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Tag: service

  • The 6 B’s Lesson 4: Be Humble #FamilyHomeEvening

    The 6 B’s Lesson 4: Be Humble #FamilyHomeEvening

    It’s been awhile, and I apologize for that. Our Family Home Evening’s have been hit and miss since moving. We are getting much more settled into our home and school routines though, that I am getting back into it. I hope you enjoy the following simple lesson on President Hinkley’s 6 Be’s.

    Opening Song: Give Said the Little Stream (Children’s Primary Songbook pg 236)
    Prayer


    Scripture: “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers” Doctrine and Covenants 112:10

    or
    “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” Matthew 5:5

    Thought: “There is no place for arrogance in our lives. There is no place for conceit. There is no place for egotism. We have a great work to do. We have things to accomplish.” President Gordon B. Hinkley

    Lesson
    For this lesson I wanted to keep it simple. So I grabbed our most recent Friend magazine, and found a story that I felt showed how to be humble. It’s a hard concept for small kids to understand. I don’t believe they truly understand being prideful, and therefor being humble is also foreign. Kids rely on the adults around them for learning, and example.
     The following story exemplifies how kids can be selfless, and in turn be humble, as they serve their friends in daily activities – Read I Will Serve God with All My Heart, Might, Mind and Strength.
    After reading the story, and looking at the different ideas of how you can give service, make your own family list of ways to serve God with our hearts, minds and strength. 
    If you would like a fun activity to go with this, I found a fun clay activity over on Family Home Evenings Made Easy.  You take a lump of clay and a rock. Let the kids play with the clay and shape it into different things. Than ask them to do the same with the rock. You can’t shape a rock though. To Be Humble, we have to be like clay in God’s hands. 
    The older kids recently came home with a service necklace from church as well. We added these into our lesson, and are working on giving anonymous service within our family. As we do something we take the necklace and leave it for whoever we served. It is then that person’s turn to find some way to serve. So far Princess V has made our bed twice…and let me tell you she’s a good bed maker!
    Closing Song: Called to Serve (Children’s Primary Songbook pg 174)
    Looking for the last 3 Lessons in the 6 B’s? Check them out here
  • Look for the Helpers {Think About It}

    Look for the Helpers {Think About It}

    Look for the Helpers

    I’m sure you have all seen this quote spreading around the Internet this week. I really fell in love with this sage advice.  It mostly reminded me of my mother and wisdom she would have imparted to me.

    Actually it’s very similar to the one piece of advice I’m always holding on to from my mom

    When you’re having a bad day – go serve. Find someone in need or pick a neighbor, and serve them.  Take them cookies, give a smile, but lose yourself in serving others.

    I would consider my mom to be one of the helpers Mrs. Rogers talks about. She was always helping. Always giving back, and always always teaching us to do the same.

    Think About It!

     
    When we are having a bad day, what are we focusing on? Ourselves, right?
    So what would be a sure way to get out of that bad day? Focus on someone else.
    I think that’s pretty self explanatory right there, on why serving others works.
     

    Think About It!

     
    This week has been an especially bad week for our nation. Beginning with the Boston Bombing Monday, followed by a fire at the JFK library, and then the explosion at the fertilizer plant yesterday. Not much seems to be happy right now. In fact, it’s down right depressing and soul wrenching bad.
     
    This weeks events effected me in a way I’ve never felt quite so deeply about. I was getting easily depressed, but I didn’t have that label for it at first. All I knew was I felt bad. I felt anxious, and I was getting the beginning feelings of nothing matters. Have you ever felt that way?
     
    Before going to bed, Mark had it figured out for me. I had told him I wasn’t feeling good. I even fell asleep in his lap way before we normally go to bed.  When he got me up to bed, he said “I think it’s just this week, and all the events. They’ve drained you emotionally” (ok maybe not those exact words, but something similar).  He was right. I hadn’t figured it out yet, but he did for me. I was drained emotionally, and when we have no emotions left to feel, it starts draining us physically.
     
    Think About It!
    I’m a girl of action. Once I know what’s wrong, I do what I can to fix/change it. Since I had a clear answer of why I was feeling the way I was, it was time to take action. I started with sleep. I got a good nights sleep before doing anything else (this obviously I don’t have much control over, it just worked out in my favor last night!) 
     
    Once I was up and going this morning, I made a decision. I was going to look for the helpers, and I was going to be a helper. Besides donating to different funds in Boston (read more about those and get links here), there’s not much I can do to help those effected by this weeks tragedies. There is however, things I can do right here in my own home and community to be a helper.
     
    1 – I can take some treats to a new friend who is feeling overwhelmed.
    2 – I can take dinner to my friend who is sick and pregnant.
    3 – I can stop yelling at my kids, and try to understand them better
    4 – I can turn off electronics and get on the floor, or outside for some quality playtime with my kids
    5 – I can support different causes monetarily, or just by word of mouth awareness
    6 – I can send a hand written letter to a friend -just because.
     
