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Thanksgiving 2025

7 Dec
Resident Major and a fellow teacher/veteran as color guard for Miss Navajo MVHS pageant
Miss TES contestant
Another Miss TES contestant

I am full of thanks for this fall, which has been a time of growth and meaningful work for me. 

I began the school year teaching in third grade with 31 students.  After 3-4 weeks, the principal and superintendent made the decision to split the class. 

They pulled a teacher from kindergarten and then I had only 15 students to teach. It was the right decision, but it took a couple of weeks for that transition to settle and for class to run smoothly. 

TES Brave contestant

Then in November, the principal came to me and the other third grade teacher and asked if we would consider making a switch where I would teach English Language Arts to both classes of third grade and my team teacher would teach math to both classes.  We made that change after Veterans Day.

Again, it was a good change. I feared that the transition would be difficult, but it was a smoother transition than the split earlier in the year, and it was validating to be asked to teach the reading lessons- it shows the confidence that the administration has in me.  

Rug Weaver demonstrates spinning wool into yarn
This rug took her beginner granddaughter almost a year to make. No wonder they cost so much to buy!

Each day teaching tests me to the limit of my ability. I second-guess my choices frequently. I want so badly to do what is best for my students.

I am rarely confident that what I’m doing is best, but it is the best I know how to do. 

Every day has frustration and discouragement within it- but at the same time, every day has tiny victories, and I love the work.

Third Grade, ready to run!

Friday before the Veteran’s Marathon, we got to take the elementary kids over to the tribal park for a little run.

Miss Navajo started the race

It was a fun afternoon.

My sister and her husband moved to Monument Valley, and she is teaching math at the high school.  She has been my walking buddy all fall.  (As well as who I go to when I’m out of corn starch and when I don’t know how to solve a problem in my classroom.)

All official with race numbers and everything.

On November 15th, we did a four-mile Fun Run loop around the West Mitten — part of the Veterans Marathon weekend races. It was the first time either of us had run a race as adults. We had numbers pinned to us and a free t-shirt, and everything. We were very proud of ourselves for finishing that four miles in an hour and 20 minutes.  

Almost 50 years old, and we are superstars!!

My parents and my little brother, Sammy, visited us the next weekend.  Sammy flew home to Missouri on Tuesday, but Mom and Dad stayed through Thanksgiving. It was delightful to have them here.  Benji, Gwendolyn, and Renata came down from Rexburg. The moment they walked through the door, the house felt happier and warmer. 

Wednesday, the boys hiked to Teardrop Arch

Skeeter Pie
Zeke

Thursday:

Charcuterie board for lunch

 Amanda and I tried very hard not to cook too much food, but despite our efforts to hold back and despite the fact that we last minute invited four missionaries and a single guy from the ward, we still ate that Thanksgiving food for two days. 

Mom and Dad in front of The Three Sisters (nuns)

On Friday, we took Mom and Dad on the 17 mile slow, bumpy drive around the tribal park.

Dad and the Mittons
Totem Pole and the Winter Dancers
Code Talker Point

Then we drove over Monument Valley Pass and up the road a little to Forest Gump Hill. We bought lots of jewelry from the Navajo ladies with tables, too.

While we were bumping around the tribal park, the resident Major took the college kids on a 5.5 mile hike along the rim of the valley (Sentinal Mesa Trail) and then down around the West Mitton (Wildcat Trail).

Be quiet! I’m pretty!

The girls and I tried out those Korean collagen masks while we watched “Running Brave” the Billy Mills story. Verdict on the masks after one try: meh. Mary Kay is better.

I am especially grateful today for the opportunity to be a teacher and for time to spend with my family. 

We have entered the Advent season. This is one of my favorite times of the year.  It is a time to remember how the earth yearned for the coming Christ before His birth, and a time to feel our own yearning for His coming again. As we each do our part to build Zion in our hearts and homes, and in our community, we can hasten His coming. I pray this Advent season brings you peace and joy in the hope of Christ.

❤️ GlowWorm

A Navajo Story

18 Apr

Today I survived my first field trip as a teacher.  I was dreading it.  But everything went well, and no students acted too wild, got lost, or got hurt –not worse than tripping and falling on the trail, anyway.  And no one threw up on the bus. phew!

We are in state testing for the next 3 weeks. boring!  But soon enough that will be over as well, and then there are only about 3 weeks of school left.  I am going to make sure to do some of the things I really love to do with students- like writing more poetry.  

Two weeks ago, I heard a Navajo elder tell a story, and I keep thinking about it.  This morning I was thinking about it again.

