Wow - Two days in a row...

Now that I figured out how to compress the video and the best way to load it for blogspot, I've got Henry's second talk all ready for you.

Again, the video quality isn't the best.  I was trying to watch him, video, take a picture, and follow along all at the same time.  The video drifted a few times.  Also, sound quality is bad again.  If you want to follow along, it was 1 Chronicles 11:1-14.

From my completely biased perspective, he did AWESOME!  I must say I was very nervous, though. 

It started with a breakdown on the way home from school with exclamations of being scared.  I reassured him that it was totally NORMAL to feel scared.

Then, dinner and the stomach ache.  Nerves in all their glory.  He had the fidgets horribly as we tried to get ready.

When we arrived at the hall, he was a ball of energy.  He kept telling me that he was too scared, that he was going to pee his pants, that his tummy ached.  I kept reassuring him, at the same time questioning if I had pushed him too hard. 

Then I reflected that I had not pushed him at all.  I had told him it was his choice and to only join if he was ready.  I explained that this was a long-term commitment, not just a one-time action.  I questioned him and challenged him if he was really ready.  And to make sure, I made him approach the school overseer on his own versus doing it for him.

For all his nerves, they seemed to disappear the minute his foot hit the stage.  All of my coaching about waiting until the podium was adjusted and the microphone put in place had been applied.  My encouragement to pace himself and not rush through the reading was taken.  And at the end, the radiant smile of someone quite proud with himself.  At the seat, a huge sigh of relief and a "whew, I'm glad that is over".  After the meeting, there were exclamations of "that wasn't so bad, I can't wait to do it again".  And me, beaming with maternal pride.  It couldn't have gone any better.

Hello, Remember Me?

Hi.  Yep, Henry and I are still alive.  Life has been hectic.

We had a very active summer, and fall has been pretty busy, too.

I thought that since Henry has his SECOND bible reading tonight, I should go ahead and post the video of his first one.  The sound quality of this is BAD.  If you want to follow along, he was reading 2 Samuel  22:1-20.  He practiced for weeks and weeks and did an awesome job.

Tonight, he'll be in the front school...on the stage...with a microphone.  I'm hoping he doesn't look up and chicken out.  (Note to self:  Talk to school coordinator and make sure he has a plan in case Henry chickens out.)

I am the UPS

On Wednesday, I had an unusually early conference call that I had to take while Henry was still home. I had prepped him for the fact that he needed to stay quiet and occupy himself while I was on this 30 minute call, and left him eating his breakfast.

When he was finished, he followed me upstairs and did a great job of occupying himself. When he was done, he presented me with this note:

Now, this may look like a lot of scribble scrabble to you (as it first did to me). But I asked Henry to read me his note. He knew exactly what it said. Here is a video of him reading the note to me.

And for those that may have difficulty understanding what he says, here is a transcript: "I am UPS and I deliver packages only on the earth. Thank you for the bubble gum. Henry, the UPS."

If you look at the note quite carefully, you can almost see where it does attempt to say exactly what Henry says it does.

After going through all of this, he brought me a sheriff's badge he had dug out of his dress up play stuff. He held it to his chest and declared "There is a new UPS in town, and that's ME!" I'm not sure where he comes up with this stuff, but he totally cracks me up.

He has long held a fascination with UPS and even has a few toy UPS trucks. And this reminded me that it wasn't too long ago that instead of calling it UPS, he liked to call it the PUS.