Who am I? Where am I?....
Those questions always make me think of a soap opera. There was a time when I looked forward to sitting down and watching "The Days of Our Lives". Then the changing of technology prompted my removal of it from my daily watch list...and you know what? I didn't miss it. Of course, on a summer day or maybe a snow day, I would happen upon the NBC channel while it was on...and I thought, "Wow! I can't imagine watching this again." Now, don't get me wrong...I still enjoy watching Chicago Fire and Quantico and a few other shows each week, but there's no show that holds me captive.I digress....The actual prompting of this blog was my experience this morning at VBS. Due to an educational conference on Tuesday & Wednesday, today and Thursday are the only mornings I'll be lending my talents to VBS. What talent? Legitimate question...the voices in my head. Ha!
This morning from 10-11:45 I was "Ima Talker" and "Willy Findit". They are puppets delivering the news during a "time warp" that took kids back to the days of Noah. Now, I've done puppets for about 20 years, and there are lots of voices in my head. So, I didn't know which voice was going to "jump out" to bring life to these puppets.
Now, we started with the youngest group, which I didn't interact with. They met my sidekick who voiced the puppet "Sunny". But, soon afterward, the kindergarten & first graders wandered into the "ocean" for the lesson. One student, and I have no clue who since I was hidden behind my puppet corner kept asking, "Are they alive?" Finally, someone answered and said, "No, they're just puppets."
Then, the second and third graders arrived. Now some of those kiddos know that "Miss Jodi" generally voices the puppets, so one girl kept saying "hi" to Susie or to Miss Jodi. At some point, when a new diver said, "Who's back there?" she said, "That's Miss Jodi & someone else." I chuckled to myself as I assured my sidekick not to worry about disguising her voice since the students wouldn't know she was back there with me.
Finally, the oldest class of 4th-6th graders arrived. They interacted with the puppets, but they had reached the point in life where the novelty and excitement of puppets have transitioned to an acknowledgement that they were simply story props helping to teach the lesson.
Who am I?
So, in the span of two hours, I was three people...Miss Jodi, Ima Talker, & Willy Findit. Then, I focused on being Aunt Jodi and treated my nephew to a Mexican meal for lunch. By 1:00, I ventured into being Jasper's loyal subject, promptly feeding him when he nipped at my ankles. Alas, when I finish this post, I'll become Miss Pflaumer a while as I read Motivating Students Who Don't Care in case I can learn a few things to help me improve as a teacher during my 21st year in third grade. Of course, I'm also "just Jodi" who needs to finish her laundry, wants to finish reading a book, and longs to sneak in a summertime siesta.Yes, who am I? is not an easy question to answer. But....
Whose am I?
That answer is much easier. I am not a puppet to a puppeteer, but I am the daughter of a King. I am a follower of the great Jehovah, so I know Who is guiding my steps and hopefully my words. I am a child of the Father of my Savior. I am alive...not just now, but I will live eternally. I am a worshiper of Christ. I am...His. I am His all The Days of My Life. I pray that I never lose the excitement or joy of having Him in my life...that my salvation never becomes just a prop in my story.Yes, I am His. Are you?
