13 for the 13th--Believe, Hope, and Endure #10

Believe, Hope and Endure All Things: ACTIVITY #10

(This is a large section of the 13th Article of Faith, but we only did one activity, since we had some trips across the country to attend to...)

I couldn't think of a better example of believing, hoping, and enduring all things than the pioneers.  My sister-in-law Angi put together a children's book of some of our family history, and it was perfect for our lesson.  We talked about how these courageous people gave up practically everything because of the belief in the gospel and the hope for the future, and with a willingness to endure all things that were thrown at them.  Here is one of the stories that we read:

Once upon a time there was a young girl named Maria.  When she was just 17 years old she had some friends who taught her about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she was soon baptized.  Her family was not happy about her joining the Church.  Maria had to make a very difficult decision--she had to choose between staying with her family in Sweden, or leaving for America with other members of the Church.  The Spirit told her that the Lord wanted her to leave her home and join the Saints in America.

Maria had to cross the ocean on several boats before she got to America.  The voyages on the ships were very scary.  Sometimes high waves would cover the boat and one time all the people on the boat had to be tied down, so they wouldn't fall out into the ocean!

Maria's journey did not end there.  She crossed the plains with other faithful pioneers to get to the Salt Lake Valley.  Maria's pioneer company was attacked by Indians many times.  Although many were hurt, the Lord protected and watched over them...

Maria was a very brave woman, who was happy to serve the Lord and do whatever He wanted her to do.  Through all of her trials on the plains, she was happy and sang the hymn, "Come, Come Ye Saints" all the way to the Salt Lake Valley.

This is a poem written by Maria (Olivia Maria Lofdahl Andelin) as she crossed the plains:

With Bleeding feet crossed desert woes,

Through wind and rain and bitter snows,

Kneeling on the barren sand,

Asked Father's blessing from His hands.

And on the ground lay down to sleep,

Foot-sore and tired, and nothing to eat,

Only the heavens for covering.

My sleep was sweet, while angels hovering.

(I thought that was pretty great, for writing in a second language!)

For a Pioneer Day treat, we put together some Covered Wagons.  We used graham crackers for the base, marshmallows for the cover, animal crackers for the oxen, string cheese circles for the wheels, and frosting and toothpicks to hold it all together (for those patient enough to actually put it together before consuming).

I also thought it would be fun, for Pioneer Day, to camp out in the back yard.  Ben had to work late that night and early the next morning, so we took it upon ourselves to set the tent up, and let the Daddy sleep inside.  Well, I guess we learned why no one goes camping on July 24th in Texas.  It was so hot and so humid that night, that the excitement of being in the tent lasted for approximately 15 minutes.  Then extreme whining and longing looks from the tent windows into the house began in earnest, and I decided our lesson on enduring had endured long enough.  We all slept comfortably in our own beds that night.  The end.

13 for the 13th--Benevolent and Good to All Men #7, #8, and #9

Benevolent and Good to All Men: ACTIVITY #7

Giving in the Community

Benevolent is a Latin word, formed from the stems "bene" (well) and "volens" (wishes).  We read the story of the Widow's Mite  from Luke 21:1-4 and learned that even giving a little can mean a lot, especially if you don't have much to begin with.  We, however, have much more than we need.  I had my kids go up to their rooms with sacks to collect toys and clothes that they were willing to give away.  We also got a box full of baby clothes and supplies together.  Then we took them to our local children's medical clinic for them to distribute to those who might need them.

Benevolent and Good to All Men: ACTIVITY #8

Kindness in our Family

I was excited to present this activity.  After half a summer with most days with all the kids together, we were ready for some kindness reminders.  Certain children know the buttons of other children, and cannot seem to resist pushing them!  So we read from Doctrine and Covenants 136:23-- Cease to contend one with another; cease to speak evil one of another.

All of my school-aged kids have learned about bullying since Kindergarten.  Generally, they are taught what to do if they are bullied and how they can stop others from doing it.  I don't think, though, that they recognized that the way they were often treating their own siblings was bullying.  I didn't want it any more.  I decided to do an activity that they used in school a couple years ago called "Rachel's Challenge."

From the FAQs on the website: Rachel Joy Scott was the first person killed in the Columbine High School tragedy on April 20, 1999. Immediately after the tragedy, her father Darrell began to speak and used writings and drawings from Rachel’s diaries to illustrate the need for a kinder, more compassionate nation.  Today, Darrell and over thirty presenters honor Rachel’s life by reaching the nation with Rachel’s simple but profound message.

