And I made it to Friday...TGIF...

This has been a good productive week. Last week I spent several days sick and it was just great to have a well week I could fill as I was able, needed and wanted. I was invited to teach early morning seminary this week and next week. What a treat!! Our class meets in a classroom at the high school. It is one of the trailers (we called them shacks when I was in high school 40 years ago...really...I can't believe it was 40 years ago!! I graduated in 1968 so it was really 40 years ago. Oh my goodness. But I digress...). It is called a club and a teacher sponsors us. The teacher is Ms. Rice. She teaches Spanish. She is not LDS and sits at her desk working for the lesson time. She is a wonderful young lady and makes you feel very comfortable using her space. This year the kids are studying the Book of Mormon. For those who view this blog who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), the kids go to early morning seminary all four years of the high school experience. Each year they focus on a different book of scriptures. They do Old Testament one year, New Testament one year, Book of Mormon the next year and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History one year. For kids in an area not highly populated with LDS kids, they usually meet at the church for 'early morning' (translated - before school starts) seminary. Some kids have 'home study' seminary if they have too far to travel or only a very few kids to attend. Kids in really populated areas attend 'released time' seminary. Their class is held in a school room or an actual seminary building on the campus of the school. They have to use one of the extra credit class times to attend. Throughout my life I have taught 8 total years of early morning seminary. I taught 3 years when we lived in Denver (New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History). Then when my kids were in high school I taught again for 2 years (Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History) and then in our last few years of in Maryland before retiring I taught for 3 more years (Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Mormon). Then for 2 years I was the Stake Seminary Advisor. This means I helped the Church Education System person over all of our seminary classes with the classes within our stake. I mainly focused on helping the teachers with ideas to learn the 25 scripture mastery verses the kids focus on each year in the scriptures they are studying that year. I also tried to come up with a major combined event for all the seminary students in the stake. We held one at the Washington, DC Temple Visitor's Center and one was a big scripture mastery event at our Stake Center in Germantown, Maryland. I have had 2 favorite callings (opportunities to serve) in the Church. Teaching seminary was one of them and leading the kids music in Primary (kids 3-11 years old) was the other. The hardest calling I have held in terms of time and hours was seminary. But the spiritual strength gained from daily concentrated study of the scriptures and doctrine is almost indescribable. It can give you the highest highs to begin your day. So when Alicent Manwaring asked if I could substitute for her for a couple of weeks, I couldn't have said no. I just love being with these youth and studying the gospel. On top of that the kids are in the Book of Mosiah for their study and I was asked to teach chapters 18 through 29. What a great book to teach from. So many, many wonderful lessons. I enjoyed making a reader's theater one day out of the reading block. I had the kids tape to their foreheads the name of the character they were reading, each one got a script with their part highlighted and we read the chapter as if we were in a play. Brittney really got into her part. When we were cleaning up to leave I noticed that Niamh still had her name taped to her forehead. We got a chuckle out of her possible wearing that all day. After we read the play, I had them each write a 5 word quiz about the content of the play. Then we took turns asking questions and having the others answer. They had to give the scripture reference the verified their answer. Josiah was a great question writer. The kids each have an assignment in their class. It is with pure delight I watch them come in and take over their assigned tasks. Since this is a school room, the 1st one in always takes the chairs off the tops of the desks. Ms. Rice has let Alicent have a bit of her closet to store their notebooks, scriptures and hymnbooks in. I loaned Alicent my CD's of all the hymns. The kids pull this stuff out and set it on a back table for those who come in late to quietly get and take their seat. They have a chart of each person's turn to pick and lead the music. They also have a chart for each person's turn to give a devotional. There is a secretary to make sure the chart goes around for reading each day in their scriptures and to gather attendance records. There is a president to make sure the beginning of the