• Hurray! For college because it shuts down and cute college students come home (or come to Grandma’s) and laugh…a lot.
• Hurray! For brothers and sisters who make cousins for my children. What a great time we had with family. Stripes and Solids played a fascinating game of pool in the wee hours of Thanksgiving Eve, complete with running commentary by Ryan, a totally disinterested observer. Wait…wasn’t he the only one with a cue in hand? And an hour of soccer with kids and cousins immediately after Thanksgiving dinner and four pieces of pie is just what the doctor ordered!
• Hurray! For dinner at Grandma’s.
• Hurray! For cherry pie made just the way Mom used to make it.
Other thoughts:
No shopping—not even for a gallon of milk—makes for a great weekend. We spent time with lots of family. We cleaned the house. We cleaned the yard. Strung Christmas lights. Put up the tree. Played Risk. Ate lots of pie. Watched a movie or two. Cut all the boys’ hair. Prepared for Sunday. A very relaxed time. I am SO against stores opening on Thanksgiving Day. Quin and I snuck into Michael’s a few years ago on Thanksgiving to buy our new Christmas tree and I felt very unholy like I was shopping on the Sabbath. Never again. (Except that never is a very long time.)
Since I can’t say it in letters to my missionaries, can I just say it here that I miss those three sometimes so much that it hurts. Especially the twins because they’d never left me before. I wish I could see their smiles and hear them giggle. I miss the dorky games they play with each other. I miss their crazy, grandiose notions of how to spend their time. I miss hearing them play the piano. I miss Heidi’s blustering energy, her hugs, and hearing her wisely analyze life, relationships, and the people around her.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Family Scripture Study
Talking in the Saturday Night Session of Stake Conference:
I love insights and counsel from Pres. Peterson. He has a way of honing in on what is essential and letting non-essentials fall by the wayside. He’s asked me to talk tonight about family scripture study, which is truly one of the “essential” things.
I was the oldest in my family—eight children in all—and I remember that we didn’t start having family scripture study until I was a teenager. (My parents probably brought up the idea in a family council or family home evening—because that’s how they initiated any change in what we were doing as a family—hey, you have everybody there to hear it all at once, whatever you say seems more important because it was brought up in a meeting, you get everyone’s thoughts and buy-in.)
I remember how hard my dad worked to get us up in the morning. He was so determined to start this tradition. It reminds me of a quote by Admiral Hyman Rickover, “Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.” Courageous patience. This was my dad. He’d go from bedroom to bedroom, first talking to us really nicely, the next time around he might flap our blankets up and down to let the cold air in, sometimes he’s throw in a “Rise and Shout, the cougars are out!” into the mix. By the third or fourth time around, there was maybe a wee bit of frustration in his voice. :)
Anyway, it was something that he never gave up on. My memory is one of consistency—that for the rest of my growing up, as a family, we read the Book of Mormon on school days in the morning. I asked him what prompted him to start doing it and keep going even when we made it hard. He said that he had always figured you couldn’t expect that all your children would get testimonies of their own and stay in the church. Except then he started noticing some of the men in our ward in Taylorsville. They didn’t act like they expected to lose any of their children. Their kids were growing up, staying strong and true and happy, excelling in scouting :), going on missions, marrying in the temple. So my dad watched what they did with their families and tried to emulate it in his own family. Family scripture study was part of that effort.
What a blessing! I feel so grateful to him for his efforts. I feel like it lifted my family (the one with my brothers and sisters) to a new level of being committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hurray!
Although my dad does not remember a specific talk that compelled him to begin family scripture study in our home, it could have been this talk by Marion G. Romney from that same time period.
Pres. Romney says:
"The great overall struggle in the world today is, as it has always been, for the souls of men. Every soul is personally engaged in the struggle, and he makes his fight with what is in his mind. In the final analysis the battleground is, for each individual, within himself. Inevitably he gravitates toward the subjects of his thoughts.
If we would … build for ourselves and our children great and noble characters, we must keep in our minds and in their minds true and righteous principles for our thoughts and their thoughts to dwell upon.
If we would avoid adopting the evils of the world, we must pursue a course which will daily feed our minds with and call them back to the things of the Spirit. I know of no better way to do this than by daily reading the Book of Mormon (where)…
…the things of the Spirit are taught with mighty power.
I believe with all my heart, …that if our young people could come out of our homes thoroughly …familiar with the teachings of the Book of Mormon, they will not only be inspired by the examples of Nephi, the 2,000 sons of Helaman, and other great Book of Mormon characters to choose the right, they will also be so schooled in the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ that they will be able to know and understand what is right.
From almost every page of the book, there will come to them a moving testimony that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Redeemer and Savior. This witness alone will be a sustaining anchor in every storm.
They will have learned the folly of putting their trust in the learning of men or in the riches of this world. As a matter of fact, there is no fundamental virtue about which they will not be taught, for in the Book of Mormon …is to be found “the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. All of us need the uninterrupted association with the Spirit of the Lord. Don’t be content with what someone else tells you about what is in it. Drink deeply from the divine fountain itself.
I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness."
Wow.
I remember a time in our family several years ago when I was talking to a friend and telling her how contentious our home was –that it was bothering me and I wasn’t sure how to fix it. She was bold and instead of saying, “Oh, yeah, that’s how it is with kids…” she asked if we were having family scripture study—reading the Book of Mormon together every day. My initial response was, well, of course we are. But then I thought and realized, hmmm, we’ve gotten in a hurry in the mornings and in a habit of reading a scripture and thought from a little book we had—spending a minute or less. We weren’t involving everybody, not even opening the actual scriptures!
