June 30, 2015

Anchors, Storms and a little Faith

As I have been scrolling through my Instagram feed, and my Facebook wall, over the past few weeks I have noticed a pattern.  People I follow post something that is personal to them like a challenge, a vent, a rant, an issue they are dealing with, and even something really upsetting or sad, and then they post positive things to help counter that negative post.  Its neat to see what helps people turn to when they need to be up-lifted.

I've seen cute baby animals, flowers, funny animal videos, positive quotes, snarky quotes, smiley faces, landscape pictures, ocean pictures, beach images, pictures of their family, pictures of their past, pictures of their friends.  All of these things are just a few ways people deal with negativity, hardships, trials, challenges, sadness, hurt, pain, etc in their lives.  I love seeing these patterns it really helps me build my hope for mankind keeping a love for others in their hearts.

So this pattern seeking got me thinking about what helps me when I deal with all those negative things in my life.  And when I started to ponder this question, I noticed I would look at the paintings on my walls.  We have paintings I have painted, paintings we've bought from stores, paintings our kids have done, etc.  But of all the paintings that I would look as, there is one that really sticks out to me personally.

 Why did I paint an anchor of hope?  It stemmed from a quote I heard about Being of Good Cheer, Having Hope, and having an Anchor for the Soul.  Here is the quote:
"There are tremendous sources of hope beyond our own ability, learning, strength, and capacity. Among them is the gift of the Holy Ghost.Through the marvelous blessing of this member of the Godhead, we can come to “know the truth of all things.” 2 
Hope is the anchor of our souls. know of no one who is not in need of hope—young or old, strong or weak,rich or poor."  By James E. Faust  
Here is the Link where you can find the full message.  Who needs "Hope"? I do for sure, and I'm sure you do too.  See for me Hope a key to Faith, such an important key that without it Faith will falter and fail.  Let me explain.
Recently I was struggling with something really hard.  This trial was literally filling my husband's and my minds with fear, confusion, worry.  Our bodies were fighting our anxiety.  Each time we prayed about this trial, we kept getting the same answer "have faith that things will work out".  Okay, well, that is nice, and comforting, but only for a little while.  It is really hard to have faith, when so much rests on this trial we are facing.  So each night as I would kneel to pray I would look to this Hope Anchor painting, and just stare at it until I felt at peace once again.
While staring at this painting a thought in image form or even more like a quick moving image came to mind.  I pictured myself on a little row boat in the middle of the vast ocean.  The first image was me in the boat on calm serine ocean water just enjoying the beauty and peace.  The second image was of a terrible storm coming upon me and my little row boat.  I tried to row away from the storm but couldn't.  So instead I threw my anchor over board and hoped that by being anchored down I wouldn't be swept away by the heavy rain, whipping wind, and dizzying symphony of waves.  Every time the waves would pull me out, and drag me this way and that my faith would start to waiver, and tremble and falter.  But right before my faith was over come completely by fear, the rope which held the anchor would pull me back to safety and I was then given hope that all would be well.  That Hope from the anchor allowed my faith to hold out longer than it would have, and stronger than it would have, had I not had hope...in this little thought of mine.
Here is to us all holding onto our Faith because our Hope is anchored to safety, peace, calm, and anchored to the one who provides that for us.  Jesus Christ.

June 22, 2015

Cub Scouts and Castles

It's been able a month since we hosted my son's Cub Scout Day Camp fundraiser.  He was very successful in achieving his goal, and earned the money he needed for camp.  Well, the time has passed on, and now it's Cub Scout Day Camp now.  I'm so excited for my 8 year old.  He is so excited to make new friends, spend a whole week by himself away from his loving little brother, and away from me.  I am excited because I get to take a break from everything on my plate and volunteer as the craft instructor for the day camp. So for 1 hour the whole week I will see my son but that's pretty good.  I'm also excited for my 5 year old because there is a day care for him that actually has a structured schedule for him too. So for 1 week this summer my 8, 5, and my self get a break from each other before we start up school again.


Best of all, for a whole week I get to craft with supplies I didn't buy, craft with a ton of awesome kids, and get to craft outside of my home!  We're doing Medieval Times as the theme of our Cub Scout Camp, so once I'm done for the week, you'll see some awesome crafts centered around: dragons, knights, castles, etc.  Have fun and I'll see you in a week!

I haven't been able to use my talents making jewelry, painting, or working with clay for a few weeks now, so it will be nice to get back to the basics and craft with kids. 
What do you do to get back to basics for yourself?  What is your favorite craft with kids?  Is there a messy craft your kids love that makes you nuts but you still allow?  What is your favorite craft you have done this year?

June 19, 2015

Iron Rod Alligators


For our last week of school, we have been working hard on social skill testing, math on the run, history of modern ages, physical exercise at the beach, reading and mapping skills, and lots of natural science.  On one such science excursion we went to Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa Florida.  For a few months now, we've been hearing all the rants and rages of people seeing tons of turtles, alligstors and bugs.  So I thought why not pay the parking fee and see what we can see.
So on one of the hottest days I chose to bring the kids to the park.  We parked and then had to figure out which trail would take us to the alligators.  Once we found it we were having a blast. Here is a list of what we saw in a 2 hour treck.

