Sing Praises Unto Him

Last week, my sister mentioned that their family will be speaking in Sacrament Meeting on July 20th. The topic they were given was "Gratitude". Her 8 year old daughter, Ems (alias name), is a bit on the shy side & doesn't talk much around other people. However, she loves to sing and has a beautiful voice. She takes singing lessons and enjoys singing solos in Sacrament Meeting when asked. She asked her mom if she could just sing a song instead of giving a talk. Of course her mom said that she could!! When she asked Ems if she had a song in mind, her response was "I Am Glad for Many Things". When my sister told me this, she expressed concern about how short the song is. It is a two liner song with ony two verses. Very short. After I got past the disappointment of missing their Talk Date by 2 days, I thought about various Primary songs where other people have written their own additional verses for the needs of their own Primary children. I suggested that she write her own verses to help lengthen the song. Maybe Ems could write down a list of things that she's grateful for & I could help her write a couple of verses? It sounded fun to me!! I've not really ever done this before (other than "Once There Was a Pumpkin" in place of the "Snowman" lyrics, but that wasn't difficult) and I felt excited for the challenge.

A few nights later, I was attempting to go to sleep. I'd had a very busy day & had already taken my sleeping pill. As I was trying to drift off, the song started going through my mind. I tried to shut my mind off. I hadn't thought about the song at all that day & I was pooped. I wanted to go to sleep. The harder I tried, the more the words began to tumble through my mind. I knew what was happening. It has happened many, many times before. I was receiving inspiration. I have often received answers to prayers when I am trying to sleep. Sometimes I just wake up in the night with the answer running through my head. Even knowing this, I still tried to talk myself into staying in bed & hoping I'd remember the words in the morning. Nope, the words continued to come. I knew I couldn't ignore them any longer. I got up & began to write. My writing was barely legible. My sleeping pill had fully kicked in by now!! But within 30 minutes, I had three verses written. Yeah!!! I could finally go to sleep!!

In the morning, I read through the words again. I struggled with the last verse that I had written. So I called Bri in to see if she could help me come up with something that would work better. She did!! As I read through the entire song, we felt goose bumps. I knew it was right. My only concern now was that if Ems had actually written her list, would I be able to put something together that would work for her? All I knew was that what I had been guided to write was through inspiration. I knew that if it wasn't for my neice's song, then it was definitely for me & my Primary Children's Choir. So with a bit of anxiety, I called my sister to see if Ems had come up with a gratitude list yet. No, she hadn't. She didn't seem interested in writing her own list. I was relieved! Maybe this was why I was given the inspiration without her list. So I told my sister of my experience & read to her the words that were given to me & Bri. It is a simple testimony of gratitude from a child's perspective. I have been encouraged to post it on my blog. I know that it wasn't my words that were written down. They are the words that Heavenly Father placed into my mind for the purpose of things that only He knows. It was a wonderful experience & I will treasure it always. Thanks, Ems, for giving me the opportunity to put my trust in Him to help you share your testimony with others by singing praises unto Him. I love you!!

I Am Glad for Many Things

Primary Children’s Songbook pg. 151

(Lyrics only)

Verse 1

I am glad for many things, Many things, many things.

I am glad for many things That are mine today.

Verse 2

I am glad for eyes that see & ears that hear when summer’s near.

I am glad for eyes and ears that are mine today.

Verse 3

God gave me my family, family, family.

We are sealed for eternity. His name I praise today!

Verse 4

Heavn’ly Father loves me so, He sent His Son for all to know

How to live and how to grow.  I trust in Him each day. 

Verse 5

Thank you, thank you, my heart sings, My heart sings, my heart sings.

Thank you for the many things That are mine today.

Lyrics for verses 2-4 written by Tifany & Bri, June 2008. On these verses, you will need to insert an eighth note here & there to fit the added lyrics to the timing of the song.                                                                                        

Lyrics for verses 1 & 5 are the original 2 verses published in the Songbook.

