Storybook Treasures: When Grandma Came

I've never really attached myself too much with children's storybooks because we read so many and so many are not worth getting through once, let alone creating a relationship with it.  But in a desire to find books worth cherishing, I was thrilled to identify this book -  'When Grandma Came' by Jill Paton Walsh and illustrated by Sophy Williams as one.

Grandma has traveled the world over and  experienced exotic geographic location and witnessed the doings of wildlife in their natural habitats.  But none of these adventures compares to the excitement and wonder of a child.  As grandma explains each adventure she has participated in, she compares it to the adventure of her granddaughter.  Each page is a new stage in the granddaughters life - from infant, toddler, small child, and young child. 

I love the illustrations, the concept of childhood being the greatest wonder, and the poetic tone in portraying connections between the young and the old in a family.  This book captures the reality of nurturing a child as the joyful experience that it is.  The foundational development of a child's life is the greatest adventure anyone can experience in this life.

We're Being ALLITERATE

PERFECTLY PLACED 'P's

Galileo:  Practicing produces perfection, permanence, patience, preciousness, and power. 

Wilberforce:   Pillaging pirates eat pickled peppers on the porticus (porch) for prandium (lunch). [including a bit of latin],
 Panem et Circenes prevents personal prosperity.

Austen:  Pan prized his pink pipe.

Washington:  Peter Pan pecked a pair of purple pairs.

Hypatia:  A Princess purchased pink pants.

Joan of Arc:  The pretty pink dress on 'dat'

Growing Spiritually in the Spring

I've had a lot of events happen these last couple months that seem to be gearing me up for something, as I have felt closer and been filled with more desire to draw closer to the Lord than I have in a long time. 

Personal Progress
I've started working on my personal progress in earnest these last couple of months.  Every Sunday or during devotional personal study time, I work on it a little bit.  My 10 hour project will more likely be a lifetime project but other than that, I've completed all the FAITH requirements and have started DIVINE NATURE.  I'm hoping to encourage my girls to work on theirs without having to constantly remind them and hopefully I won't earn the medallion too much earlier than them. 

Revelation
I've loved my new tradition of reading the inspiring words of wisdom and progress on a few of the blogs that I'm following.  One theme that seems to be coming up frequently, is a greater awareness of the need for all, but woman in particular, to qualify for, receive, and respond to personal revelation.   Sister Julie B. Beck is quoted and pondered over repeatedly.  This has been a challenging area for me as I frequently see the Lord's interaction in the footprints behind me, but rarely recognize his guidance at the moment.  I'm happy to say that with concerted effort, prayer, and searching, I'm in the beginning stages of recognizing the Lord's intervention in my life at the moment that it happens.  Actually, I'm in awe at the amount of intervention I receive on a daily basis.  Now plans are being made on how to help my children recognize the Holy Ghost working in their own lives.

Service
I recently gave a lesson on the importance of giving service, and as most lessons, I got much more out of it than I'm sure anyone else has.  I have struggled with the ability to give service outside the walls of my home - money restraints, thoughtlessness, time constraints, unsure priorities, and just plain not in the habit of it.  So I've been making a concerted effort to do some type of service everyday.  Yes, I plan it on my to-do list.  I'm hoping with my prayers for opportunities, mixed with my attempts to heed promptings when they come and my best effort of seeking opportunities, that serving will become a strength and part of my nature.  But for right now, it takes a lot of work on my part.  Unfortunately, there are still a great many days that at the end of the day, the only thing I didn't get done was the service I had planned, but I do have some successes, and am confident that the Lord will change my nature if I'm persistent in my petitions. 

Passover/Easter
We were invited to join a friend for their celebration of the passover this year.  It was beautifully done and brought extra meaning to our own celebration of the Atonement when we partake of the sacrament.  I'm considering starting this tradition but still would like to create a family remembrance celebration with the restored gospel truths as the purpose.  We'll see what happens.  I had intentions of studying the last week of the Savior's life the week before Easter, but my intentions were swallowed up with urgencies and reactions.  And to make matters worse, I sunk into some type of depression because we were without funds to buy anything to put into the kids baskets.  I spent an entire day trying to brainstorm creative items to make to put in the baskets, but everything I could come up with still required some type of purchase.  So I shut down in regard to the holiday, and when my husband realized we didn't have any candy for the baskets, he spent $50 on junk easter candy that was supposed to go to a nobler cause.  By this time I didn't even care that he used our money foolishly, but I did feel a little guilty that I could have bought supplies to make something meaningful for a lot less money.  Hopefully next year will be more proactive regarding this holiday. 

