Three jars!

I just have to add one more post today! Amidst everything else, I am done Christmas shopping! I sat in peace last night and even wrapped most of the gifts that have been hiding in closets.
I also have one last idea, a new tradition we are starting on Monday.
I found three different jars at the dollar store and Robb has taken the time to paint them to look like old jars and pots. For Family Home Evening we are going to talk about the three wise men and the gifts they brought to the savior. We will talk about how they saw the star and how it took them months to find the Lord.
We will talk about the kind of gifts we give this holiday. One jar will be for the gifts the children give each other (they draw names and have to MAKE a gift for another sister.) The second jar will be for a gift they can give to Christ, (something they could do better at, or stop doing :) ). The Third jar will be for something they can give to someone else, (outside of the family, maybe someone they do not know). We are doing this lesson early so that my children, like the wise men, will have time to prepare and time to arrive! I believe this is part of an answer to a pray, I have prayed to many times lately, that my children can think outside of themselves, and the love in our home can increase!

More lessons

Robb called me the other day from worked and asked if I could recall a story where the Lord asked someone to do something for them self, something he, the Lord, could have done but didn't. The story of the Leper who was asked to dip himself 10 times came to my head. Since then, that story has had a profound effect on me. As Christmas gets closer I have had a lot of people call and ask for help with different projects. I have been trying to finish up some of my own projects, on top of that I have been having a particularly difficult week (OK month) with children who have been calling names and fighting. We have also been sick with "swine flu" and just as it has ended we have started (and I am praying ended) with "pink eye". I am not complaining I am just saying that I suddenly am feeling overwhelmed. My desire to help has fallen short and I wonder how to get back on track with other things in my life. Well, like I said this story has had a profound effect on my. There are times the Lord ask us to do the work our selves. There are times that in doing that work we learn the lessons we need and can only learn in that way. These are often the times we question, "Ten times?" and we forget the simplicity of the answer that comes to that question. Read my scriptures daily. Take a few minutes with a child. Slow down... You know what your own solutions are.
I was also reminded that we do not always have to do it all either. We can asks others to do what we could do...but what they could also do for themselves. This principle has helped me so much this week. In the times where I can't, they can!
I will add one more principle to to this lesson. Robb, last night, reminded me that Peter was a great fishermen, he spent his days mending and cleaning his nets. Then, on his last day, the Lord has Peter come. The Lord washes Peter's feet! The Lord does this work, not Peter. Surely Peter knew how to washes his feet. Robb reminded me that there are times we will and should do the work for others...but it is in those moments we should take the opportunity to do so much more...When we give selflessly, when we feel like that is what the Lord needs us to do, we can be the hands to do and teach so much more than the simple act of service!
I am grateful for life's lessons. I am grateful the Lord is aware of me, especially in my moments of disappear. He is there for you too.
I do not know who reads my blog, mostly it is family. Sometimes I hesitate to share the things that affect my soul the most but I have decided that these are the experience that make me who I really am and I pray others have similar experiences, customized to them, so that they might know they are not forgotten.

Advent Calender

We have been having fun, while Robb is at Bishopric Meetings, doing craft projects. I thought I would show off our latest and give anyone a really simple and cute idea for a Christmas Advent Calender. We took a 12x12 magnet board that was framed and painted the frame. Then we added vinyl numbers 1-24 and a "Merry Christmas" for day number 25. We bought ornaments from the dollar store. (The "Dollar Tree" has six different packs of 4, so it is perfect). We added the magnets to the back. We hung four plastic candy canes upside down (again from the dollar store) to the bottom of the frame and they become the hangers for the ornaments. Each day, starting December 1st, the kids take a turn picking an ornament to put on the board.