Teaching Principles

This little boy turned three months old yesterday!  Can you believe it?  I can and I can't.  Time is a strange thing!  Coy Boone is doing great!  He is a lot of fun, happy, and healthy.  We spend most of our time together and have a lot of sweet moments.

My other boys Val (22 months) & Guy (age 12) are still totally in love with each other and the new baby.  I'm excited for them and happy that Guy finally has a boy crew to run with, despite a major gap in age!  

It's certainly been a huge learning curve to figure out how to parent a young man now.  It always seems to take time to adjust to new stages of life, and I'm still not sure what surprises he's going to throw our way from day to day, but I'm grateful to know that the Lord knows our kids even better than we do, and I know He's there to help when I don't know how to approach things.

This was proven again to me this week when I had a situation that needed to be addressed.  I wasn't sure what to say or do, and I was pretty sure I didn't have the answer within me, so I prayed for help.

As I did so, the answer came that I needed to teach principles (as opposed to simply reiterating policies) and that that would be the best approach for all of the children.

Last week, in my FHE report, I talked about how Family Home Evening has been such a powerful tool for our family in uniting us.  This week FHE, while not being quite as light-hearted, was definitely useful as we learned principles that if applied will help our children grow in character and their understanding of Jesus Christ's Atonement at work in our lives.

I know that by taking my questions to the Lord, He was able to help me respond with wisdom and love and to help my children use their agency to grow, mature, and change for the better, as we all must do in this life.

Oh, parenthood!  You are such a mixed bag!  But I am learning as I go!  I am sure that you are too!

Ok, one last order of business!  

I have a post up at Power of Moms' blog this week.  If you have a moment, please drop me a comment over on my post called "Total Eclipse of the Fun."  They do a great job of creating a positive conversation about Motherhood, and I'm sure my readers would have a lot of great things to add to that conversation, so go check it out!

Now, bring on February!

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I Prayed that She Would Feel the Spirit

This past Saturday, we had an opportunity to attend a fireside with Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, the General Young Women's President and Sister Bonnie H. Cordon , 2nd Counselor in the General Primary Presidency, as well as Elder Kuntz who is our area authority.

All of the youth age 8 and up were invited to hear them speak, but because our family had been out on a big adventure for the better part of the day, half of my kids were less than excited about going to a fireside, no matter who was there!

My most excited child was my four-year old, and technically, she wasn't even invited.  So I ended up driving in to Pittsburgh with just Scarlett (my 9 year old) and Honor (my 4 year old) to hear these church leaders speak.

Scarlett was in such a bad mood about it.  She kept writing me these angry notes saying, "I want to go home.  I'm leaving. I don't like it here." etc, etc.

I said a silent prayer, "Please, help her to feel the Holy Ghost at some point this evening."

I know how she felt, frankly I was tired and a little bored too, not so excited to sit and listen for almost 2 hours, but I listened hard to the things they were presenting and tried to actively participate while simultaneously trying to keep my 4-year old daughter from licking her hand and pulling up her dress! 

Still scowling, I wasn't sure if Scarlett was picking up anything from the talks.

One of the things that I latched on to was when Sister Cordon asked us to sing "I am a Child of God" and then discuss principles taught in the song.  She said that someone in another meeting suggested that the line "He has sent me here," meant to them that God has sent each of us HERE (for a reason)...not just to random places on this earth, but to specific places, and that he has a plan for us and a work for us to do.  I am eager to learn what our purpose is HERE in Pittsburgh!  It's still a mystery to me!

After the meeting, we almost rushed out, but I decided to see if the girls were interested in meeting the speakers, which we usually do if we can when an authority visits.

Scarlett suddenly seemed excited about this, so we walked up to the front and met both Bonnies and Elder Kunz (who we've met before).

I put out my hand to shake, but both women prefered to hug, which I thought was really different and sweet.  They were so warm and friendly.  They embraced my girls right away.  They talked to the girls mostly, not to me, and made them both feel so special.

