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.