Scripture Journals
One of my favorite inspirations I've received has been to begin a scripture journal.  In the past I've used notebooks or a loose leaf paper occasionally when I was clarifying something in my own mind.  I've also marked my scriptures or verbally discussed verses meaning.  But the transformation that has taken place from writing down the verse reference followed by a paraphrase of the principle/doctrine outlined and additional insights, thoughts, and questions has caused me to ponder the scriptures like never before.  I covered a composition notebook with fabric and it is exclusively for me to record my learning from my scripture study.  Whether this becomes a family keepsake/heirloom or just a tool for my own growth, I don't know but I am grateful for the sacred moments of pondering God's word and how it applies in my life.  I'm hoping to follow the suggestion and do it as a family so that I can teach my children to feast upon the word of God also.

Prayer Petitions
During Sacrament meeting, a speaker commented how we should emphasize a majority of our prayers in gratitude for answered prayers.  As I pondered this, I realized that I am not very effective at remembering what it was I prayed for and therefore was not expressing gratitude when my prayers were answered.  So I started taking my journal & pen with me when I prayed.  As I was communicating my desire, I would jot it down in my journal and over time have developed quite a long list.  The results have been surprising.  I not only can have a record of my requests so that I can immediately and frequently express gratitude but my petitions have been more consistent and the desire has worked in me as I ponder it more and deepen my dependence on the Lord.  Many times I review my list prior to praying (or during) and engage in a conversation with the Lord that is truely exersizing my faith more.  I am truely grateful. 

Approaching Zion
I watched a DVD called 'Celestial Education' that has opened my eyes a little wider to the purpose of my educating my children.  It explained the different levels of education as Telestial (compulsary, entertaining, minimum required - Star), Terestial (inspired, seeking truth, love learning - moon), and Celestial (Fulness of light and truth, guided by the spirit, mission driven - Sun).  I knew I had something with TJEd that was by far better than public school, but now I look forward to more fully incorporating the the Celestial Education into our schools so that we can be more effective instruments in building Zion, removing the curse, and fulfilling our pre-ordained missions. 
     When sharing this with my husband, we were also instructed by the bishop to look at 'another perspective' of family finances.  We only started the lessons but I'm so impressed at how it also put emphasis on our stewardship - versus ownership - to consecrate our earnings to the Lord.  I'm hoping as I study this more that it will help to change my heart to become the zion person the Lord needs me to be. 


Burdens Made Light
Unfortunately, Aristotle has been out of work for most of the spring, and as the wet weather continues, he still hasn't picked up a lot of sources of income.  This probably counts more as a blessing than a spiritual growth, but when I compare it to other times that we have been struggling financially, I can't help think that the Lord is helping us to grow, to be patient, and to exercise faith that he will provide for us.  Times have not been easy and we are doing without a lot of things.  I don't think I've made it into town for over a month.  But I have hardly noticed the hardships because it seems so insignificant compared to the blessings we've been experiencing.  I've also had an unusual amount of illnesses and incidents that I have put more trust in the Lord because of them.  A back ache because my back was out (couldn't even roll over or pick up my baby - let alone walk), pink eye (closed shut within 24 hours and very painful - and I might add very ugly), several colds and illnesses that spread throughout the family. 

Those are only a few of the highlights because as I grow closer to the Lord, it seems to affect and improve so many other areas of my life.  I'm truly loving the process and want to keep the growth happening.

SPICEE AWARD WINNER

We have a SPICEE Award Winner. 

Washington has completed all the tasks in each of the SPICEE categories before the last day of school and so, true to the contract, we will be entering the sliding doors of the Toys-R-Us store so that he can purchase a toy of his choice.  (Hopefully he'll choose something within our price range or we may have to put a dollar amount on it)

Washington completed the following goals this last semester.

