Morning Messages Are your mornings as chaotic as mine? Everyone running around trying to get ready in time to go here or there? Seems like that is much of today's society in general. However, there is one time that can be an eye of the storm to your mornings...breakfast! It's more than just the most important meal of the day. It can be one of the most important moments as well! Add a little Morning Message and it's become a chance to set a positive tone for everyone's day before they enter the chaos of the world!
I used to read while I ate my breakfast. As a kid it was the comics from the newspaper or of course the riveting text on the back of the cereal boxes. When I grew older I used the time to study the scriptures since it was one of the few solitary, peaceful times of my day where I could really concentrate and contemplate. Then, I had children...At first it was easy to keep that routine since I only had one baby and she was usually nursing or sleeping while I ate breakfast. Then, she grew older and I felt kind of guilty for ignoring her while I read and ate. She wasn't old enough to converse with either, so I was no longer sure what to fill the breakfast conversation/study void with. Then, one day I realized that just because she wasn't old enough to converse, didn't mean she wasn't old enough to listen. So, I ordered my first copy of the inspirational children's magazine, The Friend, and began reading an article a day with her. Little did I realize that she was ACTUALLY listening and learning from these articles at a very young age! It was amazing to me, and continues to be as we've added more children to my home. Thus the birth of our Morning Messages. Each morning we read a message from The Friend Magazine, sing a song to align with it (which I usually choose on the spot--no prep here! and the songs can be listened to and downloaded for free HERE!), and have a mini-discussion about the topic of the day (which is based on whatever the next article is--again no prep!). It's become our morning ritual and daily devotional. Something I plan to continue as my children get older, just with messages then from The New Era youth magazine. Even my little toddler who can't fully utter the words, begs for Morning Messages, pointing to the magazine when I forget!
Scripture Stories Anyone with toddlers and pre-schoolers at home understands the struggle to get a few moments of peace while you take a shower and get ready for the day. At the same time, I'm always looking for ways to instill values while my children are still young and largely influenced by home life and teachings. At our house we kill two birds with one stone because of the awesome radio program I found called Scripture Stories! It is basically an audio-recording of a book-club done by children where they read and discuss scripture stories from the New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and Old Testament (yet to come).
You can find them on the Mormon Channel links HERE! The pictures on this page that do not say Mormon Channel are the links for the picture stories that they are studying in their "book club." As a mother, I love this program for the spiritual development it helps to produce in my children. As a former elementary school & college teacher I love it because of the comprehension skills it develops as well! It's exactly the kind of discussion I used to do with my students and has innumerable lessons in communication skills and reading comprehension development! Most of the programs are anywhere from 20-30 minutes long, and afterwards my children watch the video of the scripture story that goes along with the discussion they just listened to. If your children struggle with the auditory, you can have them follow along in their own copy of the scripture stories books (for visual learners), or play something like blocks while they listen (for your kinesthetic learners). Family History Friday
Since there are only so many articles in the Friend Magazine, and we didn't have enough for every weekday of the month, I decided to supplement with
stories from our ancestors on Fridays, or show my kids some things from
familysearch.org. It has already
become a favorite as they love looking at pictures and hearing stories from
their ancestors! When it is the
week of a grandparent or great-grandparent’s birthday then I make sure we study
them that week and incorporate their favorite foods and activities throughout
that Friday! It’s a work in
progress but I love it already!
This last week we studied my grandma since it was her birthday and
we played dolls, board games, and sewed just like she loved to do. I forgot to get her favorite foods, but
it was a fun day for all of us and brought back some great memories for me!
Family Home Evenings
If you don't already, set aside one night a week (we do Mondays) to have a little spiritual thought or lesson followed by a family activity and of course a tasty treat (my children's favorite part...okay maybe mine too! :))This Website has some incredible resources for teaching your children just about any topic you can imagine. You can search by topic to find lessons, activities (both on and off the computer), videos, images, you name it!
These four things are so simple and basic, but they can make a world of difference in the spirit and feeling that permeates your home! Try them out and let me know how it goes for you!
When I served in the Primary Presidency we did about one big activity a year with the kids. Since I did this one before I started the blog, I sadly don't have any pictures of the activity to share! :( However, it was one of the favorite ones in my book so I wanted to share it for those of you serving in the Primary to use if you want to! I spent a lot of time putting it together so I'm all about sharing the love and saving time for others! Especially with the Primary theme this year centered around Jesus! This activity is a walk back in time with characters from the New Testament dressed up and telling their story in the first person! There are four stations and each one involves a first person account of an encounter with the Savior, a discussion, and an activity or handout to go with the topic!
Check out the links below for all the details to teach your children about the Savior in a fun and memorable way!
