Relief Society Stuff

I had to teach the lesson in Relief Society on March 2.  I didn't have to do it January when I was scheduled because I had a member of our bishopric teach and give us an introduction to Joseph Fielding Smith, the prophet we are learning about this year.  Since I am in the presidency we get to choose our lesson topics.  About a month prior to my lesson I was thinking about what I was going to teach about.  I really like to reread and listen to talks from Jeffrey R. Holland and I remembered that he had one entitled Broken Things to Mend.  I reread that one and started thinking about broken things.  Then I remembered a song from Kenneth Cope called "Broken" that he sang at a Time Out For Women that I went to.  Here are the words to that song.

Broken clouds give rain
Broken soil grows grain
Broken bread feeds man for one more day
Broken storms yield light
The break of day heals night
Broken pride turns blindness into sight

Broken souls that need His mending
Broken hearts for offering
Could it be that God loves broken things?

Broken chains set free
Broken swords bring peace
Broken walls make friends of you and me
To break the ranks of sin
To break the news of Him
To put on Christ till His name feels broken in

Broken souls that need His mending
Broken hearts for offering
I believe that God loves broken things

And yet our broken faith, our broken promises
Sent love to the cross
And still, that broken flesh, that broken heart of His
Offers us such grace and mercy
Covers us with love undeserving

This broken soul that cries for mending
This broken heart for offering
I'm convinced that God loves broken me

Praise His name, my God loves broken things.

So for the next month I kept a running list of all the ways and phrases the work broken can be used.  I had quite a big list going.  The arrows were phrases that could have positive and negative connotations.

Negative

Broken wings

Broken glass

Broken promises

Broken bone

Broke the law

Break the News-------à

Break down

Broken things-watch, window, clock, dishes

Break out-on your face

Broken eggs

Broken families

Broken homes

Broken hearts---------à

Broken mind

Break in the ranks

Break down in communication

Break the bank

Broken pieces------à

Give me a break-----à

Broken bridges

Break up

Broken will

  

 Positive

Broken walls-Berlin Wall

Broke or break a horse

Break the spell-fairy tales, Sleeping Beauty

Break the curse-Harry Potter

Break bread-sacrament, Savior feeding the 5000

Break the news

Break of day

Break the ground/Broken ground

Break open-fruit, coconut

Broken clouds

Breaker at the beach/sea-stops the waves

Break in the storm

Broken hearts

Break the code

Broken chains-prisoners

Break the mold

Put on the brakes-slow down

Some of the things were mentioned in the song.  After writing these things down all month and thinking about this lesson I pulled it together with the song and the talk.  I started off with the song and had the sisters listen to the words then we made a list of the things they heard in the song that were broken.  Then we kept making a list of broken things.  I shared with them my list and they came up with some that I hadn't thought of.  Then we talked about how these things get broken and how they get fixed.  The basic idea was that each of these broken things could have spiritual applications and that it was through the atonement that things really get fixed.  Then I talked about some scripture stories where it seemed that the people in them could be broken-especially when Nephi breaks his bow.  Then we talked about what Elder Holland said we can do to come unto Christ and get our broken things repaired.  There were 3 ways.  1.Desire to change or have things fixed or believe we can get things fixed.  2.  Change what we need to change.  3.  Then take upon us the name of the Savior by remembering our baptismal covenants and acting on them.  At the end I played the poem that Jeffrey R. Holland reads in his talk called The Carpenter of Nazareth.  I never know what to think about my lessons when I am done.  I do get compliments but I wonder if anyone realized the effort that goes into one of these lessons especially when we have to create our lesson from out of thin air.  It is good that we can do that because we can totally go by the spirit and teach what Heavenly Father wants us to but it much  harder when we don't have the whole lesson ready to go for us.  

I try really hard to not have boring lessons.  I overheard someone say once that they didn't like coming to Relief Society because it was boring.  My goals when I teach are to teach with the spirit and not just talk and to make sure I am involving the sisters as much as I can with questions and thought provoking ideas so that they will comment.  I don't have to teach again until June thank goodness!

In January we had an activity that was a progressive dinner.  It was a lot of work and we only had 38 sisters come but that is almost 3 times what we usually get so I was ok with it.  Our theme was Progress since it was the beginning of the year.  We all met at one sister's house to divide up into groups and then we split up to go to 3 different houses where we had appetizers, salads, and soup respectively.  Then we met back up together at one more house where we were all together and could have dessert.  At each house we had a sister give us a short talk on different areas that we can progress in.  Physical-like exercise and nutrition, spiritual and temporal-like food storage and learning how to do different things to be better prepared.  Then at the last house our bishop's wife spoke on how we need to balance these areas in our lives and not get overwhelmed.  It was a really good activity and we got lots of compliments on it.  We had lots of help too with food prep and the sister's letting us use their homes.  This activity has been a tradition in this ward for a long long time and is usually held in December.  December is way too busy and crazy for me so I wanted to push it to January when things were a little calmer.