From that moment on, Scarlett was different.  She was seemingly glad she came, she was excited about recanting some of the stories that she heard, and of course, they were more than happy to go out for milkshakes late on a Saturday night before returning home.

I'm not sure that Scarlett will remember much of what was taught from the pulpit during the fireside, but I suspect that she will always remember how these women made her feel.  I too was impressed with how warm they were.  Later, we took a picture with Sister Oscarson sitting on the couch outside of the chapel.  I can't believe how casually I spoke with her.  I kind of wish I had been more prepared and thought of some great question to ask her or compliment to pay her, but what an example she was to me of being approachable and showing love to all, even little children.

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So Many Twists and Turns

After my previous post, I was really thinking we were on the upswing of this whole moving process and that things would just continue to get better, and maybe even easier.  So, imagine my surprise when I realized Friday morning that my children had been locked out of our apartment for nearly two hours in 20 degree weather, because I didn't realize it was a 2-hour emergency delay at school!!!  

Nothing was normal that morning. We were completely out of our routine, and by the time I was ready to leave for our 8:30am appointment to walk-through our newly framed house, my husband had already allowed the children to run down to the bus stop.  Somehow, I did not receive the text or voicemail that I normally get from the school district notifying me of a delay, so while we were touring our, albeit cold, soon-to-be new house, my kids were cold and alone trying to seek shelter in a carboard box house that they had worked together to build and insulate with packing paper on our patio!!!

When I realized the mishap, I was horrified...horrified!!  If there was a school delay, then where were my kids???  I rushed home, calling the school on my way. I ran down to our apartment, and, upon seeing their cardboard hut adorned with backpacks and schoolbooks, I smiled for just a moment at their ingenuity.  

But they were no where to be seen, so I started calling their names.  They came out of the storage area where they had gone to get warmer, and they were crying with relief that I had finally come home. I was so sad for them and all of us collectively, and it just brought all the sad/moving feelings up to the surface all over again!

I really felt awful and beat myself up about my failure of my poor babies, but as I've stepped back from it, I've realized that I think the Lord had a purpose in allowing this situation to transpire.  He could have stopped it from happening.  He could have warned me, as he has done so many times in the past, but he didn't, and in the process, the children learned many important things.  

They learned to survive on their own, to work together in a scary situation that they had not considered previously.  They shared their mittens with each other. Scarlett shared her lunch with the other siblings. Guy watched over and kept everyone calm and gathered materials to build the shelters as Autumn read books.  They prayed together twice for help and peace. As a result they learned compassion for others, as they now want to give their money to help homeless people! Scarlett shared in her testimony today that she knows that when we pray God won't just leave us alone, He will comfort us: another hard-earned piece of wisdom. 

I am so grateful that they were all safe and no one got frost-bite.  And I'm sure this was a wake-up call for me also to fill in some holes in our emergency plans which we obviously never updated upon moving (such as giving all of the children keys to our new residence, etc.)

Another thing that helped settle my mind about this situation was an experience that happened the day prior.  

I had spoken with a new friend of mine who was pretty devastated that a house they hoped to buy was probably going to fall through because they discovered too many repairs that the seller didn't want to fix.  I felt compassion for her.  Her growing family is getting too large for their current rental, she is about to give birth, they already told their rental property they were moving, and now the house they wanted isn't going to work out.

As I went home that afternoon, this woman's name kept coming to mind.  Even as I baked (for my own enjoyment) her name kept coming up.  So I texted her, finally, and offered to take her daughter so she could get some things done (or nap~!)  She declined.  

I found myself accidentally putting too much sugar in my recipe so I had to double it.  I suddenly had more than enough Easter bread to share, so as soon as it came out of the oven, my daughters and I raced across town to deliver some bread to her family. The promptings were even so specific that I was to give her more bread than I was planning.

It wasn't a big deal, but we instantly felt a good feeling when we left her house!  

In church, she bore testimony today that she knew the Lord loved her and knew her, because he prompted three women in the ward to reach out to her, even with just a text asking to take her daughter, and that she was so grateful that these women followed those promptings.  I knew what she said was true because I had experienced it.  