The story goes like this:

There was a young Diné boy.  (Diné is the name that the Navajo call themselves.) The boy’s mother had told him never to go in a certain direction while he was hunting.  She said that there were bad spirits and shapeshifters in that area.  But the boy had his bow and arrows, and he thought he was strong.  He wanted to hunt squirrels or rabbits for his family.  So one morning before anyone else was up, he took his bow and arrows and went in that direction.  As he walked, he met a giant.  The giant touched his arm and looked into his eyes.  He spoke kindly to the boy, saying, “Come with me to my house.  There are many squirrels you can hunt there.”  And because the giant had captured the boy with his eyes and his ears and his touch, the boy was under his power and agreed to go with him.  

When they reached the giant’s home, the boy looked around at the barren land and said, “There are no squirrels, nor any other animal here.  Why did you say there were?”  He looked up at the giant, but the giant’s whole demeanor had changed. Now his face was cruel.  The giant said, “Go gather me some firewood.”  

            The boy, knowing there were no animals around to eat, asked, “Why do you want firewood?”  

            “I’m going to cook you and eat you,” said the giant.  Then, because he was in total control of the situation, the giant lay down and went to sleep.

The boy could not get away, so he began gathering the firewood.  As he gathered the wood, he wept in fear and loneliness.  But then, he heard a “Hsst!” which is how Diné parents get the attention of their children.  The boy looked around, but couldn’t see anyone, so he continued gathering wood.  Again, he heard, “Hsst!” He looked around, and this time, he saw a little chei, a little horned toad, sitting on a rock nearby.  The chei wears arrowheads all over his body and even a big arrowhead as a hat on top of his head.  The little horned toad asked the boy, “Why are you gathering wood and crying?”

“I am in the power of a wicked giant,” said the boy.  “He is making me gather this firewood so that he can cook me and devour me.  I’ll never see my mother or the rest of my family again,” and the boy began to cry even harder.  “I can help you,” said the chei.  “Do you see my hat?  The giant is afraid of my hat. Take it and put it on and show it to the giant, and he will run away.”  

The boy took the arrowhead hat from the horned toad and thanked him.  He put on the hat and ran to where the giant was sleeping.  He shook the giant’s arm and shouted, “Hey, hey, look at my hat.”  The giant woke up and saw the hat, and he was afraid.  He backed up away from the boy and began to run.  The boy chased after him, shaking his hat.  The giant ran until he fell off the edge of a mesa.  That was the end of the giant, and the boy was able to return to his family.

After he told the story, the Navajo elder explained that in the old days, giants in the stories represented disease– unknown illnesses that could wipe out a whole family or even a whole clan.  But, he said, the stories are still for today.  Today the giant represents drugs or alcohol.  The youth need to listen to their parents, listen to their elders, just like the boy listened to the little chei. (Chei is also the Diné word for maternal grandfather.) The teachings of your elders are like the hat that the chei gave to the boy so that he could defeat the giant.  

This story reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son, and how while feeding the pigs, the young man came to himself and remembered his father’s home.  I was also reminded of Enos, who was hunting beasts in the forest, when the words of his father sank deep into his heart, and he prayed for forgiveness, and obtained great promises.  And, I was reminded of Alma the Younger, who in his moment of excruciating despair, remembered his father teaching of one Jesus Christ, a son of God. Alma cried out for help, “Oh Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me,” and was delivered from torment.  

It is interesting to me that the chei gives the boy a hat–just like we talk about the helmet of salvation. (Doctrine and Covenants 27:18)  Billy Graham said that when we put on the helmet of salvation, we put on Christ himself.  President Nelson said, “God so loved the world that He sent His son to help us. And His son, Jesus Christ, gave His life for us.  All so that we could have access to godly power–power sufficient to deal with the burdens, obstacles, and temptations of our day.” 

No matter what giants we must face in this life, whether the giant of illness, of addiction, of pride, or of despair; whether the giants catch us with our eyes, our ears, or our feelings, it is Jesus Christ alone who will save us.  

Love,
GlowWorm

“A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame or money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well.  Such a man must love the toils of the work more than any other man can love the rewards of it.”  G.K. Chesterton

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Monument Valley In May 2024

25 May

This little yellow flower is named “Adonis Blazingstar.” While it may be a little extravagantly named, it did stop me in my tracks the first time I saw it on my evening walk.

It looks its best in the late afternoon as the sun begins to set and the air begins to cool down. I have not managed to get of picture of it at that time of day yet.

On Saturday, May 11, we drove to Hovenweep National Monument to hike and see the ruins. It was an hour and a half drive into even more remote and sparsely populated desert than Monument Valley, and The Man of the House commented, “How would you like to live out here in the middle of nowhere?”

