life imitates life (the answer is not mushrooms)

Paul and I got new callings at church.

My church doesn't have a paid clergy, so everyone kinda takes turns at the various responsibilities. Every once in a while you get a call from the bishop or one of his counselors, and then you hyperventilate while waiting to find out what your new calling is going to be.

Nursery. We got called to be in the Nursery.

Can you say.......

AWESOME???!!!!

Greg looked kinda nervous when he told us. Nursery isn't something everyone gets super jazzed about, you know? I guess it's just that being accosted by eighteen month old kids for two hours every week doesn't appeal to everyone. Go figure.

I think he started to relax when he saw us high-fiving and pulling out our marshmallow gun. I mean, come on! Snacks? Toys? Singing time? Playdough? We get to party for two hours with people who share basically all my eating habits, except for some of them will eat raisins, and I won't.

So, it's been fun. Really, really fun. Here's a sampling of a typical Sunday:

Cute kid A takes a toy from Cute kid B.

Cute kid A: MINE!!!!!!

Cute kid B: MINE!!!!!!

Me: Hey, uh, look at this.....weird plastic spinny thing!! Yeah, check this out! You, uh, push this plastic pushy thing and the spinny thing spins!!!!! Wow, don't you love a plastic spinny and pushy thing? I know I sure do.

Cute kid B: Oooooh. (starts pushing the plastic pushy thing)

Another sampling:

Cute kid A: I blow bubbles?

Me: Oh, uh....no, sweetie. Just grown-ups blow the bubbles.

Cute kid A: I blow bubbles?

Me: Right, so it's actually just grown-ups. I personally think it's ridiculous, you know? I mean, so you're eighteen months. Who cares? Do they know how early you were able to feed yourself pureed sweet potato? I'm just a nursery leader. Powerless, you know? I mean, if it were up to me you could blow bubbles all day. What's it to me? It's Roxy over there, she's the one with the power. So hey, you want to run around in circles really fast?

Well, you get the general idea. I may have embellished slightly for dramatic effect.

I really do love it. I love watching their little brains working, trying to figure out this complex grown-up world where snack time requires you to sit in one place and it is generally frowned upon to dump water all over your snack filled coffee filter.

It's good for me to practice being patient, too, you know? I find it helps me in other segments of my life. Take the other day:

I go to the library to study with some people from my Spanish class. Now, I am normally a solitary studier, but on Monday when Shanika asks if I will join her I think....study group. I could do that. That's a college thing, right? Yeah, study group.....cool.

So we agree to meet at 1:00. I mistakenly think that means 1:00. It actually means 1:30 in college time. My bad. I ask Shanika and Dude Whose Name I Have Forgotten what they'd like to study.

Vocabulary, they say.

Okey dokey. I'll quiz you guys first, I say.

Me: Leche

Shanika: Mushrooms?

Me: Carne

Dude: Oh......uh.......

Shanika: Mushrooms?

Me: Lechuga

Dude: Uh......um.......

Shanika: Mushrooms?

You get the idea. I didn't have the heart to tell Shanika that "mushrooms" isn't even in the book. She seemed so excited about them.