In March we had another activity to celebrate the Relief Society birthday.  This was a lot of work too but ended up being really nice.  Our theme was Small and Simple Things based on the scripture from Alma and from our January activity when our bishop's wife spoke to us at the progressive dinner.  She spoke about the book from Marjorie Pay Hinkley with the same name.  After we heard her speak in January we decided that would be our theme for March.  I was prompted to incorporate wheat into our activity because wheat is one of the symbols of  Relief Society and there are some great stories about what the early sisters in Relief Society did with wheat.  I found the instructions to grow wheat grass from regular wheat kernels and learned that it took less than 9 days.  When I was prompted to use this idea of wheat I seriously had 9 days before the activity.  Well it worked out just great!  I grew 12 little planters of wheat to use in our center pieces. Since our theme was "small and simple" all of our food was small.  We had mini slider sandwiches, mini cupcakes, mini cups of fruit salad and mini cups of veggies and dip.  We had planned on about 60 people coming but we only had 28.  That meant there was lots of food to eat.  We had a lot of help again as well.  We had about 8 sisters come and help us with food prep right before the activity started.  We were done and cleaned up before 8pm and that was really nice too!  I took home about 30 mini cupcakes and proceeded to eat almost everyone of them over the next few days.  Curse you mini cupcakes!

 This is the favor that we gave out at our activity.  It was a little bag of wheat with the directions on how to grow it typed out and rolled up on the scroll and a few pieces of chocolate.  Our colors were purple and green so everything was purple and green!

This is one of pots of wheat that I grew.  I didn't grow it in this pot but in a little plastic saucer and then put the saucer in the pot.  I did paint the pots and put the ribbon around them for the decorations. It is being weighed for Cayden's science project.  

Chillin' with Kyle

Kyle is such a crack up.  He just decided one afternoon while he was playing outside that he was going to lay down on the driveway.  He says the funniest things these days and mostly he is copying whatever anyone else says.  We are at the stage where we have to be super careful about what we say around him lest he repeat it.  His favorite things to say right now are "hang on" a phrase that is frequently used by his brother's when they are asked to do something.  He also says "calm down"- a phrase that makes me crazy but I apparently use it.  Right now he is constantly saying "what?" a hundred times when you tell him something even if we know that he has heard us. He likes to say "Hi mom, it's me Kyle".  He was woken up in the morning saying some funny things. probably something he is dreaming about.  One morning he woke up really afraid because there were some scary dinosaurs.  Then yesterday morning he woke and said "Professor Von Drake.  He scary in my room."  He must watch too much Disney stuff. I really try to limit his tv time.  I know that when the boys watch him that is what they let him do because it is the easiest way to keep him contained.  We try to play outside alot and go to the park and the library.  There are lots of puzzles and some toys to play with at the library.  He really likes to play with other kids until it comes to sharing his toys.  I need to let some kids come over to play but I always forget and I really can't plan more than a day in advance because of my crazy life.  Most days I don't decide what I am doing until just a little bit before I do it.

He is the mess maker extraordinaire!  He loves to empty his toybox and every bin of toys in his room.  He loves to pull the cushions off the couch and the pillows off the bed.  When he plays in his sandbox he literally just throws the sand up in the air and lets it fall all over him.  He loves to be chased-whether it is trying to catch him to change his diaper or get him in the bath or to catch him running down the street at breakneck speed when we let him outside in the front yard, he gets a great laugh out of seeing people come after him and is constantly looking back to make sure someone is after him.  He is a fast little stinker and even gets away barefooted.  He quit taking naps when I took away his binky so life gets a little rough in the late afternoon when he is super tired.  He is being a very picky eater right now.  He would live on chocolate milk if I would let him.

This is a toy set called Mike the Knight.  Uncle Dave gave Kyle a castle set for his birthday and then another set for Christmas.  For whatever reason Kyle calls him Cam the Knight for his cousin Cameron.

This is how Caleb entertains Kyle, with a little bull fighting but with a blanket.  Everyone loves to play with Kyle and make him laugh.  His laugh is one of the best sounds in the world.