I sassily relied that it “wasn’t any different from where we live now,” and was rewarded by his wry chuckle.

When we arrived, the blustery, chilly weather turned to heavy slushy rain. So instead of hiking, we watched the 18 minute video at the visitors’ center, resisted buying the thirst-trap stuffed animals, ate our lunch in the van, and drove the hour and a half back home. I actually felt pretty good about the whole thing, because it was family together time and a beautiful drive.

For Mother’s Day, I was given this cute bear (from Hunter) and a whole bouquet of white paper flowers from Banana Cream Pie and Zeke.

Peach Pie wrote me a lovely thank you letter, in which she talked about how -now that she is moved out of our home and living at college— she realizes that I did a lot for her that she didn’t appreciate before. For the years of 2021-2022, I often felt like Peach Pie thought I was the worst mother ever, so this letter was especially gratifying to read.

Card from Apple Pie

The Man of the House gave me this book, which I am looking forward to reading.

This desert flower is called Apricot Mallow.

This one is in the mint family, but I’m not sure of its name yet.

I also do not know the name of this bush, which is taller than I am.

On May 17, I had an interview at Tse’bii’nidzisgai Elementary School (pronounced “say-bee-needs-ees-guy” and means “Monument Valley” in Navajo).

I have been officially hired to teach 4th grade next year, and I am so thrilled. Teaching elementary school has been my dream since I was 6 or 7 years old. I used to line up my teddy bears and dolls and teach them that 2 +2 = 4 and c-a-t spells “cat.”

One of the other teachers at the school said to me “that class needs to have a teacher who cares about them for once.” And that squeezed my heart and made me even more determined to teach them well next year. Many of the teachers there are very good teachers, but some are not so good. Out here so far from everywhere, the school sometimes has to accept what it can get.

My pocket piggy- he may get to be a classroom pet this fall.

On Saturday the 18, we helped make a garden for a woman in our ward.

First, the ground was cleared and sprinkled with organic matter and fertilizer. Then that was tilled into the soil/sand.

The men raked it into raised rows and set up drip lines down the center of each row. We also put a new fence around the garden.

I did help some, but there were not enough tools and not enough garden for everyone who showed up to help, so a large portion of the time, I was just standing around getting sun-burned and feeling extra.

Banana Cream Pie at her 6th-grade Promotion.

I’m so glad she found friends to love.

All the Navajo girls wore traditional dress. They were so beautiful.

Today, the last Saturday in May, the Man of the House and I took these beautiful girls to the Monticello temple to do baptisms. It was a good day.

Teacher Appreciation Week

28 Apr

Sunday for 2.5 hours, Banana Cream Pie, Apple Pie, and my friend who is also a secretary at the school helped me decorate all the teacher’s doors.

I fixed the spelling of Un-frog-gettable after I took this picture.

Our designs were perhaps not sophisticated, but we had fun and we hope the teachers felt loved.

We created the designs with large paper from the school and birthday party supplies I got at Dollar Tree.

This should say “taco-bout a great teacher!” I fixed it after the photo.

My Neighbor

22 Apr

Our little bat is back! 🥰

We missed him this winter.

Also, I have evidence that 8-year-old boys live at my house:

Your mom
Bru you, Ha Ha

Small and Simple Things

17 Apr

Yesterday I was missing the springtime birds of Missouri. I wished for the cacophony of birdsong that I could hear in my front yard every morning. I had worked to learn to identify the different bird calls, and I knew many of them: cardinals, blue jays, Carolina wrens, oriole’s, red-winged blackbirds, dickcissel, meadow larks, robins – they felt like friends.

I was thinking that I haven’t heard any birdsong here in the desert, though I have seen ravens and a little brown sparrow-type bird.  

This morning, I woke early with ideas for young women’s, so I got up to write them down and study how best to achieve a meaningful activity for the girls this week. We suddenly have 9 girls coming to activities frequently, although sometimes it dips down to 3 again. 

On Sunday in Young Women’s class, one of the girls spoke of going to a cultural ceremony. She expressed that she had felt fear that she would offend God by going to it, but that she wanted to honor her heritage also. So she went, and she prayed that God would forgive her for going, and she felt peace.  I told her that God wants her to honor her heritage, and I felt right in saying it, although I know that not every single traditional practice is good.

It has been interesting to see how some of the Navajo adults at church felt they had to abandon every Navajo teaching – that is was all of the devil— and how others find the similarities and connections with Christian faith, and it strengthens their testimony of God.