I was so grateful she would ask, so we would reevaluate our family scripture study time.
There are as many varied ways to work family scripture study as there are families in the world, but here’s what works for us right now:
Mornings. Evenings are all so different. And we have such a variety of ages and bedtimes.
So, because the high-schoolers leave at 6:55, at 6:30 AM when Quin is just about ready for work, he turns on some music to help people wake up. We used to get a variety, but now it’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat every morning. It’s loud and all through the house and everyone can hear it in their beds. Just to make sure the music is sinking in, though, Quin knocks on doors, saying Good Morning! About the time the second song ends, Quin turns off the music. Everyone knows prayer is shortly to follow, so by this point they’ve mostly straggled out to the living room.
The youngest is usually the most eager—kneeling right by Dad and helping get the scriptures out (we have 10 or 12 copies of the Book of Mormon in a cupboard right in the room where we read, also some songbooks, in case we feel like adding in a song). But all the kids in elementary school never act like they’re bothered by being woken up—Hey! It’s a new day! The Jr. High children crawl up the stairs wrapped in a blanket and sprawl there right on the stairs barely visible. High schoolers pop in for the prayer. Pop back out to brush their teeth and pack their backpacks. Pop back in on their way out the door and quickly take their turn reading a scripture. “Good-bye!” they say, then run out the door.
Is it okay that everyone only reads one or two verses?...I don’t know.
When all the kids were younger, we had little blank books for each one. They’d draw a picture of what we read or learned that day in scripture reading. Those were the cutest little drawings. I don’t know where those books have gone. Quin’s book is the only one left and he faithfully writes down the verse we’re to start on the next day. And every book of scriptures has a bookmark—it saves a grundle of time trying to find where we are.
Oldest daughter, Heidi, thought the quality of our family scripture study could improve :) and gave us a study guide she’d come across in college. It’s really great with thought questions and general authority quotes to throw in between verses while we’re reading—generates more discussion than we used to have.
Is it okay that we only spend 10 or 15 minutes?...I don’t know.
Now on weekends, we can actually spend more time. We wake up later, aren’t rushed to get anywhere. But it’s one of the first things we do as soon as most people are up. I don’t feel like we can get the day started (that’s mother talk for being able to start ordering people around :)) until we’ve had prayer and scripture.
Is it really okay that on Sundays, we all sleep in and let Quin go to his 6 AM meeting, then do family scripture study without him later?...I don’t know.
So, here’s a plan for family scripture study if you don’t have a daily habit right now.
1. Decide to do it. Be courageous and determined to do it. You could have your home teacher check up on you until your habit solidifies…
2. Decide on a time and stick to it. Quin says, 6:30, but when he’s gone I’m surprised at how hard it is to get the courage to wake everybody up. If I sluggishly wait until 6:45 to get started, Jr, High kids are in the shower, high schoolers are running out the door and it seems cruel to wake up sleeping younger ones…
3. Make it a happy time. As parents, we wouldn’t want to be impatient or irritated or use force to get kids to gather.
4. Involve everyone. Small children can feel very important while they open their book and pretend to read while repeating after you. The big children learn lots of patience waiting while a 1st grader struggles thru a verse or two!
If you already have a daily habit, it’s worth thinking about. Can we raise our efforts a notch? Be more creative and make this a more meaningful time for our family?
I had a very personal experience with the power of family scripture study. A child of ours was waiting for a mission call. For the life of me, I could not get excited about this call. I felt terrible—wanted to be a rejoicing mother. Prayed in several prayers that I could feel happy about this soon-to-come call.
Family Scripture Study one morning. As we finished reading, Quin asked what I thought was a rather silly question. But I thought about it and answered anyway with a kind of pat answer. Most people got up to leave, but I was suddenly rooted to my spot because as I answered, a flash of inspiration came to my mind. I thought about it and another flash like a firework rolled in, then another. I knew something I had never known before AND it was a direct answer to my prayers. I had to hurry back to my bedroom at that point before I burst into tears in front of everyone. It was a beautiful, precious experience. And I was able to look forward to the mission call.
What a BLESSING to have God’s words while we’re here on earth far away from Him. Let’s expose ourselves and our children to His words EVERY DAY in an organized manner, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I love insights and counsel from Pres. Peterson. He has a way of honing in on what is essential and letting non-essentials fall by the wayside. He’s asked me to talk tonight about family scripture study, which is truly one of the “essential” things.
I was the oldest in my family—eight children in all—and I remember that we didn’t start having family scripture study until I was a teenager. (My parents probably brought up the idea in a family council or family home evening—because that’s how they initiated any change in what we were doing as a family—hey, you have everybody there to hear it all at once, whatever you say seems more important because it was brought up in a meeting, you get everyone’s thoughts and buy-in.)
I remember how hard my dad worked to get us up in the morning. He was so determined to start this tradition. It reminds me of a quote by Admiral Hyman Rickover, “Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.” Courageous patience. This was my dad. He’d go from bedroom to bedroom, first talking to us really nicely, the next time around he might flap our blankets up and down to let the cold air in, sometimes he’s throw in a “Rise and Shout, the cougars are out!” into the mix. By the third or fourth time around, there was maybe a wee bit of frustration in his voice. :)
Anyway, it was something that he never gave up on. My memory is one of consistency—that for the rest of my growing up, as a family, we read the Book of Mormon on school days in the morning. I asked him what prompted him to start doing it and keep going even when we made it hard. He said that he had always figured you couldn’t expect that all your children would get testimonies of their own and stay in the church. Except then he started noticing some of the men in our ward in Taylorsville. They didn’t act like they expected to lose any of their children. Their kids were growing up, staying strong and true and happy, excelling in scouting :), going on missions, marrying in the temple. So my dad watched what they did with their families and tried to emulate it in his own family. Family scripture study was part of that effort.
