March 23 Brendan's Presentation

Sunday:  I was invited to Holy Trinity today to see Brendan present his paper on how Orthodox Christians should deal with anger, as part of the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival. There were two "junior" presenters (one of whom was Brendan), and one "senior" presenter. They had a choice of topics. Brendan chose to write/speak about how Orthodox Christians should deal with anger.

Brendan is 13 now and in the seventh grade. He was the youngest presenter. His essay had to be about 4 minutes in length and he had to speak it in front of the entire congregation. Wow. I could tell Brendan was a little bit apprehensive about getting up in front of everyone--but he did an amazing job. He was composed, expressive, articulate, and Biblical. I couldn't be more proud! Thankfully, they got to READ their essays and didn't have to memorize them. Dylan helped Brendan type his essay up; but he said the actual words were Brendan's. 

I love this child. Look how expressive he is. He had his hands in his pockets for awhile ... but was unable to keep from using them as he talked! Yay!

After all of the presentations were read, each student was given recognition and a few small gifts.

Look how much "smaller" Brendan is than his contemporaries! 

Afterwards, there was fellowship and treats in the Hall. Here is Erin enjoying a few cookies ...

Aidan made an origami "balloon" which he actually blew up and it retained the air!

Erin made a "face" out of her cookies and then asked if she could use my camera to take the picture. She did a very decent job at her photography.

I asked her to give me one of her beautiful smiles ... sigh ... she is darling, though--isn't she?

Cal decided he could outdo Erin ... okay, Cal. You WIN.

But then ... look at this sweet picture of Erin! Love all of you beautiful children so much.