Scripture of the Week: Job 19:25

"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth"
Job 19:25

Since this was the last Monday of December, I thought I would get in one more Christmas themed lesson. We used this wonderful handmade nativity set (a treasure from my husband's parents) to talk about Christmas activities of our ancestors. My sister-in-law Amy shared some wonderful Christmas stories of our ancestors on her blog. I printed the stories, cut them into individual segments and taped a different story to a different piece from the set. We then took turns choosing a piece, reading the story, and arranging the scene. For the remaining figures I wrote one of the following:

-Sing Away in a Manger
-Share a Christmas memory from your life.
-Sing Silent Night
-What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
-Job 19:25

It was a nice way to wrap up our Christmas season (and make use of the nativity set before I pack it up tomorrow!).

Scripture of the Week: Luke 2: 8-11

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luke 2: 8-11

Our Family Home Evening tonight focused on the symbols of Christmas. We mostly just followed this lesson from Chocolate on my Cranium. I gathered up the objects we would be talking about (a bell, candy cane, wreath, star, angel, candle) and let my children take turns drawing them out of a bag. Then we talked about its meaning, read the scripture, and sometimes sang a song.

Scripture of the Week: Isaiah 9:6

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6

We started our Family Home Evening night by watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional from last evening(since my girls were already in bed when it was originally broadcast). We watched it while eating dinner, and then I printed off these Christmas coloring pages to keep the girls occupied as we listened to the conclusion.

For our activity/lesson we learned about the many different names of Christ. Using the scripture list from this blog, we read the scriptures and then wrote the name for Christ on a green strip of paper. Then we stapled the strips to form a paper chain to display during the week.

Scripture of the Week: Mosiah 2:17

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
Mosiah 2:17

During the month of November we have really tried to focus on serving others and showing gratitude for our many blessings. For Family Home Evening tonight we carried out a family service project. We went to the church building, Clorox disinfecting wipes and spray in hand, and sanitized all of the nursery toys. With all of the flu germs going around, I had heard that our nursery leader was cleaning the toys every week, and I wanted to give her a week off!

This turned out to be a great project for our family, since my small children could easily participate by wiping down the toys. As we discussed the above scripture, the Ant Bug was happy to learn that by helping the nursery children and workers, she is really helping Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Scripture of the Week: D&C 59:7

"Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things."
D&C 59:7

The Ant Bug said that she wanted to teach the Family Home Evening lesson tonight, and I thought that was a great idea. She wanted to talk about Thanksgiving. The only problem was, after we got through the opening song and prayer and turned the time to her to teach the lesson, she burst into tears. She couldn't remember what she wanted to say. So after some consoling, we had a very random "Thanksgiving themed" conversation ranging from things we are thankful for to turkeys to our 6 ancestors who came across on the Mayflower. The funny highlight was when the Ant Bug mentioned "Cilantro" (aka Squanto), the Native American who helped the pilgrims. We ended with a discussion of the above scripture and a reminder to be thankful!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 17:10

"The Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted."
Alma 17:10

We had a pretty low-key FHE tonight, reading and discussing a few stories from the November 2009 Friend magazine. We read Showing Sorry and did the maze on p. 30, then we did the Making Your Home a Holy Place activity on p. 32. We finished off by reading No Bad Dreams (which is where the scripture came from) and the ideas for combating fears in Feeling Scared?

Scripture of the Week: D&C 98:1

"Fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks."
D&C 98:1

This week for Family Home Evening we read a story from the November 2009 Friend magazine, My Gratitude List. After discussing the story, we created our own Family Gratitude List. We used a piece of large butcher paper and together we either wrote or drew pictures of some of the things we are grateful for. We also used FHE idea #3 (from the back page of the magazine) and talked about how having a grateful attitude can make our bad days (days that make you feel like saying "Grrrrrrrrr") go away.

Then we enjoyed some homemade lemon ice cream, something for which we are all grateful for!