What a blessing! I feel so grateful to him for his efforts. I feel like it lifted my family (the one with my brothers and sisters) to a new level of being committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hurray!
Although my dad does not remember a specific talk that compelled him to begin family scripture study in our home, it could have been this talk by Marion G. Romney from that same time period.
Pres. Romney says:
"The great overall struggle in the world today is, as it has always been, for the souls of men. Every soul is personally engaged in the struggle, and he makes his fight with what is in his mind. In the final analysis the battleground is, for each individual, within himself. Inevitably he gravitates toward the subjects of his thoughts.
If we would … build for ourselves and our children great and noble characters, we must keep in our minds and in their minds true and righteous principles for our thoughts and their thoughts to dwell upon.
If we would avoid adopting the evils of the world, we must pursue a course which will daily feed our minds with and call them back to the things of the Spirit. I know of no better way to do this than by daily reading the Book of Mormon (where)…
…the things of the Spirit are taught with mighty power.
I believe with all my heart, …that if our young people could come out of our homes thoroughly …familiar with the teachings of the Book of Mormon, they will not only be inspired by the examples of Nephi, the 2,000 sons of Helaman, and other great Book of Mormon characters to choose the right, they will also be so schooled in the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ that they will be able to know and understand what is right.
From almost every page of the book, there will come to them a moving testimony that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Redeemer and Savior. This witness alone will be a sustaining anchor in every storm.
They will have learned the folly of putting their trust in the learning of men or in the riches of this world. As a matter of fact, there is no fundamental virtue about which they will not be taught, for in the Book of Mormon …is to be found “the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. All of us need the uninterrupted association with the Spirit of the Lord. Don’t be content with what someone else tells you about what is in it. Drink deeply from the divine fountain itself.
I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness."
Wow.
I remember a time in our family several years ago when I was talking to a friend and telling her how contentious our home was –that it was bothering me and I wasn’t sure how to fix it. She was bold and instead of saying, “Oh, yeah, that’s how it is with kids…” she asked if we were having family scripture study—reading the Book of Mormon together every day. My initial response was, well, of course we are. But then I thought and realized, hmmm, we’ve gotten in a hurry in the mornings and in a habit of reading a scripture and thought from a little book we had—spending a minute or less. We weren’t involving everybody, not even opening the actual scriptures!
I was so grateful she would ask, so we would reevaluate our family scripture study time.
There are as many varied ways to work family scripture study as there are families in the world, but here’s what works for us right now:
Mornings. Evenings are all so different. And we have such a variety of ages and bedtimes.
So, because the high-schoolers leave at 6:55, at 6:30 AM when Quin is just about ready for work, he turns on some music to help people wake up. We used to get a variety, but now it’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat every morning. It’s loud and all through the house and everyone can hear it in their beds. Just to make sure the music is sinking in, though, Quin knocks on doors, saying Good Morning! About the time the second song ends, Quin turns off the music. Everyone knows prayer is shortly to follow, so by this point they’ve mostly straggled out to the living room.
The youngest is usually the most eager—kneeling right by Dad and helping get the scriptures out (we have 10 or 12 copies of the Book of Mormon in a cupboard right in the room where we read, also some songbooks, in case we feel like adding in a song). But all the kids in elementary school never act like they’re bothered by being woken up—Hey! It’s a new day! The Jr. High children crawl up the stairs wrapped in a blanket and sprawl there right on the stairs barely visible. High schoolers pop in for the prayer. Pop back out to brush their teeth and pack their backpacks. Pop back in on their way out the door and quickly take their turn reading a scripture. “Good-bye!” they say, then run out the door.
Is it okay that everyone only reads one or two verses?...I don’t know.
When all the kids were younger, we had little blank books for each one. They’d draw a picture of what we read or learned that day in scripture reading. Those were the cutest little drawings. I don’t know where those books have gone. Quin’s book is the only one left and he faithfully writes down the verse we’re to start on the next day. And every book of scriptures has a bookmark—it saves a grundle of time trying to find where we are.
Oldest daughter, Heidi, thought the quality of our family scripture study could improve :) and gave us a study guide she’d come across in college. It’s really great with thought questions and general authority quotes to throw in between verses while we’re reading—generates more discussion than we used to have.
Is it okay that we only spend 10 or 15 minutes?...I don’t know.
Now on weekends, we can actually spend more time. We wake up later, aren’t rushed to get anywhere. But it’s one of the first things we do as soon as most people are up. I don’t feel like we can get the day started (that’s mother talk for being able to start ordering people around :)) until we’ve had prayer and scripture.
Is it really okay that on Sundays, we all sleep in and let Quin go to his 6 AM meeting, then do family scripture study without him later?...I don’t know.
So, here’s a plan for family scripture study if you don’t have a daily habit right now.
