1st why do I write here? I write because I want to remember the miracles of everyday! I write because I was personally challenged to record my spiritual experiences and impressions for my kids when I was young. I was told I should record my impressions and feelings and so... I am trying!
I don't write for others to read. I don't write to share with others. I write to share with my own family. I do post some things here that I think may be beneficial for other Primary leaders to use. If something I post here is helpful to another then that would be awesome but I write for my own history.
I have been slacking in writing lately because I have had so many people mention something about feeling depressed when reading other Mormon Mom blogs. There are many who are making money on blogs in this day, but that is not me! I write here to record the minutes and miracles of day to day life! I was personally charged with keeping a history and record of my family. That's it.
We have had several busy weeks! I have been editing my kids Learning Logs and as I review the past weeks, they are each so full, I can hardly believe we did all that in one week! Wew! I will post a few pictures from the past month since I have done poorly at writing, but I will not try to recap all the miracles... that would be unjust!
I will begin with yesterday! It was Veteran's Day here in USA. We knew that our friend Johnnie J had been chosen as the Chief Marshal for the Parade. He was here in my home not long ago, and we shared a beautiful morning viewing the BSA/LDS 100 year Celebration Broadcast now available on LDS.org.. He is a long time scouting hero in our books, and it was an honor to have him come here to my home to see that program! I will forever remember him kneeling (because he can't sit due to a spinal cord problem) in my living room! He stands the entire time for most meetings! He is sooo amazing, humble, heroic! I am so grateful to know and associate with him! He was to ride in a special car at the start of the parade at 9 a.m. and then he was the sole speaker in a special program at noon at the tabernacle. We attended both. The parade was long! We left home before 9 to make it there, hoping to not miss him. We didn't return from the parade until after 11... only to have about 20 minutes before we needed to be on our way to the Tabernacle. (We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful little town that has a Pioneer LDS Temple as the center of our town, and a Pioneer Tabernacle gracing our Town Square! Thank you LDS Pioneers for building and sacrificing for us! I marvel at the detail in the wood work and construction of both of those buildings!) In that quick 20 minute prep time, the sister missionaries stopped in. I am grateful to have them here, and we had a plate of cookies (left from ones we made Sunday night when we delivered them to a couple friends) we shared with them, and then left for the program. It was a fantastic program, organized by a committee chaired by Ski I. He is an amazing good man we have worked beside as he ran the Boy Scout Roundtable for years and I ran the Cub side. He did a great job. It was however a little long for little people. We expected it would be standing room only after the numbers of participants in the parade, but we were surprised to find that not the case! We were glad to be there to support so many really top notch people dedicating their time to make that event happen! Thank you St. George neighbors for your hard work and dedication!!! Thank you Veterans for a great country to live in! The theme this year was "Freedom Isn't Free." Yes, we know!
B had a private tennis lesson at 3 and we really needed a Costco run! It was a 3 cart Costco trip that made us late to her lesson. Oops sorry cute girl! Then S joined her for group tennis at 4 and I promised the Littles we would feed the ducks at the park. We weren't there long when a cute pair of ladies found us at the pond and started asking about my children. We learned they were from Pennsylvania - clear up by Lake Erie. At first they were set back with my answer of 5 sons and 4 daughters, but I responded... which one should I send back? They watched little Stephen as he threw the bread crumbs to the ducks, picked rocks from the mud, played with a little puppy another Grandma brought around. That Grandma said something about you should just have puppies instead of kids... I responded quickly there weren't nearly as fun to love! and almost immediately the dogs growled at Stephen. haha. I know they didn't like that but it's true! Sorry dogs will never take the place of a beautiful child!
We went for a walk, played tag on the grass, and played on the playground at the park, and those two ladies kept intercepting our path. The last time we were on the bridge, and Sara and Jakob were under playing trolls.. "Whose that crossing over my bridge?" haha! They asked which two I could spare for just a day or two...nope sorry! I am so grateful for each one that I can't send any of them away! I am so grateful to be a Mom! Laus Deo!
