Christmas Service

 

 Christmas 2014 is over, but I still have the memories and there are some really good ones.  Some of my favorites are from service we did as a family.  I wish we did things like this every year, and we certainly have tried things here and there.  But this year my older two finally felt old enough to really understand the spirit of service and enjoy it.  Here are few of the family service activities we did...

Our first project was mailing Christmas cards to Addie, a girl in UT who asked for Christmas cards to help make her last holiday extra special.  She is only 6 but is terminally ill and very limited in her abilities.  But she is able to open cards and she loves to!  Last I had heard she had received over 400,000 cards from all over the world.  We decided to add to her Christmas cheer.  The kids were on board right away!  I couldn't believe Sophia's reaction when I showed her pictures of the sweet little girl and what we were going to do.  She said "OK" and grabbed a card and started drawing!  LOL  Then she did another and another and another...

It felt really good.  I was proud of them.

Another tradition I'm starting is in memory of my Dad.  My Dad passed last year.  He LOVED flannel shirts and wore them every day.  Since I didn't get to buy him his customary plaid shirt this year I decided I should buy one for someone else who would enjoy one. 

 The kids helped me make the special delivery.

 Our friend was very happy to have young visitors, gave them hugs, and recruited their help for carrying everything to his door.

This is us smiling in the hallway, since we've been friends for over a year and I've never snapped a picture of us.

 He liked making funny faces and kept cracking us both up!

 We also took advantage of the chance to donate change.  My kids have been asking for a lot of unearned candy, bouncy balls, and other random, wasteful little things.  I explained when we spend our "extra" money on things like that then we don't have any extra to help others.  They were happy we didn't splurge at each store so we could drop change in here.  We did get one little treat to share at the end though too.

Another service we all did was perform at the ward Christmas party.  This is a simple act, that takes faith and touches hearts and I was so grateful we all could participate.

Ready for the show!
 

 Playing "Silent Night"

Singing "Mary's Lullaby"

Singing "The First Noel"

The Angels backstage

 The primary acting out the story of the Nativity.

 The Shepherds!

  

Best Friends!

Doing service is wonderful no matter what the reason, but our reason was always brought home with the reciting of this scripture each night before bed:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14

We get the greatest peace when we have good will for others, when we are serving.
I truly felt that peace this holiday season.
I hope you did too.  Love, Eva

A Paper Chain of Peace

I was having one of those days.  You know the kind.  When it feels like the things you're trying to do to bring your family closer and make this season more meaningful just aren't making any difference.  I was so on the ball though!  It had to work out! We had decorated the tree the first Monday of the month and I had this cute poem about service and two paper stars to pass out for people to leave every time they did some anonymous service.  Whoever found the star was supposed to pay it forward and do something nice for someone else too.  Well, over a week had passed and the stars had moved twice. (Mommy sigh...)

I decided we needed to try something else before the month was over and I felt like the Grinch.  I knew we were on the right track as far as serving each other,  For the monthly theme of Peace we've been working on memorizing "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14)  Peace truly comes from doing good for each other.  That is what the Savior did every day of his life and I wanted my kids to really feel the peace of serving this month.

So, we did what any mother of small children would do.  WE MADE A PAPER CHAIN!!!  Every time someone did some service they got to write it on a strip of paper and add a loop.  The writing is on the inside, so there's not a lot of praise or recognition, just a beautiful visual representation of the love that is spreading in our home.  And the PEACE that is spreading in our home...

Tonight, after getting to add some additional loops for donating some of their toys to charity, this is how long it reached...in just 3 days!!!!  And it was a very sweet surprise to hear them say to me "Mommy we have a surprise for you in our room!  You've got to go see it!"  We had worked on cleaning it together for over an hour, so I knew it was clean.  What could they possibly have done?  I didn't know that they had placed one of the original stars there  where they had cleaned.

Nothing brings more frustration to me than feeling like I'm not getting through to my kids and helping them understand the basic virtues of charity, patience and selflessness.  The bickering and complaining really gets to me.  It's so easy when schedules are busy and we see each other every day to take each other for granted, to not take the time to treat each other as kindly and carefully as we should.  But when they DO GET IT, that is the BIGGEST sense of peace.  There is nothing in the world I want more than the feeling of "Yes.  They are understanding the joy that comes from choosing the right."

I think we are all excited to see how long this Paper Chain of Peace becomes this month.  It's our way of remembering Christ and trying to be more like him.  To close I want to share this quote from Elder Richard G. Scott that brings it all home:

"The ideal place for... peace is within the walls of our own homes, where we have done all we can to make the Lord Jesus Christ the centerpiece."

Good luck in your teaching efforts this week!  The Gospel IS true!  Your efforts ARE WORTH IT!
Merry CHRISTmas!
Love, Eva          
P.S. One more picture of the chain and Sammy flexing his muscles!
P.P.S. The poem about the star is right beneath this last picture.

May the Christmas spirit warm your heart 

As you serve and do you part

Looking out for those in need

Careful that you are not seen

Making beds and hanging coats

Leaving love notes that you wrote 

Then leave a star so they will feel

That the light of Christ is real

For secret acts of love and hope

Bring his Peace into our home

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