* August arrived safely back home from his visit to Boise. He reported that he had a wonderful time and misses Boise.
* John and Mike VanBibber drove to Minneapolis to a RUSH concert on Tuesday and returned home on Wednesday. He had a blast!
* Seth had a dentist appointment - 1 cavity
* The girls had a follow up Dental appointment to have Sealants put on their back molars
* Mom went out on Relief Society visits with the Presidency to welcome new Sisters that have moved in.
* The Newman kids came over for a playdate
* Mom and dad decluttered their closet and it looks/feels GREAT!
* Mom gave Ben a haircut
* Dad and the older boys attended a Youth Fireside at the church
* Dad had a YM Presidency Meeting
* Ben attended a Deacon/Beehive movie/game night activity
In Our Homeschool This Week...
Another typical week of learning and growing and having fun together!
We did have a (successful to me) Enrichment this week on the Atonement (that I found on the "Latter Day Mommy" Blog). I had read in 2nd Nephi where Lehi is about to die and is giving final advise/wisdom to each of his sons and when he is talking to Jacob, it struck me that the things he is teaching his son are the same things I should be teaching the kids. One of those "things" was the Atonement and how that is truly the most important thing for us to learn and understand (and teach)! We actually talk and teach of the Atonement regularly but I was impressed that we should be spending even more time on this and so I've decided to dedicate 1 Enrichment each week to the Atonement (I recently concluded a 2 month study of the Atonement and there is soooooo much to learn about!). Anyway, I came upon this really neat object lesson that we did to explain the Law of Justice and the Law of Mercy, and how the Atonement fits into this (it’s kind of deeper doctrine that can seem a little abstract but I think the visual we did helped solidify the concept to the kids). We started out by emphasizing the crucialness of the atonement, by painting a picture
It’s important because, if we truly understand the needfulness of the atonement, it makes us more likely to exercise the faith and repentance necessary to make the atonement work in our lives. But if its importance doesn’t sink deeply enough into our hearts, we’re likely to take it for granted and not be as motivated to take the steps to apply the atonement to ourselves.
God abides by the law of justice. This is His law.
The law of justice is like the law of gravity or any other law of physics. When you walk off a diving board, there’s a natural consequence. When you put a pin through a balloon, it pops. You can’t avoid the consequence- it’s inevitable. Likewise, if we sin, there is a punishment: separation from God’s presence, because “no unclean thing can enter into the presence of God.” (1 Nephi 10:21)
Let’s suppose for a minute that there were no atonement. If you made a mistake, even once, in your life, you would be banished from Heavenly Father’s presence forever. You blew it- no second chances. That’s how the law of justice works.
(To demonstrate this, I had two balloons and popped one at this point as the kids threw out some sins - dishonesty, saying bad words, being mean to each other, stealing, etc).
Thankfully, there is an atonement. We all have sinned, but because of the atonement, there is a second chance. The law of mercy can balance out the law of justice.
(We then put a piece of masking tape on the 2nd (blown up) balloon and then I stuck the pin through the balloon where the tape was - the tape prevents the balloon from popping).
I explained that the tape represented the Atonement and is what protects the balloon from being “exposed to the whole demands of the law of justice,” just as Jesus Christ, through his atonement, stands between us and justice, if we will take advantage of his atonement.
We finished up by emphasizing that even though Christ atoned for our sins– if we don’t repent and take the steps required to access God’s mercy, it’s as if there were no atonement made and that not repenting of our sins is like having the masking tape right in front of us, but not applying it to our balloon. It is then exposed to the whole law of justice because there is no safety net. The atonement takes absolutely no effect in our lives if we neglect to do our part.
The kids then took turns demonstrating this (by poking pins into balloons). I think it really connected a visual to what they were learning in a way that hadn't happened before!
Kids Say...
Aubrie must have been contemplating how/why onions make you cry because out of the blue one day this week she said:
"Mom, I know what we can do so that onions don't make us cry."
Intrigued by this, I asked her how. She replied:
"We just get all of our tears out before we start cutting up the onions!"
Upon further questioning from me on how we can do that - she didn't have a clue!
Spiritually Speaking...
I was woken up extra early on Friday morning (even earlier than when I get up to make sure August and Seth are up for Seminary) to Ben standing beside my bed (which very much startled me!). Anyway, he said that he had woken up in the middle of the night and had been up ever since because he couldn't fall back to sleep. He then said that he'd had a really neat spiritual experience that he'd been waiting all night to share with me (of course this had me up and alert in no time!). He then went on to say that as he'd been lying in bed, he started questioning if the church was true or if the prophet was real and also felt like he should repent for some things he'd done (saying mean things, etc) and so he knelt down beside his bed and started praying. First he started off by repenting but then went on to tell Heavenly Father that he wanted to know if the church was true and he said then his heart started burning and his ears and face were burning and he felt a huge adrenaline rush. He said he felt like someone was beside him and he felt so much love and happiness. As he was sharing this experience with me, I was just so happy for him and so filled with love myself! I encouraged him to write down his experience so that he could reflect on it throughout his life - he asked if I'd write it down as he spoke (and then we both decided it'd be nice to put here in the blog for his family and posterity to read). Here is what we recorded of his (newly found) testimony that morning in his own words...
* I feel that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet
* I feel that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet for the world today
* I feel like the Book of Mormon is true and that I should read it with my family and also by myself
* Heavenly Father only wants the best for me
* I felt like I need to be more of a role model and to know when to be funny and when to be serious
* I should help others - even if they're mean to me
* I should love everyone - even the sinner - but that doesn't mean I have to love or support the sin
* I have a purpose and the Lord has things for me to do
* I need to help others by sharing my testimony
* I need to go on a Mission because it's what the Lord wants me to do. There's people that need to know the truth and that's why I need to be a Missionary and baptize people.
* I should encourage August to go on a Mission
* I need to repent daily. We all do stuff daily (even things we may not remember) that we need to repent of
* I need to be respectful of my parents
* This life is just a test to prove my worthiness
* I'm in the right path and I need to continue on it
* Heavenly Father wants me to be respectful
* I need to be more responsible and be nice to everyone no matter what
* I feel SO much happiness and like I just got a Thousand Dollars! No... like a Billion Dollars!
* I always want to feel such peace and happiness inside! I never want it to go away!
We talked about how that feeling was the Holy Ghost being his constant companion and as long as he didn't do anything to offend the Spirit then he would always feel that love, peace and joy. We finished up by talking about that even if he does mess up and the Spirit leaves, that he can always repent and the Holy Ghost will come back into his heart to help him throughout life. He was so excited after chatting with me about everything that we then went and woke up dad and told him everything that had happened! It was truly a priceless and precious moment that I was able to share with Ben!
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