Best of Friends

We got to have our best friends come and stay with us the past few days.  It was for a sad reason but we were glad that they could stay with us.  The Marshall's used to live here in Logandale and we have been friends for almost 20 years.  They moved to Panguitch 8 years ago but when we get together it seems like they have never left.  Our kids are pretty close in age and get along very well.  They came down because Ed's dad passed away and they came for the funeral.  They stayed here Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  All totaled there were 11 boys and 3 girls here.  The girls were desperately outnumbered.  The funeral was Saturday and it was very nice.  Don sang with a group of 5 men a medley of patriotic songs because Lloyd was known for singing patriotic songs as he did his work on the tractor.  After the funeral we went to the cemetery with them and then came back to the church for the lunch.  Saturday night, Connor and the twins, Bryson and Branson, hung out at Grandpa Don's house and then came here and slept outside on cots and had a great time although it was really really windy.  They also "helped" cook breakfast by cooking the sausages outside in the garage.  Out of the 50 or so sausages that were in the packages only about 20 of them made it into breakfast.  Luckily we had some in the freezer.    They stayed through Sunday and went to church with us then we came back after Sacrament to have pork tacos and help them get packed up and out the door.  Poor sweet Brendan cried his little eyes out when they went to get him and tell him it was time to go home.  Kyle kept calling him little buddy or Braden.  He was so glad to have people to play with him on Friday when the boys were at school. We are so glad to have them as friends and glad they were able to come to stay.  

April Fool's Day

I am not one for too many pranks around here.  I think pranks are mean sometimes and hurt people's feelings.  My boys were quite mild in their April Fool's Day jokes.  I did go to Ward temple night that night -that wasn't a joke!

I wasn't smart enough to get my screen turned back around so my computer brained son had to fix it after he played his joke.  

Tender Mercies

This is the picture that my dad took of me and my sister Laurel up in Logan canyon in yellow dressed my mom made.  

I have a really sweet friend, Shelby Turner, who brought me flowers, Dr. Pepper and chocolate on  my dad's birthday.  That was a really hard day for me and this was such a sweet and kind gesture that it made me cry when she showed up with them.  That night I was reading in my scriptures like I always do and I started where I had left on in the New Testament.  I do not find it coincidental that I opened up to the very chapter about the resurrection of the Savior, John 20.  I read that chapter over and over again and felt the spirit so overwhelmingly strong testifying to me of the reality of the resurrection and that my father was alive and well.   At the end of the chapter Thomas comes to Jesus and says that he couldn't believe until he had seen Him.  I did not and do not feel this way.  I felt like the Savior was speaking to me when he said "blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed".  I have not seen the Savior, I did not witness His resurrection but I know it happened and I know that it will happen again for my father and for all of us.  I felt very strongly a few weeks later that I needed to bear my testimony about the resurrection.  It was one of those things that I really didn't want to do and I waited for a while until the spirit literally kicked me in the pants!  It was the day after we had been to the funeral for Lloyd Marshall so the Marshall's were all there with us in Sacrament meeting.  I felt like I needed to bear my testimony to them as well during that meeting because they had just buried their dad and grandpa the day before.  I have not seen but I believe.  

Albuquerque

Don was able to go Albuquerque in March to attend a wedding of a man that used to live here.  This man moved here last year and was very inactive.  He had not been to church since he was a teenager.  His name is Bryan.  He moved here with his son and they moved into a house next door to the bishop.  The missionaries helped convert his son and Cody and Don were able to go over a few times to their house when the missionaries were giving discussions.  The man came back to church and his son got baptized.  I don't remember if I posted about it or not but after the baptism we had treats over here at our house for the elders and the family and anyone else who wanted to come support this family.  It was a neat experience for our family to be a part of!  Don continues to try to be supportive of Bryan.  Bryan moved to Albuquerque in the fall last year and got married in March.  He married a woman who was recently baptized herself.  Bryan did not have much family able to attend his wedding so Don used some of his airline points to fly him, Dustin Nelson the Elder's Quorum President, the Bishop and his wife down to Albuquerque for the wedding.  They flew out Friday night and went to the wedding Saturday and then flew home.  Don went to breakfast Saturday morning with my sister Laurel and her family.  They had a few minutes to see a few sites in Albuquerque.  

Don and Dustin at the Albuquerque Temple

The guys were pretty excited about renting this car and they had to send us a picture!

Cayden's First Deacon Campout

Cayden went on his first campout as a Deacon on March 21.  Dad had to go out of town so Connor and Caleb went with him.  They had a great time and only went a little ways from Overton past Simplot.  Both Connor and Caleb helped Cayden with his shots which was a big relief for me!