A couple of summers ago my Primary Presidency put together this outdoor activity for the kids at church to have fun and learn about how to strengthen their testimonies. I don't have a lot of details written down, or pictures since I hadn't started this blog yet then, but I thought I'd share what I do have in case anyone would like to use our ideas! We dressed up as drill sergeants and had the kids marching in rows, chanting from station to station as they went! We had four stations for the activity and when the kids arrived we divided them into Platoons with two Primary teachers in each group as their captains.
These are the stations we did:
Obstacle Course:Overcoming the obstacles of life through our Savior, Jesus Christ (We walked them through the obstacle course with a short lesson before doing it. Talk about how sometimes life is easier, sometimes more difficult...and sometimes we just can't do things on our own. Have one part of the course where they HAVE to have help by a priesthood holder to get through it and talk about how the Savior can help us through those times.)
Drills:Testimony Relays (For this you can have them do a small relay of your choice with an Article of Faith they have to recite, scripture to read, or something like that as part of the relay. Let them help each other if they get stuck and talk about how sometimes we need each other to help strengthen our testimonies.)
Make A Title of Liberty:Standing for Truth in the Wars of Life (These were made out of wooden skewers and small pieces of white cloth...a short lesson given on the Title of Liberty and then they were given markers to create their own Title of Liberty representing what was most important to them). Letters to Missionaries:Supporting Your Comrades (A short mini-lesson on the importance of supporting and helping each other before writing a letter to the missionaries from our ward.)
At the end we all met up at the "Mess Hall" for closing remarks, prayer, and a treat! Mess Hall:Feasting on the Word of God: CTR Shield Cookies Here are all the files if you want to use them:
Tis the Season for Goal Setting! Okay, so I have to be honest today! I'm a TOTAL slacker this year when it comes to setting goals. I'm six months pregnant with my third and have hit survival mode with life in general, so although I've written my goals for this year (generally), I have yet to even hit the print button on my computer and make them official yet! And it's almost February!!! Well, now that my confession is out of the way...fellow slackers UNITE! If you are like me and haven't taken a moment or two to set your new year's resolutions this year, then this post is for you! If you have, and have already fallen off the bandwagon, this post is for you too! If you've set your goals and are already working like a mad-man/woman on them then good for you, and maybe these ideas will help you keep those goals past January! :)
Here are 5 Tips to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions Going Past January!
1. Put it on Paper So here's another confession since I seem to be in the mode for that today. I used to never write down my goals. To be honest, I figured if I didn't write them down or tell anyone about them, then if I failed, no big deal; only I would know and no one would be the wiser for it! Now you're probably wondering how those goals went for me...yep, you guess it! I failed miserably at most of them! It's a true fact that most goals that are not written down and shared, are also not accomplished and achieved! You sew what you reap...and reap what you sew when it comes to goals. A difficult to accept, yet true fact of life! And don't just write them down and tuck them away somewhere! You need to display them so that you will see and read them frequently. My solution was to put them up on the wall of my bathroom. After all, as a mother there are few places I actually sit and think these days, and sadly that's the most peaceful of them! :) (Even if little fingers are often found creeping under the door). You mothers know what I mean! It's one place you will visit frequently and always need good reading material, so why not have it be your goals?! :) 2. Keep it Minimal One of the biggest mistakes we make in setting goals is that we have too many. As I've looked at many goal sheets over the years, I've discovered they often have at least ten or sometimes more places for goals! In my opinion, that's way too many to keep track of! And you know what that means...they just don't happen! Choose four or five categories and narrow your goals down to those. In my house we put our goals into four categories:
Intellectual
Physical
Spiritual
Social
These are based off of the scripture found in Luke 2:52
"And Jesus increased in wisdom (intellectual), and stature (physical), and in favor with God (spiritual) and man (social)."
I figure if the most perfect person that ever lived could categorize his improvements in four areas of life then certainly I don't need to go searching for more! It's enough just to try to do that!
3. Make Them Measurable and Specific Far too often we set our goals so generally that even we don't know if we've really achieved them! I used to always set goals like: eat more healthy, read more books, exercise more, lose weight, be more patient with my kids, etc. This not only sabotages your goals, but can lead to discouragement, thinking you haven't succeeded when perhaps you've made more progress than you even realize!
Instead set goals like: eat a full serving of vegetables at every lunch and dinner, only have one or two desserts a week (one portion size), read five books this year, exercise five days a week, lose ten pounds, play with my kids individually for 15-30 minutes a day, etc. These goals can be measured and are more likely to be achieved. 4. Break it Down My husband helped me with this because he is quite the organized goal setter! One year we worked together to develop a goal sheet to help us track our progress throughout the year on our new year's resolutions. After we've written our four main focus goals for the year, then each month we sit down and write a monthly goal that will help us grow closer to achieving our goal for the year in that category. Then we break it down even further into what we are going to do each week to reach that monthly goal. Don't fill in all the weeks at once!!! Do one week and then at the end of that week, assess how well you did and what you need to do to improve the next week. Some goals will carry over for several weeks as well. Here is our goal sheet if you'd like to print some for yourself! Just click on the picture and it should take you to the free download!
