Same Difference and Third Time's a Charm

I wanted to quickly update and let you know our new church callings...

Same Difference - On July 4th, Darrell was released as 1st counselor in the bishopric and then called as the 1st counselor in the new bishopric.  He is now the veteran bishopric member and is still enjoying it.

Third Time's a Charm - I told you a few months ago that I was released as Primary President then immediately called to be the Music Director. A few weeks ago I was released and called to be the Relief Society Secretary.  That calling only lasted a few weeks since yesterday I was called and sustained as the Stake Primary 1st Counselor.  So, I guess third time's a charm. :) I expect to be in this calling for a while.

It's an interesting story, the lady that they called to be the president doesn't know many people in the stake. To help, the stake presidency provided her with a list of names to choose as counselors.  She went through the names and prayerfully chose her counselors. After I was sustained in sacrament meeting, we went to be set apart and I met the newly called president. She seems like a nice lady and I'm excited to work with her.  She truly was inspired. :)  PS - If anyone has any advice for primary on a stake level, let me know!

There is sunshine in my soul today

Today marks a new chapter in my life. It's amazing how the Lord works and his timing is impeccable. I was released today from my calling as Primary President. I didn't know that it was coming until this morning, 15 minutes before church started, but I feel that it's the right thing. My new calling is Ward Music Director. I'll be the one to choose the songs in sacrament meeting and arrange any possible musical numbers. This seems very doable! :)

A lady in my ward is a breast cancer survivor and she has a great attitude. As she was enduring this trial a year or two ago, she said "Well, either way I win." Today she walked into the church building, coming out of the cloudy & rainy day, carrying a yellow umbrella and wearing a smile. She always carries a little bit of sunshine around. Even though the day was dreary, she had the sunshine.

Today I left singing "There is sunshine in my soul today." I'm not sure if this is rejoicing from being released from the calling, viewing my friend's yellow umbrella & smile, or a testament that my new calling is meant to be. There will be a song in my heart for quite a while.

The next chapter begins...

Oct 08 General Conference Activity Packet

I found out last April that someone makes activity packets for each LDS General Conference. I googled it and found the one for October 2008. Here is the link to download it if you'd like.

It's fun for the kids to do, as well as teens and adults! :) I think I'll use at least one page and give to the primary children as "homework." If they bring the paper back the following week then we can put stars in the jar.

Random Spiritual Thoughts

I feel like my blogging life has been slowing down and I'm not really going to change that. I've been getting into routines at my house and I just don't have time to sit at the computer as much as I used to.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say some random spiritual thoughts. I often get things in my head and don't really do much with them, so here goes...

1. Heavenly Father answered my prayer and guided me - We, as a primary presidency, have been trying to think of some sort of reverence game for sharing time & singing time. We have a small primary (about 16 kids on a good day and that's 50% attendance) but we still have reverence concerns. We saw some cute ideas on various websites but it just wasn't really clicking for me. I went to the temple to do an endowment session and happened to say a prayer to help me know what to do for primary. By the end of the 3 hours, I had received ideas to figure it all out. I was really excited that I got a "double whammie" I went to the temple plus did my primary homework. (I often spend 1-2 hours searching online for sharing times ideas when it's my turn, then end up doing something that I found within 10 minutes of my search! I was glad that I didn't even have to go online about this, I liked what I had.)

The idea for the reverence chart:
"Reach for the stars" and "Be a STAR in Primary!"
STAR
S = Sitting
T = Thinking
A = Attentive
R = Reverent

I made a poster with a boy & girl on it with stars at the top of the poster. The boy & girl are on some fishing line (thanks Candace) and whenever the children are reverent the boy & girl reach higher for the stars. If they reach all the way to the top and "reach the stars" then two children get to pick stars from a bag and put them into a jar. Once the jar is full of the stars we will have a "star party." Star party could be flashlights with papers with holes in them, with star shaped food, and maybe a few other star-themed games. (I'll have the Faith in God boys & girls help me plan it.)

Not only did Heavenly Father help me with the idea, but he helped me with the material too. I found some perfect glittery star ornaments at Michael's to use that were $1.99 for 12, and I even found a star shaped jar at the DI for $.50!

I presented the idea on Sunday with a fun sharing time using the teachers in a "star fashion show." We had Wiggly Wanda, Sleepy Sarah, Reverent Rosie, Distracted Darcy, and Talkative Tiffany. They all entered the room walking down the "red carpet" and I talked about each character. Afterward, the children lined up in front of Reverent Rosie and I gave them a star sticker.

(If any of you want more info about this, just email me or comment.)

2. Institute Class - Darrell and I are taking a married institute class. It's only twice and month so it's a doable date night for us. There is a different keynote speaker each time. So far we've only been to one and it was a great class. It was taught by Scott Anderson who has done many EFY conferences and is a marriage counselor. Things I learned:

• Pre-existence - We obviously had choices since we chose to follow Jesus Christ. That also meant that we were tempted too. Brother Anderson called the pre-existence the "Great Singles Conference" since we were all single and were so excited when Heavenly Father presented the plan for us to come to this life for an opportunity to become like him...married for eternity.
• Harmony - What exactly is the definition of harmony? According to Merriam Webster definition #4 it's "an interweaving of different accounts into a single narrative." That means that if you want to have harmony in your marriage, you need realize that there are two different accounts that are trying to become one. Husband and wife are different and in order to have harmony you need to recognize those differences to make it beautiful.
  