We came home, and I took a few minutes to debrief with B as he changed his clothes. We had come and gone so quickly during our quick stops we had groceries all over and a mess in the kitchen and it was about 6:00... time for dinner. When we came back downstairs the kids were all in the kitchen playing the piano and laughing beautifully! The lights were off in the kitchen. They had worked a surprise for us! They made a salad, set the table, put all the groceries away... and made dinner - there was barbecue chicken on the grill almost done! Wow! They giggled as we walked into turn on the light and find their work! Thank you angels! Dinner was delicious and we had a beautiful talk about Self Reliance, the Come Follow Me Theme for the month - they got it!!! Thanks angels!
While I did dishes, Jr team (S,B and S) made favorite Pumpkin Pie squares. Here is the recipe in fact:
Pumpkin Pie Squares from Taste of Home
What a great night to talk about Self Reliance! They had a couple questions about the recipe and we talked about how grateful I am that L knows how to cook. Just this week in her letter she said they had made Pineapple Upside Down Cake and shared it with a lady they hope to get baptized this Saturday. She didn't know how it tasted because they gave it away! I am so grateful for her!
Then S had this list of questions prepared for our FHE...
I am impressed that S found this YW lesson on LDS.org about self reliance to be prepared for her assignment.
The pumpkin pie squares were baking while we talked about these questions. Then B had us watch this beautiful video about the Parable of the Ten Virgins.
What a beautiful evening it was! After prayers and warm pumpkin squares together, we tucked the littles in, and then Jr team stayed up and added to our grateful tree. I wish I had taken a photo of it before we started last night, but I didn't. Each little leaf has something written on it that we are grateful for! Confessions, we only started this Sunday morning and I need to go get more brown paper so we can add a few more branches up high. I will!
J insisted that we needed some fruit on it! If you look closely you will see that he has a few red and green fruits of gratitude hanging on! Thanks J!
For now this is what it looks like! It was beautiful to sit with my Jr team and talk of all the bounteous blessings we enjoy! Laus Deo!
I don't write for others to read. I don't write to share with others. I write to share with my own family. I do post some things here that I think may be beneficial for other Primary leaders to use. If something I post here is helpful to another then that would be awesome but I write for my own history.
I have been slacking in writing lately because I have had so many people mention something about feeling depressed when reading other Mormon Mom blogs. There are many who are making money on blogs in this day, but that is not me! I write here to record the minutes and miracles of day to day life! I was personally charged with keeping a history and record of my family. That's it.
We have had several busy weeks! I have been editing my kids Learning Logs and as I review the past weeks, they are each so full, I can hardly believe we did all that in one week! Wew! I will post a few pictures from the past month since I have done poorly at writing, but I will not try to recap all the miracles... that would be unjust!
I will begin with yesterday! It was Veteran's Day here in USA. We knew that our friend Johnnie J had been chosen as the Chief Marshal for the Parade. He was here in my home not long ago, and we shared a beautiful morning viewing the BSA/LDS 100 year Celebration Broadcast now available on LDS.org.. He is a long time scouting hero in our books, and it was an honor to have him come here to my home to see that program! I will forever remember him kneeling (because he can't sit due to a spinal cord problem) in my living room! He stands the entire time for most meetings! He is sooo amazing, humble, heroic! I am so grateful to know and associate with him! He was to ride in a special car at the start of the parade at 9 a.m. and then he was the sole speaker in a special program at noon at the tabernacle. We attended both. The parade was long! We left home before 9 to make it there, hoping to not miss him. We didn't return from the parade until after 11... only to have about 20 minutes before we needed to be on our way to the Tabernacle. (We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful little town that has a Pioneer LDS Temple as the center of our town, and a Pioneer Tabernacle gracing our Town Square! Thank you LDS Pioneers for building and sacrificing for us! I marvel at the detail in the wood work and construction of both of those buildings!) In that quick 20 minute prep time, the sister missionaries stopped in. I am grateful to have them here, and we had a plate of cookies (left from ones we made Sunday night when we delivered them to a couple friends) we shared with them, and then left for the program. It was a fantastic program, organized by a committee chaired by Ski I. He is an amazing good man we have worked beside as he ran the Boy Scout Roundtable for years and I ran the Cub side. He did a great job. It was however a little long for little people. We expected it would be standing room only after the numbers of participants in the parade, but we were surprised to find that not the case! We were glad to be there to support so many really top notch people dedicating their time to make that event happen! Thank you St. George neighbors for your hard work and dedication!!! Thank you Veterans for a great country to live in! The theme this year was "Freedom Isn't Free." Yes, we know!