The Lord does know her name.  I know this because he whispered it to me over and over again until I got the message.  He wanted me (and others) to go show His love for this woman.  

Because I know He knows her name, I know that he knows mine.  And because I witnessed him making things happen for one of His daughters, I know that he could have easily notified me of my mistake missing the two-hour delay...but he didn't.  And it's ok that he didn't.  It's just one of those things that happens.  Sometimes the Lord saves us from mishaps, sometimes he allows us to experience the hard things, because He knows the end from the beginning.  There are reasons we experience hard things.  It doesn't mean He loves us any less because he allows us to go through hard, even heartbreaking things.  

Quite the opposite.  It means that He loves us more.

PS - Here's a little look at the inside of our new house.  Two of my sisters were so kind to call and make sure that I was ok after my incident with the kids. My younger sister knew I was upset, but she still took the opportunity to laugh at the irony that while my kids were taking shelter in a little carboard box, we were touring our new home.  Well, it was freezing there too because there is no power yet, but still!  Funny!  So, here's a look at our sun room. I'm excited about the view and look forward to moving in mid-May.

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Unfreezing Our Frozen Hearts

It's been six weeks since we moved here to Cranberry Township, PA...just outside of Pittsburgh.  Six weeks of being crammed in an apartment.  Six weeks of sickness.  Six weeks of trying to find a new routine and learning the ropes at school.  The children have been missing their friends a lot, so I decided it was time to head home for a quick visit...only I didn't tell them!  It was a total surprise.

Our old hometown Lewisburg, PA has a fun Ice Festival every February, and the kids and I have been going for years.  I wasn't about to miss it.  Turns out it was a great opportunity not only to hug our friends and blow off steam, but also to step back and realize how far we've come in six weeks and how much we've each grown.  My favorite moment was watching Scarlett jump into the arms of her friend who was also totally surprised to see her come for a visit.  (I'll share that video on my Facebook page!)

It was so refreshing.  There is something about being in a familiar place that is very rejuvenating.  It's hard being somewhere where everything, even driving to the grocery store takes a lot of brainwork. It's exhausting.

But being home and knowing that their friends are STILL there for them was good for the children.  And for me.

Lately, Scarlett has been writing uplifting messages and leaving them for us to see.  Yesterday, during church, she stood before the congregation and said, "I know that when I'm going through hard things I can pray to Heavenly Father and he will help me through."  That's something we can all gain a knowledge of as we face our individual challenges, and if it took moving ot learn that then it will have been totally worth it!

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Holy Hamburger, Batman!

Our family is in a bit of a tight spot here this summer as my husband's job went away semi-suddenly.  He's been with the same company for nearly a decade, and we've been so blessed during that time. Now he's job hunting, but there is a lot of uncertainty about what this will mean for our family in the coming months.  

Needless to say, with a new baby and the job situation, things are stressful for us.

So, our day to serve in the new Philadelphia Temple open house finally came last weekend.  I was signed up to serve Friday night, which meant leaving my husband to fend for, feed and get our five kids settled in our downtown hotel all on his own.  Let me just say that given the conditions of the downtown area where the temple is located, this was a BIG ASK.  

Anyway, my shift was from 5-10pm, and the last time I had eaten was 2pm, so midway though my volunteer time I started to get hungry. 

While I was standing there waiting for another group to come through my thoughts turned to food.  I found myself wishing I could have a hamburger for dinner...and wishing I could tell my husband to pick one up for me before he came to pick me up (which would be well after 10pm that night.) 

I couldn't text my husband though, because our cell phones and purses were being kept in the meeting house next door.  So, without thinking about the impropriety of my request, I said a prayer in my head, "Heavenly Father, please ask Steve to pick up a hamburger for me before he picks me up from my shift tonight."

I caught myself and thought...um, that seems like an inappropriate request to ask God for a hamburger!  What am I thinking?  But I had already thought the prayer!  So, again in my head, I tried to soften the request with, "A salad would be ok too...but a Burger would really hit the spot."  Man, I thought, God must think I have some nerve!

