Early Morning Does Not Even Begin to Describe It!

So, it is finally come and gone... our first week of early morning seminary. I wasn't even there for most of it, but boy can I tell you, it was an adventure. Jared has faithfully gotten up at 4:15 to run the dog for 25 min so that he doesn't kill me when I take him for a walk/waddle an hour later when the sun comes up while it is still in the 90's, and then off to pre-class teacher devotional starting at 5:30. The sad reality is, I don't sleep so well anyways, so once he is up, mostly so am I. That means our bedtime has shifted from 10:00 to us climbing into bed acting like we are dying at 8:30, not to mention that whether we are on the phone, eating dinner, or getting ready for bed (which sums up any time we have together these days) it seems all we talk about is planning for the next day of seminary. We have officially turned 80.

So here is the good stuff...

Day 1 - Get to know the students. You have your classic "I dunno" types, your "everyone here is weird" types, and then your "I promise you don't see me eating in the back" types. Overall, it's actually looking to be a great class. 17 high school freshmen, who make it there on time (this week anyways), of which only 5 are girls. Should be interesting.

Day 2 - Get to know the Knudsens. Jared asked me to come that morning, and since I am up anyways, I figured why not! So we put together a little power point of our lives together up to this point, and then opened it up for questions. Question 1: "Brother Knudsen, when did you lose your hair?" Question 2: "Sister Knudsen, do you like him better with hair or without?" Question 3: "What made you decide to shave it?" End of the open question session.

Day 3 - Rules day. I am pretty sure it was the quietest day yet. Probably the kids favorite too. (Yup, keep telling yourself that!) The CES guys have made it very clear they really want the teachers to be strict, so off Jared went, trying to make it feel like Unity was more the topic than rules. In preparing, he tells me "I am going to use that U.S. hockey team from the movie Miracle for an example" to which I reply "Nobody will have seen that movie.. use Remember the Titans". Total students who had seen either one of them? 5. We really are starting to feel old, possibly a bit outdated!

Days 4 and 5 - First days that required actual prep, as they were the first official lessons. Topic: Plan of Salvation. My day? Typing up his handouts, as I can do it 10 times faster than he can... that is, when my hands aren't numb!!! His day? Fill in the blank with the kids. He said it went really well, and I can honestly say, I don't doubt him. However, we have had to re-evaluate how often they get handouts!!

Overall, it was a great week, and I only had two major anxiety attacks thinking about keeping up this schedule with a newborn. We will just have to keep praying!

Today, I am thankful for big, big pillows!

PS - You should all know, Jared has been assigned to teach in the nursury, which means no piano. Did you notice the hymn books?? Let's just say, Jared is practicing up for his big solo during the next Sacrament Meeting!! (Not really, but 6:00 AM is not an ideal time for teenage choir practice... I won't even start in on the pitch!)