Back to School

Last Wednesday was our first day of school...for me and for my two oldest children. Michelle is now in fourth grade and is so excited to have Ms. Darden as her teacher. We've heard great things about her. (In fact, when I was at a district meeting, I was talking to a district language arts coach. I mentioned that my kids go to Jackson and the coach asked if I knew Ms. Darden and then began to say what a remarkable teacher she is! :)) The first day was great for Michelle. She thinks Miss Darden seems really fun...she even salsa danced for a few minutes on the first day.

Ella is in second grade. She will have Miss Hair. Miss Hair was her Spanish teacher in kindergarten, but she has now moved up to second grade. Ella's class was so small by the end of the first grade that they combined the two classes into one class and they will have just one teacher who will teach in both languages. Ella loves Miss Hair, who uses puppets to teach the rules and engage the students in her lessons.(like Pepe the monkey and another puppet that's a cowboy and several others as well) So far, Ella loves second grade.

So the year is off to a great start! (My class is going to be both adorable and challenging. But I can do challenging. I certainly have before.)

Here are our traditional first day photos. They are growing so fast. Michelle is now officially an "upper grade" student. I can't believe it!

And here they are with my dear friend/colleague Brenda's daughter Aelora who is in Ella's class:

Fiddle Concert 2012

On Thursday, August 9, Michelle had a fiddle concert in the park. She practiced hard all summer to learn new fiddle songs and to review songs she learned last year. The concert was great! She really did a good job. (However, she concentrates so hard that she kind of scowls as she plays. The students have to memorize each piece they play in the concert. It's a wonderful but challenging requirement.)

Before the concert started, Mrs. Montgomery had all of the students gather to take pictures...serious/smiling ones and silly and fun ones.

This year Michelle played nine songs: Bile Them Cabbage Down, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Cripple Creek, Orange Blossom Special, Little Brown Jug, Old Joe Clark, Camptown Races, Old MacDonald, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Next year I'm sure she will be ready to play at least 5 more. Several others she could play this year but didn't get totally memorized. She was a bit disappointed, but I think she is doing a great job considering she's only taken lessons for a year and a half. I'm so proud of her and her hard work. My uncle Phil came to the fiddle concert and he was very impressed also. The students really are quite amazing and talented, and Linda (Mrs. Montgomery) is a remarkable teacher. Patient, kind but with high expectations.

Along with the fiddling, Mrs. Montgomery uses the Suzuki method to teach them violin. I love this quote from Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, "Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.” He also said, "When one lives by the principle of serving the hearts of others and learns to live for other people, one can enjoy a life of light, without discored, in harmony with others, and walk through life in pure joy. Similarly, the ultimate goal of music education, as well as the secret of violin playing, is to guide others away from the world of self-centeredness to that of loving hearts in the service of others." Wow! That is a philosophy I agree with and love to have my children exposed to.

Downtown Denver and Denver Temple

On our last day in Denver, we headed downtown to see the downtown area. We had a nice lunch (and I introduced Ella to BLT's which she now LOVES!). We saw the State Capitol, the Governor's Mansion, the downtown library, the art museum and so on.
The State Capitol and Governor's Mansion were pretty cool because they are directly across from each other...with a huge park in the middle. It was beautiful to stand on the steps of the Capitol and gaze across to the Governor's Mansion.

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The art museum was fairly costly...and we weren't sure the girls would really appreciate it, so we didn't go inside. But the girls enjoyed looking at the statues outside. The favorite was definitely the one that looked like a giant broom and dustpan. :)

We also didn't go inside this place, but I thought it sounded interesting in a strange way:

We did a little bit of souvenir shopping and ate some very, very yummy frozen yogurt. It was so tasty...better than any I've ever tried before. Wish I could remember the name of the place...

Then we headed to the Denver Temple and walked around the grounds. It's a fairly small temple, but still beautiful.

We had dinner at this yummy restaurant.

(While we were at Tiny Town, the girls got temporary tattoos. They were very excited to put them on when we returned to the hotel that evening.) They also loved swimming in the (cold, outdoor) swimming pool at the hotel.

Grace

Grace seems to be a subject that our stake has been wanting us to understand better. Our stake president spoke about it several months ago...and helped me understand it better than I ever have before. On Sunday a member of our stake presidency spoke about grace again.

His talk came primarily from a speech given by Brad Wilcox at a BYU devotional in July of 2011. Much of what he shared I knew already (at least intellectually) but needed to be reminded of and needed it to sink down into my heart and spirit.