• Beam in your own eye - Whenever there is an argument, instead of trying to change the other person, think about changing yourself. When Brother Anderson and his wife have a disagreement he says "You know honey, we're having a difficulty with [this situation], I'm frustrated because I do [this], I will try better to do [this instead.]" Then his wife says the same thing about herself. Later they compliment the spouse the great job that he/she is doing.
  

3. Pray for something better - I just got done listening to the audiobook by Sheri Dew entitled If Life Were Easy It Wouldn't Be Hard. The book is a collections of different thoughts. One of the chapters talks about prayer. Have you ever been praying and asking Heavenly Father for either this or that? Never thinking about another option? She brought up the point that maybe God has something better in store for you. She told the story about Joseph Smith asking for something better.

After he had looked over the table he said, "Lord, we thank Thee for this Johnny cake, and ask Thee to send us something better. Amen." The corn bread was cut and I received a piece from his hand.

Before the bread was all eaten, a man came to the door and asked if the Prophet Joseph was at home. Joseph replied he was, whereupon the visitor said, "I have brought you some flour and a ham."

Joseph arose and took the gift, and blessed the man in the name of the Lord. Turning to his wife, Emma, he said, "I knew the Lord would answer my prayer."

This thought of praying for something better has never occurred to me, so now I'm going to start doing that. It has been such a struggle for me to make Salem's "life decision" regarding which school to attend and every decision I've made has not made me feel 100% excited. I couldn't figure out if Heavenly Father had answered my prayer or not. I felt a "stupor of thought" so I figured that my answer was no or to keep searching. Now I have learned a little more how to pray and hopefully this will help me in the future.

Weekend Highlights

Our weekend highlights...

Emptying of the Piggy Banks - My boy's piggy banks were getting full so we went to the credit union and put their change in the machine, they thought it was so much fun! We then opened up a dedicated savings account for each of them so it earns higher interest. I was proud of Salem for the amount of money he saved, it was a lot!

The Home Depot - Discover card is doing a cashback bonus promotion for home improvement stores that started in April. We've already been there four times! :)

Darrell's 10 mile run - Darrell has been running every morning for a long time and now did his first "race" on Saturday morning. He has actually ran longer distances than this race before, but it was fun for him to be with people (including his brother Ryan) and have a finish line. We figured out the approximate time that he'd arrive so I planned on being there with the kids at the finish line, well...I was putting on my coat to leave the house and he called and said that he was already finished! I was glad that his parents and brother's family were there, but I was sad that I wasn't there. I met him afterward and snapped a few pictures. I'm thankful for such an easy-going husband.
UPDATE 4/9/08: Here is a picture that my sis-in-law, Christa, took that shows Darrell at the finish line.


Rotating 72 Hr Kits - I've been getting in the habit of rotating our food and other items in the 72 hour kits every 6 months, around conference time. Salem gets quite excited to eat the food that I don't buy too often.

Mending - I've also made a habit of mending while I watch the Saturday sessions of conference. I mended tears on clothes and sewed on buttons. I felt like such a mom! :)

General Conference - My favorite was Elder Ballard's talk. He talked about Mothers and he even talked to the children! Listen to it here.

Olive Oil

My boys and I went to institute yesterday morning and talked about Jacob Chapter 5; the allegory of the olive tree. We talked about how olive oil represents Jesus Christ. There were a few points that I had never thought of:

Olive oil is used in many different ways. Each still represents Christ.
Healing - Jesus Christ heals us
Anointing - Jesus Christ is the anointed one
Food & cooking - Through Jesus Christ's teachings we are spiritually fed
Light - Jesus Christ is the light, we seek him in darkness
Preservative - Jesus Christ preserves our lives, he keeps us safe
Polish - Jesus Christ refines us

Jesus Christ bled from every pore in the Garden of Gethsemane (Gethsemane means olive press.)

This Easter may we think about Him and all that he is, not was.

1.78 pages

I just got home from church. I listened to my friend Lyndsey give a talk about being prepared. She mentioned about the challenge that our bishop gave us to the read the Book of Mormon this year. We were a given a reading schedule so you could finish by the end of the year. My family and I have been reading (as always) so I'm grateful for that, but I do know that I probably could be a little better at reading since sometimes it's just a verse or two.

Lyndsey did the math and figured out that if you started the Book of Mormon today and read 1.78 pages each day, you'd finish by the end of the year. She mentioned that we spend maybe 1.78 page reading time on our blogs, watching TV, or doing other things. :) (The blog part really hit home to me, but I didn't feel guilty since there have been many blog ideas left untold because I didn't have time to write them.)

So I challenge you to pick up the Book of Mormon today and read at least 1.78 pages each day.

Good treats at my house...

My small little family had family home evening tonight. Christa, my sister-in-law gave us a cute book for FHE from Gordon B. Hinckley's teachings. Today's lesson was on love. Salem is a very good listener and he answers the questions correctly, I'm so proud! Oaklen seems to understand that we're doing something. He's starting to fold his arms when we pray.

Salem got to choose the treat for tonight, guess what he chose? TOFU! Delicious...

New Calling

I got a new calling on Sunday...Primary President. It is the first primary calling that I've had, so it'll be interesting. If anyone has ideas for primary, bring em' on! :)

I've already started reading up on everything and I feel like I'm cramming for a test that happens on Sunday. I'm sure I'll do fine, the Lord knows it, I just need to realize it.