Family Home Evening Log

Conducting: Mommy

Trick by Lizzy

Opening Song: Let the Holy Spirit Guide

Opening Prayer: Mommy

Lesson: Daddy told the story of Perseus, who had a difficult quest. To help him on his quest, the gods gave him three magical gifts: a helmet, a shield, and a sword. Our lives are like quests also: we have a glorious goal (eternal life) and we will have to overcome many challenges and difficulties to get there. To help us on our quest, Heavenly Father has given us a gift better than Perseus' magical weapons. When we are baptized, we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost (2 Ne. 31:12), to guide us, protect us, teach us, comfort us, and help us complete our quest and return home to Heavenly Father. Lizzy pointed out that our opening song lists a lot of things the Holy Ghost will do to help us in our lives:

1. Let the Holy Spirit guide;
Let him teach us what is true.
He will testify of Christ,
Light our minds with heaven’s view.

2. Let the Holy Spirit guard;
Let his whisper govern choice.
He will lead us safely home
If we listen to his voice.

3. Let the Spirit heal our hearts
Thru his quiet, gentle pow’r.
May we purify our lives
To receive him hour by hour.

Family Prayer: Lizzy

Refreshments: Ice cream (strawberry, vanilla, cookie dough, or cherry bo berry)

Game: Wacky Words (a mad-lib sort of game). Here's the story we created. The words/phrases in a different color are the words we came up with to fill in the blanks. The initial of the person who thought of with each word or phrase is in brackets after the word or phrase. Lizzy and Mommy tied with 6 points each (two points per blank); Daddy had 4 points.

My Book Report

I read Musical Magical Mushrooms [L] by Penelope P. Peters.
It's a funny story about munchkins making music [M].
My favorite character was the furry Barney the Dinosaur [L].
I laughed out loud when he ate the Empire State Building [D]!
I was surprised when the dog-like [L] man
lost his snakeskin slippers [D]!
I thought the book was lovely as linguini [M].
Any kid who likes shiitakes, slippers, or silly songs [M] should read it.

ADD and Multiplication

This is what it's like living with a brilliant, slightly ADD child:

Lizzy is supposed to be putting jammies on. Instead she is half undressed, head on the ground, bum in the air, thinking about multiplication.

Lizzy: "Mom, did you know that nine times nine is 81?"

Christine: "Yes. How did you know that?"

Lizzy: "Because nine times 10 is 90 and it's nine less than that."

Christine: "Ok, now get your jammies on."

A minute or so later, I hear Lizzy mumbling to herself: "Now, eight times eight..."

The Last Full Measure of Devotion

In early July of 1863, the peace of southern Pennsylvania’s green rolling hills was obliterated by the thundering sound of war. The Civil War had come north, and in a fierce battle, the South attacked the North just outside a small village called Gettysburg. In three days of fighting, the Confederates charged the Union lines repeatedly but were unable to break through. On July 4, after suffering severe losses, the Confederate Army retreated.

But the Union casualties were nearly as great as the Confederate. More than 3,000 boys in blue died in that battle, and some 20,000 more were wounded, captured, or recorded missing. By the end of the war, more than 600,000 Americans would lose their lives.

From the hills of Pennsylvania in 1863 to the farmlands of Massachusetts in 1775 to the forests of eastern France in 1944 to the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003, millions upon millions have given their last breaths for our liberty, for us.

Sacrifices in our behalf are not confined to men and women in uniform. In addition to Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, each summer in Utah we celebrate Pioneer Day, remembering those who left homes and comforts and lost lives and family members for the faith we share with them. And on June 27 we honor another martyr for our faith, Joseph Smith.

Many are the courageous, faithful, selfless individuals who have given “the last full measure of devotion,” as Abraham Lincoln called it, to causes of faith and liberty. Our debt of gratitude is, indeed, great. How can we, today, even begin repay that debt?

In November 1863, four months after the battle at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln visited the site of the conflict, where he praised those fallen soldiers and expressed the duty that is incumbent on all who benefit from such sacrifices--whether made by soldiers in the 1860s, by pioneers in the 1850s, or by Joseph Smith in 1844.

“It is for us the living, rather,” said Lincoln, “to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”

Increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that’s how we can pay our debt of gratitude. We can carry on the work they began. We can advance the cause to which they consecrated such unswerving faith. By so doing, we can ensure that their gift to us, the ultimate gift, was not given in vain.

A short distance from the beaches in Normandy, France, ranks upon ranks of small white crosses cover a green field. Spaced carefully in perfect rows and columns, nearly 10,000 crosses honor American soldiers who gave their lives to secure the freedom of the French people. It is fitting that these brave dead are memorialized by crosses, which represent another cross, a cross upon which One died to secure the liberty of many.

In the Book of Mormon, yet another martyr, Abinadi, spoke of the Savior’s sacrifice and of our duty to honor that gift. “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,” Abinadi said, quoting Isaiah, “. . . he shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Mosiah 14:10–11).

When we make the Savior’s soul an offering for sin, when we apply His sacrifice to our lives, when we continue the work He started--the work of our own salvation--then do we ensure that His sacrifice was not in vain. And as we live lives of faith, courage, and repentance, we honor His gift to us as well as the millions of similar gifts passed down through the centuries to us today.

Chalk Butterfly Garden

Lizzy and Christine created this picture on our sidewalk a couple of weeks ago.

Shade, Privacy, and Self-Reliance

About 10 days ago, our back-yard landscaping strategy suddenly changed. Ever since we moved into this house we have enjoyed the shade and privacy and bird-attraction of a huge blue spruce just over the fence. It was probably 40 feet or so tall, and the breadth of the evergreen effectively blocked any view of the neighbor's house, so that we almost didn't know those neighbors were there. We occasionally heard them, but we almost never saw them. And then there was the shade--the tree shaded about half of our back yard in the afternoons and evenings, providing a great setting for summer picnics and family gatherings.

Then a week and a half ago, Christine called me at work to tell me chain saws were slowly working away at the tree. They started at the bottom and shaved off the limbs going up. (We later heard the had suffered damage in the big snow storm a few weeks ago [see above], and that damage necessitated the removal.)

By the time I got home from work, the tree was just a big stick, and by the end of the day, it was gone. And there, in its place, were our neighbors. They looked at us, and we looked at them, a bit in shock to suddenly have someone there.

Their house, by the way, is much closer than we thought, making our yard feel much smaller than it did just a few days before. And the neighbors have a large second-floor deck that offers a great view of our entire back yard--not to mention our kitchen.

Our back yard which once seemed so large and secluded--and which once had a nice mountain-forest feel with that huge evergreen there--has now become a run-of-the-mill suburban back yard, with over-the-fence neighbors to reckon with.

As I pondered this development, I realized this is a good example of the importance of self-reliance. In our landscaping strategy, we have been relying on our neighbors for shade, privacy, and natural beauty, and although we had planted a couple of trees in the back yard, we had not given much thought to what we would do if that tree were not there. And our lack of preparation and self-reliance on that point is now painfully obvious.

Sigh.

[Here's a video of the middle third of the trunk coming down.]