When my husband picked me up, he told me how difficult it was with all the children and the circumstances at the hotel...then trying to secure dinner for them all.

I asked, "You didn't happen to pick up any food for me, did you?"

Of course, his answer was yes.

It wasn't until we made it to the hotel that I discovered he had indeed bought me a hamburger!!!  (Which is not at all a usual request for me!)

He said he was all set to pick up Panera for the kids.  He had even taken their orders.  But when he walked downstairs to get dinner, he walked by a burger joint and he suddenly thought, "Hmmmm, a burger sounds good."  He scrapped his plans and bought hamburgers for dinner instead.

I don't know why the Lord saw fit to get me a burger that evening.  I am well-aware that the most powerful-being in the Universe does not need, nor should be expected to fulfill such a silly request...and yet He did and He does....all. the. time.  Because He can.  And because He loves us.

Because of the physical demands and changes of having a baby and the stress of not having a job, I have felt spiritually distant lately.  But through this experience, I felt the Lord reaching out to me, pulling me back in, and showing me, once again, that there is nothing He can't do...no request too great or too small...and that if I will just lean on Him a little more, He can help me with anything.

The temple is beautiful.  Life is beautiful...and strange sometimes.

And that burger was DELICIOUS!

(Burger Fi brands their name on their burgers as you can see.  We had never even heard of Burger Fi, but even re-heated, this burger was smashingly good.  So for our ward Linger Longer this week, Steve made his own branded Temple burgers!)

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Priesthood Restoration Site in Harmony, PA

We had an absolutely wonderful tour of the Priesthood Restoration site in Harmony, PA over the weekend!  

Today, I'll share with you some pictures of the new buildings and improvements to the site that the church has made recently and share a few stories and a testimony with you.

Previously, all that stood to mark the significance of the spot where the priesthood was restored was one statue, and an old cemetery.  Other things that occurred here in addition to the restoration of the Priesthood include the baptism of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and the translation of the majority of the Book of Mormon. This is also where Joseph and Emma were living when the 116 translated pages were lost by Martin Harris. 

You can read more about what happened in this special place in the recent Ensign article called "Joseph Smith in Harmony."

Ok, here we go!  When you first pull up to the Priesthood restoration site, this is what you see, a beautiful chapel/visitor's center designed to match the style of the area for the time period.  The back half is a very nice, interactive visitor's center.  The front of the building houses a beautiful chapel with large floor-to-ceiling windows.  

As you get out of your car in the parking lot, you're immediately drawn to these beautiful statues--replicas of ones that you can also see in Temple Square--depicting Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery being visited by John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John when they were given the Aaronic Priesthood and then the Melchezidek Priesthood.

Inside the Visitor's Center, you're warmly greeted by the missionaries and brought to a bust of Jesus Christ where the missionaries testify that all of this is done because of Him.  It is really all about Christ and all because of Christ.  

We watched a 25-minute video, which is a newly-produced movie, all about the events that happened in Harmony.  It is extremely well-done and very moving.  Although it kind of starts out sad, Guy said he felt the spirit while watching the  movie.  Scarlett said that it made her happy.

In the lobby area, there is a large 3D map of the area showing what the land looked like when Emma and Joseph Smith (and the Hale Family) lived there. It also shows the homes that were restored, the cemetery, and the chapel.

The tour takes you past the statues and down a wooded path...

If you go right at the fork, you head to the "sugar bush" forest where Joseph Smith often went to pray, where he sometimes hid the golden plates from searches, and where the church now believes is the place where Joseph and Oliver were visited by John the Baptist and where they received the Aaronic Priesthood, which gave them the power and authority to baptize each other in the name of Christ.

The tour, however, takes you first toward the left at the fork in the path, and under the brand-new highway (which was moved by the church) through a tunnel.  The views are breath-takingly beautiful.

The first home that you come to is the home of Emma and Joseph.

