Be law-abiding citizens - Day 16

"...observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives - mother and fathers - will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations."

Before children can be law-abiding citizens, they have to know what rules are and how to follow them. For our activity today we played a game that involved taking turns. Any children's game would do, but we played one called 'PencilSpin'. I found it in the June 2006 Friend Magazine. Here is a link for the game if you would like to download it as well.

Pencil Spin Game

The rules are simple. Just cut out all the squares and place them in a paper bag. Shake them up well. Place a pencil in the center of the table and take turns spinning the pencil. If the pencil points to you pick out a square from the bag and answers the question or does what it says.

Love and Serve One Another - Day 15

"...and to teach them to love and serve one another..."

So I broke this sentence down into 3 parts. Today being the 2nd of the 3.

How can we actively teach our children that they need to not only love others, but show others that love by serving them as well?

It can be a lot simpler than we think. We could make cookies for a neighbor, pick up trash in the neighborhood, plant some flowers, clean up after our own selves even. If you wanted to go a step above, let your kids serve in a soup kitchen or donate your time at a retirement home.

One of my favorite quotes is, "A candle looses nothing by lighting another."

After your service project, sit down and read Mosiah 2:17 as a family. "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

For our service project, we took the bread that we had made on day 14 and gave it to our pediatrician, who has done so much for our family. I wanted my kids to know that there are lots of ways to say thank you.

Also, there is nothing wrong with helping around the house. Housework should be seen as a service project because we are serving our immediate family. Levi loves to do the "fun" chores, such as mopping, washing windows and vacuuming. He often will do these chores on his own, and he is actually getting good enough at doing them that I don't go back and redo the work....now to teach him to mow the lawn...

Provide for Their Physical and Spiritual Needs - Day 14

"Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs..."

What better way to provide for your children than to bake some bread with them. I love cooking with my kids and while our bread was baking I took the time to teach them how bread satisfies our physical hunger, while the scriptures fill our spiritual hunger.

In John 6:35 we read, "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

Which means, that when we follow Jesus and keep his commandments, we won't be searching elsewhere for answers to our questions. We will know who we are and our souls will be eternally satisfied. When we read our scriptures daily, we are filling a spiritual need, and keep Jesus close to us.

Children are an heritage of the Lord - Day 13

"Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. Children are an heritage of the Lord.(Psalms 127:3)."

So, not only is life sacred, but parents have a solemn responsibility to love each other and their children. How do we show that love? By controlling our tempers? By going to church? By teaching correct principles and praying daily with our family?

At the end of the day I like to reflect what I did well and what I could have done better as a mother...and it never fails that I always wish I had given my kids my attention when they asked for it..."mom come play with me" "Mom watch this!" "Mommy hold me"...but I always seem to be in the middle of cleaning something or balancing the checkbook, and I always end up saying, "Just a minute"... Well those minutes are adding up and I fear the day when my kids won't come to me anymore. This has helped me to catch myself the next time my kids want my attention. Can the kitchen floor wait 10 minutes to be mopped? Does the checkbook have to be balanced right this minute? They grow so fast, and I want to enjoy every moment of it.

I love having our weekly family home evening lessons. It lets me know that at least once a week, we are together as a family focusing on a planned activity that will help us grow closer as a family. To teach my kids about love on day 13 of the proclamation, we made heart shaped crayons. It was fun and easy to do. Around Valentine's Day it is easy to find heart shaped baking molds. Simply fill the hearts with broken crayons (what household doesn't have broken crayons?) and bake at 275 for 15-20 minutes. Let cool and presto! You have multi-colored heart shaped crayons that will remind your kids of love every time they use them :)

PS - It does not ruin the baking mold. They come out clean and can still be used for baking :)

Mortal Life is Divinely Appointed- Day 12

"We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan."

Life is sacred. We are all important in God's eternal plan. We are not hear by chance. There is a plan for each of us and God loves Everyone individually.

To show Love, we made wax paper hearts. We took old crayons and shaved pieces of them off onto wax paper. Then we layed another piece of wax paper on top and ironed on low for a few seconds. The we cut out a heart shape and wala! We had a pretty piece of art that was as individual as people are, and very beautiful too.

Multiply and Replenish the Earth - Day 11

"We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife."

For our kids, we simplified this message by telling them that having babies is just for moms and dads. They many not understand the ramifications of babies born out of wedlock just yet, but teaching them at an early age will help them to know what is right and what is wrong and help them to know before an outside influence tells them otherwise.

We had Levi and Hannah make paper doll chains and color them to help them understand 'multiplying and replenishing'. Here is an example of how we cut them out. I made a boy one for Levi and a girl one for Hannah.

Potential for Parenthood - Day 10

"The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife."
To teach this concept in an understandable way to Levi and Hannah, we used popcorn. I love the quote, "A piece of popcorn is an ordinary kernel of corn that magnified its calling." We took a minute to observe the popcorn kernals before they turned into popcorn. We noted their size and shape.
Then we put the kernels in the popcorn machine and let the heat do all the work.

Presto! A handful of kernels creates a bowl full of popcorn. We discussed that not all of the kernels ended up becoming popcorn...even though they went through the same heat process as all the other kernels. This is similar to people going through trials. We all have them. We can either learn from them and become popcorn , or harden our hearts and remain kernels.
So, this leads me to reflect...what can I be doing better to rise to my potential as a mother and as a wife. Perhaps speaking a little kinder? Not staying up so late at night so that I am not tired in the morning? Helping my children practice the songs they are learning at church? Doing meal prep ahead of time so that dinner time can run more smoothly? There are always small things I could be doing to make each day just a little better.