That's not a good idea

Today for family scripture study we read about Lehi leaving all of his gold and precious things and his home to take his family into the wilderness. (1 Nehpi chapter 2) To try and bring it home I asked Glen what he thought of the idea of leaving all of his toys, books, and horses and we left our home with only food and clothes.  He got this look of sadness on his face, like I had really asked him to do it, and said "That's not a good idea."  Then I tested him.  I told him that Lehi was sad to leave too and it must have been hard to leave all of his toys, money, friends and home, but the Lord told him to because Jerusalem was going to be destroyed.  I asked him if he would leave if Heavenly Father asked him to.  His response really surprised me.  He said, "If Heavenly Father asked me to leave all of my books and horses and only take food and clothes and leave my home it would be hard, but I would do it if Heavenly Father asked me to.  And he would help me."
Wow, some times I wonder if Glen has stronger faith then I do.  Would I be able to leave all of my precious things, my friends and my home to go somewhere I had never heard of or been?  Would I complain or have faith?  Sometimes Glen really inspires me to be a better person.  To have more faith, be more forgiving, and kinder.  I feel so blessed to have his inspiring example to help me.  Sometimes I think he teaches me more then I teach him.

Just kidding

Ha, so there are pictures.  I remember my sister having her camera now.  Of course she had her camera. She is a photographer, she always has her camera, even when the rest of us don't.  Yay for Jennifer!!!  So I stole the pictures of my kids off of her blog, I hope she doesn't mind.  :) and here they are.

 This is Benjamin opening a present From Grammy and Papa.  It's a John deer truck, trailer and the best part (in my opinion) a Gater on the back.  I used to drive a gater around when I did Facilities maintenance years ago and I thought it was the best part since I didn't have a drivers licence yet.  Yay, I love it! So does he, but he likes the white truck part more.  :)

 Here is Glen opening one of his favorite gifts, also from Grammy and Papa.  It's a Toy Story lego set.  He also has another lego set that had two horses and they go well together.

And here in my Jedi son.  During family pictures Benjamin was cold and so John gave him his sweatshirt.  It went down to his feet and the arms had to be tied in a knot.  My brothers in law thought he looked like a Jedi so my sister made a light saber for him.  This is possibly the best picture of the year.  :D

cameraless Christmas

No camera = no pictures, sorry folks.  We went to Southern Utah for  Christmas this year and I didn't take my camera.  I thought about it, then I thought of the hundreds of pictures from the last time we went and I figured that I would just get copies from some one else.  After all there were 3-4 cameras last time. Ya, I think that either everyone else was thinking the same thing or in the chaos that is so many people and kids we all just forgot.  Whatever the case I realized the week after Christmas that I had no pictures.  My shame is the reason for such a late post.
Christmas was great though.  In years past I have really struggled finding a balance between giving gifts and focusing on Christ.  It's hard with kids, Christmas is big and kids think for months about what they are going to get, Santa coming, candy canes, presents, cookies, and cocoa.  But I have found that it is not impossible to teach kids a Christ centered message in the midst of so much materialism.  Last year for Easter I put pictures of Christ in the Easter eggs along with small candies and toys.  Glen was so excited to find the pictures of Christ that he didn't pay much attention tot he candy or toys until after he had found and showed me all of the pictures.
So we found a groove for Easter.  Christmas seemed harder, more intimidating.  We found a way to make it work for us though.  We have debated the whole Santa thing at our house.  Santa isn't real, not the way kids see him, but there is something special in believing in Santa.  We found middle ground. We did three things this year. We did not play Santa up.  He doesn't bring all the gifts, but he does bring a some gifts.  This year he brought a lot because someone did a sub for Santa for us.
We made Christ the focus of our home.  He is always the focus of our home, but in December we a make a little more effort and focus on his birth.  We have toy nativity sets for the kids, we read Luke Chapter 2 every night in December, and we watched movies about the birth of Christ.
The other thing that we found worked was to minimize the number of gifts the kids received.  They got 1-2 things from us and one from Santa.  That way we do not get lost in the materialism that Christmas has become.
I feel a need to anchor my children in the gospel, to teach them what is truly important and where true happiness is found.  I fear for them.  In a world that is becoming increasingly evil I worry a lot about them.  Are the messages I teach them going to mean more then the messages of the world. Will they hear my voice or the world's?  My hope is that our family traditions for Easter, Christmas, and our daily lives will help prepare them for the wickedness they will face as they grow.