Another couple things I had desire for but didn't know how or where to begin was regarding my personal scripture and FHE lessons. I really want to increase and improve my personal scripture study and didn't know just how to best achieve that. I also have a great desire to be more prepared for FHE lessons. I wanted to have at least a few lessons planned out in advance at a time to be better prepared and coordinate lessons, etc.
Josh and I got a babysitter so we could attend the adult session of Stake Conference in April. It was the BEST investment we have made in a LONG time. That night was amazing. We had to members of the seventy speak as they were there to reorganize our stake presidency.
In one of the talks he was speaking of the need to live by celestial laws in this life to achieve celestial glory in the next life. He mentioned the "Preach My Gospel" (PMG) missionary guide book and how it teaches the 42 principles and laws that we must live by to get baptized and to qualify for the celestial kingdom. This greatly intrigued me and I couldn't wait to get home to learn what this book taught.
The "Preach My Gospel" manual is awesome!!
It answered my question of "How to study the scriptures" by saying to study by topic. I know there are many ways to study the scriptures, but I feel that at this time, yes, studying by topic is what I need to do. Then I had the question "How do I decide what topics to study?" And I decided I could study the topics outlined in the PMG manual. Then I realized that these are the topics missionaries teach to investigators that they must know before they get baptized. My oldest son is 7 years old and will be getting baptized this November. And I knew that I wanted him to have this same foundation and knowledge before getting baptized, that a convert must have! So I realized, the topics in the manual will be my focus of scripture study and then when I have study a topic sufficiently (for a week or less) then I would turn it in to a FHE lesson to teach my children and prepare Trevor for baptism. I am going to save all these lessons and compile them in a "Preparing for Baptism" FHE Binder that I can use when each of my children turn 7 yrs old.
I am SO excited about this project!! I am so grateful for the inspiration I was given to guide me in finding ways to better my personal scripture study and have an organized, planned out lesson schedule for FHE and to know that Trevor will be taught and prepared for the covenants he will be making at baptism.
We have already done the first two lessons and it has been wonderful. I love it!!!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Stake Relief Society Education Day
I love when we have Stake RS Education Day. This year I was on top of things and had scheduled Tage's 5th birthday party well in advance. I was taking a trip to Texas to visit family around the time of his birthday and wanted to make sure I had everything squared away before I left. I scheduled his party before I knew about the RS Ed. Day that happened to fall on the same day. Luckily I was able to attend two classes before I had to hurry home to make it to my sons birthday party at Kids Works.
Those two classes I attended were exactly what I needed.
Erin Corbridge was the teacher of the first class on Family Home Evening. I have been doing Family Home Evening regularly for a couple years now but I wanted to see what ideas she had. I am happy with our routine we have for FHE once it gets started... but before that I am really frustrated. Some nights we wouldn't start FHE until 7pm because the kids were out playing and Josh wasn't home from work, etc. So once FHE started we would be stressed and rushing through it to try to get the kids to bed at a decent time. It really bothered me.
At this class she reminded me that it is called Family Home EVENING. Not Family Home Hour. That is exactly what I needed to hear. It gave me peace and comfort and hope in some weird way. I realized that Monday evenings we won't play with friends anymore. It just made the evening more stressful for me to round everyone up. We will stay home together, the kids can help me fix dinner, we will be together and have a positive time and then begin FHE--hopefully sooner than 7pm--on a more calm, peaceful level.
The next class I went to was on parenting. I have had this worry about how much I really influence my children vs. friends and the outside world. The teacher had us break in to groups and read some talks on parenting and then share them to the rest of the class. The talk my group was given was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. They had done a lot of research to see if raising kids in a predominantly LDS area made a difference to kids growing up outside of Utah, being one of few LDS members around. This research proved that it doesn't matter where the kids are raised. What does matter is what happens in their HOME.
Our parenting teaching moments, family traditions, family religious activities, etc. MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Having consistent Family Home Evening, Scripture Study, Family Prayer, Family Vacations, etc. have far lasting influence than anything else!! It was SOOOO wonderful to hear. It gave me hope and peace and encouragement that maybe my kids will be able to overcome all the opposition and challenges they will encounter in their life. Because I can and do and will take every advantage to teach them (especially while they are young) to live righteously. Instilling personal religious habits in the children is very important as well. It was so wonderful to hear that ultimately children do "follow in the traditions of their fathers."
I was on cloud nine after I attended those two classes. Subtle concerns I had mulling around in my head were finally answered. I am so grateful!
Those two classes I attended were exactly what I needed.
Erin Corbridge was the teacher of the first class on Family Home Evening. I have been doing Family Home Evening regularly for a couple years now but I wanted to see what ideas she had. I am happy with our routine we have for FHE once it gets started... but before that I am really frustrated. Some nights we wouldn't start FHE until 7pm because the kids were out playing and Josh wasn't home from work, etc. So once FHE started we would be stressed and rushing through it to try to get the kids to bed at a decent time. It really bothered me.
