We Did IT!!

Besides the not so simple miracle of our family reading the whole Book of Mormon, I was finally able to upload a picture to my blog!! Double hooray!!!

Wish I knew when we started this quest (of reading the whole Book of Mormon), but I cannot remember. It has to be at least a year, since we would read a chapter, forfeit a night due to unruly boys, read half a chapter since it was a long one, or just not get to it for one reason or another.

Let me tell you, according to what Michael and I have been hearing from our leaders during Conference, our family is right on, picture perfect as to what is supposed to take place during Family Home Evenings, prayer time, Scripture reading etc...We are right on the money! Meaning, we have siblings who won't leave each other alone accusing the other of "he won't stop breathing my air" type of stuff... Also included in these spiritual feasts is the occasional melt down of the parents....

We wondered many a times why we were doing this since the kids apparently hated it so much, but they would not let us turn out the light til we read the scriptures. At least the habit was formed, they just couldn't sit through it. We tried not to read for long, or we would talk about what we read. We even made good on our Living Scriptures investment and if we read a story the night before that we had the movie of, we watched it soon after reading that chapter. I think that really helped reinforce what we read, and brought the scriptures to life for the kids. Cause I knew some nights they weren't really paying attention, so the movies helped!! Glad we have them!

So for the final chapter we waited until everyone was home for it, since we would read whether or not everyone was home at night, just to keep up the habit. The missionaries came over and taught our family a lesson on faith and read verses from Moroni 10. Perfect! Really brought the Spirit and plus helped us teach our family the importance of faith. After they left, we read the last chapter. Talked about the gifts we have, what is Charity, and we shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and how we obtained that testimony. It was a great accomplishment for our family and for a moment I felt the Spirit confirming to me what we are doing is good and acceptable.

I remember a year ago or so I thought, "We really need to read the Book of Mormon as a family, especially for Damien, since who knows when he will ever read it, at least he will have done it once with our family." So we started out on our quest. This year has been full of ups and downs. Damien was barely there for the readings towards the end, missed every other week when he was at his Dad's. But we kept going. The last night I brought out the scriptures, and he did not leave, like he has been doing. Sometimes we would read loud enough so he would hear us in the other room (which we know he can) just so he could hear what was being read, even if he wasn't in the room with us.

We got a new book called "The Book of Mormon for Latter-Day Saint Families" which has pictures and explanations that we are going to use our next go around to really bring it home for our family. Like Jesse says, "I have a computer in my head, it helps me remember things." Well we are going to try to fill that computer up with good things.

I must explain our above picture. For this adventure, I went online to find a way to track our progress (kids like that kind of stuff, right) so I found one and the kids really liked to color in what we just read. As you can tell, it has been around for a while. Dad changed the I to We.

We've grown a lot as a family. The challenges were there, and will still be there. We must not let Satan bring us down, so we will press forward and do what is asked of us, despite our imperfections.

Conspired Against

For, I would say, the past 8 or so years, I have turned to these verses, for comfort. I feel very drawn to this Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. They speak to me. These verses speak, what my heart feels, and what I may have thought about in my mind as I've pondered my circumstances. I think I like reading these verses because, it almost lists every horrible thing man can experience, yet in the end there is a profound sense of hope. When I am down, these words lift me, even but a little.

I like hope, I need hope!

For added affect, in verse 7, I change the word "son" to "daughter", and it really brings it home for me.

Section 122

The word of the Lord to Joseph Smith the Prophet, while he was a prisoner in the jail at Liberty, Missouri, March 1839 (see History of the Church, 3:300–301).

5 If thou art called to pass through ^atribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in ^bperils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;

6 If thou art ^aaccused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to ^bprison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like ^cwolves for the blood of the lamb;

7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good.

8 The ^aSon of Man hath ^bdescended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

9 Therefore, ^ahold on thy way, and the priesthood shall ^bremain with thee; for their ^cbounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy ^ddays are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, ^efear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

Joseph Smith experienced the lowest of the low in my opinion. There were some that thought terrible things about him and his purposes. Yet, he was still a GREAT Man, a WONDERFUL Prophet of God, a LOVING Husband, Father, Son and Brother. If he measured himself off of what the mobs were saying about him, the Work would not have moved forward like it had. It is simply amazing that He was able to rise above it all, and keep going. And here I am, when one person says something about me that may or may not be completely true, I am down in the dumps and doubt rears it's ugly head. I can gain a lot of strength from Joseph Smith's example of Grace under fire. I must avoid succumbing to the sophistries of men, but it is so hard, when their voices are so loud. I have been blessed with the power to overcome any of the efforts of the adversary in my life, I need to lean on that, and not allow Satan to win!!!!! I must not fear what man can do!

Halloween

This year for Halloween we headed over to the Church for the annual Trunk or Treat. Going here allows our family to celebrate Halloween, eat our first bowl of chili of the season (maybe too much), play games, and get loads of candy. It is nice because, when the 31st rolls around, the kids don't beg to go Trick or Treating in the neighborhood. Max and Jesse love handing out candy to the "trick or treats" who come to our door. When we ran out of candy they begged and cried to hand out the candy from their buckets. How could we say no to that?! We called it a night at 7:45 since it was bedtime. It seemed Halloween came quick upon us this year. Thankfully I already had their costumes bought from the after Halloween sales from last year. Max ended up wearing what Jesse wore last year, I think he was Obi Wan Kenobi, instead of being Anakin Skywalker. And an hour before the party, we went and got Damien something to wear....he was a skateboarder. Very fitting. Guess I'd rather spend money on stuff for Halloween that he can wear all the time, not just once a year and grow out of it. Jesse was a Ninja. Nothing fancy, super creative, or costumes I labored to make. They were cheap, they liked them, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters.
Speaking of day, it was a very busy day for us. Got Damien off to his last football game in the morning, helped at an Eagle Scout project, came home got ready to go to Damien's game, went to game, came home, made chili, frosted mini ghost cakes for cake walk, went to store for Damien, got Damien's skateboard from his dad's, decorated trunk for trunk or treat, got my self ready for Halloween party, and thankfully Max and Jesse were ready! Wow! I was soo glad when that day was over. Even more amazing is that I got a picture of the kids together in their costumes. (Sorry, not posted here. For some reason, I cannot upload pictures to my blog, but they are on Facebook).
I am very proud to report that I had 15 bags of candy to hand out this year. I'm sure it was more, but, of course, we ate some along the way. We were not the first car this year to run out of candy at Trunk or Treat. I was very happy! Thank you couponing!
When we came home, we remained true to tradition, and dumped all the candy on the living room floor and sorted, marveled and traded our candy.