30 Days!!!

We did it!   We have read from the Book of Mormon as a family for 30 consecutive days!   Thankfully, the last 16 days have not proved as difficult to accomplish this task as the first 14 days did.  

With the warmer weather, sometimes we read in the shade out in our backyard.  

As we take turns reading, Munchy likes to look at the pictures of the story in her own "Book of Mormon".

The squirrels have done a fantastic job with reminding us all to stay on task.  They are even willing to take a break from playing in the water so that we can read!

A few nights ago, we were busy enjoying the summer weather.  As Terry & I were ready to get the squirrels into their bed time routine, Marie reminded us that we still needed to read.  We had all forgotten about it!!  Thanks Marie!

For the last week and a half, we have been reading in 3 Nephi.  This was a request of Bri's. She loves reading about Christ's visit to the America's after His crucifixion.  Tonight we talked about the Beattitudes.  That's always a great discussion!

Tonights 30 consecutive days reward was Wendy's Frosty's.  It was a perfectly hot day to enjoy the cold treat!!  Chocolate Frosty's are a favorite for all, except Bri & I.  We love the vanilla!

Our Four "Pig Pens"

It's an adjustment the first week or so after school is out in figuring out how to NOT be soooooo bored! By 6:00 tonight, the squirrels FINALLY figured it out.  

Notice all the dust clouds?    

BODY SLAM!!!!

The Squirrel Park

Our Four "Pig Pens"

Convert Baptism

Over the weekend, I was invited to attend a convert baptism of a 9 year old girl.  As part of my invitation, I was to be giving the talk on both baptism & the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  Thank Elders!!   They called the night before while Terry & I were out to a movie for our anniversary celebration (14 years!!).  The baptism was at 9 a.m. the next morning.  I am so grateful for the internet & all the people who are willing to share their ideas on the websites!!!   So, between various FHE lessons packets & the Gospel Principles book, I came up with a simple lesson to give to this beautiful girl.   It was a very small crowd, which made the experience much more intimate & the loving Spirit was so strong!   I had the girl come up to the chalkboard to help with the activity.  It was amazing.  I totally forgot about the other people in the room & it was just she & I and the Spirit. It was a wonderful experience.  I love convert baptisms!!  

I often give my family our FHE lessons from Sharing Times I've prepared for Primary.  Since none of the squirrels could go to the baptism, I decided to type up the lesson & give it for FHE last night.  They all could participate & enjoyed it.  It took about 30 minutes from beginning to end, but everyone voiced their thoughts & questions.  Remember, that's 4 squirrels!  For those of you who could use an FHE lesson on Baptism and the Gift of  the Holy Ghost, I've listed it below.

Baptism and The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Before the lesson, prepare the following:

    Make a simple illustration (or find a picture) of a STAR, a HAND, a SUN, and a HOUSE. Make the following word strips & place under the corresponding picture: LSISTTAERN, HPARANYEDR, OSBEUYN, HSCORUIPTSUREES

GAK Pictures Needed

1. 208 John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus  
2. 601 Baptism   
3. 602 The Gift of the Holy Ghost         
4. ??? Picture showing we hear the Holy Ghost with our hearts & mind 
5. 605 Young Boy Praying   
6. 313 Two Thousand Young Warriors  
7. 617 Search the Scriptures   
8. 608 Christ and Children from around the World
   

Lesson:

Put up GAK 208. Explain who the picture is about & what is happening. There are many reasons we need to be baptized. We are going to talk about just a few of them. Put up GAK 601. “Why must we be baptized?”                                                          

1. For the remission of our sins. 
2. To become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
3. We must be baptized BEFORE we can receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  
4. To show obedience. 
5. To enter the Celestial Kingdom.
   

Jesus didn’t need to be baptized for the remission of his sins. He was perfect. But he did need to be baptized to show obedience.