1. Decide to do it. Be courageous and determined to do it. You could have your home teacher check up on you until your habit solidifies…
2. Decide on a time and stick to it. Quin says, 6:30, but when he’s gone I’m surprised at how hard it is to get the courage to wake everybody up. If I sluggishly wait until 6:45 to get started, Jr, High kids are in the shower, high schoolers are running out the door and it seems cruel to wake up sleeping younger ones…
3. Make it a happy time. As parents, we wouldn’t want to be impatient or irritated or use force to get kids to gather.
4. Involve everyone. Small children can feel very important while they open their book and pretend to read while repeating after you. The big children learn lots of patience waiting while a 1st grader struggles thru a verse or two!
If you already have a daily habit, it’s worth thinking about. Can we raise our efforts a notch? Be more creative and make this a more meaningful time for our family?
I had a very personal experience with the power of family scripture study. A child of ours was waiting for a mission call. For the life of me, I could not get excited about this call. I felt terrible—wanted to be a rejoicing mother. Prayed in several prayers that I could feel happy about this soon-to-come call.
Family Scripture Study one morning. As we finished reading, Quin asked what I thought was a rather silly question. But I thought about it and answered anyway with a kind of pat answer. Most people got up to leave, but I was suddenly rooted to my spot because as I answered, a flash of inspiration came to my mind. I thought about it and another flash like a firework rolled in, then another. I knew something I had never known before AND it was a direct answer to my prayers. I had to hurry back to my bedroom at that point before I burst into tears in front of everyone. It was a beautiful, precious experience. And I was able to look forward to the mission call.
What a BLESSING to have God’s words while we’re here on earth far away from Him. Let’s expose ourselves and our children to His words EVERY DAY in an organized manner, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Summer Plan--2011
It's ingrained in my soul from my childhood that a family should have a summer plan. In my head right now,I can hear Mom say, "Otherwise the summer gets away from you and you haven't done all the things you wanted to do..."
So every May we dutifully make charts and plans. Here's this year's rendition--it's actually our best iteration yet!
The Daily Schedule compliments of Jonathan.
Now that I actually look at our schedule, I realize we treated it more as a "guideline" than a rule. :)
But if scripture reading didn't happen at 7 with Quin, at least we made sure to do it by 8:30 or so.
And if our whole-family, monkey-in-the-middle fun and games and elevated heart rates at 7:15 didn't last past the first week because of my fall...and if Mario at the Olympic Games on the Wii became the exercise of choice...well, at least we tried.
Confession: Nobody actually touched the piano all summer.
Realization: We only had ONE regular Saturday all summer.
Successes: Found out that a majority of the kids right now can actually weed a whole row in the garden!
This was the newly invented motivation system. Quin thought Soderbucks would put him in the poorhouse, but nobody had the willpower to do anything with them but play on their gameboys. :)
Somewhere in the summer, Rachel actually 'graduated' from Soderbucks. It was when she stuck to the Family Camp cleanup to the bitter end, then took all the seats out of the van and vacuumed the van just because she wanted to see it done. With a bow and a scrape, Quin and I named her an adult with full privileges--to partipate in family clean-ups as able and to watch screens at her own discretion. Beautiful moment. Brings a tear to my eye...
We're hoping to fill this more.
We've extended the season to Labor Day weekend...
We actually made this chart so I could be excited about all the activities we already had planned. What a busy summer!
So every May we dutifully make charts and plans. Here's this year's rendition--it's actually our best iteration yet!
The Daily Schedule compliments of Jonathan.Now that I actually look at our schedule, I realize we treated it more as a "guideline" than a rule. :)
But if scripture reading didn't happen at 7 with Quin, at least we made sure to do it by 8:30 or so.
And if our whole-family, monkey-in-the-middle fun and games and elevated heart rates at 7:15 didn't last past the first week because of my fall...and if Mario at the Olympic Games on the Wii became the exercise of choice...well, at least we tried.
Confession: Nobody actually touched the piano all summer.
Realization: We only had ONE regular Saturday all summer.
Successes: Found out that a majority of the kids right now can actually weed a whole row in the garden!
This was the newly invented motivation system. Quin thought Soderbucks would put him in the poorhouse, but nobody had the willpower to do anything with them but play on their gameboys. :)Somewhere in the summer, Rachel actually 'graduated' from Soderbucks. It was when she stuck to the Family Camp cleanup to the bitter end, then took all the seats out of the van and vacuumed the van just because she wanted to see it done. With a bow and a scrape, Quin and I named her an adult with full privileges--to partipate in family clean-ups as able and to watch screens at her own discretion. Beautiful moment. Brings a tear to my eye...
We're hoping to fill this more.
We've extended the season to Labor Day weekend...
We actually made this chart so I could be excited about all the activities we already had planned. What a busy summer!
Monday, August 8, 2011
"Mothers of the Prophets"
Just finished reading “Mothers of the Prophets” by Arrington, Madsen, and Jones.
They all seem like happy, hard-working women who liked people (especially their children and husbands) and, of course, had strong testimonies of the restoration of Jesus’ Gospel and a willingness to sacrifice whatever needed to be sacrificed.
One story struck me especially.
This is a picture of Melissa Jane Bigler, who was the mother of Julina Lambson (who married Joseph F. Smith), her husband, Alfred Lambson, and a niece.
In 1852, Alfred was called on a mission to the West Indies. He left Melissa in Salt Lake with a three- year-old and a one-year-old for two years. When he came home, he was home for two years and they had a baby son. Then he was assigned to serve as a blacksmith and mechanic for the wagons of pioneers in Florence, Nebraska.
.
He was there TEN years!
