Whew! Glad that's over...

Spencer and I gave talks today in church! Whenever I have to give a talk I spend hours preparing and writing it out, and I end up with all of this information typed out on paper. And I worry about it and stress about it and get nervous the way most people do when they have to speak in public. It's all I can think about until it's over. I don't notice anything around me... There could be a hot, naked man walking into the room and I would have no idea... That's how focused I get when I have some kind of responsibility I have to take care of, talks, lessons, presentations, whatever. And then when I get up there to the pulpit, whatever comes out comes out. It's almost like an out of body experience where I can tell that my mouth is moving but it's like I'm not the one saying the words. I mean, I read what I've prepared, but sometimes it comes out differently than the way it is on the paper, and most assuredly I don't use half of the information that I spent hours preparing. I suppose the whole purpose of giving talks is for the preparation process anyway. It gives us an opportunity to take one subject and just dive into it. I always learn a lot when I have to prepare a talk. But still, I can't help but be annoyed at myself a little bit when I realize how many hours I put in to a 10 minute talk where I only used half of my material. But more than annoyance, I just feel relief that it's over, and I feel a lot of peace that my prayers were answered, that I said what the Spirit prompted me to say, and it was just bonus points if anyone felt they enjoyed it. Might I add also that Spencer did fabulous on his talk. To me, nothing is better than having to give talks together. I enjoy listening to what he has to say, and it definitely brings us closer. It also helped people in our new ward get to know us better, and us them since so many came to introduce themselves afterward. That's how we got snagged to substitute in the nursery today. I wasn't too thrilled at first, but I am always willing to do whatever, and I ended up having a blaSt! The 2 and 3 year old kids were the cutest, and so sweet! I guess I really have been missing Primary a lot. There were 3 little girls and 1 boy... Spencer became pals with the boy while me and the girls played with babydolls. How fun! It amazes me how little, tiny girls that are just babies themselves already have this natural instinct for taking care of others, babies in particular. And of course, Men are just little boys forever.