Jethro skips school

So Jethro was very naughty and skipped school yesterday to go hang out in Bern. Okaaaay, that's not actually what happened. Here's the real story.

Jethro rides the city bus to his school. For the first week, Brett went with him in the morning, and I picked him up at noon to bring him home. Then, he went by himself for a week. All was good.

Yesterday at about 9:00 I got a call from Jethro's teacher. She said, "Jethro is ill," and I was like, "oh? okay." but then she repeated herself and I realized she was asking me, not telling me. (She's not really a fantastic English speaker) Anyway, this was alarming, since Jethro had been sent to school about an hour earlier. So his teacher called the school principal because she still had her class to take care of, and I called Brett so that he could begin worrying.

I wasn't actually that worried --I mean, not about Jethro's safety. I just thought that he'd probably not gotten off at his stop, and so was still on the bus waiting for it to loop back around or something. But of course, I was hoping that he wouldn't get really upset or get lost to the point that we couldn't find him for a long time. (I really need not explain my worries--I'm sure you can imagine.)

Anyway, first thing I had Ethne kneel down with me and said a prayer, and the last thing I said was to please help somebody find Jethro. Then Jethro's principal called and asked for a description of what he was wearing so that he could call the bus station and the bus station would notify all the drivers. And if he wasn't found -I don't know within what timeframe-- they would have to notify the police.

So awhile later I was talking to Brett again to update him, and I got another call (I didn't even know that our phone had call waiting, but happily it does) and it was a guy from our church ward, who we had had dinner with the Sunday before, and he said he was at a grocery store near our church building and he was with Jethro. I was sooooo relieved and grateful. I called the school and told them that Jethro was on his way. So the friend put Jethro back on the bus to his school, and Brett borrowed his boss's car and got there soon after Jethro did, and Jethro came home for the day. (He only goes to school half-days, so he wasn't missing as much as you might think.)

So this is Jethro' s story-- he missed getting off at his stop because there were quite a lot of people on it and he couldn't see out the windows (that may be true, but it also may be true that he just wasn't paying attention). So, later he got off at another stop, and went across the street to get on the bus to go back (which is what we had instructed him to do in this situation), but unfortunately he got on a different bus--a different route, you know, the wrong number. So, then he was going somewhere different, and when he realized he was in the wrong area he got off and wandered around for awhile. Then he recognized the church building and walked to the bus stop that we go to every week after church. That was when he saw the guy from our ward and went up to him and told him, I guess, that he was lost. I don't even know how that guy got our phone number. I don't know why one of the maybe 10 people in Bern that knows Jethro happened to be right there right then, I just know that Heavenly Father answers prayers and I am sooooo grateful.

P.S. Brett went and had a little parent-teacher conference tonight with Jethro's teacher and she said that Jethro is a wonderful student and they discussed some options for what they want to do with him as far as how long he'll stay in the German-as-a-second-language class and whether he'll go into second grade or third grade when he goes back to regular school again for the remainder of the year and whatnot. The school year starts in January here instead of August, so it's kindof mixed up from what I'm used to.

(by the way, Brett is such a bad translator! Not because he can't understand or has a hard time with either language, just because he...well, it's like when he's on the phone with someone for two hours, and when he gets off, I say, "What did he say?" and he says, "He says he might get a truck" or something like that. And that's IT! And I say--You were on the phone for TWO HOURS--how can that be it?! And he says, "I summed it up." Speaking of translating, it reminds me of how funny it is in church when someone gets up to bear their testimony or give a talk and they start saying something that is a bit off (you know the type...every ward has one, or two that always bear their testimony and it's always a bit...you know). Then the missionary that is translating for me (who is from England so I love listening to his accent all through sacrament mtg) becomes all awkward and is like, "I don't know why he's saying this," or "I don't really know what he means" and it's funny.)

What I thought was really cute was when Brett got home Jethro and Ethne ran around the corner to meet him in the entry-way/hallway, and Hazel and I stayed in the front room but of course could hear everything, and Jethro asked what his teacher said, and Brett answered "She said she's really disappointed in you Jethro. She said you're a very bad kid." And Hazel was looking at me, with this look like she knew that he was joking, but still almost aghast at the report. Then Brett said, "Just kidding - she says you're a good kid." And Hazel smiled so big and gave me a hug of excitement. And Ethne came in and said, "She said Jethro's a good kid!" and they were both so happy for Jethro. It was really really sweet.

P.S. again. Today for dinner we had white chili and Ethne asked for a second helping. She said, "More thili" with her little lisp, and I said, "More silly?" and she said, "More THHHHHHili!!!!!" And I said, "More SSSSSilly?" and she said, "More of what you have." ha ha!

P.S. again again. The other night we were having apple cake for dessert (it's delicious, I'll have to post the recipe), and I held up my bowl so Brett could put more in it for me, and he picked up a piece on the serving spoon, held it over my bowl, then picked up the piece from the spoon with his hand--there was a teeny little crumb-slice still on the spoon which he dumped into my bowl, put the actual big piece back onto the spoon and returned it to the cake pan. It was so hilarious I laughed so hard. Maybe you had to be there.

one last p.s. I have more stuff to post about, including pictures, but unfortunately Brett broke our computer. Ruff. so until he fixes it I just have to do what I can on his work computer when he comes home. That's why I haven't been able to post for awhile.