However, when they first moved to Harmony, they stayed with Emma's parents Isaac and Elizabeth Hale, so you turn right and follow the trail to their home first.

This fence was built by the church, and soon after a bear rubbed his back against it and knocked the whole thing over!  So the church had to rebuild and re-enforce it so that didn't happen again.

This trail used to be a very busy main road.  The church moved the highway over to restore the site.  It is very peaceful now, however there is still a railroad that runs to the left of this trail, which runs a couple times a day (although we didn't hear it when we were there). That's why there's a chain-link fence off to the left of this picture, for safety purposes.  Still very beautiful!

Here is the Hale home in all of its glory.  I was so impressed with it.  If you're used to seeing the restored Smith log cabin up in Palmyra, NY, like I am, this is something very different and very impressive.  

The log cabin is very rustic and indicative of the financial status of the Smith family--they were pretty poor.  The Hale family, however, were very prosperous and well-off.  Their home would have been considered a mansion at the time...and after seeing their home restored, it still looked like a mansion to me! Very beautiful, as the following photos will show.

Oh, and another big difference is that, unlike the restored log cabin and other homes in Palmyra, these homes are air conditioned!  Whew!  So appreciate that!  You enter in the back/side entrance.

This is the "birthing room" off the side of the kitchen.  This was Emma and Joseph's bedroom.

Here is a view of the dining room, standing outside of Joseph & Emma's bedroom.

This is the bright, cherry, very nice for the time, kitchen.  On the table is a box, which is a replica of the box the plates were kept in.  The box, or one like it, would have originally been used to ship window panes used to build the home.  It was also the perfect size to house something much more precious!

I loved how interactive the whole experience was for us and for the children.  We were encouraged to heft the box of plates to feel for ourselves how heavy they were to carry around.  The box weighed 50 lbs, which is what the plates weighed.  

We all took turns trying to lift the box.

This is a storage room/pantry off to the right of Emma & Joseph's small bedroom and off of the kitchen.

Here is the dining room, which was so beautifully appointed, it just made my heart sing.  I could just imagine this family gathered around this beautiful table, talking, laughing, sharing...So, so pretty.  There was definitely a homemaker in this home!  Again, through every window was just the prettiest views.

On the wall, above a cabinet, next to the dining room table is one of the first rifles.  It goes by a few names, but also is called a Pennsylvania rifle.  Guy was excited to see that and imagine how it might have been used by Isaac Hale!  And, of course, we love anything with Pennsylvania in the name!

Here's Honor checking out the place settings.  The forks they used at the time looked like they could do some real damage!

The next room you enter is the sitting room.  You have to cross through the front hall to get there.  It was also so stunning.

We noticed all the wallpaper, carpet, drapes and other details that really show what refined tastes the Hales had.  No wonder they were none too pleased when their daughter fell in love with a man who had no property and very little education!

Here is the outside of the Hale homestead...again, very picturesque!

Next, we moved to the home that Joseph and Emma Smith later occupied, where much of the translation of the Book of Mormon took place.

As we waited outside for another small tour group to finish, our tour guides talked about Emma Smith...how she often had the task of moving the plates about when visitors showed up, but because she was not given permission to view the plates from the Lord, she could not uncover them and look at them herself.  And our tour guide followed that up with, "And that, we know, is by design."

Suddenly, my thoughts returned to the video we watched in the visitor's center before our tour began, in which Olivery Cowdery asks Joseph for reassurance of the work they were doing.  Joseph asked the Lord on behalf of Oliver and received a revelation meant just for him.  The revelation is section 6 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In it, the Lord tells Oliver: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.  Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?  What greater witness can you have than from God?"  Oliver was satisfied with this answer, because that experience was known only to God and himself...

My thoughts turned back to Emma's great faith, to the fact that God "designed" it to be this way, that she...and we...would walk by faith, which would lead us to rely on the spirit to teach and guide us and to be a basis of our faith.  And that we could receive no greater witness than the witness that comes to us through the Holy Ghost.