S (Saintly) -  Morning and Evening Personal Prayers - 2 months
               -  Read Scriptures - 4X/wk - 2 months

P (Prosperity) -  Maintain Blood Glucose below 200 - 2 months

I (Inspired)  -  Structured Time for math activities
                  -  Structured Time for Language Arts Activities
                  -  Publish on Family blogspot - 3X
                  -  Read approved books - 2

C (Creativity)  - Complete requirements for all the Webelos Pins (20 pins)

E (Energy)  -  Regular physical Activity
                -  Brush teeth daily - 1 month

E (Entertainment) -  Plan a part of our monthly parties
                          -  Invite a friend to play monthly


CONGRATULATIONS SON!!!

Summer School - Zion's Trek, summer reading, & evening routine

Summer School has begun.  Our family set a new goal for the summer and it was practically unanimous.  We decided to focus on our health.  Initially there was talk of trying to lose so many pounds or inches, or even be able to do some pretty amazing physcial tasks, but I didn't like the feeling that was associated with that purpose.  I wanted the feel to be more of taking charge of our stewardship, our temple.  So we put a little religious twist to it so that our purpose for becoming more healthy is to be fit for the Kingdom as we trek from Hamer to Missouri to establish Zion.  

We calculated it to be about 1227 miles from here to there and so we needed some way to represent our progress.

A recent class on whole foods was our criteria for the journey.  We work toward our destination by doing the following things:
                      1)  Drink lots of water - 1quart for every 50 lbs we weigh
                      2)  Eat only whole foods - no refined sugars or processed grains
                      3)  Eat lots of Vegetables - 3 to 5 servings a day
                      4)  Physical Activity - at least a half hour 
                      5)  Retire to and Rise from bed Early in order to have quiet time for inspiration,
                            pondering, and study.

And since we wouldn't ever consider leaving a family member behind on a real trek, we are combining our efforts to make the journey.  It takes out the competitive edge but encourages everyones success and contribution.   Hopefully, we'll make at least 15 combined effort miles each day in order to reach Independence, Missouri by the end of the Summer (August 31st).

Summer Reading Program

My children are all excited about participating in the local library summer reading program.  The theme has to do with stories from around the world - so we'll be incorporating a lot of geography awareness in it as well.  And with a more relaxed summer school schedule, hopefully I'll really take advantage to spending more time reading story time books to my toddler and beginning readers.  Life always seems so busy at the other times of the year. 

We are currently reading 'The Hobbit' for our family read.  This one was Aristotle's request and he really is enjoying it - asking me to read after bedtime and even volunteering to do my dishes so that I can read it to him. 

Evening Routines
We've finally got the morning routine going on auto-pilot and so during the summer, we're focusing on establishing an evening routine so that when we get serious about studies again, we can focus on structured time of learning (rather than structured time that is continually being interrupted because we didn't get something done the night before).  Family rhthyms are so important but can sometimes be so difficult to keep maintained. 

Like our Pre-flight, we put the routine to music, this time a lullaby (since we are getting ready for bed).  So at 8:00 pm I start singing to the tune of Brahm's Lullaby.

                          SPICEE Mtg, Take a bath, Brush your teeth, Scripture Story
                          Family Singing, Family Prayer, and Family Record Keeping
                          Tuck in - Individual Prayers, with some time to read
                          Then lights out, pleasant dreams, while you're in God's care.

The Carrot and the stick during our training period is 'Stars to see the stars'.  I copied it from another family - when they do the evening routine (Post-flight) completely and correctly, they earn a star, and when they have earned the required amount, we take them to a movie theater.  If they don't have all the stars by the time someone else has, then that child will be staying home. 

Austen the Artist

And you thought Jane Austen was an author.  My daugher has fully appreciated her Christmas gift of art lessons this year.   I couldn't get the picture turned the way I wanted to so crink your neck a little to see it.

And for good reason becuase she has a lot of talent and definately has the passion for it. 

Art is her way of regrouping and refreshing herself.  Whenever she's a little frazzled, she picks up a pencil and begins doodling and although she may be gone (mentally as well as physically) she comes back acting and feeling much better.

These are just a dappling of her pictures.  We'll post more later.