Scripture of the Week: Galations 5:13

“By love serve one another.”
Galations 5:13

President Monson's talk from this past General Conference was one that really touched me and has left me pondering how to apply his teachings. Titled, What Have I Done for Someone Today?, President Monson encouraged us all to ask ourselves that question daily and do something to help another person. His talk was the subject of our FHE lesson tonight, and I also drew a lot of ideas from this lesson at The Family Home Evening Spot.

I shared the story of Dr. McConnell and the question his father asked him every night: "And what did you do for someone today?" Then we discussed President Monson's birthday wish, and how primary children all over the world responded to his hope. We decided to start our own warm fuzzy jar, which we will work on filling up this month as we find ways to serve others. To start us off tonight we drew pictures and wrote a letter to family members who live far away.

Scripture of the Week: Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

In the last month my entire family has been sick with something. Nothing terribly serious (mostly coughs and runny noses and some fevers and ear infections) but enough to be annoyed by all the sickness. So I saw this great lesson on staying healthy at Family Home Evening Planner and decided it was just what we needed tonight.

I gathered each of the items pictured above and used them as props to discuss the following ways that we can work at staying healthy.

Hand soap--wash hands with soap and water, rub the soap all over the hand surface for as long as it takes to sing the ABC song (this included a demonstration!).

Hand sanitizer--rub a dime sized amount of cleanser all over the hand surface until it evaporates (this also included a demonstration and practice run!).

Toy food--eat healthy, nutritious foods and limit sweets.

Toy dishes--don't share dishes, food, or drinks.

Medicine--use medicine as needed (but only when Mom or Dad give it!). Keep a supply on hand for emergencies.

Pillow--get enough sleep.

Tissue--use a tissue to cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, or use your arm and not your hands (another demonstration and practice run).

We also talked about the importance of getting regular exercise, but I didin't have an object for that.

I chose this scripture for the week to remind us of the additional strength that we can receive from the Lord. I certainly want to "run and not be weary"!

Scripture of the Week: 3 Nephi 13: 23-30

"Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;
And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith."
3 Nephi 13:28-30

For Family Home Evening tonight we celebrated the birthday of our Sweet Bee, but we still had a brief lesson. We chose a scripture to discuss that has her name in it! We talked about the meaning behind the scripture and listened to the beautiful arrangement of Consider the Lilies performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. If you like that song, you might be interested to read a little background on how it was written.

Scripture of the Week: D&C 4:4

"For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;"
D&C 4:4

This scripture was chosen to go along with our Family Home Evening lesson on missionary work (specifically ways that we can be missionaries now). We played a game that I created for a Sharing Time last year, and ended the evening off with some silly magic tricks from Dad and Grandpa.

Scripture of the Week: D&C 64:33

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."
D&C 64:33

For Family Home Evening we talked about General Conference and some of the things that we learned. This led to a discussion about families and things that we like about each member of our family.

I have been thinking a lot about this scripture and thought it would be a good one for our family to focus on this week.

Scripture of the Week: Amos 3:7 (again)

“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
Amos 3:7

We spent our Family Home Evening this week preparing for General Conference. We used this lesson again to talk about what a prophet is. Both girls had fun playing follow the leader, and then we played Where's the Prophet? To round out the evening we ate ice cream and watched our favorite Mormon Messages videos on YouTube.

Scripture of the Week: James 5:16

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.”
James 5:16

Our Family Home Evening lesson tonight was on the theme of "I Will Say I'm Sorry". The lesson I used was a compilation from the following three sources:

Behold Your Little Ones, Lesson 16
Primary 1, Lesson 29
LDS Nursery Color Pages

Make mistakes—say I’m sorry
-drop something
-hold picture upside down
-call child the wrong name
-spill crayons/paper

Explain that as we are growing up and learning to choose the right, sometimes we make wrong choices. These are not just mistakes like putting a picture upside down; these are times when we do something that is wrong, something that Heavenly Father and Jesus and our parents do not want us to do. By making wrong choices, we may make ourselves and other people unhappy.

