Which Way Do You Face?

 Hello!  Happy Halloween!

 It's been one of my goals recently to make sure we are doing our best to study the recent conference talks as a family.  So when I knew we were going to be decorating pumpkins I HAD to find a talk that would tie in.  "Which Way Do You Face" fit the bill!

 First, we just had fun decorating our pumpkins!

 Then I asked my kids what the question "Which way do you face?" could mean.  My bright daughter figured it out immediately- "I think it means which way do you face, like do you face Heavenly Father and try to chose the right and make good choices or not really."  So thoughtful!

 That's exactly what President Packer asked Elder Robbins and what we discussed!

 There's a great section in the talk where he gives examples of people in the scriptures who did and didn't face the Lord.  We designated the sunflower painting in the kitchen as the "God side" and the darkness outside the window as the "dark side."

 Then we asked them to listen and show us with their pumpkins which way the person in that story faced.  They got every one right!

 I love spending time like this with my family.  It's not always easy to make it happen.  It's usually followed by chaos or may include chaos in the process.  But it is SO worth it.  I know I am fulfilling my most important role as a mother, a teacher of eternal truths that can bring real happiness.

 Sophia chose the pose on this one!

 Sammy liked counting them!

 And wearing them! 

 We wrapped things up with easy, just-bake 'em cookies and ta-da!  A quick, easy, memorable family night.  I know I don't always completely "face" the right way.  But in moments like these I know I'm trying.  I could please myself and skip anything difficult and just get the kids to bed early.  I could please the kids and let them do whatever they want and not try to do any kind of spiritual lesson.  But like this talk says, "Trying to please others before pleasing God is inverting the first and second great commandments (see Matthew 22:37–39). It is forgetting which way we face. "  I want to face my Father and know when I really do face him some day that I took the best care I could of His children.  Ultimately, Jesus is the best example of facing his Father and completely emulating him.  And I DO want to be like Jesus, so I keep trying.

I want to end this post with the testimony this talk ends with:

"In every way possible, He was His Father’s perfect disciple. He was so perfect in representing His Father that to know the Savior was also to know the Father. To see the Son was to see the Father (see John 14:9). To hear the Son was to hear the Father (see John 5:36). He had, in essence, become indistinguishable from His Father. His Father and He were one (see John 17:21–22). He flawlessly knew which way He faced.

May His inspiring example strengthen us against the pitfalls of flattery from without or of conceit from within. May it give us courage to never cower or fawn at the feet of intimidation. May it inspire us to go about doing good as anonymously as possible and not “aspire to the honors of men” (D&C 121:35). And may His incomparable example help us always remember which is “the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:38). When others demand approval in defiance of God’s commandments, may we always remember whose disciples we are, and which way we face, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Remember, the Gospel is true! Love, Eva

Ponder The Path of Thy Feet

President Monson's talk "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet" from October 2014 General Conference really touched me.  And as the afternoons have been getting shorter I realized it had been a while since we had gone on a hike together.  And THEN I realized that a family walk on a path through the mountains would be a great opportunity to review these words from our prophet.  

 I wrote out 10 points I wanted to make sure we discussed by quoting and paraphrasing in more simple terms key parts of the talk.  Then I stuck each one in an envelope and hid them along the trail.

 The kids took turns finding and opening their mail from the prophet!

 Sammy got a little too eager!

 Although the focus may have started to shift on finding the envelopes quickly, before others walking the path could mess with them, we did our best as parents to slow things down and focus on really understanding what the paper said.

 Here is what we felt was important our family remember from this talk:

1)Heavenly Father made us and made a way for us to become like Him.
"All of us commenced a wonderful and essential journey when we left the spirit world and entered this often-challenging stage called mortality. The primary purposes of our existence upon the earth are to obtain a body of flesh and bones, to gain experience that could come only through separation from our heavenly parents, and to see if we would keep the commandments." -Pres. Thomas S. Monson
2) He did not send us here alone though.  He gave us tools to help us know how to return to Him.
 "Although we are left to find and follow that path which will lead us back to our Father in Heaven, He did not send us here without direction and guidance. Rather, He has given us the tools we need, and He will assist us as we seek His help and strive to do all in our power to endure to the end and gain eternal life." -Pres. Thomas S. Monson
3) "We have the words of God and of His Son found in the holy scriptures."
4) "We have the counsel and teachings of God's prophets."
5) "We, with Jesus, can walk the path of obedience."
6) "We, like Jesus, can walk the path of service."
7) "Jesus walked the path of prayer."
8) Jesus was merciful, a peacemaker, & brave. (This idea really stuck out to the kids.  The idea of it taking more courage to be humble and turn the other cheek was a little hard for them to wrap their head around.  But I'm so glad we talked about it!  It was a good lesson and trait of the Savior for me to remember too!)
9) He asks us to let our lights shine.
10) Jesus tells us it is much more important to lay up treasures in heaven than on earth.

