We had stake conference the weekend of the 19 and 20 of April. Stake conference is a church event where every one in the stake (which is a group of wards, wards being the smallest unit in the church), gets together for some meetings to uplift one another. Sort of. Anyways...For the Sunday morning session, we sat with the Dalton family, who got there early and were kind enough to save some seats for us. Our stake is large, spread out over Southeast Alaska, and some parts of Canada, so they use the satellite system to call in and connect everyone, and people fly in from all over the stake for the meetings. Well, we were in the chapel in Juneau, where the meeting was taking place, sitting in the second to last row in the chapel. Elise is very shy, especially around large groups of people. So when we got to the chapel, she stuck her face in my neck. As the meeting proceeded, she got more confident and started looking around. Before I knew it, she was smiling at the couple sitting behind us. She kept smiling at this one man and his wife, who we haven't seen before, for several minutes. She even got brave enough to hand her quiet time book to him. He took it, saying thank you, but before he could give it back, (which he tried to do immediately after she had let go), she had gotten all shy again, and wouldn't reach back out for the book. He made several attempts, but she was back to her super shy state. Finally she looked up, and he put the book over my shoulder right in front of her, and basically dropped it in her lap. She was delighted to have it back, and decided she had done enough sharing. I was very surprised, and pleased that she was so willing to share, even though she is so shy about it.
Later on, we went to the Primary room, where we could turn on the speakers and still hear the meeting, for some snack time. There was a little boy there with his Daddy having some play time. Usually Elise responds better to people her own size, than to adults, but this time, when the little boy, who kept coming over wanting to make friends, came near her, she lost it and acted very nervous and shy, and cried. We ended up having to find a different room for snack time, because she was so distraught she wouldn't eat with the little boy trying to be so friendly. What a contrast! It was amazing to me that she was acting opposite to what she normally does, but we were glad she had made at least one friend!
Later on, we went to the Primary room, where we could turn on the speakers and still hear the meeting, for some snack time. There was a little boy there with his Daddy having some play time. Usually Elise responds better to people her own size, than to adults, but this time, when the little boy, who kept coming over wanting to make friends, came near her, she lost it and acted very nervous and shy, and cried. We ended up having to find a different room for snack time, because she was so distraught she wouldn't eat with the little boy trying to be so friendly. What a contrast! It was amazing to me that she was acting opposite to what she normally does, but we were glad she had made at least one friend!
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