The kids sign a pledge that they will fight bullying by reaching out to be kinder to those around them.  So we signed a pledge that we would be kinder to each other.  Also, like at school, I had paper strips available, and when someone did something kind to another, the recipient could write what was done and add it to our paper chain.  The goal was to make it across the window in a week.  They did it--and more!  (I have not been able to get myself to take this one down yet, because I love what it represents.  I also love all the cute things they wrote about on each link!)

Benevolent and Good to All Men: ACTIVITY #9

Giving Thanks

We had two scriptures to introduce our activity on this day.  Luke 6:31 taught us the "Golden Rule."  (Really, wouldn't life be much nicer if we could all live this principle in all we do?)  Matthew 25:40 reminded us that when we serve others, we are serving God.  We discussed how many people serve us each day.  The list is very long.  We got out some thank you cards, and I had everyone write three thank you notes--one to each set of grandparents and one to anyone of their choice.  My kids were able to see the blessings that they have in their lives because of the people who love them and serve them.  I think this needs to be a recurring activity, and I need to join right in.

13 for the 13th--Chaste and Virtuous #4, #5, and #6

Chaste and Virtuous: ACTIVITY #4

"I will keep my mind and body sacred and pure, and I will not partake of things that are harmful to me." 

--My Gospel Standards

The "My Gospel Standards," included on the last page of the Faith in God Guidebooks, have several standards that apply to the topics of being Chaste and Virtuous.  The definitions found in the scriptures agree--being chaste and virtuous means to keep your mind and body free from things that would prevent you from entering the temple, and thus from entering the Celestial Kingdom.  On this day, we focused on the Word of Wisdom (Doctrine and Covenants 89).

One of the suggested Faith in God activities is to "Read D&C 89.  Discuss how Heavenly Father blesses us when we faithfully live the Word of Wisdom.  Help plan and conduct an activity to teach the Word of Wisdom to others."  Since Scott and Emma both had not done this requirement, they agreed to do this for their younger sisters. 

They decided that they'd print off pictures of healthy and not healthy foods.  Then they helped the girls put them in the correct groups.  Something we found from this activity was the color difference in the healthy and non healthy foods--rainbow versus brown.  We had known that before, but it was glaringly obvious in the pictures they chose.  Then we had some fruit salad.  Yum!

Chaste and Virtuous: ACTIVITY #5

"I will dress myself modestly to show respect for Heavenly Father and myself."

--My Gospel Standards

As I was planning this activity, I thought it would be fun to buy some paper dolls with some modest clothes, or make some for them if they didn't come with any.  Then I realized it would be much more fun (and meaningful) if we just made the paper dolls, too.

I had the kids get into their swimsuits and then took a full body picture of them.  Then I enlarged the pictures to fit on cardstock, printed them, and cut them out.  Then, after our discussion (Genesis 3:7, 21), they got to work making clothes (or decorating the clothes I helped them design).  It was a really fun thing that kept them all busy for the morning.  Gracie, in particular, made a whole wardrobe for her paper doll, and will still pull it out to design something new on occasion.

Chaste and Virtuous: ACTIVITY #6

"Your mind is a cupboard, and you stock the shelves."

I found a great activity (here) that taught the principles from a talk by President Monson:

 I like this thought: “Your mind is a cupboard, and you stock the shelves.” Let us make certain that our cupboard shelves, and those of our family members, are stocked with the things which will provide safety to our souls and enable us to return to our Father in Heaven. Such shelves could well be stocked with gospel scholarship, faith, prayer, love, service, obedience, example, and kindness (April 2005 General Conference).

I labeled a packet of seeds "Faith" (faith grows like seeds), a large can "Prayer" (we need to pray always), a large can "Love" (we need to have no bad thoughts about others), a cake mix "Obedience" (for success, follow the directions/commandments), a bottle of oil "Service" (story of the widow and Elijah in 1 Kings), a soup can "Example" (courage to say you won't watch, do, or listen to bad things), a small can "Kindness" (even small acts of kindness make a big difference) and a bag of sugar "Temple Worthy" (keeping our minds filled with sweet things).  Then, as we pulled each item out of the grocery bag and placed it in the cardboard box cupboard, we talked about how these things will help us return to Heavenly Father.

