaching?


And what will become of the women who are forgotten and overlooked in my little town?

What's In A Name?

My sweet Baby Jim is a PUNK!

At the young age of 13 months, he knew that I was "Momma" and Hubby was "Dadda". He called us that for about two weeks.

Then he started calling me "Dadda" and Hubby "Momma". At first I thought he was just confused. Then the boy called me "Dadda" again and started laughing like crazy.

He knew what he was doing. He was calling us the wrong names on purpose. At the tender age of 14 months, he was already developing a sense of humor. He continued, for the next two months, calling me "Dadda" and Hubby "Momma" and laughing every time. He thought he was so clever. You could see it in his eyes.

At 15 months, Miss Nita and Prof. X joined our family. They call me "Sarah". For the last two months, Baby Jim has heard them calling me "Sarah".

Last week, Baby Jim and I were playing. I had looked away for some reason. Baby Jim called to me, "Momma". I was so happy! For an instant I thought, Finally, that boy is going to start calling me "Momma" again. I turned back to look at him. With a mischevious glint in his eyes, the boy then said to me "Sa-ah" and erupted into laughter. That rat has been calling me "Sa-ah" all week and laughing everytime he says it.

In other news, he has gone back to calling Hubby "Dadda". :P