Thanksgiving (And Turkeys!) Through Prayer

Since this is a month of thanksgiving, I wanted to do a Family Night discussing one of the greatest ways we have of showing gratitude, prayer.  I wanted to get back to the basics of prayer and stress the importance of gratitude, which is one of the most valuable personality traits we can have.  Personally, it has been the greatest tool in fighting Depression.  I also wanted to make some turkey art to put in our front window, so this is what I came up with...a paper turkey that explains the parts of prayer.

 

We started by making the face of the turkey as we remembered who we speak to when we pray (hence, the beak) and look to for answers (and the eyes.)

The body of the turkey represents the body of the prayer.  That is hopefully the majority of it!  For every thing they said they were thankful for they got a feather to put on their turkey.

  It was nice to remind them that while we are thankful for a lot of the same things every day, it's also good to come up with new things we are grateful for and mention those too.  We got pretty creative!

Next we added feet to represent the last two parts of prayer, asking for blessings and closing in the name of Jesus Christ.  The mercy of God & Atonement of Christ are our foundation, what we rely on in our lives.  One foot represented the blessings of God.  We taught how near the end of our prayer we ask Him for blessings we hope he will bestow in His wisdom if it is what we need.  I explained we don't always get exactly what we ask for, but since He is our Father we trust His wisdom.  The other foot represents ending our prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior.  

I was really touched by the following quote from the recent General Conference of the LDS church: "One of the most meaningful things we can do as parents is teach our children the power of prayer, not just the routine of prayer...As parents, we can teach our children to pray for things of eternal consequence- to pray for the strength to be morally clean in a very challenging world, to be obedient, and to have the courage to stand for the right."

This quote comes from a talk titled "Parents: The Prime Gospel Teachers of Their Children" that you can read here.  If there is anything I hope I can teach my children it's the importance of fervent prayer.  When we give thanks we improve the quality of our own lives.  We see the good we sometimes overlook.  Praying gives thanks to the ultimate Giver.  When we pray we can talk to someone who understands us and loves us unconditionally.  And when we choose to ask for those things we feel line up with His will for us, we are a greater force for hope and good than we can ever be on our own.  Hope you have a happy FHE!  Love, Eva

 

Thankful For Food & Learning To Make Do!

                                 

The other morning we had a mini breakfast feast (YUM) and used the opportunity to talk about two things.  First, we learned about different kinds of food and how grateful we are to have such a variety.  

We used some pie crust stamps we had in some whole wheat pancakes!  I asked my kids if they knew the Four Food groups or about the Food Pyramid.  I know "Your Plate" is the new thing, but I couldn't help feel a little sad they hadn't heard about the old-school food categories.  I taught them that even though the pan cakes where in the Grains category, they had dairy in them too because of the eggs.  The kids thought that was pretty silly.

We used some fruit we had on hand to make a turkey too!

We didn't have everything the cookbook asked for, but we made do and substituted to create our delicious fruit medley.  That is another topic we are starting to learn about- Making Do!  Part of being grateful is recognizing you don't have to have everything.  Like Brigham Young said, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!"

When they were done though, they didn't want to eat them.  So we covered them with seran wrap and stuck them in the fridge for viewing. LOL

With the pork chops, fruit, pancakes, milk, juice and eggs we learned that we had a little from each food group for our meal.  The point of this simple time together was to be grateful for the many kinds of food we get to eat and just enjoying what we have!  Remember, the Gospel is true and spending time teaching your children is always worth it, even if it's just in casual conversation!  Love, Eva

Softened Hearts, Leaves & Cookies:One Last Lesson on Attitude

One more lesson on Attitude that actually transitions quite nicely into this month's new theme, Gratitude.  A great visual for kids is the idea of the "softening of the heart."  Elder Eyring's talk "Write upon My Heart" has some great quotes on this subject of having a heart that is impressionable, moldable (I know that's not a word, but you know what I mean...) and softened.  Here's one of my favorites...

Our goal when we teach our children to pray is for them to want God to write upon their hearts and be willing then to go and do what God asks of them. It is possible for our children to have faith enough, from what they see us do and what we teach, that they can feel at least part of what the Savior felt as He prayed to have the strength to make His infinite sacrifice for us: “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39).

I have had prayers answered. Those answers were most clear when what I wanted was silenced by an overpowering need to know what God wanted. It is then that the answer from a loving Heavenly Father can be spoken to the mind by the still, small voice and can be written on the heart.

Wow!  Isn't that what we all want for our children?  That their attitudes might be changed, ready and willing to have the Spirit write upon their hearts?  I used 3 objects to teach the importance of having a softened heart...

1) Playdough!  (If you don't have any on hand there are lots of quick recipes online using ingredients you probably have in your kitchen.)