Learning from Daddy.

  Such a pretty day!  I told the kids that after the last paper was found we had to search for our hidden treat.  First though, I wanted to try taking a family feet picture.

   These were my first two attempts...I love them though!

 And there we are in our favorite footwear and with my youngest on his toes!

And there's the snack!

 I went with powdered doughnuts for a couple reasons.  I wanted something that was convenient, but I also wanted something with some symbolism.  We have been journeying and progressing as a family, which is what we do everyday, in hopes we can be an eternal family someday in heaven.  The white of the sugar represents heaven and the circle shape is never-ending, just like our forever families can be.  Maybe it sounds like a stretch, but the kids loved it.  It was great to find at the end of our path!  And that's because not only were they delicious, but it meant no one else had snatched our treasure!

 Kids being silly... (redundant, I know)

 And asking for seconds...

 As we headed back I made sure hubby took a picture with me in it to show I really was there too! LOL

 The kids wanted to run up and down the paths at top speed.  I wanted to take pictures of their free spirits!

 These little faces are the reminders I look at each day that help me remember I can be better.  I need to practice what I and the prophets preach.  I want to do a better job of pondering the path of my feet and the words I speak to them.

   As we walked back to the car my daughter put her arm behind me and started trying to walk in sync with me, as though we were in a three-legged race together.  I find it ironic, considering the lesson topic.  Am I walking in sync with my Savior?  Am I going where he would go and doing what he would have me do?  Have I chosen to stay close to him, linked and ready to keep up with his pace? 

I sure hope so.  Love, Eva

Thankful Hands...

 I'm a little behind on posting (I don't recommend catching a bad cold and getting a back injury in the same week...) but I'm trying to catch up, so here goes!  We did three activities with this one night's hand-stamping craft activity.

 First we talked about how thankful we are for HANDS!

 There are SOOO many things we can do with our hands it was nice to talk about it.  Eat, brush our teeth, play catch, carry things...

                                         

I talked to them about a man in out neighborhood who doesn't have hands.  He has to carry his grocery bag in his mouth.  They asked how he ate food, and I said it was probably challenging.  It was good to spend sometime talking about how something as simple as our hands is really a great thing to be thankful for.

 Next we talked about prayer since that's also something we get to do with our hands.  We talked about how wonderful it is to be able to pray and all the things we get to say thank you to God for.

 We made this picture with our hands and then once it dried, put it in a plastic cover that had this poem, "Thankful Hands" so they could put it on the wall with some reminders of things to pray and be thankful for.

Here is the poem text...

Thankful Hands

By Eva Barnett

I'm thankful for hands that pray

They thank the Father every day

For caring friends and family

For autumn air and falling leaves

For my body and my mind

For my home and what's inside

For the food I get to eat

For the scriptures I can read

For the preisthood, prophets too

For the fun things I can do

For my Savior's loving plan

I pray & thank God with my hands

 Next, we let all those hand prints dry and cut them out.  This was an activity that took us a couple days...

 And the kids got to work writing names on the hand "leaves" of people who love them and are willing to be helping hands to them.

 Aaaaah!

 Sophia asked Michael how to spell his name so she could write him down.

 Michael wrote Sophia's name too!  Too cute!

  We got out some pictures of extended family to help them remember more people that love them.

We wrote teachers' names and classmates and ran out before we even got to the General Authorities!  There are SO many people to be thankful for that love and support us if you take the time to list them!

 Then we made our tree!!!

 Chad helped with the ones on top.  This tree is a wonderful reminder of the many incredible people we have to be thankful for...

 I love that my kids get to see it everyday this month and remember who loves them as they fall asleep...

Hope these ideas are helpful and inspire you to spend some time talking about how wonderful it is to have hands, pray and have so many helping hands of friends and family in our lives.  The Gospel is true!! Luv, Eva