Read Scripture: “And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.” (2 Nephi 9:23)

We need to be baptized for the remission of our sins. We also need to be baptized to become members of the church. We MUST be baptized to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Put up GAK 602.

Everyone will be blessed to feel the Holy Ghost at various times throughout our lives. This is how we can come to know that the gospel is true & that the Book of Mormon is true. But not everyone can have the Holy Ghost as their CONSTANT companion, to guide them every day and help them choose the right. Once we are baptized for the remission of our sins and as members of the church, we are given a priesthood blessing for the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

The following ACTIVITY will help us know what we need to do to help us listen to the Holy Ghost & grow closer to Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ.

ACTIVITY

Make a simple illustration (or find a picture) of a STAR, a HAND, a SUN, and a HOUSE. Place the following word strips under the corresponding picture:  LSISTTAERN, HPARANYEDR, OSBEUYN, HSCORUIPTSUREES

GAK Pictures Needed

1. ??? Picture showing we hear the Holy Ghost with our hearts & mind  
2. 605 Young Boy Praying  
3. 313 Two Thousand Young Warriors (obey the commandments & parents with exactness & faith)
4. 617 Search the Scriptures 
5. 608 Christ and Children from around the World
   

Invite family members to come up & cross out the letters that spell what the picture is (star, hand, sun, house). The letters that are left will tell them what they must do or use to have the influence of the Holy Ghost. Place the GAK Pictures over the illustrations that correspond with that word. Talk about each word & picture as you go along. Discuss how it can help us listen to the Holy Ghost & grow closer to Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ.

Read Thought: Listen to and heed promptings from the Holy Ghost! If we’re open to those spiritual impressions, the Lord will guide our live. We can trust him. He will open the right doors, at the right time, and in the right sequence. (Anne Osborn Poelman, The Simeon Solution [S.L.C.: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 54.)

Put up GAK 608. Bear testimony of the things discussed. Heavenly Father & Jesus love all the children & want us to return to them someday.

Dragonfly

Ahhhh, the joys of summer!!!!! All our squirrels enjoy catching a variety of insects. Bri caught this HUGE dragonfly. They all had a great time holding it & experiencing nature!

Free the Bird!!!

A couple of days ago, the squirrels watched a little bird fly into the play area. The bird panicked & headed straight for the one window that is partially boarded up. This tends to be a "death trap" for birds. So to actually see a bird end up down between the board & the window & still be alive was a blessing.


Ohhhhhhhhh, poor bird!!! It's a good thing that old roll of duct tape isn't sticky anymore!!!



I was able to go out & free the bird by opening the window a few inches. It flew out so fast we couldn't get it's "freedom" picture. But it felt great to save the little bird!!

Twin Love

I LOVE this picture!!! But who's who? Can you guess?



We have started thinking about "blog names" for each of the squirrels. These two haven't agreed on anything, yet. So for this blog, we'll refer to them as "E" and "K". The sidebar photos might help you. So which one is "E" and which one is "K"?

Ears Pierced!!

I am 6 years old today! I wanted my ears pierced. I wanted to sit on mom's lap.


I was very scared! It's a good thing I took my bear so I wouldn't be as scared!


This was the first ear that was pierced. Oh boy, that hurt!


This was the second ear that was pierced. I cried because it hurt A LOT!!!


My mom hugged me tight & helped me feel better. I love my mom!!


Look at my pretty red earrings!!! I'm feeling a little bit better now. Just a little.


I got 2 red suckers (yummmmmmm)! One for each red earring.

NOW I am feeling much better & I am HAPPY!

Piano Recital

The annual Piano Recital was on June 9th this year. Our oldest squirrel performed 3 songs. She did a fantastic job!! She was nervous (who isn't?), but still did a great job.








One of her songs was the Chop Sticks duet. She & I have performed it twice before the recital. Once at the ward talent show & again for her school music class. Halfway through the song, she & I switch places. I jump up to run around the back of the piano bench as she scoots down. It is a fun song & we even extended it by adding our own embellishments!