Brother Wilcox told of a girl who came to him and said that she didn't understand grace. She said, “I know I need to do my best and then Jesus does the rest, but I can’t even do my best.” She then explained all the things she wasn't doing that she should be and all the things she was doing that she shouldn't be. I love Brother Wilcox's response, “Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.”

He went on to say, "Christ asks us to show faith in Him, repent, make and keep covenants, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. By complying, we are not paying the demands of justice—not even the smallest part. Instead, we are showing appreciation for what Jesus Christ did by using it to live a life like His. Justice requires immediate perfection or a punishment when we fall short. Because Jesus took that punishment, He can offer us the chance for ultimate perfection (see Matthew 5:48, 3 Nephi 12:48) and help us reach that goal. He can forgive what justice never could, and He can turn to us now with His own set of requirements (see 3 Nephi 28:35)."

I love the analogy that Brother Wilcox shared. Grace is like a mom who pays for her child's piano lessons. The mom finds a teacher and pays the debt (the price owed for the lessons.) The mom does this because she loves the child and knows that lessons will benefit the child. The child then takes the lessons and the mom asks the child to practice. The practice does NOT pay the debt to the teacher. The practice does not repay the mom for paying the debt. But it does show appreciation to the mom for paying the debt. And it allows the child to develop a skill, a talent that will be a blessing to him/her throughout life. Perhaps the child complains about practicing. He cannot see that his mom wants his life to be enriched, to be lived on a higher plane. He needs his perspective changed. As we do when we don't want to live the gospel.

And perhaps my favorite line from the whole talk is this:
"I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, “You Mormons are trying to earn your way to heaven.” I say, “No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven. We are preparing for it (see D&C 78:7). We are practicing for it.”

This is also pretty powerful. Brother Wilcox said, "The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can live after we die but that we can live more abundantly (see John 10:10). The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can be cleansed and consoled but that we can be transformed (see Romans 8). Scriptures make it clear that no unclean thing can dwell with God (see Alma 40:26), but, brothers and sisters, no unchanged thing will even want to."

And one more great quote, "The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin."
I hope I am trying much harder to abandon sin and become comfortable with God than to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. I love my Savior and my Father and want to live with them again some day. I want to feel comfortable in their presence.

Okay, I need to share one last quote: "Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to ‘after’ all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend our own efforts” (The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 155). So grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher’s touch (see Hebrews 12:2)."

I have heard many of these things before, but
If you are interested in reading the whole talk, it is foundhere.
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Our high council speaker, Brother White (from my ward), also gave a wonderful talk. He talked about going to the doctor to get a physical. Among other things he had blood tests taken, and his cholesterol was checked. He was told that his cholesterol was fine, but that he should lose a little weight. He needs to eat a little better and exercise a little more. This got him thinking about his spiritual cholesterol level. How was he doing there? Is he doing the things he needs to do to be in good spiritual health? Is he praying? Studying the scriptures? Attending the temple? And so on.

I liked this analogy. I also appreciated that they talked about this being a personal introspection and not a comparison to others. I have to do MY best, not what someone else is doing. And I have to turn to the Lord daily, no at all times, to receive the help I need so I CAN do my best. Then I just keep trying and keep repenting and keep trusting. Then I will be ready to live with my Savior and my Father again. Good things to remember.

Tiny Town

Before going to Colorado, I made a list (from internet sites) of things to do in Colorado. Then I read all the activities to the kids and we voted on what sounded most fun. One of the things that sounded fun to the kids (esp. Michelle) was going to Tiny Town.

Tiny Town is a few miles outside of Denver, and it is like a small city made of miniature houses and buildings. Many of the houses have furniture, dolls and other objects inside. I really liked a flower shop that had a whole garden growing (plastic flowers and plants) and even had a list of things to look for...a mouse, a watering can, etc.)

We went on a train ride that took you around the village and let you see some houses on the other side of the river that you couldn't walk up to. Gabby thought the train was too noisy. (Also notice that the girls all have Washington D.C. shirts on. Alfredo flew [for free!] to D.C. while we were in Canada so he could visit his aunt, uncle and cousins there. He brought the girls and I each back a t-shirt!)

This was a darling Dr. Seuss house that had characters and decorations from a different Dr. Seuss story in each room.

Some of the houses were big enough that the girls could climb inside. (Most weren't but a few were.) There were 3 schools. There was a Fed Ex store, post offices, libraries, churches, houses, stores and so on. It really was like a whole town, but tiny! There was also a fun park that the girls played at for awhile. It was so much fun. Totally worth visiting. I think it may just be the part of our trip that the girls have talked about the most since we came home. (But they LOVED water world and the aquarium as well.)