11th birthday:
Dinosaur museum
Lunch with Dad, Paige, and Mom
Lego Store, Lego building
Pizza on the red plate
Bike riding
Pack Meeting
Arrow of Light (Cubs in our pack get their faces painted when they receive this award.)
New Boy Scout
Great-great grandmother Violet’s lemon cake
May has arrived. Our children are expected to be in 3 places at once sometimes. Baseball, extra piano rehearsals, church activities, work, school concerts, and performances pull them in many directions. With 4 drivers and 3 cars, we are just scraping by. But wait. Richard and I have to be in all of these places and more. I take it back. It is impossible. Last night there was no dinner. We just ate cereal or whatever we could scavenge. Someone said that she felt May was busier than December. It really is, but there is little baking required. No wonder it feels so difficult. May is December without the carbs.
How do you teach children to rely on the Savior? How do you help them see a need for a relationship with Jesus Christ? What teaching method will work for ages 10-17? How can I share my testimony in a way they will hear it?
These are a few questions I have been thinking about. I know that these questions can’t be addressed with a one-time effort, but I wanted to make something our family could do each day leading up to Easter to bring us closer to Jesus Christ.
I made an Easter journal for each family member with a scripture to read and a question to answer each day for five days. I printed out questions and art and mounted them in the journals to help inspire writing.
We promised each writing activity would only require 10 minutes. We shortened it to 5 minutes after one day. We read the scriptures aloud and then set a timer for each of us to write in our little journals. I promised I wouldn’t make them share what they wrote and we wouldn’t read what they wrote. We had a short discussion after each journal entry, sharing experiences and ideas. I gave them each a container of Jelly Bellies to eat as they wrote. Richard and I also wrote in journals.
How did it go?
These were the scriptures I chose, based on our family’s needs. They are Book of Mormon scriptures to compliment the Bible verses we read every Easter.
Here are a few things we said about Jesus Christ this week in our family:
Happy Easter!
We spent a couple of days at Arches National Park this week to replenish our spirits. We did this by depleting all the energy in our bodies. For me, I was pretty depleted to begin, but I made it up the trails. I felt fear like I never remember before, the kind of fear that zings through the body and comes to rest, hot and electric in the feet and fingertips, as I watched the boys climb and jump over rock faces. I felt my spirit expand as I looked out over vistas. Concerns that felt so heavy moved to their proper place in my mind, less prominent and less pressing. We enjoyed our time with Shari’s family. We spent money at a rock shop and ate pop tarts. Comic books and AP History papers littered the back seat of the truck. We played card games in the tent trailer at night and made jokes about signs we saw. My boys said, Look, mom!” a dozen times (My favorite phrase). Food was often the topic of conversation when we weren’t eating. Mark swam at the campground pool until we had to leave. I read four whole pages.
These kite string moments, where we watch the boys soar, are different for Richard than for me. He photographs everything and urges us to do more hikes and make the most of the time. I sit and watch, allowing time to be insignificant, focusing on small moments of how they looked and talked on this day. Then I set the memories away gently in my mind. My favorite moment was sitting under our last arch of the trip, watching the crowds and the boys, Richard and I resting in our little niche in the rock. All was well.
So far, my 2017 has been about rededication about my use of time. It’s been about simple things like putting my phone down and keeping it on silent. It’s been longer and deeper study of the Book of Mormon each day. I gave up some screen habits that have been numbing me to what is going on.
Along with my feelings of needing to rededicate my life to good things, it has been a rocky few months at home. We have some family concerns which seemed to justify the creeping notion that it is impossible to be a good wife and mother and be a good Relief Society president at the same time.
Things are getting better now, some simple truths having won out.
On Sunday as I partook of the sacrament, it became clear to me that it’s a lie that it’s impossible to be a good wife and mother and serve in the Church.
The truth is, the Lord just needs my dedication to living commandments and for me to give simple acts of love and he will work miracles. I have seen many.
People feel my love when all I can do is pray for them each day.
Deep scripture study has given me answers to impossible questions and helped me articulate answers to dilemmas in meetings.
I have felt a heightened awareness of who I need to talk to, sometimes based on a simple expression on a face and no verbal cues.
I have felt the power and influence of good counselors and a secretary to know who to serve each week.
Writing a short note has been a powerful way to communicate with those who are not open to a visit or when I can’t visit. Short notes don’t take much time. They just require love.
The names, direction, and action items that come to my mind when I partake of the sacrament on Sunday are incredibly accurate. When I act on these impressions, I see that God is making me a better wife and mother, minister, and witness.
Next to my relationship with God, being a wife and mother is my most important work. As I improve my relationship to God and family, I feel more confident in my church service. There is no way to measure a person’s influence for good in the lives of others, but I believe it grows as I draw closer to the Lord. I am grateful to a few friends who reassured me of this on Sunday. I feel a new energy to keep trying.
F is for February. It is also for:
Failure: I missed some cues and regret it.
Fun: trip to St George, Lego movie
Friendships: broken heart
Fitness: racquetball
Flurries: snow this week
Faith: my lesson topic in Relief Society
Food: turkey and mashed potatoes; oven s’mores
Forgiveness: an essential key to resilience
Funny: joke shop in Payson, UT
Facebook: I’m not looking at it.
Fever: a couple of kids sick
Finally: My Christmas present on back-order arrived.
Forty-six: Richard’s birthday is this weekend.
Fantastic: the boys’ piano pieces
Finger: Paige’s finger is still broken but making progress
Fine: Everything is going to be OK.
Richard continually expressed the idea that it really wasn’t raining and cold and we could go hiking again, but we couldn’t elude the dreary skies. Good thing we weren’t there just for the weather. Here are some memories of the trip:
S’mores in the oven~Tim was sick~Lego Batman Movie~Cousins~Long talks~Superhero movies on tv~Scooby Doo laughter~ Archie comics~Alexa, what will the weather be tomorrow?~Joke Shop~Hospitality~Russ and Nancy’s view!~Krispy Kreme doughnuts
Richard reminds me each year that one gift we give to each child should keep their hands busy on Christmas day. We gave these to the older boys who are no longer asking for Legos. I found these at Deseret Book. They were challenging and fun. They are not Lego brand, so I held my breath and waited for the complaints. There were a few grumbles about the instructions and that they are harder to fit together than Lego brand. Since we don’t plan to use the blocks for other projects, they are fine for building a model to display. I think they are charming.
Daniel’s choir performed at the Assembly Hall at Temple Square. The music was inspiring and beautiful. Daniel accompanied the choir on the piano for I Saw Three Ships arranged by Mack Wilberg on a Steinway. He loved that piano!
My cousin came and she brought my Great-uncle Dwight. I was so touched that both of them came.