Laban and the Brass Plates

Peter, Sam and I read in the Book of Mormon today about Laban and the brass plates. Peter drew a picture. He drew Laban watching TV and on the TV is a bad guy fighting a good guy and the bad guy wins because he stabs him (Violent!). Zoram is calling Pizza Hut and someone talked to him. Then someone pushed the machine and pizzas came falling out. When the car came they pushed the button to make pizzas come out. Then they ate pizza. Laban is going upstairs for dinner. Laman comes sometime earlier and asks for the brass plates but Laban wants to kill him. So he runs in a cave. And Laban goes upstairs to eat pizza. And then Zoram and Laban go downstairs to watch some TV and they watch bad guys killing good guys. And the good guys win this time. Zoram and Laban play one of the video games they have which is Lego batman and they kill all the bad guys and do that everyday, even Sunday the Sabbath day. Laban is wicked and Zoram is one of his servants and he has to do what Laban says.

Peter is very creative! ...and a bit violent.

First Day of School!

We started homeschool and the first day went pretty well. We read scripture stories out of an old school blue set of Book of Mormon readers that has like 16 volumes- they are great! We got all of step 1 done, yeah! That's progress. We did some Spanish, we read a book of Spanish words and the kids learned to say "Por Favor" (please), "Gracias" (thank you), "Yo quiero" (I want). It was fun hearing the kids try and speak Spanish. Peter even used his new words during dinner later on. After Spanish we started our "ABC Book", obviously the first page being the letter A. We drew pictures and wrote things that start with the letter A: apple, amaranths, ant, apotasaurs, argentinasaurs, alligator, apricot, and animal. Using an old family dresser the kids now each have a drawer to hold their school things. Then using some flashcards we picked a card and learned some words that rhyme. Pig, wig, dig, twig, all rhyme. The big pig wore a wig and liked to dig. That was pretty much our first day of school. We had a lot of interruptions from the baby needing to be fed and Will getting into things. Will woke up when his diaper exploded onto the floor. After bathing him, I didn't get a diaper on quick enough because he pooped on my bed. He likes to run away when you try and put a diaper on him. Then later he did his usual: filled the oven with random stuff. He got into the laundry soap and smeared it on the washing machine. I needed a break so I sent him and his brother outside to play in our new sandbox. I forgot that it rained, bad idea! They all came in super sandy! I guess its hot dogs and french fries for dinner!

Inspiring Video

This video is truly inspiring, we really can make a different when we do what's right.

The cost of dishonesty

I met a guy that works from home. It would be great if Chris could work from home. I wish we could all work from home. But would we really work? I think there it's a trust issue. Does the majority put in an honest days' work? We have made so many advancements as a nation and as a world. First the invention of the light bulb and now a better more efficient light bulb. Computers, IPods, laptops, cell phones, in the 10 years since leaving the country on a religious mission technology has flowed into homes. With all of these technological advancements it would seem quite reasonable that working from home would be a viable option in the future. But I think the problem lies in honesty and integrity. We need moral advancements to match our technological advancements.

Think of how different the world would be if we were all a little more honest. What is the cost of our dishonesty? If employers could trust theirs workers enough so that most could work from home, think of how different the world would be. With more people working from home there would be less people on the roads leading to less accidents and less wear and tear on the road so less road work. Working from home you would have more time, not having to wait in traffic, what would you do with an extra hour or two? With less driving your car would last longer and we would use less gas. With everyone "going green" it seems a great way to "go green" is to start with being honest. Honesty is being true to my word, where have I given my word? As a citizen of this country I have given my word to uphold it, have people forgotten that? Perhaps we should all read the constitution, how can we uphold the nation of our grandfathers if we have lost touch? I learned in school that we need to obey the law, but how can we obey the laws if we haven't read them? I can't follow rules that I don't know. Where have you given your word, and are you holding up your end? Do your part: learn the law, then follow it or get voted in to change it. Honesty is big.