     
    Think About It!
    I must not be the only one inspired by this quote, because just this morning I saw a few posts looking at the good.  The first came in my email from one of my favorite home bloggers – Lisa at Shine Your Light. Her post “Boston You’re My Home” includes links to photos of helpers throughout the Boston Bombing, and other reasons to love Boston.
     
    A friend then posted as her facebook status “Wouldn’t it be nice if the headlines in the newspaper and on the TV featured people doing good things? Show the good first I say!”
     
    That would be nice wouldn’t it?  Actually the first I heard about the Waco explosion was from a friend who’s husband was called in as an emergency responder. I didn’t know what happened exactly just that I knew someone was helping with some kind of explosion in Texas.
     
    Will you look for the helpers? Will you be a helper today?
    Share your story with us!
     
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Are you struggling to find Happiness?  Come join the community at Happify.com  If you leave me a comment with your email I will send you a personal invite (limited to the first 4 requests).  Happify is a community based on spreading happiness, and sharing in the joys of each others lives.
  • Family – Friends – It’s About Love

    Family – Friends – It’s About Love

    I was on top of things this week. I had a daily schedule of all the posts I wanted to put up, information, and fun photos I wanted to share with you.

    Then Monday happened. my facebook newsfeed was flooded with “Prayers for Boston” and “Thinking of those in Boston”.

    I panicked. My brother is in Boston. What was going on?  One friend posted a link to a live newsfeed, and I was sucked in. Organizing my craft room would have to wait, I was stunned, shocked, and overcome with emotions. Was my brother there? Was he ok? I can’t believe someone would do this. Those poor families. What about the rest of the racers? Legs lost? I might just lose it.

    But I couldn’t. Not with my kids needing my attention still, school pick up still had to happen. Life was going on. And my phone wasn’t working. The second Mark came home, he began calling my family to see if anyone had heard from my brother.  Thankfully there had been an email sent to my parents saying he was ok. He had been in Boston, but they decided to leave about an hour before it happened. I was finally able to let the flood of tears come as Mark held me. He was ok. It was too close, though. Even closer, and sadder for many others. My heart broke for them, and the sadness they must be feeling.

    Suddenly, talking about home buying didn’t seem as important today. Neither did gardening. Instead, I want to talk about love. Rather, I want to show you about love.

     

    There are so many things that show love.  Through our everyday actions with our families and friends, to the bigger actions of serving strangers in times of need.

    My college roommate once told me – “I like hugs. All kinds. A friend let me borrow some pants once, and it was like wearing a hug all day long.”

    What hugs are you giving out? I think right now, we could all feel a little better with some big group hugs, Don’t you?

    Give Boston some Hugs
    Monetary donations directly helping victims of the bombing can be sent to
     
    Stay up to date with how you can help by following #BostonHelp on twitter.
  • I’m donating to…. #GivingTuesday

    I’m donating to…. #GivingTuesday

    I have been looking forward to today for quite some time now. We’ve had Thanksgiving and followed it up with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

    Today marks the first and hopefully annual Giving Tuesday. Today we encourage you to get involved and give back. No matter how small, there is something you can do today to give to someone else.

    World Homeless Day

    Here are some ideas to get you started

    • Take your neighbor some home made goodies. Stay and chat.
    • Offer to pick up an elderly’s groceries.
    • Help a mom – hold open the door, push her groceries to her cart, smile at her kids, compliment her mothering.
    • Donate to your favorite charity
    • Pick an angel to help this Christmas

    If you have kids, encourage them to give as well. I find leading by example is the best though. If you are giving, they will want to give too. Enjoy the good feelings you will get as you serve your fellow humans.

    I’ve recently learned about an easy way to donate to your favorite charity, that costs you nothing! 
     
     
    When you sign in to goodsearch you can pick you favorite charity. Then everytime you use Goodsearch to search the internet, a penny is donated to your charity. You do nothing but what you already do – search the internet! 
     
    I signed up this morning, and am donating my searches to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. You can learn more about why I chose this charity on my Sponsor Page.  It is a cause near and dear to my heart.
     
    In addition to using GoodSearch today, I am also donating a portion of my last months earnings from this blog (approximately $50) to another cause 
     
     
    LDS Charities was established in 1996.  They span all across the world helping in many different areas including Wheelchairs, Clean Water, and Immunizations.  I can’t think of a better way to help people then giving them the things they need to live and grow healthy.  I was recently listening to a couple who had just returned from Cambodia serving a mission with LDS Charities. Did you know that one of the leading causes of death among those unable to walk (in Combodia) are snake bites?  That took me by surprise.  By providing them with wheelchairs, these people can avoid the snakes better, and their quality of life is improved so much. 
     
     
    What will you do today to Give back?
     
    I’d love to hear your ideas.