We usually choose a word for every conference session that if the children listen well and hear a speaker say it in their conference talk, we give them a piece of candy. But it's still so hard for them to focus and sit still. So I snagged some ideas off of Pinterest and printed off activity books. It definitely helped, though, still, it was more affective the older the child.
These were "Draw the Speaker" and "Name the Speaker" papers.
A questionnaire for each session.
Still, much of the time was spent like this:
But they all enjoyed it more this year! I know I did. I LOVE conference. President Monson's talk on obedience was my favorite. He quotes Joseph Smith who said:
“Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come. … The Spirit of truth is of God. … and no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth God’s commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things."
Then President Monson says,
"What
a glorious promise! “He that keepeth God’s commandments receiveth
truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things. There
is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fulness
of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel
unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted
our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God."
This talk has resonated in me for several months more than I could ever convey. There is no need to sail "uncharted seas" or to travel "unmarked roads" in search of truth. This isn't just not needing to be Christopher Columbus because he already found the Americas. We have no need to be on a desparate search for answers to life's deep or toughest questions. The answers flow to us as we study the gospel and live and obey its precepts.
We don't just have the gospel, we have the Living Gospel. It is living because of a current prophet and all the restored keys of the Priesthood. As we fill our lives with humility and discipleship and obey the commandments of the Lord, a living spring of never ending enlightenment fills us. You can see that light in others. And you can see it leave them.
I've learned for myself the truth of the principle of obedience through my life. Disobedience equates to a massive loss of understanding and security in the gospel and its teachings. It distances one from the fold and eventually from God, entirely. Obedience, even when life gets so hard and doing something more seems like too much, always yields blessings and enlightenment. It is always worth it.
Let me explain my most recent conviction for this:
This Spring has been incredibly hard for me. After my miscarriage last year, I never fully bounced back physically/emotionally/mentally from the fragile state it put me in. Stress just didn't seem to roll off like it used to. Even the little things. In the Fall I accepted a calling as Primary President of a very VERY large primary. Over double the next largest Primary in our stake and about 7 times the size of all the rest of the Primaries in the other wards. In less than seven months, I had 2 counselors move and one not only ask to leave the calling, but she left the church. This being a very dear friend of mine. I spent a lot of time feeling alone in weighty calling and very sorrowful for things transpiring within my friend.
Also at Fall's end and as holidays approached, Todd's business experienced some hiccups in the finance department (Todd's department). It put a lot of stress on Todd as head of that department and those individuals, and being an owner. It affected each of the owners in matters of stress, and financially, of course. Over a short time frame, their finance department is almost completely a new set of employees, requiring much more of Todd's time and energy at work to interview, hire, and train.
Then the usual stress, some good and some just draining, of the holidays and the hustle and bustle they bring about to prepare for. In December, I also (though thrilled to do so) hosted my entire family here at Christmas time. It was a BLAST. But in all the fun I didn't sleep much and I ate horribly, which always puts a different, and heavy kind of stress on my system than it does for normal healthy people.
Then the time away for Todd's calling early this year for Ward Conferences and trainings, and the extra things we were both asked to speak at or functions to help with.
Then the CrossFit Opens, a world wide open competition where each week everyone does a certain workout to see where they rank. Most people do it for fun, but the elite athletes do it to qualify for the next level of competition (Regionals) which qualifies people to compete at the CrossFit games. Todd signed me up. He has so much faith in me and thought I'd be excited and get into it. It shouldn't be a big deal but I just felt exposed to have my workout information and stats be public and felt so much pressure about how I'd perform. About the middle of the Open, trying to give whatever steam I had left to the workout competition of each week that the rest of my week would suffer, I got really sick and sort of crumbled. It was all around our crazy birthday season with all the cake, and birthday celebratory dinners eating out, and stress of shopping and making it fun and memorable for everyone. I look back and see how responsibility and stress and pressure caused such a rapid decline with all of this seeming to happen all at once. There was a number of other things too, but I'll stop there.
I started to spend more full nights awake, unable to sleep, than not. I started to get very weak and frail. My face looked grey and strained. My veins wanted to explode. My stomach was always in pain and so swollen. My whole body was inflamed. My joints were giving out. I would get weird anxiety/panic attacks over petty things. I dragged my feet wherever I went. I couldn't keep a thought. I forgot dozens of appointments each week. I'd walk into the gym and do a burpee and just walk out- exercise just became impossible. I dropped out of the CrossFit Opens. I went to a Dr. who did blood work and a variety of tests like x-ray, ultrasound, hidascan. When a basic blood panel was normal, they dug a little deeper. Ideas went from cancer, to just needing my gall bladder out, to auto immune disease, to adrenal fatigue. I even had a colonoscopy and endoscopy. I saw a variety of doctors. Every doctor felt I was in great health until I explained my symptoms. They'd go from rolling their eyes, to getting worried for me. It was a terrible roller coaster. And I was really scared.