13 for the 13th--Honest and True #2 and #3

ACTIVITY #2

"I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation." --Joseph Smith History 1:25

An important part of being honest and true is not lying.  Joseph Smith gave us a great example of this, and never denied his vision and its consequences, despite the life-threatening trials that it brought.  We talked about him, and how we could follow this example.

We practiced being honest by playing the game, "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?"

(This image is to replace the cute picture of my kids playing the game--that I never did take.)

ACTIVITY #3

Moroni 10 4-5

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Sometimes we hear things that sound too good to be true.  Tall tales are like this.  We talked about different tall tales that we knew, and how the events in these stories did not really happen.

There is a difference, however, with the scriptures.  Sometimes, even then, the stories sound as if they are not true.  But a way was given to us to find out the truth on our own.  When we pray in faith, the Holy Ghost will tell us in our mind and our hearts what is true.  And I was able to tell my children that I have taken that promise to heart, and tried it.  I was able to tell them that I know it's true.  And they can know, too.

We went to the library after this discussion.  My intent was to get books and a cartoon movie on tall tales, but (honestly) I forgot by the time we walked in the door.  But it would have been a nice extension!

13 for the 13th--Honest and True #1

 (We used a whiteboard, adding to it each day as we discussed the topics.)

ACTIVITY #1

To begin our Honest and True activities, we had to first see if everyone knew what the words really meant, and we listed ideas on the whiteboard.  I told them the story about 18-year old Joseph F. Smith that I had liked since I was little:

"Joseph was hired as a teamster to drive a team across the desert to Salt Lake.

At this time there were strong anti-Mormon feelings. Brigham Young and the Mormon people were blamed for the terrible Mountain Meadow Massacre where some non-Mormon immigrants traveling through Utah to California were killed in 1857. Also, the U.S. Army was on its way to Utah because of false charges made by government officials from Utah who were antagonistic toward the Latter-day Saints. “There were many men scattered abroad who had murder in their hearts” who boasted that they would kill any Mormons they found (Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith, p. 188). Because of this, Church members traveled in little companies for safety.

Joseph F. and his company had stopped to camp one afternoon when a band “of drunken men rode into the camp … , cursing and swearing and threatening to kill any ‘Mormons’ that came within their path. … Some of the brethren when they heard them coming had cautiously gone into the brush down the creek, out of sight. Joseph F. was … gathering wood for the fire. [He walked up to the campfire to deposit his wood. One drunken ruffian with a pistol in his hand said] that it was his duty to [kill] every ‘Mormon’ he should meet. … In a loud, angry voice [he demanded from Joseph], ‘Are you a … Mormon?’ [Joseph ignored the gun aimed at him,] and looking the ruffian in the eye … boldly answered, ‘Yes siree; dyed in the wool, true blue, through and through.’

“This [surprised] the man; and … he grasped [Elder Smith’s] hand and said,

“ ‘Well, you are the … pleasantest man I ever met! Shake, young fellow, I am glad to see a man that stands up for his convictions’ ” (Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith, p. 189). The man seemed to be the leader of the group, for when he rode off the rest followed him. President Smith said he fully expected to be shot when he admitted being a Mormon, but he did it anyway."  (found here)

We decided that we were going to practice being true blue, through and through each morning.  I had the kids make a "Big Five" chart to help get some basic daily things done.  For the older kids, the Big Five were 1) Make Your Bed, 2) Get Dressed, 3) Put Your Clothes in the Hamper, 4) Brush Your Teeth and Hair, and 5) Practice Your Instrument.  The littles who don't practice broke up Brush Teeth and Brush Hair into two.  When these things were complete, they could come to me and give me a high five, and they could get a treat.  I told them that they would have to be honest about it, and when they'd come for a high five, I'd say, "Are you being honest and true?"  Sometimes they had to go get something else done that they'd forgotten.

(I began hearing the kids use it among themselves--"I didn't do it--honest and true!")

We all enjoyed this.  The kids liked getting a small daily treat, and I enjoyed having a specific list of things they knew they had to do before they requested any other (generally electronic) activity.  It was a good start for the summer.

13 for the 13th--Introduction

Before our summer started, I knew I wanted to have some activities we could do at home as a family.  It has helped in the past to have something we can work on on the days I can't manage to take them anywhere--especially with a new baby.  We did a "Summer of the ABC's" before Scott went to kindergarten, and two years ago we studied "The Family: a Proclamation to the World."  This time I wanted to focus on some family values.  I was brainstorming about which I wanted to include, when I realized that the Thirteenth Article of Faith, which we recite each night along with the others we have learned, had already eloquently laid out what I wanted to cover.  Plus I had a suspicion that my children, though generally bright, didn't know what the words they had memorized really meant.