B had a private tennis lesson at 3 and we really needed a Costco run! It was a 3 cart Costco trip that made us late to her lesson. Oops sorry cute girl! Then S joined her for group tennis at 4 and I promised the Littles we would feed the ducks at the park. We weren't there long when a cute pair of ladies found us at the pond and started asking about my children. We learned they were from Pennsylvania - clear up by Lake Erie. At first they were set back with my answer of 5 sons and 4 daughters, but I responded... which one should I send back? They watched little Stephen as he threw the bread crumbs to the ducks, picked rocks from the mud, played with a little puppy another Grandma brought around. That Grandma said something about you should just have puppies instead of kids... I responded quickly there weren't nearly as fun to love! and almost immediately the dogs growled at Stephen. haha. I know they didn't like that but it's true! Sorry dogs will never take the place of a beautiful child!
We went for a walk, played tag on the grass, and played on the playground at the park, and those two ladies kept intercepting our path. The last time we were on the bridge, and Sara and Jakob were under playing trolls.. "Whose that crossing over my bridge?" haha! They asked which two I could spare for just a day or two...nope sorry! I am so grateful for each one that I can't send any of them away! I am so grateful to be a Mom! Laus Deo!
We came home, and I took a few minutes to debrief with B as he changed his clothes. We had come and gone so quickly during our quick stops we had groceries all over and a mess in the kitchen and it was about 6:00... time for dinner. When we came back downstairs the kids were all in the kitchen playing the piano and laughing beautifully! The lights were off in the kitchen. They had worked a surprise for us! They made a salad, set the table, put all the groceries away... and made dinner - there was barbecue chicken on the grill almost done! Wow! They giggled as we walked into turn on the light and find their work! Thank you angels! Dinner was delicious and we had a beautiful talk about Self Reliance, the Come Follow Me Theme for the month - they got it!!! Thanks angels!
While I did dishes, Jr team (S,B and S) made favorite Pumpkin Pie squares. Here is the recipe in fact:
Pumpkin Pie Squares from Taste of Home
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- FILLING:
- 2 cans (15 ounces each) solid-pack pumpkin
- 2 cans (12 ounces each) evaporated milk
- 4 Eggland's Best Eggs
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- TOPPING:
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
Directions
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, oats and brown sugar. Cut in
- butter until mixture is crumbly. Press into a greased 13-in. x 9-in.
- baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- In a large bowl, beat filling ingredients until smooth; pour over
- crust. Bake for 45 minutes.
- Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over filling. Bake 15-20
What a great night to talk about Self Reliance! They had a couple questions about the recipe and we talked about how grateful I am that L knows how to cook. Just this week in her letter she said they had made Pineapple Upside Down Cake and shared it with a lady they hope to get baptized this Saturday. She didn't know how it tasted because they gave it away! I am so grateful for her!
Then S had this list of questions prepared for our FHE...
- •What could a five-year-old do that a baby could not? (Walk, talk, dress herself, make simple choices, and so on.)
- •What could a twenty-two-year-old do that a fourteen-year-old could not? (Drive a car, date, have a steady job, be married, have a family, and so on.)
- •Why don’t we expect a five-year-old to do what a fourteen-year-old can do, or a fourteen-year-old to do what a twenty-two-year-old can do?
- •Why could the first ten years of your life be referred to as “irresponsible”? Who was basically responsible for you then?
- •How did your parents and family shelter you?
- •What new responsibilities did you assume at baptism?
- •Why is there some relaxation of control in the second decade of your life?
- •What kinds of decisions can you make now that you could not have made at age ten?
The pumpkin pie squares were baking while we talked about these questions. Then B had us watch this beautiful video about the Parable of the Ten Virgins.
What a beautiful evening it was! After prayers and warm pumpkin squares together, we tucked the littles in, and then Jr team stayed up and added to our grateful tree. I wish I had taken a photo of it before we started last night, but I didn't. Each little leaf has something written on it that we are grateful for! Confessions, we only started this Sunday morning and I need to go get more brown paper so we can add a few more branches up high. I will! J insisted that we needed some fruit on it! If you look closely you will see that he has a few red and green fruits of gratitude hanging on! Thanks J!
For now this is what it looks like! It was beautiful to sit with my Jr team and talk of all the bounteous blessings we enjoy! Laus Deo!