Result: No one could give me a definitive answer. Perfect gall bladder. All other vital organs fine. I clearly had all the signs of adrenal fatigue, but only alternative doctors would diagnose me with it. A blood test showed I had a rare abnormal autoimmune issue, but nothing makes that particular issue any better and is something I would have had to have been living with my whole life, so it wouldn't suddenly be the main cause of my decline. It does explain why I am sensitive to stress and inflammation and have to eat so clean. I had inflammation in my stomach in the endoscopy like a person who eats really bad, but I don't know another living soul who eats cleaner than I do as I've attempted to deal with my irritated stomach over the years. Turns out my kidney floats around really low on one side (originally they thought it was a big tumor, yeah!), but it's my kidney, and they say it's not a problem. They just didn't tell me it was nothing to be concerned about for several weeks. Basically I was in and out of worrying I was dying!
Solution: I eliminated the unnecessary things from my life and I took it easy for a while. No facebook, no blog, fewer outings and activities, stopped working out for the time being, then slowly added in piddly things to loosen up once and a while. I incorporated the things they tell you to do for adrenal fatigue; getting to bed by 11:00, sleeping in until 9:00 as often as possible (kids never truly let me, but I tried), eating at certain times and certain adrenal supplements. Getting a "Myer's Cocktail" vitamin IV every week as well. And I tried to only allow positive influence in my life; conference talks, scriptures, happy movies, calming music, uplifting friends, etc.
BUT, while thinning out my life's responsibilities, demands, and drains, I decided to give my very best to my calling and my family. And not much else. I found that when I'd wake up early and go to Ward Council for my calling, I had the best mood and the highest energy I'd had in months. Or when I taught Sharing Time in the Primary or held a Presidency Mtg. or attended the temple, I felt completely normal the entire time. Obedience was providing blessings. And when I caught on, and began to not just do my calling but love my calling, I started to get better. I'm not 100% yet, but whatever it was that had me on my death bed only a couple months ago, is rapidly waning.
I can't say enough, how much I love having a living prophet. It means continued revelation and guidance for us. Not to mention our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is such an incredible individual whom I just adore. Conference is such a gift to have a slew of church leaders giving us something positive to chew on, to enlighten us more in our lives, rebuke us when needed, to build us up, and inspire us to be more.
I found a web site that offers Family Home Evening lessons based on the most current Church Conference talks, and we've been using it for FHE in our home this summer. It's been the best slew of FHE's we've ever done. We change them up a little to make them our own. Anyway our kids are loving it! If anyone is interested, here is the link:
We don't just have the gospel, we have the Living Gospel. It is living because of a current prophet and all the restored keys of the Priesthood. As we fill our lives with humility and discipleship and obey the commandments of the Lord, a living spring of never ending enlightenment fills us. You can see that light in others. And you can see it leave them.
I've learned for myself the truth of the principle of obedience through my life. Disobedience equates to a massive loss of understanding and security in the gospel and its teachings. It distances one from the fold and eventually from God, entirely. Obedience, even when life gets so hard and doing something more seems like too much, always yields blessings and enlightenment. It is always worth it.
Let me explain my most recent conviction for this:
This Spring has been incredibly hard for me. After my miscarriage last year, I never fully bounced back physically/emotionally/mentally from the fragile state it put me in. Stress just didn't seem to roll off like it used to. Even the little things. In the Fall I accepted a calling as Primary President of a very VERY large primary. Over double the next largest Primary in our stake and about 7 times the size of all the rest of the Primaries in the other wards. In less than seven months, I had 2 counselors move and one not only ask to leave the calling, but she left the church. This being a very dear friend of mine. I spent a lot of time feeling alone in weighty calling and very sorrowful for things transpiring within my friend.
Also at Fall's end and as holidays approached, Todd's business experienced some hiccups in the finance department (Todd's department). It put a lot of stress on Todd as head of that department and those individuals, and being an owner. It affected each of the owners in matters of stress, and financially, of course. Over a short time frame, their finance department is almost completely a new set of employees, requiring much more of Todd's time and energy at work to interview, hire, and train.
Then the usual stress, some good and some just draining, of the holidays and the hustle and bustle they bring about to prepare for. In December, I also (though thrilled to do so) hosted my entire family here at Christmas time. It was a BLAST. But in all the fun I didn't sleep much and I ate horribly, which always puts a different, and heavy kind of stress on my system than it does for normal healthy people.