I want the young women to be able to honor and keep the good, wise teachings of their heritage without fear.  I’ve been studying what principles I can teach them to help them feel confident in keeping all that is good in their Navajo traditions, and how to pray for guidance if they feel confused or unsure about something (as this young woman did.) And that they can move forward, learning as they go and not be afraid that they will be condemned for mistakes.

As I was finishing up making notes of the thoughts and ideas I had, I heard a bird chirping right outside my door, so loudly! It practically rang my doorbell and announced, “Hey, I’m out here!” 

I stepped outside my door and watched the sunrise and listened to the birds I had not heard before. Heavenly Father really is there in the small details of my life. His love is so generous and abundant, even when I don’t think to pray for the little things my heart longs for.  What I have now are some new birds to make friends with, and sufficient notes to guide a discussion with the Young Women about Our Heavenly Father, Mother, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. By the end of it, my hope is each girl will know that she has a testimony of their love for her. 

Love,

GlowWorm

My Christmas amaryllis bloomed a few days after Easter! It is beautiful

Fry Bread Perks

11 Apr

Living in Monument Valley means that school activities often have fry bread for all.

So. Delicious.

Monument Valley week 29

10 Feb

Apple Pie, Banana Cream Pie, and Key Lime Pie are selling Girl Scout cookies. When we moved here in August, the group was just being formed. I don’t know much about Girl Scouts, but it’s pretty much the only program happening after school around here, so I made the girls join. We had one gardening activity in the fall, and then nothing happened. But the leader (I don’t know the title for the Girl Scout equivalent to a Cub Scout Den Mother is) is making another effort to get things going, and February is cookie month. Apple Pie is dedicated and excited, even when the weather is windy and 30 degrees. At least the sun is shining!

Key Lime Pie and Banana Cream Pie chose to stay home where it’s warm. No sales for them. I found out that one of the teachers here was a Girl Scout, so I need to ask her lots of questions.

This morning we helped clean the church building. One benefit to living here is that the church building is so small, we can get it really clean in under an hour.  The brother in charge of scheduling has a box of cards with jobs on them.  I took pictures of the cards, and I am determined to do 2 things:

1. Make our own job cards for Saturday morning chores at home.

2. Clear all my books and papers off of the flat surfaces around the house so that the cleaning and dusting will be easy. 

In Missouri, when I read house cleaning books, I was always surprised at the emphasis put on weekly dusting. Dusting once a month felt like overkill to me- there just wasn’t that much dust. But here in the desert, there really is enough dust to justify weekly dusting of the piano and bookshelves.  

Back in December, Zeke was sick with a minor cold, but ran a fever enough that he missed nearly a whole week of school. That experience has made him eternally hopeful, and he insists that I check his temperature every morning before school. He likes school fine, but he would rather stay home and watch movies all day.

This week we have been playing lots of BananaGrams. Skeeter made a pretty impressive crossword puzzle. I was going to get a better picture of it, but it got destroyed before I could get around. Some of his words were: admire, riper, prix, and defeat. He reads a little slower than Zeke, but he is faster at spelling.

Two thoughts from my scripture study this week:

From Rosalynde Welch: The ancient Israelites had their tabernacle- their “tent of meeting” where God’s presence was. There they could go to feel His presence and learn more about Him. The greatest revelation of all is the revelation of God to the world in the personage of Jesus Christ. We have temples today, but on a smaller scale we also have the scriptures. The scriptures are a “text of meeting,” they are full of the presence of God, and as we study, if we come to our study desiring to be changed (not just to get out of it what we already know) we can enter into God’s presence, and He can be revealed to us.

This morning I was rereading Susan H Porter’s talk from October 2021 conference.

She said, 

“Sisters and brothers, how can we receive the transforming power of God’s love? The prophet Mormon invites us to “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” Mormon is inviting us not only to pray that we may be filled with His love for others but to pray that we may know of God’s pure love for ourselves.”

I felt happiness from that reminder that God doesn’t just love everyone. He loves me. 

He loves you.

Love,

GlowWorm

Monument Valley, Week 24

11 Jan

Walking to school while it is snowing outside is fun. I considered driving, but I don’t like driving in the snow, and it is just slightly less than a half mile to walk to school. I’m glad my sister, Mary gave me this coat. The fur-edged hood books a lot of wind and snow from my face and holds warm air in.

First Day Hike to Gouldings Arch

1 Jan

We absolutely loved having Pumpkin Pie and Peach Pie with us in Monument Valley for a few days.

One thing I miss about homeschool is not having a “First Day Field Trip.” So, starting this year, we will now have a “First Day Hike” tradition on New Year’s Day.

Gouldings Arch is a five minute drive and a short, easy walk from where we live.

Zeke
Banana Cream Pie
Skeeter
Wild child

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