If you have a weight loss goal, my husband also developed this sheet which you can click on and print to help you along your way. The lines on the left are to record weight goals in five to ten pound increments (each square up is another pound). The numbers at the bottom represent days of the month. You put a dot at your weight each day and then connect the dots to make a line of progress throughout the month. The lines and boxes at the bottom are to write and record progress on small goals such as: exercise, drink 8 glasses of water, no desserts, no eating out, full serving of fruit and vegetables, etc.
5. Don't Give Up! So you messed up one day, or one week, or one month...that's okay! Too often we see small failures as reasons to throw in the towel! I do this all the time, saying things like, "Well, I already ate brownies and ice cream on Monday so I guess my whole week is shot, might as well have dessert every day!" This is SO not true! Just because I messed up today, or was too busy, or forgot, does not mean it's over! Just as is quoted in the beloved Gone With the Wind, "Tomorrow is another day!"
New years are not the only new beginnings! God has given us the gift of sleep...(praise him for that!)...and thus renewal each morning of a NEW day! Don't let yesterdays failures determine tomorrow's destinies! With the help of those we love, and especially the help of the Lord, we CAN do anything that is worth doing!!! May the force be with you! :)
Who
doesn't love the magic of the Christmas season? Twinkling lights,
delicious treats, beautiful decorations, carefully wrapped packages,
peaceful music, time with family and friends, and the wonder-filled eyes
of children. However, it saddens me that so many dread the season
these days because of the hectic craziness that shopping, parties, and
unfulfilled expectations have brought upon it. So many have forgotten,
as it's said, "The Reason for the Season!" It's not about presents,
Santa, or black Friday deals at the local shopping center. Christmas
began in a humble stable and should be remembered and celebrated with
the same quiet, humble, and peaceful love that it began.
I,
like most of you, am guilty of getting caught up in the busyness of the
holiday season, and forgetting its true purpose and meaning. That is
why I set a goal a few years ago to make something different of the
season, beginning with my decor, and continuing on to the way I count
down each moment leading up to the big day. This has not only impacted
my own perspective, but my hope is that it will shape the way my
children and their children celebrate the season that is Christmas! As
much as we love Santa, he's not the man in red I want them to focus on! :)
So,
with no further adieu, I share with you some of my favorite ways to
count down to CHRIST-mas! After all, the word "mas" means more in
Spanish, so shouldn't we have a little more Christ in our homes this time
of year?
I
hope that you find these ideas helpful as you strive to bring the
spirit of Christ back into the Christmas season in your homes and your
thoughts.
A Video A Day
I put together this video compilation of some of my favorite short Christmas videos a few years ago for my family and friends. I have now uploaded it to Youtube so that hopefully others can benefit! Please share it with anyone you know!!! Watch one a day with your family starting December 13th all the way to Christmas!
Day 1: Dec. 13th The Christmas Spirit 0:00 Day 2: Dec. 14th The Coat 4:01 Day 3: Dec. 15th An Angel Foretells Christ's Birth to Mary 6:16 Day 4: Dec. 16th Mary & Elisabeth Rejoice Together 10:26 Day 5: Dec. 17th Look To The Light 15:35 Day 6: Dec. 18th The Christ Child Is Presented At The Temple 20:12 Day 7: Dec. 19th Mary & Joseph Travel To Bethlehem 22:07 Day 8: Dec. 20th Shepherds Learn Of Christ's Birth 24:18 Day 9: Dec. 21st The Wise Men Seek Jesus 27:12 Day 10: Dec. 22nd Wise Men Still Seek Him 32:55 Day 11: Dec. 23rd The Old Shoemaker 36:33 Day 12: Dec. 24th A Gift To The World 40:05 Day 13: Dec. 25th Good Tidings Of Great Joy 49:21
He Is The Gift Website Check out this website
for awesome videos, stories, and information about the Savior for you
and your family to learn, watch, and study together. It's AMAZING and
answers so many questions you or your children may have about Jesus
Christ and Christmas!
Countdown to Christ Calendar
I
can take no credit at all for this idea...I found it on Pinterest of
course! However, I couldn't find exact dimensions I needed so I had to work
through trial and error to make mine. Here is the link for the
beautiful calendar I found on Pinterest (I wish they could have just
sent me one because I honestly like theirs better than mine!), and here
are the dimensions and details of how I made mine, in case that's
helpful for any of you out there!
