Abrahamic Covenant 101

I came across this great resource that explains the Abrahamic covenant with illustrations.  We used this for our family home evening lesson last week.  It is very insightful for all of us!

P.S.  With this above storybook link, you have to be patient for it to load.  It won't show up right away on your screen because it's working.  Here is the direct link to her blog.

FHE - Harvesting & Pie in a Jar

For FHE, we each made our own pie in a jar - totally from scratch (the filling and crust)!  The kids had a lot of fun. We put the pies in the oven and then harvested the rest of the onions and red potatoes out of the garden.  By the time we were done, our pies were ready to be eaten!  The lesson was on the law of the harvest as well as Porter's message of bringing others unto Christ.  Last week Corbin gave out another Book of Mormon to a friend at school (he plans on giving out another soon) - he is our example of sharing the message of Christ with others.

 Looks like I caught Porter in action.  We had fun making our pies.

 Even Jr. was helping us in the garden.  I grew broccoli, but never harvested it...it all went to seed!

 I have some acorn squash still growing.  Aren't they so cute?

 We have Roma tomatoes galore.  I am going to can them!  Any ideas?

 Porter and a chicken

Olivia and Jr.  He wasn't being cooperative for the photo, I couldn't get him to look at me.

 The pigs are enjoying the corn stalks.

Parenting and Food Storage Classes

I am taking three of Mary Ann's classes this month, one parenting class and two food storage classes.  The parenting class is titled "Teaching Children to Work".  I hope my children are learning to work.  Our family night lesson this week came straight out of the Gospel Principles handbook, chapter 27: Work and Personal Responsibility.  After our mini-lesson we had the opportunity to work in the yard.  We worked at burning the piles of weeds that Paul and the boys gathered.  Our new property is definitely going to teach us all how to work.  There is much more work to be done!  Next is learning to love work. The lesson mentioned that "one way to enjoy life's fullest benefits is to learn to love work."

Here are some great quotes on work:
"Work is to be reenthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership." -- Heber J. Grant

And David O. McKay said, "Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that the power to work is a blessing, that the love of work is success."

I just need some kind of system so that I am not nagging or reminding them all the time of what to do.  I want them to act for themselves and not to continually be acted upon. At least that is the goal! 

Then I am taking two food storage classes, including:  1) Mix it Up with Grains and 2) Cooking with Beans.  I love her food storage classes because she really knows what she is talking about.  Each class is $5, with the option of buying a small book for $10.  If you are interested in joining me, check out her website, Mary Ann's Cupboards, here for more information.

Service FHE with Countdown to Valentines

 Tami, my sister, called this afternoon and gave me a great family home evening (FHE) idea that we used tonight.  She told me how to make a countdown to Valentines Day.  Basically each day there is a heart with a service idea for them to do and some candy to eat.  The kids helped put them together for our FHE activity and then we had a little lesson on service.   They are excited for the candy and hopefully catch on to the idea of serving each other.  Olivia and Vivian even went the extra mile tonight and let us each order a couple items from their menu for our treat.  They were very happy to serve the family and they look forward to doing it again!

The Menu

 

Corbin chose chips and my favorite, strawberry milk!

Great FHE Book

My friend, Jody, shared this great book with me. I just bought it last week and taught the first lesson. I think it is an awesome book because it directly follows the "For The Strength of Youth" pamphlet. It breaks each topic down into a lesson with fun activities, treat idea, and stories. You will have to check it out at Dessert Book and see if it is something your family would enjoy, too!