kittens, lizards, mold: the letters K,L,and M

Next week's letter for my 2-6 year old's at the "Hoppy Palace" is the letter "L" so we are doing lambs and lions and... lizards maybe? This beauty was sunning himself near our home recently.

My work at the Hong Kong Hoppy Palace English Phonics Center is always interesting. My teacher's aid doesn't speak much English but she does the scheduling (and most of the talking to parents). This past week, she told me there would be a maximum of 6 kids in my two year old class (yes, you are reading it correctly, I have Chinese two year olds... and younger!... whose parents sign them up for hour-long sessions of intensive English lessons)... so I carefully prepared 7 sets of materials just in case... only to have 8 babies actually show up. I felt quite self-righteously indignant with my aid, & ran out through the little lobby in my stocking feet (no shoes allowed in the classrooms) to scramble for an 8th set of kittens with mittens (last week was the letter "K") and slipped and fell, splat, right on my rear end, which thankfully is ample enough to cushion the fall, but it still hurt. And yes, there were enough witnesses to hurt my sorry little ego as well.

Also, I had just recovered from my fall the previous week from the slippery green slime on the sidewalk in front of our house. Because of all the rain, heat & humidity, everything outside is covered with the most astonishing array of green molds . A few things inside too: I was horrified to open the closet in my office and find my black leather jacket covered in dusty rings of gray fungi.

Tropical molds provide a good parable I think, for the creeping sin of self-righteousness, and the slippery sin of a "better than thou" attitude.

So anyway, I'm grateful for my calcium-laden ice-cream habit which I'm sure helped me not to break any bones... I'm thankful for ibuprofen, which helps get me moving these last few mornings... and I'm indebted to Church tradition which leads my family & me through weekly confession of sins...

¹⁶ For I said, "Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip."

¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.

¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.

-- Psalm 38:16-18