*Board 20" X 25" MDF Wood painted a brick red with a glossy spray on laquer coat on top. *The word Christ is on a separate board of wood 3" X 15" hung 3.5 inches from the top of the large board painted a sage green. *The white swirly stuff behind the Christ sign is some lacy-type scrapbook paper I had lying around that I mod podged on before nailing on the Christ sign, to add some dimension since mine was lacking! *Nails are started 3/4in. down from the Christ sign and 3in. from the sides. They are spaced 3.5 inches apart from the middle of each nail to the next one and end 3 3/4 in. from the bottom of the board. *Each square is 3in square and cut from a thin MDF then drilled holes in the tops. I also painted them white before I put on pictures and paper so if there was any border it would be a pretty one. *The fronts are just scrapbook paper cut down to 3 in squares mod podged on with a vinyl number in the corner. *The pictures on the backs I bought from Deseret Book. This is the most expensive part of the project as some were about 50 cents to a dollar each. I did 2-3 layers of mod podge to get these to stay after cutting them down to 3 in. squares. *Just make sure to give plenty of dry time to all layers! You don't want to go to all of that work to have it stick together and ruin your beautiful pictures!
The baby socks
have a story or scripture for each day (along with a small treat of
course! :)) and are just numbered with vinyl numbers. I looked for cheap socks for FOREVER and finally found them here. They are out of stock now, but who knows if they will come back. Some of the socks also have a small nativity character in
them for special days when we do a character study of a different person
in the nativity. After we study each character, we add them to a small
nativity that will be completed by Christmas. This is an idea I got
from an AMAZING book called A Christ Centered Christmas. I highly
recommend it! It's a quick read with awesome stories and activities to
do with your family to help them to draw closer to Christ.
Names of Christ Star Ornaments
This
was also an idea inspired by A Christ Centered Christmas, but the ones
you can purchase were silver and I wanted mine to stand out on my tree a
bit more. Mine are very simple, but I love how they make me think of
the Savior just a little bit more whenever I look at my tree! Remember,
He was born in a very simple, humble place! My humble stars remind me
just a little bit more of that place, and that perfect child!
I
bought the wooden stars (20 of them) for about 30 cents each, had my
husband drill holes in them and then painted them yellow with a silver
sparkle glaze (I made the mistake of doing the glaze after the letters
though and messed up a bunch of them because it smeared the paint!
Sadness!!! So, IF you glaze, do it before you write!).
To
put the words on them I just printed the names of Christ on a sheet of
paper in a font I liked and traced it onto the wood (the wood was soft
enough that tracing indented the words on the wood). After the wood was
indented with the name, I just used a permanent black marker to trace
it. Thread them with ribbons and you're done!
Kid-friendly Nativities
Some
of my favorite memories of Christmas time are of an old Nativity that
my mom gave to me to play with. I would spend hours playing with the
figures and recreating the Christmas story. Far too often a Nativity is
a touch-me-not decoration in our homes. And yes, I have one of those
too. However, I think it's so important to teach our children that the
Savior is not this distant being that we cannot get near. He is our loving brother and friend! He is accessible and as close
to us as we allow and want Him to be. What better way to teach that to
them than giving them access at a young age to those figures that tell
the story of His birth. A small thing that can really create a fond
memory and feeling.
Yet
again, I got this idea from Pinterest at this site, with a little variation according to what I could find at the craft store and then just used scraps of material
to make the clothes for the little wooden nativity. I am NOT very
creative and crafty on my own to be honest. I mean, the glue gun and I
have a love/hate relationship, leaning more towards the latter! My
sister-in-law did the sheep for me which were pretty awesome I thought!
I would have just glued on a bunch of cotton balls and called it good!
I can't tell you how to recreate the wise men hats (sorry!)...they just
kind of happened as I attempted to take needle and thread to a small
scrap of fabric (this was huge for me since I don't even own a sewing machine!). I could never do it again, but I'm glad they turned
out okay! My husband used his engineering skills and made the stable
and manger out of popsicle sticks and a glue gun after my daughter
insisted Jesus have a stable. He has a similar relationship (and scar) with the
glue gun after that experience but it turned out pretty awesome I think! Oh the sacrifices we make for our children! :)
Fisher Price also has the cutest Nativity that we just bought last year on sale and my
kids love it just as much! I probably would have never made the first
one to be honest, had I been able to find it at a reasonable price when I
was looking, but now you can even find them in Wal-Mart and Target for
around $30!!! So worth it!
Are your mornings as chaotic as mine? Everyone running around trying to get ready in time to go here or there? Seems like that is much of today's society in general. However, there is one time that can be an eye of the storm to your mornings...breakfast! It's more than just the most important meal of the day. It can be one of the most important moments as well! Add a little Morning Message and it's become a chance to set a positive tone for everyone's day before they enter the chaos of the world! 
