I missed a couple of weeks, but we made it up the canyon each week.  I have been trying hard to find new things to cook.  One time we made biscuits in a paper sack that had been sprayed with grease.  They were good, but under cooked.  Then I brought a can of baked beans this last Monday and we cut up our hot dogs in it.  The boys gobbled that right up!  I took the opportunity to talk to Jeremiah about peer pressure one night and then another night John read a scripture from Alma, about learning wisdom in our youth and talked to Jeremiah about why its important to learn things now, while he's young.

They both still love to get out their boats each time, and are starting to feel at home in the canyon.  I am getting better and better at starting a fire, and finding things that we can cook together.  I am trying to get my hands on a dutch oven, so I can try my hand at some of those recipes.  Let me know if you have any favorites, I'd love to try them out!

Wild Boys!!

We didn't make it up the canyon tonight.  After dinner we told the boys we were going to sing a bunch of what they calll fun songs.  They love to sing fun songs!  So we get the song book and before we even started they were bouncing off the walls!  So we sang fun songs, but cut it short because they were both being so anoying!  So after a short lesson on not lying, I went outside to make sure they got some of their ya-ya's out, and John stayed inside with James Henry. 

And that was it.  Jeremiah was interested in the lesson, and sat still for it, but caleb was running around like a wild banchee!  So outside we went.  I felt like it got cut short and like jeremiah didn't really get it, but that's how it goes sometimes.  I have to remind myself that they still get something out of it, and they still hear what is being said, even though they really don't seem like it.  I know its important to have family home evening!

The next couple of weeks topics

Went up the canyon tonight with my parents, and my sisters family.  So much fun!!!!  But amid all the craziness, and every one fighting for a spot over the fire to cook their sish ka bobs, the kids playing in the river, caleb getting a small gash in his leg,  Tash and Kevin dissappearing for a while, going on a little hike, we were still able to pull of a short lesson.

With so many people there I just explained a bit about our boats, and then said that we are talking about things that can pull our boats into the whirlpool.  Jeremiah seemed very excited to name all the parts of the boat and share with everyone what they meant. 

We went around the circle and everyone said something that can pull our boats away from the right path.  So here is our list of topics for the next couple weeks....

Stealing/robbbing
Not keeping the word of wisdom
Peer pressure
Lying
Selfishness

John took Monday off and we went up the canyon early.  We were going to just take it easy and relax and enjoy our time together, instead of feeling in a rush to make the fire, cook the hotdogs, cook the smores and go.  It was very nice to be more relaxed about the evening.  When we got up to the picnic area, we built a fire and played around.  We had just gotten a new dog, so it was a lot of fun to take her with us.

Then we remembered that we needed hotdogs, so John took Caleb and James and Jeremiah and I stayed with the fire.  I took the opportunity to chat with Jeremiah about some of the things that are bad and that can lead our boats into the whirlpool.  We even practiced what he could say if he found himself in a situation that was bad.  Then he he played with the dog and I just enjoyed the quiet noises of nature.

Overall it was a very good evening, and the canyon is becoming like our second home!  I love taking the boys out, it is the perfect place for them to learn so much about life and enjoy doing it!  The new dog loves to go too!

Wholesome Recreation

We took the boys up the canyon tonight for hot dogs, and mallows.  It was tons of fun!  They got to throw things in the river, throw things in the fire- get covered in dirt and ash, and cheetos  :)  Towards the end of the evening I told Jeremiah that we had been talking about the things that we can do to keep our boats going the right way.  He mentioned some too.  Then I told him that we would now start talking about the things we need to be careful of that could pull our boats in the wrong direction.  His interest was piqued!  On the way home he asked me a couple times what those things are and he wanted to start talking about them right now- not next week.

I am so glad that he is enjoying this and 'getting' it.  I love to see him thirst for more and be excited about Family Home Evening.  Next week we will talk about peer pressure and making sure the decisions we make are our decisions and not our friends decisions for us.

Making time!

I am going to pick up John early today, so that we can have Family Home Evening together, instead of him talking to the boys while I finish dinner.  I think we'll go up to the canyon and have a campfire!  The boys love that and what a great way to incorporate nature into "wholesome recreational activities".  What do you do make sure your family has time together?  Post it here.

The Lookout!

Last nights family home evening was about people in our lives that can help us stay on the right path.  John pulled out the boats again, and called the boys to come inside.  Caleb went into the bathroom to wash his hands, and by the time we got to him the bathroom floor was soaking wet!!  So while John took care of that mess, I finished up dinner and set the table and talked to Jeremiah a little bit about the people in our lives.  Heavenly Father has given us people to help us make right choices and that we can go to if we ever need help.  Then I asked him if he could think of anyone that can help him, his first answer was President Monson, perfect!  His second answer was parents. 

After we discussed those two answers a little bit, we talked about other people, teachers, grandparents, etc.  Then once John was finished up with Caleb's huge mess, and even bigger fit, he talked about the 'crow's nest' of the boat, and how people stand in there and can see out farther and can see more then the person driving the boat, and can warn the driver if there is any danger ahead.  Jeremiah is really liking the boat analogy part of family home evening.

After dinner and family home evening, we were getting ready to read books for bedtime, Jeremiah chose his book called 'ships' and we were able to identify the different parts of the ship and how it compares to our lives.  Then we read the story about the titanic, and how it ran into the iceberg that wasn't caught in time.  I am loving this theme for our family home evenings!  So glad Pres. Monson shared that story in conference!   

