Here are some pictures from our All Saint's Fair at Trinity this weekend!
Mr. Burton and his son Stephen who is in my 2's class. We just found out we are neighbors!
Kaylin and Kendall Verbrugge on the left with little Chloe Doran, Dennis's daughter.
Greg Thompson, our senior pastor, with his youngest daughter Margaret. She was a little overwhelmed by everyone dressed up, but seemed to like getting her nails done.
Sweet little Annabel d
ressed as Snow White :)
Some little ones trying out the bowling game...
Although tiring, the night was a huge success for the families and for their little ones. I'm learning a lot just by watching the parents around me. I was always amazed at Anna Steltzer's ability to stop everything and listen to two year old Colton stumble through words to tell her a story. I think it can be easy to tune out children as they speak to us because they may not notice as much as an adult might... but on the other hand we have all these teenagers that tell us they dont feel like anyone really listens to them. Maybe it started when they were two and telling a story.
Even this morning as Psalms and I were playing cards on my living room floor before the bus arrived, I was tempted to flip on the Today Show and catch the news while we played. Then I realized that tells her she's just a part of my normal day, that I'm not really being attentive to her. It's a privilege to give her my undivided attention for 20 minutes every morning, even if we only talk about who is winning Crazy 8's.
Children have taught me a lot lately and are redefining how I think about things...
Patience now means watching Psalms try and flip her little stack of playing cards all the right direction and try and hold them in her hands without just straightening the pile for her...
Self control has come in restraining myself from succumbing the the charms of crying 2 year olds and giving them hugs when what they need is to be disciplined...
And Faithfulness has been shaped by the little things in Sunday School preparation like making sure every table has enough crayons... it seems like nothing to me, but to the teachers it is the balance between a smooth-running classroom and a 3 year old meltdown. Making sure there are exactly 8 copies of every activity sheet in the folders seems tedious after counting to 8 about 100 times a day... but to the one child who doesn't get a coloring sheet it makes a big difference.
Who knew you could learn so much from such little people :)
