ALL of His Daughters Matter

Here we go again!  It's the week of General Conference!  Since we have General Conference Book Club at our house every week, our kids are never quite sure when the actual General Conference is upon us.  So, they end up asking every week or so "Is this week General Conference??" 

Well, it's finally here, and we are so excited!

You can see all our General Conference traditions and activities here if you are looking for ideas~!  

And at the request of a reader: You can download and print off the General Conference review activity that you see Scarlett doing in the picture above.  Just go here.  It coincides with our Apostle Name Board which Scarlett is demonstrating below! (She just loves to play teacher!)

To see Scarlett demonstrate how we use our Apostle Board click here.  

We kicked off General Conference by attending the General Women's Meeting with my girls.  Although Scarlett and Autumn are not 8 years old yet, they begged me to let them to go.  Guy has been attending the Priesthood session with his Dad for quite a few years, so now it's the girls' turn to have a special night out with Mom!

Because we had a birthday party to attend in the same area as our stake center building, we ended up making a special DAY out of it.  Trust me when I say, there was no other way.  I wasn't trying to make a big production out of it, but because of the distance and travel time involved and the timing of the b-day party, we ended up with over four hours to fill between our first engagement and the special dinner/broadcast.

But the girls ADORED it!  

Although the girls said the whole day was awesome, I'm going to guess that getting their hair done at the salon in the mall was one of their favorite parts.  Since they were dressed in dresses (rare thing to see little girls that way these days on a Saturday afternoon) the women in the salon just oohed and ahhhed over them and gave them the royal treatment.

Since there was a Friendly's in the mall, we went there for lunch/dinner.  I shared with the girls how when I was a teenager we used to go to Friendly's for ice cream after church dances.  They just had a ball being silly.  It was a girls-only "Yes Day!"

When we finally did make it to the broadcast, the men served us a spaghetti dinner in the cultural hall.  It was neat how they made sure that the "little women" felt welcome.  They went out of their way to speak to them, and every detail included them, such as paper table cloths and crayons on the tables for the girls to doodle.

I felt such a spirit of love and gratitude.  As we sang the opening hymn, I just bawled.  I felt the spirit so strong.  

During the meeting, we bore testimony in spirit, in action, and very much through music and song.  The decision to have all of the women singing together so often during the meeting was brilliant, inspired, and powerful.  It brought the Holy Spirit, and it united us.

I know that the Lord loves his daughters...all of them.  It touched my heart that the Lord would gather his daughters like this and build us up.  He knows what our lives are like, and to protect us and strengthen us, he has drawn us to one another and to him.  During the course of this special meeting, our leaders managed to do some profound things:  break down walls, help us realize our importance, give us a sense of how much the Lord loves each of us individually and collectively, and pour out the spirit upon us.  He also gave us the opportunity to model all of this in front of our children.  

In a world where I think womanhood really takes a beating on a daily basis, where I feel children and elderly are severely undervalued and often discarded, I felt my hope renewed as the Lord, through his servants, demonstrated to us that ALL OF HIS DAUGHTERS MATTER to Him...and they should all matter to each of us as well.

As a friend and I were walking out of the chapel, I stopped before stepping into the foyer.  There was so much happy chatter...such a sense of love and joy and unity and excitement.  It felt a little sacred to me, like times I've seen people happy in the temple, so I just stepped back into the doorway to take it all in, to soak up that sound of happy women rejoicing in the Lord.  Their angelic voices and beautiful smiles...what a delightful night.  I am so grateful to be a daughter of God...in His kingdom here on earth!  We are so blessed!