Show a picture of Jesus Christ (Nursery manual p.106). Jesus taught us how to be happy. Saying kind words can make us happy and it can make others happy; when we make a mistake or do something that isn’t nice, we need to use these kind words: “I’m sorry”. Invite the children to say “I’m sorry”.

Sometimes we make mistakes. Saying “I’m sorry” makes you feel better and makes the bad feeling go away.

Sometimes we do things that make other people feel sad. Saying “I’m sorry” makes them feel better.

Introduce scripture of the week (James 5:16).

Show the picture of Nephi building a ship (Nursery manual p. 70). Tell story of Nephi and his brothers building a ship.

Remind the children that when we say “I’m sorry”, we can be happy and help others be happy. Invite the children to say “I’m sorry.”

Use a smiley/frowny face puppet.
-You push somebody (frown). How do we make him smile? Say “I’m sorry” (smile)
-you take a toy away
-you hit your sister
-you spill your water
-you break a toy
-you won’t share

Have the kids color and then decorate the bear with “I’m sorry” band aids.

Scripture of the Week: Family Proclamation

"The family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children."
The Family: A Proclamation to the World

For Family Home Evening tonight we talked about our family tree and ways that we can help our family to be strong. I used this file on Sugardoodle for our activity, which had two parts. I opened the file in Publisher and made three copies of the page. On one of the pages I removed all of the words from the fruit. On another page I removed the words from the fruit and instead added the names of our immediate family members and grandparents names. The other two pages I kept the same. After printing the four pages I cut out the fruit names and one set of the fruit activities, leaving me with two sheets of papers with trees on them. For our FHE we glued our family members onto the blank tree, and then played a matching game to glue the family strengthening activities on the other tree. It was an activity that kept little hands busy while we talked, and it went over well.

Scripture of the Week: Alma 37:34

"Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls."
Alma 37:34

For Family Home Evening tonight we had a discussion about the importance of family work. We're implementing a new plan for chores for the Ant Bug, and giving her the option of choosing some extra jobs (ie. washing windows or cleaning doorknobs) to earn her own money. Then we can have lessons on tithing and saving and the value of money. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Scripture of the Week: Matthew 16:19

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Matthew 16:19

Our Family Home Evening focused on the temple. We played the game from the August 2009 Friend magazine and talked about how we can prepare to go to the temple. Then we watched this Mormon Messages video.

Scripture of the Week: Luke 22:19

"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me."
Luke 22:19

This scripture was chosen to go along with our Family Home Evening Lesson adapted from Lesson 27: The Sacrament Helps Me Think About Jesus Christ in Behold Your Little Ones: Nursery Manual.

Scripture of the Week: Exodus 20:8

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
Exodus 20:8

This scripture was chosen to go with a Family Home Evening lesson on keeping the Sabbath day holy. I used this suggestion from the 2009 Outline for Sharing Time and the CSMP (July, #4).

"Display a large weekly calendar that has Sunday marked or highlighted. Ask the children why Sunday is special. Discuss the history and importance of the Sabbath day. Help the children memorize Exodus 20:8 (see “Memorization,” TNGC, 171–72). Play a sorting game. Prepare a list of Sabbath activities and then add a few other activities that would not be suitable for the Sabbath. Invite a child to read one idea and place it on an appropriate day on the calendar. If the activity honors the Sabbath, be sure that it is placed on Sunday. Repeat for each activity. Testify of the blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy."

I used the visual aids found here for the sorting game, and the activity went well.

Scripture of the Week: D&C 136: 28-29

“If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.”
D&C 136: 28-29

We chose this scripture to go along with our Pioneer themed Family Home Evening Lesson. This scripture is the word of the Lord given through the Prophet Brigham Young to the pioneers who were camped at Winter Quarters in January, 1847.

We shared the story of Edwin Pettit, one of our ancestors who, when faced with opposition, dressed up as girl so that he could join his sister's wagon train that was leaving Nauvoo and heading west.
Then we did this Pioneer Treasure Hunt to learn more about pioneer life. After our treat we finished up the evening with some good old-fashioned stick-pulling.