His little family stayed in Salt Lake City. As a sidenote, Julina, at seven years old, went to live at her aunt’s house and was raised there the whole time he was gone.
Makes it seem like a husband having a few meetings here and there isn’t much of a sacrifice.
They all seem like happy, hard-working women who liked people (especially their children and husbands) and, of course, had strong testimonies of the restoration of Jesus’ Gospel and a willingness to sacrifice whatever needed to be sacrificed.
One story struck me especially.
This is a picture of Melissa Jane Bigler, who was the mother of Julina Lambson (who married Joseph F. Smith), her husband, Alfred Lambson, and a niece.
In 1852, Alfred was called on a mission to the West Indies. He left Melissa in Salt Lake with a three- year-old and a one-year-old for two years. When he came home, he was home for two years and they had a baby son. Then he was assigned to serve as a blacksmith and mechanic for the wagons of pioneers in Florence, Nebraska.
.
He was there TEN years!
His little family stayed in Salt Lake City. As a sidenote, Julina, at seven years old, went to live at her aunt’s house and was raised there the whole time he was gone.
Makes it seem like a husband having a few meetings here and there isn’t much of a sacrifice.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
BYU's Carl Bloch Exhibit
These small prints are not going to do justice at all to the experience I had at BYU's Carl Bloch exhibit. The display was so well-done. The paintings are greater than life-size which made it easy to get lost in them. I loved the added insight on the rented ipad.
I had an experience with every painting. I have so much admiration for Carl Bloch--his understanding of the Savior, of people, and of tenderness. Through his work I know my Savior better. I know better how to feel like Him. And I know better how to feel close to Him.
Here are four of my favorites:
How intimately Christ's hand rests on the child's cheek. How comfortable and safe the child feels so close to Christ. How meek and trusting is the child. And then Christ's other hand says, Be here...be this child.
Imagine the emotion of this moment for the mother. In the painting you can see her heart breaking, her all-night vigil, her tears that have flowed for hours. And she doesn't know (but we know!) that Christ is there or what the next few moments will bring. The sun is rising behind Him...
Imagine us looking on the scene of Christ's agony and His wrestle with our sins and our pains.
Thomas' feelings at finding Christ who he thought he'd lost are so intense and varied.
There's so much to ponder...just a fantastic experience.
I had an experience with every painting. I have so much admiration for Carl Bloch--his understanding of the Savior, of people, and of tenderness. Through his work I know my Savior better. I know better how to feel like Him. And I know better how to feel close to Him.
Here are four of my favorites:
How intimately Christ's hand rests on the child's cheek. How comfortable and safe the child feels so close to Christ. How meek and trusting is the child. And then Christ's other hand says, Be here...be this child.
Imagine the emotion of this moment for the mother. In the painting you can see her heart breaking, her all-night vigil, her tears that have flowed for hours. And she doesn't know (but we know!) that Christ is there or what the next few moments will bring. The sun is rising behind Him...
Imagine us looking on the scene of Christ's agony and His wrestle with our sins and our pains. 
Thomas' feelings at finding Christ who he thought he'd lost are so intense and varied. There's so much to ponder...just a fantastic experience.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Our 2011 Family Vacation--Day 1
We'd wanted to drive far and wide in search of a warm climate, but in the interest of a van that has 270,000 miles on it and saving on gas and hotel fees, we stayed home and saw what there was to see along the Wasatch Front.
First stop--The Living Planet Aquarium. Everybody enjoys petting the friendly manta rays.
Rachel and Aaron do their best impression of Penguin and Baby.
It's a cold day, so we picnic in the back of the van.
Second stop--JumpOnIt in American Fork. Tough to get to with all the freeway construction, but very fun.
Quin in action. He's usually behind the camera, so we have to add what pictures we can of him. :)
Family Home Evening at Temple Square.
Everyone had waited seven hours for dinner, so 9:30 PM found us at Taco Time. We ended up eating this late EVERY night!
First stop--The Living Planet Aquarium. Everybody enjoys petting the friendly manta rays.
Rachel and Aaron do their best impression of Penguin and Baby.
It's a cold day, so we picnic in the back of the van.
Second stop--JumpOnIt in American Fork. Tough to get to with all the freeway construction, but very fun.
Quin in action. He's usually behind the camera, so we have to add what pictures we can of him. :)
Family Home Evening at Temple Square.
Everyone had waited seven hours for dinner, so 9:30 PM found us at Taco Time. We ended up eating this late EVERY night!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Family Vacation 2011--Day 2
Day 2--Quin found seven working bikes and a trailer for a bike ride down the Legacy Highway Trail!
Eric takes a long turn pulling Chris in the trailer.
Aaron had a bike with tiny wheels and was always last. But he pedaled his heart out for the whole five miles!
We spent the evening at Boondock's Fun Center. Rachel and Amy enjoy a little dance competition.
Eric and Jonathan drive in a go-kart. It started to rain after their one and only ride, so I talked to management and got 4 Rainy Day passes. I guess that means we have to go back sometime. What was I thinking?
Monday, April 18, 2011
Family Vacation 2011--Day 3
Day 3--Bingham Copper Mine. What an awesome sight!
Notice the big tires.
See how the dumptrucks with those big tires dwarf the semi-truck driving next to them. 
Nobody had ever been to IKEA before, so we stopped for a Swedish cultural experience. Here Chris enjoys the children's furniture department.
Next stop--The Planetarium and an IMAX movie. We saw "Mars needs Moms" in 3-D which was fun to do. 
