* Sickness was our companion this week. Nathan started throwing up last Sunday after church and was sick for 4 days! Dad was sick for one day (he stayed home from work on Monday) and then both Aubrie and Ben came down with fevers and nausea later in the week (thankfully never vomiting!). And August didn't feel quite well for most of the week.
* We had snowfall on 3 days this week. The heaviest of snow days was on Easter.
* Mom got her hair cut
* Heidy and Tony came over for Easter dinner :)
* General Conference weekend! I LOVE Conference weekend and I LOVED gathering together as a family and hearing the words of the Prophet and Apostles!
In Our Homeschool This Week...
* Math: telling time, addition, subtraction, multiplication, patterns, story problems, even/odd
* Science: Animal disguises, Study of lots of different animals including Falcons, Kangaroos, Cheetahs, Butterflies, Elephants, Polar Bears and even the extinct Tasmanian Tiger. Chemistry study included: States of Matter, Atomic and molecular structures, Chemical Reaction Rates, Catalyst, Polymers, Acids and Bases, and fun science experiments to solidify our studies.
* Language Arts: Spelling, Vocabulary, Sentence Structure, Independent reading, Read Alouds, Vowels (long and short), Silent E, Nouns, Mad Libs (parts of speech)
* Writing: Blogging (the girls spend time each day adding several new posts to their blogs! They have loved working on them), Novel Writing, Typing, Handwriting
* Art: Card Making, Digital Designing on the computer (in Paint), Cutting, Gluing, Coloring, Creating many, MANY Easter Cards, Designed and made their own Easter headbands (complete with bunny ears).
* History: Albert Einstein
* Enrichments: Daily reading from "How Do I Know if I Know?", Holy Week, Scriptures, Singing
My heart is so full! It is full of joy, peace and happiness. I know that God loves me personally and wants me to live with him forever that He gave his only begotten son so that I could. He did that for you, too. Jesus was perfect. One without sin and blemish. It is only he that could break the chains of death and bridge this world with the next. I am so grateful that he did this! I'm so grateful for the knowledge of his love for me! I'm so grateful that the Atonement makes it possible for second chances, for enabling powers here upon earth and for making Eternal Life a reality. I want to live my life that shows my love for Him and my gratitude for Him. I want to make Him happy by my actions - by following the commandments, by being grateful, by being a patient and loving mom and wife, by serving in my calling, by living the gospel! I'm so grateful that I can be with my family forever! I'm thankful that I get to spend each day with my children and teach them of things beyond academics. This week, we spent time each day learning about Holy Week and how Christ spent his final week on earth - starting off with Palm Sunday and why it is called that.
Monday we studied about how it was the day that Jesus cleansed the Temple of all the merchants and money changers.
Tuesday was the day he taught the people - mostly by parables
Wednesday (also known as "Spy Wednesday") was the day that Judas made arrangements to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of Silver.
Thursday was a celebration of the Passover and also the Last Supper - where Christ instituted the Sacrament.
Good Friday was the day of his crucifixion.
Saturday he spent teaching the people in the spirit world before overcoming death and Rising on this glorious Easter Morn!
This morning after seeing what goodies were filled in our Easter Baskets, we reviewed each day of the week and finished up by watching several videos depicting this miraculous event! I loved having this special spiritual time with the kids and being able to bear my testimony and witness of the truthfulness of these events. There was such a calming and peaceful feeling in the room and we talked about how those feelings are witnesses given to us through the Holy Ghost to let us know that what we are learning is true and good. It was such a beautiful morning and one of the most precious Easters I can remember!
--------------------------------------------------------
I couldn't end without a few thoughts on Conference! My Favorite thought from Saturday morning's session was:
HE does not FORCE us to believe, He INVITES us to believe. The decision to believe may be the very most important of any we will make in this life.
Belief is something we CHOOSE - it does jot just HAPPEN to us....
And finally, our actions are the evidence of our belief. ♡♡♡
AND... my favorite talk was by Wilford Andersen (given on Saturday afternoon) titled THE MUSIC OF THE GOSPEL. He began his remarks with the story of a young doctor who was asked by an old Native American man, “Do you dance?”
The doctor replied “no” and then asked, “Could you teach me to dance?” To which the old man responded, “I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music.”
“Sometimes in our homes, we successfully teach the dance steps but are not as successful in helping our family members to hear the music,” Elder Andersen said. “And as the old medicine man well knew, it is hard to dance without music.”
Quoting section 8 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which reads, “Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart,” Elder Andersen explained that dance steps are learned with the mind but music is heard with the heart.
“The dance steps of the gospel are the things we do; the music of the gospel is the joyful spiritual feeling that comes from the Holy Ghost.”
Elder Andersen then spoke of ways to ensure that gospel teachers are instilling a love of the “beautiful music of the gospel.”
First, members must keep their lives attuned to the correct spiritual frequency. “Parents, if our lives are out of tune with the music of the gospel, we need to tune them up,” Elder Andersen declared. “We exercise faith in Christ, repent, and take the sacrament, we feel more strongly the influence of the Holy Ghost, and the music of the gospel begins to play again in our lives.”
Second, members must seek to perform “the music of the gospel” in their homes, without force or compulsion but “only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, … by love unfeigned; [and] by kindness” (D&C 121:41–42).
“Why would these attributes lead to increasing power and influence in a home?” asked Elder Andersen. “Because they are the attributes that invite the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. … When they are present, the dance steps will be performed more naturally and joyfully by all of the dancers in the family, without the need for threats or intimidation or compulsion.”
To those who struggle to hear the music of the gospel in their homes, Elder Andersen advised, “Keep practicing. With God’s help, the day will come when the music of the gospel will fill your home with unspeakable joy.”
-------------------------------------------------
I think this particular talk touched me because I spend time each day teaching the kids the gospel as part of our daily Enrichments and even though I'm teaching them "the dance" - if they don't hear the music for themselves (or are personally converted) then they could stop dancing altogether. I need to remember to keep myself tuned to the correct spiritual frequency so that I can help them hear the music! I just loved this analogy and and was very inspired by it! Overall, I feel so uplifted and so grateful for the counsel and direction that was given this weekend in all of the talks!
No comments:
Post a Comment