Using The Scriptures To Keep Our Boats Afloat

So for the scriptures family night, we gathered around the table, dinner was still cooking, and got out our boats.  We reminded Jeremiah that the boats are like our lives.  He was excited to share what he remembered about the boats and how they are like our lives.  Caleb was, as usual, interested in other things.  My husband shared a little about the scriptures and where they came from and how we got them.  He also talked about the role they can play in helping us keep our boats on the right track.  How the scriptures are kind of like a compass or road map (which Jeremiah loved, he likes maps).  We discussed that the spirit is very strong in our lives when we read the scriptures, and when the spirit is strong, God can communicate to us which way we need to go on our map.

While Caleb doesn't have any interest in sitting down and listening right now, I am confident that setting up the pattern of family home evening will help him gain an interest in being involved more.  As we follow the spirit about what our family home evenings should be he will soon begin to understand and hopefully will have picked up bits and pieces, even though he is not sitting down and listening right now.

Our Theme for Family Home Evening for The Next Couple Months

Family Home Evening turned out great!  We made little boats that helped keep the boys attention while we talked to them about all the different things we have to help us stay close to God.  Some of the main points we talked about are prayer, scriptures, general conference, leaders, and parents.

Jeremiah (5) seems to be understanding what an analogy is because of this lesson.  When I asked him the next week what we have to help us keep our boats going straight, he responded "Do you mean the boat, or our lives"?  Little Caleb (2) likes playing with his boat and is just learning how to say his own prayer.  It was a good lesson for him to hear us talking about prayer and how prayer can help him and be a positive thing in his life.

This lesson is great way to start a theme for your family home evening that can last for some time.  The next week we got out our boats and added a keel to them.  We compared this to prayer.  We read some scriptures about prayer and talked more about how prayer specifically can help us keep our boats going in the right direction.  For older children you can include the story of Alma the younger and how the prayers of his parents were answered, or Joseph Smiths first vision.  God does hear and answer our prayers- what a wonderful lesson to teach our children, for they will not always turn to us for help and answers.  It is a great feeling to be able to give them the right tools for navigating the waters of life!

Next week we will talk about scriptures and what role they can play in our lives to help us make right choices and stay close to God.

Pres. Monsons talk with the story about making boats as a child.

We watched the talk again for FHE and will make little boats next week, and then talk about all the things we have been given to help keep our boats afloat, and out of the whirlpool.

Christmas

I have often seen terrible things happen to people right at Christmas time.  The loss of a job or a fatal car accident, or a sick family member.  My heart has ached for them..."how hard it must be to find joy in Christmas when your world seems to be falling apart around you". I would think.  I often wondered what could possibly be done to alleviate their suffering, what could I do to replace their sorrow with some Christmas cheer?

And now here I am, with a father battling cancer right in the middle of the Christmas season.  Now I am faced with the challenge of finding some Christmas cheer while dealing with something so devastating.

Some neighbors brought over a nice card and some perfectly made Christmas treats.  It was so nice to be thought of, yet these nice things did not contain true Christmas joy. We decorated the house and put up some lights, these too, while they were fun and brought a smile, did not contain the real Christmas spirit.  Where could I find the true Christmas spirit?

One day as I was making my way through traffic and highways to the hospital I began to think about Christmas.  I wondered if having my father in the hospital enduring so many physical pains would ruin my Christmas.  How could it not?!  How could I focus on the decorations and the lights and the wonder of the season with my heart so heavy?  Each time I tried to focus on what gifts to get my kids or how nice our neighborhood looked with all the lights and decorations, my mind would always turn back to my father, laying in a hospital bed.

Then my mind wondered to the story of Christs birth.  How hard it must have been for Mary!  Riding a donkey while 9 months pregnant!  The sorrow she must have felt as she watched Joseph get turned away at the Inn.  I wondered if she cried.  Then to be led to a barn!!  I can see the picture in my minds eye, but I can not imagine how she felt.  I thought of Christ, His birth, life and death.  Only through Him can we over come the sorrows and heartache of this life.  Wait...what....Only through Him!  Not through presents and lights and shopping and decorated trees.

How could I let my father being in the hospital ruin Christmas?  When Christmas is, in fact, in place to give hope over sorrow, pain, death, heartache, sin.  Then I realized I was celebrating the wrong things.  I had not been celebrating Christ.  I had missed the whole purpose of Christmas!

To let such a devastating thing 'ruin Christmas' would indeed smack at the very meaning and purpose of Christmas.  Because of this season there is hope for a better one.  Through this Christmas season we gain a small glimpse of a better more exalted season.

Don't get me wrong, I've heard the cliche.  Christmas is all about Christ, or giving, or thinking of others.  While it is those things- do we let the American traditions, or even the ones of giving, take our focus of the savior?  Do we truly remember and celebrate Him at Christmas?  It is too easy to let concern over the tree and the gifts and the lights and the shopping, etc distract us from Christ.

And so its laid out before us, the challenge to truly focus on Christ.  What traditions might need to be removed in order to prevent them from distracting us from Christ?  What things need to change so that our time and our thoughts are freed up to allow Christ to fully become what Christmas really is all about?