At this class she reminded me that it is called Family Home EVENING. Not Family Home Hour. That is exactly what I needed to hear. It gave me peace and comfort and hope in some weird way. I realized that Monday evenings we won't play with friends anymore. It just made the evening more stressful for me to round everyone up. We will stay home together, the kids can help me fix dinner, we will be together and have a positive time and then begin FHE--hopefully sooner than 7pm--on a more calm, peaceful level.
The next class I went to was on parenting. I have had this worry about how much I really influence my children vs. friends and the outside world. The teacher had us break in to groups and read some talks on parenting and then share them to the rest of the class. The talk my group was given was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. They had done a lot of research to see if raising kids in a predominantly LDS area made a difference to kids growing up outside of Utah, being one of few LDS members around. This research proved that it doesn't matter where the kids are raised. What does matter is what happens in their HOME.
Our parenting teaching moments, family traditions, family religious activities, etc. MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Having consistent Family Home Evening, Scripture Study, Family Prayer, Family Vacations, etc. have far lasting influence than anything else!! It was SOOOO wonderful to hear. It gave me hope and peace and encouragement that maybe my kids will be able to overcome all the opposition and challenges they will encounter in their life. Because I can and do and will take every advantage to teach them (especially while they are young) to live righteously. Instilling personal religious habits in the children is very important as well. It was so wonderful to hear that ultimately children do "follow in the traditions of their fathers."
I was on cloud nine after I attended those two classes. Subtle concerns I had mulling around in my head were finally answered. I am so grateful!
How It All Started
So... I have been happier than ever lately. It has been a crazy whirlwind of a complete change of life! It all happened so quickly and hasn't stopped and I love it. I wanted to document how it all started, so this post is just for me...
This last weekend I went on a trip with my friend Crystal Wilkerson to Utah for a Genius Workshop by Leslie Householder. We had six hours in the car ride down, and six hours back, so we had a lot of time to talk!
We tried to figure out how this whole journey started that we have both been on together these last 2-3 months... and after wracking our brains forever, we finally figured it out.
Crystal and I have been friends ever since she moved here from Texas about two years ago. We actually knew each other our freshmen year in college! She lived below me in the apartment complex at Ricks and we were in the same student ward when I was in the Relief Society Presidency there.
So when she moved here to Casper, she recognized me at church. Instantly we were friends. She is super talented and busy with her digital scrapbook business so we would go on girls nights out and things but didn't hang out a ton.
Sometime at the beginning of this year we were assigned to be visiting teaching partners. I was excited to have a great friend as my partner! We had three ladies to visit who worked, etc. So, trying to get 5 ladies schedules to coordinate was hard. But, it was REALLY hard this time with Crystal. RIDICULOUSLY hard. I seriously thought we were going to ruin our friendship over it. It was CRAZY how much opposition there was just to get our visiting teaching done. (At the time I didn't realize she felt the same way I did.) I was so sad that we were having such a hard time and didn't want this to ruin our friendship! It was crazy.
So... one day I decided I would take her a loaf of bread. I wanted her to know that I was trying to work things out and I knew she was super stressed. So I randomly dropped by some bread one day to be nice. She let me in and we started talking about her scrapbook designs, etc. (which we would always do). Then she mentioned a book she was reading... a "self help" book. I LOVE self help books, so it was exciting to find someone else who felt the same. **That's how it all started!!** When I took over a loaf of bread to cheer her up, our lives were about to change forever.
I went home immediately and downloaded the audio for the book she told me about and started listening. I loved it. We were soon able to schedule our visiting teaching and from then on we figured out a system that worked to visit all our ladies and the problems were gone. After our visits we would sit in the car and talk forever about the book, ideas, etc. It was so fun! And it would have never happened if we hadn't been forced to be together so often due to visiting teaching.
Our first idea was to start the Book Club/Girls Night Out. We both feel there is so much strength in numbers, when people get together and share ideas and insights and uplift eachother. This was the purpose of our Book Club. We would read inspiring books and then come together, hang out, have fun and share inspiring ideas and be uplifted and rejuvinated. I LOVE doing this kind of thing!
Then she heard from a friend about a workshop in Utah. So we signed up for it and got a bonus package of an online ChangeMaker Bootcamp. I had no desire to look in to the bootcamp. I was just going to do the workshop in Utah that was in a couple months. (The one we just barely attended.) But Crystal called me and said she did Day #1 of the ChangeMaker course and it was SO good. So, I decided to check it out as well. And, I am SOOOOOOOOO glad I did! I never knew what I didn't know. I never realized how much I was missing in life.