The boys on the moon.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Family Vacation 2011--Day 4
Day 4--We headed north to Honeyville and the Crystal Hot Springs. It was raining the whole time, but we didn't let that bother us too much. :) It was interesting to see people come with their picnic baskets like it was a balmy summer day.
The Burch Creek Mercantile. It's a little general store in South Ogden. By this time it was snowing fiercely. What better time for an ice cream cone?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
This is the first time he's been in 3rd grade...and it won't last forever
Aaron plays the bongo drums at the 3rd grade Wonders of the Earth program. (Quin, Rachel and I were too shy to navigate our way to the front of the auditorium, so we had Jonathan do it.)When the classes were preparing for the program, the teachers asked who took music lessons? Aaron was able to raise his hand and say he took piano. Just like that he landed the part of the bongo drums in one of their numbers!
He seemed really pleased with himself and took it very seriously.
Anyway, I realized that these younger children have it kind of hard. They’re living brand new lives that are important to them. Because we have older children getting married, having babies, going on missions, going to college, and making interesting conversation, there’s the danger of us totally missing the three younger boys' childhoods. They’re so easily dwarfed by what the bigger people are doing. (And we've seen it all before.)
The night was a really good reminder of that for me. Especially because I knew Aaron was so cute up there and we came so late that we had to stand at the back. We were placed in such a way that he was the only third-grader we couldn’t see. And the whole thing was a blur to me anyway, because I still haven’t gotten any glasses.
I’m feeling a vow coming on—of paying more attention to people around here, especially little people.
Girls Weekend
The men of the Lewis family braved the snow and cold in a yurt in the Uintas over the weekend. (Eric had recently been diagnosed with bronchitis and way over-exerted himself pushing the sled with all their provisions, but still spoke favorably. Jonathan said, "It was hard," with a groan. Aaron’s face lit up and he bubbled, "It was fun!")
The girls chose a gentler pastime. A BYU production of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”.
It was SO much fun.
The source material was, of course, excellent.
The play itself was well-done with an especially hilarious rendition of Mrs. Mary Musgrove and a wistful, to-bring-a-tear moment as Anne danced with her memory of Captain Wentworth with all sorts of regret and no hope that they could ever be together.
Britain was our intermission entertainment. Her impersonations of Mrs. E in “Emma” were spot-on and I LAUGHED OUT LOUD.
Afterwards, everyone wanted ice cream, of course. (I did not suggest it, because I am trying so hard to win the South Weber Biggest Loser competition—-ha-ha.) Somehow we ended up at the Creamery with two half gallons in front of us and a spoon in each of our hands.
When I accused everybody of their treachery, (they've all signed the paper as faithful supporters of my weight-loss campaign) they put the pineapple sherbet in front of me and pulled away the caramel wonderful something.
Anyway, it was a delightful evening.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Nasty Cough that Never Ends
The virus of the month is a week of feeling tired and feverish. The cough starts at about day two. It's nasty and deep. (We don't know when it ends, because it's still hanging on at three weeks for those who got the sickness first.)When the neighbors heard me cough on Saturday, they popped out of their house with an old dead plant they called ephedra. I was just desperate enough (yes, I've been coughing since Dec 13, but who's keeping track?) to look it up on the internet, decide it was harmless and try making the recommended brew out of it.
Aaron was the next guinea pig. It felt so good to have something to help him when he sounded like he was coughing up a lung.
Jonathan had a cow about it, because it seems an awful lot like a tea to him…
Other people in the family are saying, Can we grow some of this in our yard?
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A Visit with the Neurologist
Chris had his first appointment at Primary Children’s in a year or so. Two things were hopeful.
First, Chris is actually only taking a moderately high dose of his medicine. We have some play still in giving him more if he needs it, without worrying about what it’s doing to his body.
Second, it’s way too early to give up hope that he’ll outgrow his seizures. Some kids outgrow them by the end of elementary school or even in Jr. High or High School.
Chris was very polite and obedient, with encouragement and a hamburger/french fries bribe. :)
Helping a Scout
Eric had a winter campout last weekend. He got up early Friday morning before school to pack. But after school, I thought a good mom would quiz him a little on what he had packed. The list had said to bring double of everything—snow clothes, etc.—even to borrow from your dad if you didn’t have double.
Well, Eric had packed only singles of everything. So I took the packing list at its word and raided Quin's drawers. I even sent Eric with all Quin's pajamas. :)
Did I really think he wouldn’t notice?
Well, after he did notice, I decided it was probably my responsibility to dig through the stuff Eric had brought home and make sure Quin's stuff got washed and replaced where it belonged.
I opened the duffel bag and there was everything…untouched! So much for needing a mother’s care and attention.
And then I remembered that Daniel and Paul always prided themselves on never opening their packs for all three days of Lewis Family Camp. :)
Conference Talk Thought
I was interested in this quote from Elder Bednar’s most recent talk:
“We more readily receive and recognize the Spirit of the Lord as we appropriately invite Him into our lives. We cannot compel, coerce, or command the Holy Ghost. Rather, we should invite Him into our lives with the same gentleness and tenderness by which He entreats us (see D&C 42:14).
Our invitations for the companionship of the Holy Ghost occur in many ways: through the making and keeping of covenants; by praying sincerely as individuals and families; by searching the scriptures diligently; through strengthening appropriate relationships with family members and friends; by seeking after virtuous thoughts, actions, and language; and by worshipping in our homes, in the holy temple, and at church. Conversely, casualness about or the breaking of covenants and commitments, failing to pray and study the scriptures, and inappropriate thoughts, actions, and language cause the Spirit to withdraw from or to avoid us altogether.”