It's easy for kids to understand that when the playdough is fresh and soft we can shape anything out of it. God can shape us into what he wants us to be when our hearts are softened too.  That is when we are impressionable and he can "write on our hearts."  You could even use a butter knife or other carving tool to have them "write" on the playdough.  When our hearts are hardened though and we don't want to change our attitudes or choices, we are stuck the way we are and God can't mold us and help us anymore.  You can have some hardened playdough out to show this too.


2) Leaves!  (Thank you Autumn for providing this item!)

We did a simple craft of making leaf art by gluing leaves to paper.  I asked them which leaves were brightest and easiest to work with.  Of course, the ones that weren't all dry, hard and crusty.  The ones that were still soft and fresh.  I explained that the difference between the dry ones and soft ones was the amount of water still in them.

 Appropriately, Jesus Christ is the Living Water for us.  If we want to have softened hearts, we must turn to him and bring him into our lives.  The same is true for playdough that is starting to dry out.  Often you can add some water to soften it and bring it to life again.  This was a great connection to make with my kids!

3) Cookies!

The best way to compare the benefits of a softened condition is by using food.  Nobody wants to bite into a hard cookie!  My kids found out the hard way (no pun intended) since my "softened" cookies were apparently a little on the hard side. LOL  Hard cookies don't taste good and a hardened heart doesn't feel good.

Feeling happy feels good, and we feel most happy when our lives are in line with Heavenly Father's plan for us.  Truly, choosing to have the attitude of "Thy Will Be Done" is the most simple, yet most important choice we can make.  Our softened cookies have happy faces because they are following God's plan!

I have to add a tender moment we had.  I've been working 4 part-time jobs to try to help get us out of debt and try to figure out which job works best for our family, so I was hurrying to wrap up this lesson and get to work.  But Michael REALLY kept trying to say something.  Finally, it was his turn and he pointed out two jack-o-lanterns in our Halloween decorations.  He showed how one was having a happy attitude and the other one was sad because it wasn't.  He explained how we should be like the happy jack-o-lantern.  How precious and sweet to see that after a month of discussing this topic he is getting it!  He IS understanding how important a positive attitude is!  As I rushed out the door to work it was comforting to know that the little 10 minute lessons we have here and there DO add up to a greater understanding and positive character in our children.  And WE grow as teachers and parents and disciples in the process too!  So excited for another month of activities and learning in November as we discuss, of course, Gratitude!

Love,
Eva

A Spooky Attitude!

Well, it's been a while. ;)

This has probably been the year I've been the most hands on and diligent about teaching my kids the Gospel of Christ, but it seems that prep work and hands on time has cut into my time for documenting and sharing it! It was a conscious choice to move this blog to the back burner so I didn't get completely burned out! 3 moves and a year and half later we are close to settled down back in our own home again and I'm eager to (little by little) get back to sharing tips on teaching our kids.

 One great step we took this year towards improving the spirituality in our home was to choose a theme to focus our Family Home Evenings and scripture time on each month. We even made a place in our home to post the theme, that month's scripture and an Article of Faith. Chad and I would try to choose something we felt we all could use some work on and we'd go from there, finding activities and scriptures that related to it.

 For example, this month our topic has been Attitude. Each night we work on memorizing Article of Faith #10 and then spend time reciting Luke 22:42, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." It's been wonderful teaching our kids and reminding ourselves that even Jesus Christ had some things in life he didn't want to go through. But he still did what his Father asked of him. He had an Attitude of love and submissiveness and obedience. And that's exactly the kind of attitude we should have and exemplify.

It's really easy to find opportunities to sneak in teaching moments and tie in the theme for the month, if that's something you would like to implement, even within holiday traditions. For instance, one family night we talked about Attitude while carving pumpkins.

 First, this was a great activity because it was festive, messy and hands-on.  Kids LOVE all of that!  It also gave us time to bond and work on something as a family. 

But then besides having fun we also talked about the different kinds of faces we could put on a pumpkin, and how those faces made us feel. It gave us the chance to talk about a range of emotions and learn some new "feeling" words.

Then we took the next step and discussed how the expressions on our faces often show what kind of attitude we have.

 Of course, if we have a spooky or scary attitude it can be hard to make friends or have a good day.  So we want to try to feel happy!  Dad's pumpkin carving was a little too spooky for Sammy.

And if we are having a difficult attitude, explain why and then try to get help and change it!  Maybe it's because we're scared...

 and just need some comfort or someone to turn the light's on!

We had a great time learning about the importance of a good attitude.  More ideas to come!  The time you spend strengthening your testimony and sharing it with your children is priceless!  And remember, the Gospel IS true!  

Love, Eva