Primary Program

This past Sunday we had our annual Primary Program at church. This is the day when the kids share what they have been learning in Primary throughout the year, with music and individual speaking parts.

 When it was time for the Program to be written, I asked that Abby be given a speaking part this year, knowing that she could do it with her iPad. It was really neat - and terribly emotional. I cried at every single practice (I'm still the Primary Pianist). The first practice was the worst. I completely broke down when Abby got up to give her line. It was.......embarrassing. I was better at the rest of the practices. But there were still a lot of difficult emotions tugging at my heart. It was amazing to see her deliver her line with confidence. She knew what she was doing and she clearly wanted to do it. That was awesome. She has definitely come a long way. But then came all the other not-so-sweet feelings. It shouldn't be like this; the other kids in her class are so cute when they bounce up to say their parts in their sweet little voices. I want to see her like that so badly - and I know she wishes she could do the same. Somehow I managed to keep myself composed during the actual program though. Abby was great. She walked up to the podium, with the help of her teacher, then she touched the picture on her iPad and her recorded line was played. I had another girl in the Primary record Abby's part so that it wasn't an adult's voice being played - I thought that would be more appropriate. I was very proud of Abby. She stood during all the songs (with some support from her teacher) just like all the other kids. And she just did a GREAT job. We had a lot of family and a few friends come to support her. Even her preschool teacher and one of her aides came! I thought that was very special. I completely forgot to take a picture of Abby before church, but she looked very pretty.

Do you remember when I talked about the song, "I'll Walk With You" earlier this year? It had been one of my favorite songs when I was in Primary and I was excited when I learned that it would be part of the Program this year. Well, on Sunday during Primary (after the Program) we had the kids pick their favorite songs to sing, and someone chose "I'll Walk With You." I was so overwhelmed that this song had become someone else's favorite, that my rock-solid emotional wall that I had put up earlier that morning came crashing down. It's a good thing my fingers had the song memorized because I couldn't see a single note on the page. I was sobbing. Almost uncontrollably. Again, it was embarrassing.

"If you don't walk as most people do,
Some people walk away from you.
But I won't, I won't.
If you don't talk as most people do,
Some people talk and laugh at you.
But I won't, I won't.
I'll walk with you, I'll talk with you.
That's how I'll show my love for you."

A couple Sunday's ago I was playing this song for prelude music as the children came into Primary. It's not uncommon to hear a voice or two singing along with whatever song I am playing, while they wait for Primary to begin. But with this song, it started out with a couple voices, then snowballed until almost the entire Primary was singing it. So sweet.

In case you are wondering about the app we used for Abby's speaking part, it is the same one we use each day to allow her to make choices and tell us what she wants at home. It's called Choice Board Creator, and it is amazing (and free!). For the Program, we just created a choice set with only one choice for her.

Now for a few other tidbits...

Abby enjoyed watching an afternoon thunderstorm a few weeks ago - until the wind picked up and started blowing rain horizontally inside the house!

Spencer is now potty-trained! He loves wearing his undies and hasn't had an accident in over 2 weeks. Good job Spencer!

It has been a long time since we've had 'little people' undies in the wash. I like seeing them - they are so small and cute!