I was struck by the idea that casualness in prayer and scripture study—or, in other words, when you know you should do something and you don’t—could cause the spirit to withdraw. I also liked that we should quietly and carefully invite the spirit into our life or our day.
“We more readily receive and recognize the Spirit of the Lord as we appropriately invite Him into our lives. We cannot compel, coerce, or command the Holy Ghost. Rather, we should invite Him into our lives with the same gentleness and tenderness by which He entreats us (see D&C 42:14).
Our invitations for the companionship of the Holy Ghost occur in many ways: through the making and keeping of covenants; by praying sincerely as individuals and families; by searching the scriptures diligently; through strengthening appropriate relationships with family members and friends; by seeking after virtuous thoughts, actions, and language; and by worshipping in our homes, in the holy temple, and at church. Conversely, casualness about or the breaking of covenants and commitments, failing to pray and study the scriptures, and inappropriate thoughts, actions, and language cause the Spirit to withdraw from or to avoid us altogether.”
I was struck by the idea that casualness in prayer and scripture study—or, in other words, when you know you should do something and you don’t—could cause the spirit to withdraw. I also liked that we should quietly and carefully invite the spirit into our life or our day.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Votes are In
News from the Junior High: Amy has been voted the "Nicest Girl" by all the 9th graders. 
What a well-deserved tribute. (Speaking as a totally unbiased mother).
In the hall at the school with friends, Kymbelle and Keshelle.
Amy at school with her cousin-friend, Krysta.
Laughing it up with next-door-neighbor friend, Emily.
What a well-deserved tribute. (Speaking as a totally unbiased mother). 
In the hall at the school with friends, Kymbelle and Keshelle.
Amy at school with her cousin-friend, Krysta.
Laughing it up with next-door-neighbor friend, Emily.
New Organizing Rule
"If it's not 1)a decoration or 2)something that's used more than once a day, it shouldn't be out in the open where I can see it."--me
"It's a good rule..."--A prize for the first person to name that movie and the character who says it.
"It's a good rule..."--A prize for the first person to name that movie and the character who says it.
Bulwarking from the Book of Mormon (and going to church)
Scriptural insight of the week: Alma Chapter 60. Moroni is a gung-ho for the Lord, righteous kind of guy. He’s standing up for what he believes in, doing his best in very trying circumstances to survive and to protect everybody around him. He's a role model.
Then he gets pretty indignant with somebody that’s on his team. (Because of the circumstances, he can’t see his teammates’ side of things.) He’s actually quite abrasive.
But I know what happens next. (I read it before. :) )
His teammate is able to reach deep into the wells of Christ’s charity and continue to hold out his hand in genuine respect and cooperation. They remain brothers and are able to work together and accomplish great good.
What a fortifying story for marriages and mission companionships and siblings and all the relationships we have. On this day, I hope to be Pahoran. I feel very touched by the whole thing.
Another thing that’s helping me this week, is a talk from Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. The speaker was talking about family scripture study. She said it’s like brushing your teeth. If you’re tired one night, so you go to bed without brushing your teeth, do you just throw in the towel and give up? Let your teeth rot in your head because you missed once? Of course not.
So. Just because we had pizza and cherry pie on Saturday for Michael’s birthday... and then on Sunday, somebody (who shall remain nameless :)) brought over several dozen delicious cookies left over from a Stake Employment Fireside...then the neighbors brought over leftover cake from a birthday party and it had a layer of pudding in it and thick wonderful frosting and I indulged in way too much of all that stuff, doesn’t mean I should not get up to go exercise.
NO. I will continue to brush my teeth. I will start again writing down what I eat and keeping the calories under 2000 a day. Sigh.
I guess the moral of these stories is that there really is a benefit to belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ—there is strength to be found in supping from modern-day (and ancient) scripture and hearing talks in the church meetings. He knew what kind of help we’d need to make it happily through this life and He planned for it. I’ll keep taking advantage of it.
(I liked what Paul (Elder Soderquist in the Philippines, not Paul the apostle in Philippi) said in one of his letters about him, as a missionary, just being there to “invite”. It’s what Christ does—loves and invites. It’s up to us (and investigators) to accept and act and take advantage of the resources He offers.)
Then he gets pretty indignant with somebody that’s on his team. (Because of the circumstances, he can’t see his teammates’ side of things.) He’s actually quite abrasive.
But I know what happens next. (I read it before. :) )
His teammate is able to reach deep into the wells of Christ’s charity and continue to hold out his hand in genuine respect and cooperation. They remain brothers and are able to work together and accomplish great good.
What a fortifying story for marriages and mission companionships and siblings and all the relationships we have. On this day, I hope to be Pahoran. I feel very touched by the whole thing.
Another thing that’s helping me this week, is a talk from Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. The speaker was talking about family scripture study. She said it’s like brushing your teeth. If you’re tired one night, so you go to bed without brushing your teeth, do you just throw in the towel and give up? Let your teeth rot in your head because you missed once? Of course not.
So. Just because we had pizza and cherry pie on Saturday for Michael’s birthday... and then on Sunday, somebody (who shall remain nameless :)) brought over several dozen delicious cookies left over from a Stake Employment Fireside...then the neighbors brought over leftover cake from a birthday party and it had a layer of pudding in it and thick wonderful frosting and I indulged in way too much of all that stuff, doesn’t mean I should not get up to go exercise.