How many times have I, as a saint living in Pennsylvania, wished and yearned for those physical reassurances?  How many times have I wished to see?  There is so much that I don't see with my mortal eyes, yet the strongest assurances have come to me, like Oliver, through the confirmation of the Holy Ghost...and this too is "by design."

What a powerful witness this was to me...I am so grateful, that I could be in this place and hear these stories with new ears and a new understanding.

Even the buildings themselves, as beautifully restored as they are, are not enough upon which to base a testimony.  They are mode or means through which we can experience some of what Joseph and others might had experienced, but it is only through the spirit that we can receive an actual witness, a powerful witness, and a lasting testimony that the things that occurred here really did occur--that the priesthood has been restored, that the Book of Mormon is a record of Jesus Christ, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His true church on the earth today.

This was a powerful moment for me personally.

On with the tour:  Inside the Smith home you find a kitchen much more simply laid out and with a lot less frills.  In the kitchen is a table laid out with translated pages of the Book of Mormon, writing materials, a hat, and replicas of the gold plates covered in cloth as they would have been while translating.

This red box, also in the kitchen, is a replica of the box where Emma placed the plates away from view whenever visitors arrived.

We were encouraged to feel the plates through the cloth, to feel the pages, etc.

Then we actually pulled the cloth back to see what the replica looked like.  Again, it was really fun for the kids and helped to bring these church history stories to life!

To the left of the Smith home is the statue which has marked the priesthood restoration site for a long time, showing Oliver, Joseph, and John the Baptist.

My little reader was excited that she could tell me what the back of the statue said! :)

At this point, the sun was beating down on us and the kids were getting restless!

Further down the trail, we came to the McKune Cemetery, where Isaac and Elizabeth Hale were buried.

This is also where the infant son of Joseph and Emma Smith is buried.  The church has restored their headstones with new ones, but if you look on the back-side of the new headstones, you can see the old ones too.

If you go there, you can easily locate the three graves, because they're close together, closest to the road on the left.

After visiting the cemetery, we made our way back to the visitor's center past the other homes and under the tunnel.

Because the kids were tired, we did not stop at the "sugar bush," but here are pictures of the signs marking the trail leading to that spot.

Inside the Visitor's Center, there were lots of interactive exhibits to explore.  In this one, you turn the big wagon wheel and watch the wagon proceed through a bridge and snow storm.

Right next to that display is a barrel full of beans.  Most people are unaware that you can actually pull the barrel away from the wall to discover how Joseph hid the plates in the bean barrel to transport them to Harmony.  (You have to really pull hard, but it's worth it!)

Near the bean barrel is a whole section where kids can "practice being a scribe!"  There's a large screen where you can "write with a feather" (or your finger) the words being dictated to you.

Behind that, you can type your reactions to touring the site.  You can scroll through and read what others have written.

Everywhere there are the most beautiful views.  The back of the visitor's center is a peaceful spot to read and look out the window at the surrounding forests.  It's really nicely laid out and there are a lot more exhibits than the ones I've written about here.

After we said good-bye to the missionaries at the visitor's center, we stopped just a down the road (it's so close!) at the historic baptism site (which is marked with a sign.)

This is the place in the river where the baptism of Joseph and Oliver most likely occurred.  You can park your car in a small lot and walk about 2/10ths of a mile down to the river bank.  It is, again, so beautiful and very calm and peaceful.

The kids suddenly caught a second wind and really wanted to explore the river, which we did as reverently and briefly as possible.  While there, we saw 3-4 deer crossing at a shallow point in the river (they haven't gotten much rain recently!)

All-in-all, it was just a beautiful day and a wonderful experience for me personally and for the children.  The priesthood restoration site is really family and kid-friendly and the church has done such a nice job of making it accessible to everyone.

I'm so excited to watch the dedication of this site online in the coming weeks.

You can read more about the Priesthood Restoration site in Harmony here.

Be sure to join us again starting Sunday as we join two other blogs in our 6th annual celebration of the Family Proclamation!  Read new posts on the family here each day for the next two weeks.  Read how you can help spread the message of the family proclamation here~!

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