Theoretically a butterfly might flap its wings making wind and that wind might effect something else and later cause a hurricane, a domino effect. What change can I make by "flapping my wings"?

Just me thinking thoughts...


Jen

New Month Fresh Start

What a great Sunday we had. It was the 4th of July, as chance to celebrate and remind ourselves how far we have come. We have our freedom to do as we want. We have been trying to explain to our children the meaning of Independence Day and its a little hard to explain the meaning of freedom. For me it means that I have the right to choose my religion and the way I will live my life without government interference. I can't really fully explain it, but when I look at the American flag I feel something strong inside. I think of people like my brother who are in the military fighting to keep us a free nation. I try to live my life in a way that would make those who have fought for my freedom proud, I need to do better about voting and politics. But I think striving to teach my children about our freedoms helps.

Its neat the freedoms I have at church. We don't have a paid clergy, so we as members have the right and privilege to share our testimonies once a month of our Savior during church, to give talks when called upon (I suppose we could volunteer to give a talk too), and to freely give of our time and talents to those around us.

I went up and shared my testimony during church. I talked about our spiritual reflexes: As we went to church we crossed the parking lot and Peter mentioned to Chris that he didn't look both ways before crossing, Chris told him that its kind of a quick habit that you may not even see, its just natural. That got me thinking as we walked into church about our reflexes or habits. Those actions we don't really have to think about and yet we naturally do them. Like looking both ways when we cross the street they help keep us out of trouble. When I take the boys to the doctor, he checks the reflexes by taping their knee and the knee naturally bounces up, without much thought it just does it. The doctor checks our reflexes in order to know that our nerves are working properly. I know this because when they checked Peter's his nerves are not working properly. I wonder if I were to have a spiritual exam, how are my spiritual reflexes? If you were to tap my knee am I praying, spending time naturally every day talking with my Heavenly Father or is my knee slow to bend, forgetting to pray most days? What about my elbow, is it bending holding the scriptures naturally, or is it slow to remember?

This is a week and a new month. Its time to improve. Before having the baby, I was blessed with inspiration on how to maintain a solid routine. I so often loose my routine after having a baby or getting the flu and I feel like I don't know where to begin getting back on track and I feel like I have to reinvent the wheel. I often felt like I had to do it all in a day. I would get the flu or have a baby or a holiday and it would disrupt our normal routine and I felt like I have to get back on track all in one day. Divine guidance is wonderful. I no longer have to reinvent the wheel and I no longer feel the need to do it all in a day. I have steps that I can slowly add or take away as needed in life. When someone is sick we can eliminate a few steps, when we heal we can add a few steps. The kids and I have already been working on step 1, so this week we are working on maintaining step 1 and adding step 2. Here are the steps we are working on for anyone curious:

Step 1—Morning Routine
Wake up at 6:00 AM
Personal Prayer
Family Devotional: Song, Scripture, Family Prayer
Take a shower / Get dressed
Make bed
Clean bedroom—everything picked up and put away
Comb Hair
Brush teeth and put toothbrush away
Clean toothpaste out of sink
Clean bathroom—everything picked up and put away
Empty laundry pail—do a load of laundry if needed
Exercise
Kid’s scriptures study 30 min (read + gospel principle jar)
Mom’s scriptures study 30 min (read + ponder + journal)

Step 2—Meals and Nightly Routine
Meal prep: make or prepare a food ie: yogurt, dough, flour, beans, bread, pasta

Eat Breakfast
Clear and wipe off table and counters
Wash / Rinse dishes
Sweep floor

Eat Lunch
Clear and wipe off table and counters
Wash / Rinse dishes
Sweep floor

Eat Dinner
Read scriptures for 10 minutes
Clear and wipe off table and counters
Wash / Rinse dishes
Sweep floor

Bedtime
Tuesday, Thursday bath night
Brush teeth
Put on PJs
Family Prayer
Story
Song
Good Night!