Green dragon flies
Blue dragon flies
Black dragon flies
Red dragon flies
Yellow dragon flies
White dragon flies
Green metal flies

White butterflies 
Blue butterflies 
Black butterflies 
Yellow swallowtail butterfly

Brown Squirrels
Gray squirrels
Skink lizards
Catfish
Brim fish
Bass
And 2 baby alligators sunning themselves.  We didn't get to see the 10 foot alligator or any adult alligators at all. We didn't  see any turtles either.  But when we stopped by the teaching center we got to read up on everything.  The boys got to see different animal, and fowl prints and test each other with them.  So even though we didn't get to see what we wanted we saw so much more.
Saw this sign, thought it was super funny

As we left we took a different path that didn't  lead us to our car. There were many little paths that split into the swampy forest that my kids questioned taking until I brought up the Iron Rod that is the only path that will lead us to our goal.  I was happy to see they were more than willing to stay on the path that would lead us to our car, just as the Iron Rod will lead us to God if we stay on it, no matter how fun and exciting or mysterious the side paths may look.

June 17, 2015

Loving a Bully

Yesterday we were in a hotel swimming pool just enjoying ourselves as we normally do. We've been going to this pool, well going to this hotel off and on for over a year now, and during that time we've only played in the pool with other kids 2 other times. We all shared our toys and had a blast which is really nice because this hotel pool is small.  We'll yesterday there were tons of kids here, and it actually took a while before the other kids allowed mine to play with them. Once they did things were going smoothly for everyone.  The moms and I were all talking having a grand time, but then I noticed my oldest off by himself. The other kids we're playing without him. I watched him over a 20 minute period go up to each child asking to play again, but they each ignored him.  Right before he burst into tears I asked them if he can play with them again, they were playing with my youngest so why not my son who could actually play the game? 

The other moms stepped into the hotel for a minute and I continued to see how rude these bullies were being to my kid. So I told them straight up how rude they were being. But that didn't make the situation any better.  So then we tried bribing them again, with more of our fun pool toys.  This is my first time dealing with a Bully and my own child.  But I've dealt with bullies with other children before.  I felt awful about how I dealt with these rude children.  So I apologized to the kids for being rude to them.  But I was still feeling bad about how they treated my son, and they ruined such a fun thing for us.
 
Over the next few days we tried to avoid these kids at the pool, but that didn't work.  However, the second encounter was better.  All the kids played by themselves at first, but then my boys asked to join in the fun with the 3 troublesome kids.  Those kids allowed my boys to play along for a minute or two and then shut them out again.  I watched my oldest just bob around the pool watching them for a good 10 minutes before he finally got some gumption and started playing with his brother not bothered by the rudeness of the other children.  I was over joyed!  I actually bowed my head and prayed right then and there in thanks that God helped my son deal with those bullies himself.  I'm so grateful that God blessed my son with a good heart, and a strong will to be happy despite what is thrown at him! 

June 4, 2015

The Wind Parable

The other day we were reading morning scriptures as a family and it was a passage we felt might not be easily understood by children.  Many times when this happens, we try to be like Jesus and use parables to help teach the lesson to our kids in a more easily understood way.  The passage of scripture that we were reading was Alma.  It was a conversation between a man who believed in Christ, being confronted by a man who didn't believe in Christ and who decided to go about the land preaching and teaching the people why there is no Christ.  The basis of the disbeliever's cause was to the effect that no one had or did at that time (in history) seen Christ in person.  So he taught that if you cannot see it you ought not to believe in it.

With this confusing talk in the scriptures we felt it best to put his case, though very much a scientific case, to the test. Wind came to mind.

The Parable of the Wind

Can you see the wind?
Can you feel the wind? 
Can you hear the wind?

Can you see Christ? Or God for that matter?
Can you feel Christ?
Can you hear Christ?

Wind can't be seen by itself, until it is manifested in the power it can bring. But we can see the wind blowing the trees, flags, water, flowers, and the rain.  We feel the wind blowing our hair, blowing over our hot sticky skin, cooling it down. We can feel the wind whip through our fingers when we stick our hands our the window of a moving car.  We hear the wind blowing the dry leaves, blowing the fresh green leaves in a russle and tussle sound. When the wind brings forth it's  mighty power we can hear the wind whipping objects back and forth and against each other with creaking, snapping, cracking whistles.

Even though we can't see wind as a solid object  we have evidences that it can move other objects, which movement we can easily see. We also have evidences that wind can be felt by our skin receptors; and the evidence is plain to behold that wind can be heard.

We can't see Christ because he is in Heaven. However we can see the miracles that He performs in our lives. We can see the creations He has made with his mighty power. We can feel the tender mercies and love of God by the Holy Spirit testifying of the truthfulness of Christ.  We can hear prophets and apostles bear record and testify of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, their divinity, power, love and truth.  

It is on these evidences that we can each on an individual basis have faith in Christ. We have all evidence that there is a Christ, that he loves us, that he died for our sins, giving us the a toning power to repent and be forgiven of our sins so that we can return and live with him. Through all these examples  of evidence of Jesus Christ, we can truly have faith in that which we cannot see...right now.

So the next time you see evidence of the wind, have your faith strengthened in Christ who loves all mankind a like.