Sunday, January 6, 2008

And I'm racking my brain for a new and perfect way to let you know you're more to me than what I know how to say

So today I was teaching Junior Soldiers Sunday School with Diane (this amazing little Scottish woman from my church... I wish everyone in the world was like her) and it was all about forgiveness.
I was pretty lucky, because unlike this summer when all my classes had 30+ kids in it (they combine all the classes during the summer) this one had a grand total of 6.
Junior Soldiers is for all the kids 6 - 8, which is actually my favourite age group.
I love Emma and Katie and the other tinier munchkins, but I also like being able to talk to the kids and have them listening to what I'm saying and know that they're actually processing it.
The class is full of some of my favourite kids on the planet.
Holly is Steve Cochrane's daughter who took a real liking to me when she discovered our names rhyme. He only gets them (Holly and her brother, Riley) on alternating weekends, and he's been telling me that she's been asking whether I'll be at church before she goes, and its always weeks when I'm out of town ("Molly, you're making a liar out of me to my kids!") so she was super excited to see me.
Aidan is an angel of a little boy. He's really smart and gentle and could actually stop traffic with his huge curious eyes. (Likewise for his little sister, Veronica, who never actually SAYS anything, but thinks what she's saying are words, which just makes it all the more charming).
Jasmine is the little girl who has made it her goal in life to follow me everywhere I go each week in wild truth, and she's just a gorgeous innocent little thing.
Lastly, there's Claire. She's the little monkey. So far, I'm the only Wild Truth leader she pays any attention to, so I was pretty stoked to find out she was in my class.
There were 2 more kids that I don't know very well, Oceana, a tiny blonde child with huge glasses and a voice like a mouse, and Dylan, probably the brightest, hardest working 7 year old on the planet.
In the Junior Soldiers workbook, they had to do a crossword puzzle about Forgiveness, and there weren't enough books for Dylan, so instead of just opting out of it, or accepting our offer to drawn him one, he insisted that he draw it himself. He actually copied out the entire lesson plan from Holly's book and then did the puzzles about 10 minutes after the other kids.
I also learned that Claire, the monkey, (as well as the little sister of the 12 year old that I mentor, Emily) is smart as a whip. She's the youngest in the class, but she needed the least help doing any of the work.
On a slightly unrelated topic, the craft was asking God to forgive your sins. Each kid got a paper cross and wrote "Jesus, please forgive me for..." and then something they did that was bad.
I noticed that Claire hadn't written much so I went over and asked her "what is something bad that you do sometimes that you want God to forgive you for?"
and she replied with "I'm AAAAALWAYS mean to my brother."
I just love that little firecracker with all my heart.
Also, when I mentioned to Emily the events that occurred, she told me that she'd told Claire that I'd mention it and she'd responded with
"I'm such a genius"

I love the Larsen sisters.
I love Sunday School.
I love every one of those little miracles that I get to spend each week with.
Praise Jesus.

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