Righteous Desire

We know that a lot of what we become depends on our desires. Well, lately Ally has had some pretty intense nightmares. As in screaming and crying and just flat-out being distraught. When we go in to help her wake up she'll be sobbing about one of two things: that she didn't get to pray or that we hadn't read scriptures. It's funny to me that she even has these nightmares, because we haven't missed either one for a looong time. And yet, it scares her to think that we have! She's such a sweet girl and I'm pretty sure she has righteous desires. I wonder how many people would lose their testimonies if they were as concerned as Ally is about praying and reading scriptures?

Teaching

On Sunday, our home teachers came over. Christian asked Ally is she knew the Easter story to which she said yes. She then went on to tell our home teachers about the Easter story. After that she wanted to tell them another story and chose the Last Supper. She told it pretty accurately, too! I was just amazed at how well young children remember the things you tell them and that they are excited to teach or share with others what they have learned. It's a good example for missionary work. Ally's excited to share what she knows and we should be too. 

Righteous Desires

We were having a little family council and were discussing important upcoming decisions for our family.  We asked the girls to remember to pray for these things to help our family know what to do.  In that very moment they both rushed off to pray.  (I thought that was so cute, we meant praying generally and in the near future, they knew better--pray always!)  A few seconds later Viana came back and said she knew our decision was good because she got a warm feeling in her heart.  Brooke then said, "I did not get a good feeling, but I prayed to find my lost Cinderella doll."  We all have our agency and you can't force anything!  Brooke prayed for what was in her heart at that moment, and I sure hope she can find her doll!

Prophet

I'm starting to get afraid that every other post I have on here starts with, "I've fallen off the blog bandwagon lately (across all my blogs)." But, as for a post!!

Today was ward conference. The part I heard, being sacrament meeting because I teach second hour, was fabulous! I love our bishop and stake leaders! During second hour they handed out a copy of the For The Strength of Youth booklet for everyone to take home. I wasn't in the meeting, but apparently, they are encouraging us to read the booklet and really try to live by the standards. Well, the booklet was sitting at eye-level of the kids and Daniel noticed it. Immediately, he pointed and said, "Temple!" (there's a picture of the Salt Lake Temple on the front.) It made me smile that he recognizes and is happy about temples.

Later in the evening, Ally had gotten a hold of the booklet and wanted to flip through the pages and talk about the pictures. The first page is a message from the First Presidency without any pictures. She asked me what it was and I told her it was a letter from Pres. Monson. Before bedtime, Ally asked if we could read a book and I told her she could pick any book she wanted. She didn't hesitate at all and answered, "I want to read the letter from Pres. Monson." I love that she has a desire to hear from and a love for our prophet. One thing that I have noticed again and again with our kids is that they are completely happy to see and comfortable around those members of the Church that have been called to serve in full-time positions or are our leaders. It's amazing to me. It must be that the spirit conveys feelings of love to Ally and Daniel. I don't know why else they would love people they only see once a week or have never met (in the case of Pres. Monson) because they are both extremely shy. I'm grateful for our prophet and that Ally loves him.

Faith

The other week CharlyAnn had a bad rash, so at family prayer I asked Viana to remember to pray with extra faith that CharlyAnn would get better. So during her prayer she said, "And please please please please please please please please please please bless CharlyAnn to get better." I loved to see what faith meant to her. Letting Heavenly Father know the sincerest desires of our hearts! Pleading with him and knowing that he has the power to answer our prayers. And guess what? It worked! She's better!

Agency

On Sunday we were able to go to a baptism for a youth in our ward. It was great and Ally enjoyed going. Daniel did too since he got a nap. Anyways, during the baptism our friend's car was broken into and her wallet was stolen (so not fun to deal with all of that for her!). While we stayed after to help her out Ally was very concerned about the type of person that had stolen "L's" wallet. We talked about it all for so long. After the discussion about the difference between good and bad choices she said, "That person made a sad and bad choice. Bad choices make Heavenly Father sad." It made me happy to know that she is starting to understand the concept of why we choose to do the things we do.

Modesty

Today I was so happy when Viana and Brooke told me that they had gone through an entire coloring book coloring all of the princesses dresses so that they were modest. I was especially pleased because sometimes Viana and Brooke excuse their princesses' immodesty because they don't know about the gospel. I hope they can always hold close to their heart that important principle!

Love

Daniel is out little love-bug. He loves to give hugs and kisses. And he is especially good at saying "I love you" to our family. He will randomly come up to me and say, "Hi mom. I love you. Hug. Kiss." He's a very sweet and loving kid. But, then again all kids are that way. So, while my kids are shy and not super loving towards everyone they interact with, it always impresses me how loving and kind children are to those around them. You can put them in time-out and they still love you. You can refuse to buy them a doughnut and they still love you. They are a good real-life example of Christ's love. You love no matter what.

Church

Ally and Daniel have really been into coloring lately. Like, more than usual. Yesterday, while we were coloring Ally drew a picture of herself, a lovely round faced stick figure, and then gave some commentary.

A: "This is me saying to all the people: Come on. The Church is this way. We will go to Church!" Looks at her picture real quick to discover that there was no Church building in her picture! "Oh wait, I need to make a Church building first."

She then draws a beautiful purple Church building and repeats the commentary. She then continued the drawing with tear drops because Daniel had yelled at her and made her sad that he made a bad choice. Haha....living art I guess!

(far left: purple Church building. top: brown rain cloud and rain drops. center: brown stick figured Ally with an umbrella(brown circle), purple tear drops on her face.)

Anyways, it made me smile that she was so excited to show the "people" which way the Church building was. I think she really does like going to Church and is excited when others come too.

