The children will lead them

Last Sunday Karlee asked if we were ever going to have Family Home Evening again. Uggghhh....guilt. I told her that yes, we should do that. Well Monday came and went and just as she was getting ready for bed she said, "I guess we aren't having FHE." I told her she should have reminded me sooner. Yes, blame the child. That will get the guilt off my back. On Tuesday she asked, "Can we have FHE tomorrow?" I told her that I had a Relief Society meeting, but that we would do it Thursday for sure. So I threatened the boys that they would be in attendance or suffer the wrath of Mom.

Thursday morning as Layne was reading out of the Book of Mormon while I fixed his lunch he came upon the scripture that he said would be our family theme and he would present it at FHE that night. It was in Alma 50:2 "Blessed art thou and thy children; and they shall be blessed, inasmuch as they shall keep my commandments they shall prosper in the land. But remember, inasmuch as they will not keep my commandments they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord."

We shared our testimony that we know that because we keep the commandments, such as paying our tithing, that we have been blessed as a family. And we encouraged them to live good lives so that they will be happy as opposed to many people we know that are not happy because of the choices they have made.


As we were preparing to start there was the usual quarreling that goes on. But once they were all seated and Layne started sharing the scripture I definitely felt the spirit in our home. Everyone rolls their eyes when I get the camera out, but I told them that this may never happen again, so I needed to record it for posterity. But after having this peaceful feeling I am resolved that we will try to do better and I have decided that each of the kids will take a turn being in charge and I know we can count on Karlee to make it happen.

I was especially pleased that Zak didn't give me any guff about participating. In fact he made dinner and was the first to start carving his pumpkin. He doesn't have a job right now, so I give him a "to-do" list every day and he also helped Grandma Terry with her leaves and did ours as well. So I was pleased to have him there for the hour and not surprised when he was ready to go spend time with his friends as soon as he was done.

After I handed out the ice cream sandwiches things went back to normal. Karlee wiped her dirty hand on Tanner's shirt and so he squeezed her arm to the point of bringing her to tears. All the while I am singing, "When There's Love at Home"

The finished product, left to right. Karlee's, Zak's and Tanner's jack-o-lanterns.