I started off by printing wordstrips for the Article of Faith.  As we talked about them, we would add them to the wall.  I actually had to move on to another wall to fit them all on!

As I was determining the activities, I realized that several of the words were similar enough that we could combine them.  We usually had one set per week, with 3 days of activities to explore the topics, and by the end of the summer, we had done thirteen focused activities--and our understanding and testimony of the Thirteenth Article of Faith had increased.  I hope you enjoy this series of posts as much as we enjoyed doing them!

Happy Thoughts

I have a cold.  I have meant to post about our 13th Article of Faith activities, which I have now built up so much that I hope there is not disappointment all around when I finally do post about them, but I am in a "get the things done that need to be done and that's it" stage.  (PS--Ben's out of town.)  I am even going to admit that I washed my sheets yesterday, but was too tired to put them back on at the end of the day, and slept without them.  BUT--I see improvement, and that's all I need.  So, to make me happy, here are some pictures that...make me happy.  (See, my writing abilities are definitely diminished.)

Benson likes to be part of things, so we got his high chair out.  He loves to sit with us during meals.

Sitting in the high chair led to giving him food.  Normally I give rice cereal first, but I didn't have any, so he got to gnaw on a pear in this mesh net.  He was well pleased.  Rice cereal came about a week later, and, though not as well received as the pear, he did seem to enjoy it.  (Much more than Tessa did!)

 Ben and I celebrated our 12th anniversary.  Yay us!  We went to dinner and then on a short cruise on a nearby lake.  It had been raining and windy, so the water was really choppy when we boarded, which is why we're clenching the rails in the photo below, but it calmed down, and the ride was really very pleasant.

 It is also very pleasant to be married to this man.  Twelve years into eternity--we've just gotten started!

Benson got to come with us.  This outfit fit him just in time.

 This is one of those pictures that everyone says, "Hey, you should go get a picture with your baby in the boat captain's seat, because his bib says 'Little Skipper'--it will be so great!" and you think, "I don't think it will be so great..." but you do it anyway and hope for the best...  Peer pressure...sheesh.

 On our last Friday before school started, we went to Bounce Town--hooray!  They all had so much fun that I wish I would have taken advantage of it more during the summer.  My kids really do play well together.  I am a blessed mom.

 That's enough rambling for now, from a lady this baby thinks is pretty funny!

Introducing

Well, let it be known that Ben and I are not allowed to hold little kitties, because we end up coming home with them!  After a year and a half of being cat-less, we thought...maybe we'll just go look at some.

Meet Bella--

 Did you know that cats can be nice?  Did you know that some of them like to come sit on your lap for a good scratch behind the ears?  Did you know that some cats don't bite or growl, but let you play with them and purr?  These are things we had heard about, but hadn't experienced with Abe.  Bella is so sweet.  Though she's still a curious, frisky kitty, she is patient with my overly loving girls.  We're really enjoying her.  And, well, I'll just say it--I'm her favorite.

And now--Mrs. Chomp.  She's not exactly new, since she first made her appearance about a year ago after I read an article by Richard and Linda Eyre, who suggested a similar thing.  (Sorry I couldn't find the exact reference.  If I do, I'll share.)  But she used to be a white trash bag with a Sharpie face, and this week she was upgraded to a laundry bag, with some fabric paint.

 Mrs. Chomp comes out when it's time to clean the house and certain children (about 5 of them) need more motivation.  I say, "Mrs. Chomp is coming in 20 minutes, and she's taking anything left on the floor or out of place!"  Ooh, they hate that.  It almost always works to get the floor cleaned, but if there's something left, there is much weeping and wailing as Mrs. Chomp eats it up.  I don't have a consistent system to return what she's eaten, but in almost every case, when I bring the things out, the kids don't want whatever is there anymore, and I can usually get rid of them.  (The clutter items, not the kids.)  I painted on both sides of the bag, so this picture is an attempt to show both sides at the same time:

I anticipate Mrs. Chomp to continue doing much good for the clutter situation in our house.

Plus Two

Our family added two new member this week.  One is small, black and fuzzy.  The other is large and blue.  It's funny how much the kids love the one and hate the other!  More details to follow, when I get some good pictures.  (OK, at least decent pictures.)

Also, I will be starting my "13 for the 13th" posts soon.  Are you excited?  I am!