Talking...in Church and in Sign

Emma has started a sign language class (in addition to her speech classes). She has picked it up really fast and is using over fifty signs. It makes her happy to have a way to communicate with us. Lucky for us the Cache Valley Branch is our sister ward. (They meet in the same building and at the same time as us. They have their own classes except for Primary.) The leader in Nursery told me, "You might like your kid and all, but she is a problem. She doesn't even talk." I told her that she doesn't talk, but she knows sign. There is a deaf boy also in nursery. They are now having his signer also sign with Emma. Now they just tell me, "She was really good."

Our family talked in church a few weeks ago. Laura had been screaming for the half-hour before church (that is not like her at all). But she fell asleep on the way (good thing), so she slept on the stand in her car seat. When we walked in, Lee thought he saw the Bishop give him a look like we were cutting it close with time. (Our ward always starts on time.)
Tyler started by introducing our family. He wrote his own talk. The part I thought was funny was when he was talking about Lee. Tyler said, "He is done with school and goes to work at DuPont and tries to make money." My family laughed when he told them the talk at dinner that night, but the ward didn't notice. (Lee has been working reduced hours since October.) Tyler then told the story of the Good Samaritan, and shared his testimony.
Andrew told about some of the things he likes to do to be helpful. In is list he included cleaning the toilet (he really does like it). That got a good laugh. Lee was helping him read Mosiah 2:17. It says the line "that ye may learn" twice. The second time Andrew gave Lee a strange look and a loud "What?" even though he had practiced it at home.
I gave a talk about charity. But Emma thought it was her turn. She mostly just stood on the side of me (she was just tall enough to see over the edge) or behind me playing with my dress. When I was almost done she found the step, on the other side of me, that the boys had used. She liked being tall. So there I was, giving a talk about charity and saying that sometimes the people that deserve our charity or Christ-like love the most are the ones we might forget to share it with...our family. So, Emma got away with being "cute".
We had a song and so I made Emma sit back down. That made her mad, so Lee had twenty minutes to talk with a angry Emma behind him. At one point I took her out in the hall, she has never gone out in the hall before, so she thought it was time for nursery. When I got her calmed down again, we went back in and sat by Tyler and Andrew. The chair kept folding up on her, so she would try to kneel and then her foot would get stuck. Then she made a break for it and started playing the piano. So, I am still trying to publicly show charity, and move to sit with her on the side in a chair that won't fold her in half, leaving Andrew and Tyler alone in the chairs in the front. The boys decide to quietly start playing a leap frog type game with the chairs they were sitting in, and Emma has thrown her shoes and made it to the piano for the third time...just as Lee read this quote by President Uchtdorf..."The things we hope for lead us to faith, while the things we hope in lead us to charity. The three qualities-faith, hope, and charity-working together, grounded on the truth and light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, lead us to abound in [patience]." And then Lee turned his head and looked at us. (Side note: I just looked up the quote and it really ends with "good works", but Lee said patience.)
Later in Lee's talk he said, "Those of you that have kids, are watching us and know what we are dealing with. Those of you who had kids, are watching us and thinking I remember those days. Those of you who don't have kids yet, this is what you have to look forward to. Don't judge us too harshly."
All in all...I think our ward now knows who we are, even if we are just renters.