That 10-day online course I took opened up my eyes to how powerful I am. That I truly am in control of my life or I can just live it by default like I had been. It helped me put my priorities in place. The biggest change I made was making God first in my life... EVERY DAY, consistently, regularly, devotedly (is that a word?). It has all boiled down to that. Building my relationship with my Heavenly Father has changed everything. There is SOOOOO much power in getting up before the kids and spending quiet time praying to my Heavenly Father, reading my scriptures, studying specific topics, pondering and trying to be surrounded by positive energy all the time. My life has been guided and inspired like never before. I have received so many answers to questions I've had mulling around in my head and insights and understanding of the gospel that I never saw before.
Crystal is the same way. It has been SO fun to have someone else going through the exact same, awesome change! We both know exactly how the other feels and we are on fire.
I am so incredibly grateful for this knowledge I have been given. That I have been able to change my life and find so much incredible happiness, now, not in the eternities but now. It is totally possible for all of us! Heavenly Father wants for us to have our dreams. He wants us to be incredibly happy. And it is all there for the taking if we are willing to do our part.
This last weekend I went on a trip with my friend Crystal Wilkerson to Utah for a Genius Workshop by Leslie Householder. We had six hours in the car ride down, and six hours back, so we had a lot of time to talk!
We tried to figure out how this whole journey started that we have both been on together these last 2-3 months... and after wracking our brains forever, we finally figured it out.
Crystal and I have been friends ever since she moved here from Texas about two years ago. We actually knew each other our freshmen year in college! She lived below me in the apartment complex at Ricks and we were in the same student ward when I was in the Relief Society Presidency there.
So when she moved here to Casper, she recognized me at church. Instantly we were friends. She is super talented and busy with her digital scrapbook business so we would go on girls nights out and things but didn't hang out a ton.
Sometime at the beginning of this year we were assigned to be visiting teaching partners. I was excited to have a great friend as my partner! We had three ladies to visit who worked, etc. So, trying to get 5 ladies schedules to coordinate was hard. But, it was REALLY hard this time with Crystal. RIDICULOUSLY hard. I seriously thought we were going to ruin our friendship over it. It was CRAZY how much opposition there was just to get our visiting teaching done. (At the time I didn't realize she felt the same way I did.) I was so sad that we were having such a hard time and didn't want this to ruin our friendship! It was crazy.
So... one day I decided I would take her a loaf of bread. I wanted her to know that I was trying to work things out and I knew she was super stressed. So I randomly dropped by some bread one day to be nice. She let me in and we started talking about her scrapbook designs, etc. (which we would always do). Then she mentioned a book she was reading... a "self help" book. I LOVE self help books, so it was exciting to find someone else who felt the same. **That's how it all started!!** When I took over a loaf of bread to cheer her up, our lives were about to change forever.
I went home immediately and downloaded the audio for the book she told me about and started listening. I loved it. We were soon able to schedule our visiting teaching and from then on we figured out a system that worked to visit all our ladies and the problems were gone. After our visits we would sit in the car and talk forever about the book, ideas, etc. It was so fun! And it would have never happened if we hadn't been forced to be together so often due to visiting teaching.
Our first idea was to start the Book Club/Girls Night Out. We both feel there is so much strength in numbers, when people get together and share ideas and insights and uplift eachother. This was the purpose of our Book Club. We would read inspiring books and then come together, hang out, have fun and share inspiring ideas and be uplifted and rejuvinated. I LOVE doing this kind of thing!
Then she heard from a friend about a workshop in Utah. So we signed up for it and got a bonus package of an online ChangeMaker Bootcamp. I had no desire to look in to the bootcamp. I was just going to do the workshop in Utah that was in a couple months. (The one we just barely attended.) But Crystal called me and said she did Day #1 of the ChangeMaker course and it was SO good. So, I decided to check it out as well. And, I am SOOOOOOOOO glad I did! I never knew what I didn't know. I never realized how much I was missing in life.
That 10-day online course I took opened up my eyes to how powerful I am. That I truly am in control of my life or I can just live it by default like I had been. It helped me put my priorities in place. The biggest change I made was making God first in my life... EVERY DAY, consistently, regularly, devotedly (is that a word?). It has all boiled down to that. Building my relationship with my Heavenly Father has changed everything. There is SOOOOO much power in getting up before the kids and spending quiet time praying to my Heavenly Father, reading my scriptures, studying specific topics, pondering and trying to be surrounded by positive energy all the time. My life has been guided and inspired like never before. I have received so many answers to questions I've had mulling around in my head and insights and understanding of the gospel that I never saw before.
Crystal is the same way. It has been SO fun to have someone else going through the exact same, awesome change! We both know exactly how the other feels and we are on fire.
I am so incredibly grateful for this knowledge I have been given. That I have been able to change my life and find so much incredible happiness, now, not in the eternities but now. It is totally possible for all of us! Heavenly Father wants for us to have our dreams. He wants us to be incredibly happy. And it is all there for the taking if we are willing to do our part.
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