Prayer

This past Sunday, Ally came home with a special Primary assignment for next week. She's been asked to offer the opening prayer in opening exercises. I'm, honestly, anxious to see how this prayer will play out on Sunday. First off, it's like pulling teeth to get her to even repeat our exact words at home, let alone pray by herself. Secondly, she's got terrible stage fright. But, whoever asked her to say the prayer for next week is my new hero! All week, when it comes time to offer a prayer, I say, "Ally, would you like to say the prayer for _____ (i.e. breakfast, lunch, etc) and practice for Sunday when you will say it for Primary?" She always responds so excitedly and upbeat! She folds her arms, speaks on her own, speaks loud and clearly, and is just so happy to say a prayer! It's been so fun to have an extra little prayer said during the days by Ally and to hear what is important to her. Kids definitely aren't embarrassed to say what they are feeling when they pray. They're good examples like that. Here are a few of my favorite bits of prayers this week:

"Thank you for this day." It comes every time, immediately after opening. I supposed she's learned that one from me. I am grateful for everyday!

"Please help me spell my name. My name is Ally, A-L-L-Y."

"Help mama get better."

"Thank you for this food and that it will make my belly happy and I will grow so big and tall like my mommy and daddy."

"Help me practice sayin' a prayer for Primary for next week."

My favorite is the name spelling prayer. And I don't think it was insincere at all. She really does love to spell and wants to know how to spell everything. It's sweet to hear her praying for other, unprompted. I think she might be learning to care for others and the be aware of their needs. She's a sweet girl and I'm so glad she's opened up to praying at home more.

Scripture Study

As mentioned before, when we read scriptures we always pick a key word to listen for and have the children raise their hands when they hear it. It goes something like this: "Let's listen for the worrrrrrrrrddddd....life." I always draw out the word 'word' as I skim the passage for a repeated or important word. Tonight when I said, "Let's listen for the word..." CharlyAnn looked at me and raised her hand high in the air! I was touched and amazed at how she has noticed and learned our pattern. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Missionary Work

Clearly, I've been in a blogging funk. Well, here's to kicking off a more successful blogging drive!

Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner. They are both relatively new to the ward, so our kids really have had no interactions with them. They whole hour they were over Ally talked and talked and talked to them like they were her best friends. As they got up to leave, Daniel said, "Bye! I love you!" and then they ran to the door to watch them leave. As they walked down the driveway, Ally shouted out, "I love you SO much!" I gotta think that the only reason they were so open and receptive to the missionaries is because of the spirit that they bring with them....either that or Ally has a crush on Elder Carpenter.

Humility

We were driving home from somewhere yesterday and Brooke made a choice that upset me. I don't even remember what it was now, but at the time I told her she had time-out as soon as we got home. Well I forgot about it, but when we got home she went right to time-out and sat there until eventually she asked if she could get out. I've been thinking about that trying to decide why she didn't forget or see that I had forgot and just gone to play. I've decided it's humility. The Lord chastens his people to humble them, or we can choose to be humble. Brooke showed me that she was willing to be humble.

Goal setting

Goal number ONE: Rededicate myself to learning from my children and recording the lessons learned!

Last night for FHE we had a lesson on goals as we talked about the Carter goals for the rest of the year (so we started a month a late...at least we started!) Brooke was in charge of the lesson, so I told her to ask if anyone knew what a goal was. Viana raised her hand and said, "A goal is something that you really want that you have to work hard to earn." I was blown away! I wrote it down right away because it was so succinct and perfect. With such a good understanding our family discussion went really well after that!

Prophet

Pretty much every evening, I put a movie on for the kids so that I can cook dinner. Today, I asked Ally what she wanted to watch. She immediately said, "Rapunzel!" I started flipping through our DVD binder than heard her say, "No, Mom. I want to listen to President Monson." So, I flipped past Tangled and found our Conference section. She sat down on the floor and intently listened to what our prophet had to say. After a few minutes I asked her if she wanted to watch something else to which she replied, "No. I want to watch Pres. Monson!" And she continued to sit and listen to him for the remainder of his talk. Afterwards, she told me, "Pres. Monson tells us things from Heavenly Father that he hears at the temple!" I'm not sure where she learned that because I don't recall having that conversation with her, but she's pretty correct.

Amos 3:7 reads, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Whether she knows the meaning of what she was saying or not, the prophet is the one with the authority to give us direction as a Church. And he will guide us according to Heavenly Father's will.

Learning to Pray

You can always count on Daniel to say a prayer for our family. Ally still doesn't like to pray with us so she will often volunteer Daniel for prayer. He's getting so good at repeating our different phrases of gratitude and requests. He's even learning how to end the prayer by himself. It makes me happy that at least one of our kids will pray willingly for us. He isn't quite good enough at talking to make his own sentences, but he's getting closer. And when he does, I'm sure he'll have some sweet things to pray about.

A True Story

One thing that Ally likes to do is write down stories. She will scribble letters and dictate what she's writing. Earlier this week, I overheard her write this story.

" I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I know that he is very nice. Jesus is nice too. Is this a good deal? This is a good story. The end."

It made me smile that she likes to write down what she "knows" or is learning.

Love

Last night while on our drive to pick up LaDon, Ally started singing this song:

"I love Jesus.

President Monson loves Daddy.

Heavenly Father loves me.

Happy New Year, happy new year!"

The end is pretty random. But, I thought it was telling to hear what she's learned about our Father in Heaven, our Savior, and our current prophet. Whether she knows it or is just repeating what we tell her, she is happy to know that there is a lot of love coming from those 3.