NO. I will continue to brush my teeth. I will start again writing down what I eat and keeping the calories under 2000 a day. Sigh.
I guess the moral of these stories is that there really is a benefit to belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ—there is strength to be found in supping from modern-day (and ancient) scripture and hearing talks in the church meetings. He knew what kind of help we’d need to make it happily through this life and He planned for it. I’ll keep taking advantage of it.
(I liked what Paul (Elder Soderquist in the Philippines, not Paul the apostle in Philippi) said in one of his letters about him, as a missionary, just being there to “invite”. It’s what Christ does—loves and invites. It’s up to us (and investigators) to accept and act and take advantage of the resources He offers.)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Kindergarten Visit
I visited the Kindergarten class this week. We have a new school building and the classroom is Darling. I found Chris in his favorite spot--the reading corner. (Picture to be included next week.)
When the teacher called for everybody to get their “go books” out of their desks, Chris immediately stopped what he was doing, went to his desk, got out the book and opened it— ready for her instructions. When she told them what to do, he did it just like she said…only fast. Within just a few minutes, he was back in the reading corner. That happened several times in the half hour I was there.
The other interesting thing about the visit was the boy that sits next to Chris. He's mean, Chris says. I didn’t think he was mean, but he was fairly active and in Chris' space. He followed Chris around the room. He leaned over onto Chris while he was trying to work. And he took Chris’ bicycle that he’d just cut out and said he wouldn’t give it back until Chris apologized. ("Apologizes for what?" "Apologizes for hitting me!" ?????)
Chris did an excellent job of ignoring him,so when the boy got up to throw the bike in the garbage, I had to follow him across the room and fish it out.
And Chris was just drawing his road and trees and not paying any attention...
(When quizzed, Chris said, “Yes, I hit him...but he started it!” And that's all I could learn of that story...)
When the teacher called for everybody to get their “go books” out of their desks, Chris immediately stopped what he was doing, went to his desk, got out the book and opened it— ready for her instructions. When she told them what to do, he did it just like she said…only fast. Within just a few minutes, he was back in the reading corner. That happened several times in the half hour I was there.
The other interesting thing about the visit was the boy that sits next to Chris. He's mean, Chris says. I didn’t think he was mean, but he was fairly active and in Chris' space. He followed Chris around the room. He leaned over onto Chris while he was trying to work. And he took Chris’ bicycle that he’d just cut out and said he wouldn’t give it back until Chris apologized. ("Apologizes for what?" "Apologizes for hitting me!" ?????)
Chris did an excellent job of ignoring him,so when the boy got up to throw the bike in the garbage, I had to follow him across the room and fish it out.
And Chris was just drawing his road and trees and not paying any attention...
(When quizzed, Chris said, “Yes, I hit him...but he started it!” And that's all I could learn of that story...)
Friday, February 18, 2011
Valentine's Day
My usual modus operandi is to avoid doing whatever I can avoid doing.
But Valentine's Day fell right on Family Home Evening this year. It didn't seem right to go about our usual routine. The day needed a family party!
Too much trouble, I thought. But then I remembered Mom's way of organizing a family party...
So Sunday night, I made eight slips of paper--three that said Decorations, three that said Games, and two for Refreshments. Everybody drew what committee they were on out of a hat (aka tupperware bowl) and it was all organized!
We actually didn't start preparing until 6 PM Monday night. Amy gathered Aaron and Jonathan in a room to plan the games. Every once in a while you'd see one of them come out to gather supplies. They were so excited and ended up with six or eight games. We played them all!
Quin and Rachel worked in tandem in the kitchen and making all sorts of pink and red goodies. (They made so many that we had to eat them all through the party instead of just at the end.)
The decorations committee (Chris, Eric and me) made a pretty nice party room in the basement if I do say so myself. We had a delay in our preparations when it was discovered that Snowball the parakeet had died during the day. We had to give one of our committee members time to have a funeral and grieve. :(
But at 7 PM, we gathered and had A LOT OF FUN!
Thank you, Mom, for showing us how to create happy memories.
(Check out that great "Don't Eat Pete!" paper!)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Sending Off a Missionary
After waiting four and a half months, February 2 finally came and Heidi was able to enter the MTC and start her mission.
She was THRILLED! We went down to BYU a little early so she could see friends one last time in the Cougareat. She was extremely happy to see everyone that came. There were lots of hugs and happy chatterings.
(Chris and Aaron get tired of the waiting at BYU.)Then the time came that she had to tear herself away and we drove the five minutes to the MTC. She’d sobbed and sobbed when we dropped off Daniel and Paul in October because she had to wait three more months to come herself. There was no sobbing this time. In fact, she almost forgot to hug us good-bye, she was so ready to be on her way.
I’m really quite proud of her.
But I find the situation a little anticlimactic from this end.
For the last four weeks, Heidi and I have done everything together. We’ve gone to all sorts of appointments, shopped, run errands, discussed outfits and hairdos and missions and friends and relationships and gospel principles. We’ve even done Zumba together. And we’ve shopped…and shopped, did I say that yet?
So the flurry of preparation comes to its conclusion. And for Heidi the adventure finally begins.
But for me, it ends. I come home to a quiet house and she didn’t even leave a mess of her things for me to clean up. It’s all neatly stacked in bins at the back of the storage room.
Thank goodness for weekly letters. I’m sure looking forward to the first one.
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