Great job squirrel! You're awesome!!

Hurray for Slurpees!!!!

We made it. We earned our first "14 consecutive days" reward!! When we sat down as a family to come up with an incentive plan for daily family scripture/prayer, Terry & I were confident that we could make it for the first 14 days without a problem. Satan is ALWAYS there to prove us wrong! There were at least 3 nights where it was soooooooooo tempting to skip it & just put the squirrels to bed. If we didn't have the short term rewards to work towards, I would have given up without a second thought. But we dug our heels in & read at least one verse & had family prayer. Even the very tired, extremely pooped squirrels wanted to read on those nights! Who says bribery isn't an effective parenting tool???


It has been such a beautiful day today. The sun was out ALL day!! So we wanted to ride our bikes to 7-11 for our slurpees.


The older squirrels are so patient with us slower beings. At least they could take a minute to enjoy their slurpees! (Yummmm!)


Yah, they rode up that hill!!!! The youngest squirrel & I always walk it.


We've enjoyed reading about the 2,000 Stripling Warriors & their parents, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Their "change of heart" was drastic and sincere & are just a couple of many, many examples in the Book of Mormon that we can learn about & strive to emulate. And yes, bribery works. What can we say?? Hurray for Slurpees and "Oh, thank heaven for 7-11"!!!!

Slobby Mom

As I was grocery shopping at Fred Meyer today, a lady came up next to me while I was looking at the hot dogs that were on sale. She said, "Excuse me! I know that as a mom (nodding to the youngest squirrel) you don't often have time for yourself (insert her eyeing every inch of my face, hair, & clothing). I'm a Mary Kay consultant and would love to give you the chance to spend time on yourself. Here's my card & give me a call anytime!"

My thoughts ran as she was saying this to me: "Boy, I really must look terrible! How rude of her to even approach me & say that I look terrible without coming right out & saying it! I don't even like wearing make up. I should hand her a Book of Mormon & tell her that she needs to be "saved". I wonder if she would have even approached me if it had been yesterday morning while I was shopping for apples in my pajamas & hadn't even washed my face, brushed my hair or my teeth?" At the end of her pitch, I just said thank you & tried to suppress a giggle. I couldn't believe how many things that came to my mind in that 15 seconds! I'm sure she thought I was delighted for her intrusion, when really I was just laughing at myself.

Does she even know how much money I save by NOT wearing make up more than once & week? Even then, I am scrubbing it off within the first 15 minutes of getting home from church. With all of the money I save, I can spend it on important things like bike helmets for our entire family & family outings that are much more rewarding than looking into the "mirror, mirror on the wall" & worrying if I look pretty enough for all. Good grief!!

My conclusion: I am a slobby mom. I love lounge pants & oversize shirts. I endulge in "pajama days" once in a while & do absolutely nothing around the house on these days. I am comfortable with how I look. I am a HAPPY slobby mom!!

So for all you mom's out there that are happy with being slobby, "Say No To Mary Kay!"

Change of Heart

The bishop of our ward has issued a challenge to every family & member. The challenge is to read the Book of Mormon as a family and as individuals for 92 consecutive days, beginning June 1st. Terry & I were very excited to accept this challenge. We want to experience a "Change of Heart" by reading on our own, as well as a family. As we talked about it, we felt that we needed to focus on family scripture study. We've done this many times before, but when basketball season comes around, we just can't seem to remain consistant. Now that the season is over, we can repent.

For FHE last week, we made a tracking chart to help us keep track of our progress. Everyone chose their own strip of stickers to place on the chart for tracking daily personal scripture study. We then have "Smiley Face" stickers dedicated for tracking our daily family scripture study & prayer.



We all wanted some short term, as well as long term incentive rewards. This will help the squirrels to be more involved & especially to help remind & encourage Terry & I in "sticking" to the challenge. Although we've done great for the first 8 days, I'm sure we'll need encouragement before the 92 days is up! So as part of our FHE, we discussed some things we can do as we earn the reward.