Then the time away for Todd's calling early this year for Ward Conferences and trainings, and the extra things we were both asked to speak at or functions to help with.
Then the CrossFit Opens, a world wide open competition where each week everyone does a certain workout to see where they rank. Most people do it for fun, but the elite athletes do it to qualify for the next level of competition (Regionals) which qualifies people to compete at the CrossFit games. Todd signed me up. He has so much faith in me and thought I'd be excited and get into it. It shouldn't be a big deal but I just felt exposed to have my workout information and stats be public and felt so much pressure about how I'd perform. About the middle of the Open, trying to give whatever steam I had left to the workout competition of each week that the rest of my week would suffer, I got really sick and sort of crumbled. It was all around our crazy birthday season with all the cake, and birthday celebratory dinners eating out, and stress of shopping and making it fun and memorable for everyone. I look back and see how responsibility and stress and pressure caused such a rapid decline with all of this seeming to happen all at once. There was a number of other things too, but I'll stop there.
I started to spend more full nights awake, unable to sleep, than not. I started to get very weak and frail. My face looked grey and strained. My veins wanted to explode. My stomach was always in pain and so swollen. My whole body was inflamed. My joints were giving out. I would get weird anxiety/panic attacks over petty things. I dragged my feet wherever I went. I couldn't keep a thought. I forgot dozens of appointments each week. I'd walk into the gym and do a burpee and just walk out- exercise just became impossible. I dropped out of the CrossFit Opens. I went to a Dr. who did blood work and a variety of tests like x-ray, ultrasound, hidascan. When a basic blood panel was normal, they dug a little deeper. Ideas went from cancer, to just needing my gall bladder out, to auto immune disease, to adrenal fatigue. I even had a colonoscopy and endoscopy. I saw a variety of doctors. Every doctor felt I was in great health until I explained my symptoms. They'd go from rolling their eyes, to getting worried for me. It was a terrible roller coaster. And I was really scared.
Result: No one could give me a definitive answer. Perfect gall bladder. All other vital organs fine. I clearly had all the signs of adrenal fatigue, but only alternative doctors would diagnose me with it. A blood test showed I had a rare abnormal autoimmune issue, but nothing makes that particular issue any better and is something I would have had to have been living with my whole life, so it wouldn't suddenly be the main cause of my decline. It does explain why I am sensitive to stress and inflammation and have to eat so clean. I had inflammation in my stomach in the endoscopy like a person who eats really bad, but I don't know another living soul who eats cleaner than I do as I've attempted to deal with my irritated stomach over the years. Turns out my kidney floats around really low on one side (originally they thought it was a big tumor, yeah!), but it's my kidney, and they say it's not a problem. They just didn't tell me it was nothing to be concerned about for several weeks. Basically I was in and out of worrying I was dying!
Solution: I eliminated the unnecessary things from my life and I took it easy for a while. No facebook, no blog, fewer outings and activities, stopped working out for the time being, then slowly added in piddly things to loosen up once and a while. I incorporated the things they tell you to do for adrenal fatigue; getting to bed by 11:00, sleeping in until 9:00 as often as possible (kids never truly let me, but I tried), eating at certain times and certain adrenal supplements. Getting a "Myer's Cocktail" vitamin IV every week as well. And I tried to only allow positive influence in my life; conference talks, scriptures, happy movies, calming music, uplifting friends, etc.
BUT, while thinning out my life's responsibilities, demands, and drains, I decided to give my very best to my calling and my family. And not much else. I found that when I'd wake up early and go to Ward Council for my calling, I had the best mood and the highest energy I'd had in months. Or when I taught Sharing Time in the Primary or held a Presidency Mtg. or attended the temple, I felt completely normal the entire time. Obedience was providing blessings. And when I caught on, and began to not just do my calling but love my calling, I started to get better. I'm not 100% yet, but whatever it was that had me on my death bed only a couple months ago, is rapidly waning.
I can't say enough, how much I love having a living prophet. It means continued revelation and guidance for us. Not to mention our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is such an incredible individual whom I just adore. Conference is such a gift to have a slew of church leaders giving us something positive to chew on, to enlighten us more in our lives, rebuke us when needed, to build us up, and inspire us to be more.
I found a web site that offers Family Home Evening lessons based on the most current Church Conference talks, and we've been using it for FHE in our home this summer. It's been the best slew of FHE's we've ever done. We change them up a little to make them our own. Anyway our kids are loving it! If anyone is interested, here is the link:
Can't wait for October Conference!
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