a few weeks ago i was called to serve in the primary presidency in our ward. at the time i was only excited, and now i am nervous and excited. i was about to write my thoughts about this in my journal, but realized that since i only write in my journal about 4 times a year, i would rarely ever look at it again. i go back and re-read the blog all the time, and it gets published into a book every year, so this is my best bet at reading these thoughts ever again.
1. my first thought was honestly, "how do you even talk to children?" I've babysat a ton in my day, and love kids, but i've always talked to them as adults. my first sunday in primary all the other leaders were, "helloooooo boooyyyss annnddd giiirrrlllssss....." you know the voice i'm talking about. combined with the overly-excited voice. so i started thinking that's how i had to address our primary kids if they're ever going to understand/listen to me. i think i've decided just to talk to them as adults, even if i'm the only one.
2. i LOVE the other women in the presidency. we're all at different stages in life, and i think we're going to work very well together. the president is about 30 and has two kids, the first counselor has eight grown kids and 12 grandchildren, then there's me, a newly wed, and the secretary is a fabulous single girl who i think is around 38. we're all on the same page on wanting to make it really fun for the kids, and keeping our presidency meetings to a minimum. we decided to have a combined sharing time, so that gives us an extra hour during the 3 hour block when we'll meet. very nice that we don't have to meet during the week.
3. my biggest worry is learning all the kids' names. we've only been in the ward for 2 months, so i barely know the adults let alone the kids. as someone who isn't too good with names,
i have to write down the name of everyone i meet right after i meet them or else i'll forget, this is a tall order! i've been brainstorming all kinds of ways to do this quickly. i think i'll bring my camera this week and take their pictures, so at least i can start matching names to faces during the week.
4. i feel very humbled by this calling.
5. i love singing primary songs again. it's amazing how quickly they come back!
6. i've already thought of suggesting eddie's name to be a primary teacher so he'll be in primary with me the last 2 hours. it would be so fun to be in there together, mainly laughing at all the funny things kids say.
7. i don't think the kids can say my name. scratch that, i know they can't. i kind of just want to go by sister marianne.
8. i can already tell that my artsy-fartsy side is going to come out in full force in this calling. the other day i spent hours perusing the web for cute ideas we can implement. i need to not get carried away or i could spend so much time and $$. i've already had the thought cross my mind, "i need to get a sewing machine to make those "talk, scripture, prayer" seat covers."
8. i am very excited to be in primary again!! it's been 13 years.