These are some REWARDS that we came up with:

For every 14 consecutive "Smiley Face" stickers earned, the squirrels get to agree on a treat. For example: a slurpee from 7-11, favorite candy bar, one Dollar Tree item of their choice & so on.

For every 30 consecutive days of family scripture study earns them the choice of a popcorn/movie night, Wendy's Frosty, family bike ride/picnic, or a game night. I'm not too keen on the last choice. I sooooo don't like playing games!

For 92 consecutive days of family scripture study, they earn a choice of swimming at Bainbridge Island, book shopping at Barnes and Noble, Sk8 Town, Theater Movie, Ice Skating, Zoo, Science Center, Bremerton Water Park with Cold Stone (yummmmm!), or if we're in Utah at the time they can choose to hike up to Timpanogus Cave.

If we miss one day, we have to start counting the 14 consecutive days over again. So we will be gauranteed plenty of these rewards. Our plan is to make the 30 consecutive reward twice. The only way that they can earn the 92 day reward is to not miss one single day all summer!!! This is what we want!

Of course, the "Change of Heart" we have been promised will be the greatest reward!

Blonde Moment

Terry called me from work the other day. He said he just had to tell me about his most recent "blonde moment". Yes, he does have many of them. He works out at the gym every morning before work. He packs a bag with clean clothes to change into after each work out. After his shower, he was digging through his bag to retrieve his clean clothes. He put on everything he had packed into his bag. However, he didn't have his shirt. Yep, he forgot it. A bit miffed with himself, he begrudgingly put his jacket on & decided he'd just have to wear it until I was going to be able to bring him a shirt. That meant more sweating with his jacket on while working in his office for another few hours.

As he walked out of the gym, he noticed the work out clothing that the gym rents out to those who would rather not have to deal with laundering their own gross, stinky, sweat-saturated clothes. Being a consistant work out nut, the management was familiar with Terry. He told them of his plight & asked if they would be willing to let him borrow a shirt for the day with the promise of returning it in the morning. They comically agreed. One gal said that there was one shirt from the older batches that she saw just the other day. She said that on those shirts, they were all marked across the front to let every one know that they were the property of the gym. She thought it would be hilarious if he ended up with that one. She handed him a batch of shirts to go try on. Well, guess what Terry found? And it was the one that fit him the best!!




He walked out of the dressing room & the people at the counter cheered!! Imagine all the jokes & laughs Terry had to put up with for the rest of the day! He told the story countless times throughout the day & was not overly excited when I insisted on taking pictures of him as soon as he got home.

Love ya Ter!

Eensie Weensie Spider. NOT

In the upper corner of my dining room, there was a NOT so eensie weensie spider!!! I actually screamed!! So I grabbed my camera. The second picture has a piece of tape that I measured out & placed as close as I dared underneath the spider. It's about an inch & a half below the spider. GROSS!!!!! The twins & Livvy were just disgusted & were telling me of all their friends who would be freaking out if they could see it! Gillian was mentioned as one! Unfortunately, because of these pictures, you all get to see how much I need to get on my spring cleaning. Yeh, plenty of dust webs!! Sorry about that.

This is so GROSS!!! I sprayed the spider a lot right before I went to Costco. It was still alive when I returned (2 hours later)! So I sprayed it AGAIN. As Kara & I were taking pictures of it dying (hopefully), it fell off of the wall & totally FREAKED ME OUT!!!! My throat still hurts from screaming & jumping. So I took a couple more pics with in on the floor, curled into a very hairy ball. Then it started moving AGAIN!! This is like a spider from #@*! Thanks for the request, Trent! I hope you enjoy these! If this thing doesn't die from all of the bug spray, I'm going to have to get the vacuum out to get it out of here. There's NO WAY I'm touchin' that thing! DISGUSTING!!!