meeting is conducted and prayers are asked for the opening and closing of the meeting. When everything is done they set to putting the classroom in order for Ms. Rice to teach Spanish. I have enjoyed watching them perform their simple tasks and wondering if they understand it is preparation for leading organizations at Church and running their own families in the future. Of course I am old and look at it through different eyes but I appreciate very much the order and care they take with their classroom and the way it functions. So, this week I've been up at 6am each morning, out the door at 7am and home by 9am. These are better hours than the last time I taught early morning seminary in Maryland. I was up at 4:30am then, out the door at 5:30am. Home by 7:45am. Off to work by 8:30am. Home by 6:30pm. Yes, these are much better hours. Wednesday was a fun day for me. Claude had training in Covington, KY about managing grants. He was gone overnight and returned Thursday afternoon. So after teaching seminary Wednesday, I headed to the Dairy Queen in Georgetown. They make a really good biscuits and gravy. I love biscuits and gravy. So I took myself out for a quiet breakfast. I also carried the last of my shopping catalogs to finish going through. I created a list of the Christmas presents I would order from them. Then added that to my Christmas present grid. I must explain about 'grids'. I make a Word table and fill it with whatever I'm working on. I call them my grids. My family has a lot of enjoyment about Mom's grids. I have one made up for Thanksgiving when the family will all be here with days of the week at the top, then rows for breakfast each day, lunch each day, dinner each day, snacks/treats each day, and activity possibilities each day. I make them for Camp Christensen, I made one for Andie & Michael's wedding. They just help me get through things that require lots of different trains of thought at once. They let me list lots of possibilities with the understanding not all of it will get done but you'll know what the possibilities are and can make choices rather than spending time thinking of choices. They are placed on the fridge and then everyone is on the same page with regard to food and activity possibility and even treats that can be made for that day. After my breakfast and with grid in hand, I was off to Lexington for a day of shopping to try and finish up Christmas shopping. This is early for me to have Christmas this close to finished. But we have all our family here for Thanksgiving. Then a few days after they leave Claude and I are headed on vacation for the first couple of weeks in December. This leaves before Thanksgiving to be ready for Christmas. So I'm getting it done early, much earlier than usual. It went to Target first. Then I enjoyed walking Fayette Mall. It was a good thing to do. I now don't feel so bad that I really don't get to this Mall very often. I like to look but I'm really getting to a point where I just go to get what I need, not to shop. So many of those stores just don't have anything of interest to me anymore. Then I found the fabric store. Then back to Georgetown to Walmart. Then to CVS to pick up a prescription. Then to the nursing home to sing with Papa and visit Mimi. Then with Papa to visit one of his single sisters that he Home Teaches. Then I headed home. Got the garbage out, walked my treadmill, got my shower, and came downstairs to work on Christmas stuff and watch 2 TV shows before bed. Whew...it was a full day but it was just a great, fun day. Last night Claude and I went to the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance (FSR) meeting. They had election of officers and I'm now the official secretary/treasurer. This group has been functioning for about a year now. Their main focus is to restore some of the historic buildings in Sadieville. I've blogged about the Mt. Pleasant Church and school. Last night we discussed another old home with a store attached that we are looking at taking on as a restoration project. The home was actually built the year before Sadieville became an actual city. It is part of the old railroad community that was here and is the origins of Sadieville. Claude also told everyone last night that he is going to run for Mayor in 2010. So everyone keep your ears open as I share over the next year the run for Mayor of Sadieville by my hubby, the Honorable Claude J. Christensen. Really, Claude would make a great mayor. His heart is in the right place with regard to maintaining Sadieville's history while also preparing Sadieville for the future. He is willing to study and learn and work at he job. He'll put the time and effort into making a great mayor. And he is an honest man in a difficult world. I told him that I would not need new dresses to be a Mayor's wife but I might need a new pair of blue jeans!! So, I'm off to work on Christmas, then get a hair cut this afternoon, then visit some friends in Georgetown tonight. Saturday we are headed to Louisville for a Kentucky Colonel event.