A Chilly, Child-Swapping Temple Day in Philadelphia

We could see the skyscrapers of Philadelphia when we noticed it: isolated clumps of gray snow on the shoulder of the freeway. Southeast Pennsylvania had enjoyed some snow earlier that week, and while it was warm enough that most of it had melted, it was also cold enough that not all of it had melted.

Traffic wasn't in our favor, so we pulled into the underground parking garage shortly after the 10:00 session began.  After donning coats and informing me he would be back at 1:45 my valiant husband took the five children up the elevator to the "arrival center" building. His mission: to entertain the five children at the nearby Franklin Institute so I could have some time in the temple.
I took the central elevator straight up to the temple entrance to luxuriate in 3 1/2 hours of peaceful pondering and temple work.
At 1:45-ish, I took that same elevator back down to P2. As soon as the doors into the parking garage opened, I heard the familiar, obnoxious sound of one of my children pretending to vomit. Sure enough, my family was making its way across the parking garage to the van just in front of me. My 3-year old was the first to notice me, and happily walked with me over to the van. The children started clambering inside (not that we were going anywhere yet), while my husband tied his tie and pulled on his suit coat that had been hanging in the far back of the van.
Cory gave me a parting kiss, then carried his temple bag to the central elevator, and I turned to face five children who were ready for a late lunch (Dad had fed them popcorn). With coats back on, we decided to try our luck at the 7-11 a block away.

We walked out of the shelter of the "arrival center" and into the chilly wind blowing down the street. Not sufficiently cold, the children prodded and kicked every patch of dirty snow along our path.
At a four-way stop the children clustered back together and a considerate driver waved us across.
I had never before been in a convenience store with an L-shaped layout. We had to squeeze past the line at the checkout to see what our options were. The most promising option was 2 slices of pizza for $2. When the line cleared out, the cashier came over to help us. He pointed out that a full pizza (8 slices) was $5.55, so we ordered that instead. While it was baking, I generously encouraged the children to get a small hot chocolate ($1 each). My high schoolers sensibly started filling their own cocoa cups, while my younger children pleaded for slurpees. I thought it was foolish, but we believe in allowing the children opportunities to make choices and experience consequences, so I just reminded them of how cold it was outside, and allowed them the option of a small slurpee instead.
When we purchased the food and stepped outside, the chilly wind began chasing us down the street. My 3-year old clutched his prized slurpee and shivered. There was no way I was carrying a pizza while helping the children cross all the busy streets it would take to arrive at the lunchroom tucked inside the Franklin Institute. I gave them the option of either eating in the park or in the van. It was unanimous, so we hurried as discreetly to the elevator as a family of seven carrying a pizza and drinks in the temple courtyard possibly can.
After eating, we gathered up the trash in the van to save for the first rest area we would encounter on the drive home. Then we went up to the surface and walked briskly down Vine Street, noticing at least one father in a dress shirt taking his young children into the Free Library of Philadelphia. It's fun recognizing families out in town that you've recently seen at the temple.
The high school boys promised to stay with each other and meet us by the enormous statue of Benjamin Franklin at a given time. The rest of us got downstairs just in time for a planetarium showing. I let my middle schoolers go in together, with instructions to find me in the adjacent train exhibit as soon as it was done. Then little Q and I spent a happy half hour building an enormous train track.

We met up successfully and made it back to the parking garage about 20 minutes before I expected us to, which allowed us to leave almost as soon as Cory (who had remembered to validate our parking ticket) came down. We left the Philadelphia around 4:30 and it was dark before we were in Delaware.  For our first half hour, we discussed our pondering and impressions for the day, and navigated our complicated route out of the city and onto Delaware 1.

I read to Cory most of the way home. We finished Mary Poppins and got a good start on Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, by Jessica Day George. The kids mostly watched shows we had downloaded to our tablets, but T prepared his lesson for today, and Q napped for over an hour.
We were reminded our family was responsible for the sacrament bread, so when we stopped for gas, we also bought a loaf of bread.
When we pulled into our driveway a little after midnight, the three children in the middle row were all asleep. We nudged the older ones awake and carried the youngest in. By the time we had brought in all the luggage, all of the children were asleep in their beds.
Another successful temple weekend. Lots of driving, not too bad on sleep, and no regrets.

2 Hour Church = 1 Hour Primary

As a member of my ward's Primary presidency, I was eager to see how the new two-hour church schedule would affect Primary.
In a sense, there will be nothing new (during the Sunday block). There will actually be less (for example, no more Sharing Time).
The most dramatic thing I noticed about the new schedule is how it shifted the proportion of time spent in different areas.
To me, the new proportions emphasize three very important things:

1. Taking the sacrament. Even young children who ignore the speakers take notice of the sacrament. The entire sacrament meeting will be half of a child (or adult's) church worship experience.
2. Singing Time. As you can see in the circle chart I made, learning and singing gospel songs is nearly a quarter of a child's church experience each Sunday. (The chart I made includes the 5 minute opening with singing time, but there are several songs sung in sacrament meeting to balance that). For many children, the gospel is best learned through music. Music has a power to touch hearts in a way that lectures cannot. Gospel songs are also more likely to be hummed and remembered into the week. In fact, once a song is thoroughly learned, its power can unexpectedly reenter a person's life years in the future.
3. Class time. A 20 minute class is superior to a 20 minute sharing time in many ways. By being in a small class setting, young children are more likely to feel the love of their teachers, have opportunities to participate, and therefore pay better attention.

What are your thoughts about these changes?

My Daughter's First Baptism Trip (and How Youth Serve in the Temple)

I would have liked to have been there for my sons' first baptism trips, but it made more sense for their father to go. When my daughter turned 12, I was looking forward to the opportunity to enjoy that milestone with her.
A snowstorm cancelled the ward trip that had been scheduled for her birthday. As the closure date for the Washington DC Temple neared and our ward still didn't have a new appointment, we took matters into our own hands and drove up with a couple family names.

The temple workers assigned us to tag-along for a ward baptism trip (though I think they would have preferred for us to have called for an appointment a few weeks in advance). We were very fortunate, because we were able to see some recent changes in action. The priests from the ward were called ahead of the group to get special instruction so they could take turns baptizing the youth in their ward. Then the temple workers spoke to the young women. In addition to being a proxy for baptism, the young women were able to serve by passing out towels and bringing the paperwork for completed baptisms to an assigned area.
I could tell my daughter was itching to volunteer, but as we were tag-alongs and this was her first trip and there were lots of others ready to take that opportunity, I persuaded her to wait for another trip.
I'll admit, when I had read about these new opportunities that youth would have, I didn't think much of it. To me, they seemed like little things. Watching the youth in action completely changed my perspective. This was their temple trip. They weren't passive assistants to the adults who do the real work. They were doing the work. Temple work had become their work.

5 Things We Love about Elder Ulisses Soares

Do you have a strong but quiet man in your ward or family? That's what I imagine Elder Soares to be like.
Why?

Well, with all the conference talks he has already given, I thought I would find lots of stories about him to share.
I was wrong. It turns out that in most of his talks he didn't share a personal experience at all! When he does speak, you can tell he loves God, the church, the scriptures, his wife and his family. 

1. We like his name. If you need to spell it, remember that it is spelled like the English word “soar,” with an “-es” attached. For pronunciation, I’m trusting President Eyring, who pronounced it “swahrr-ez.”
2.  He was born in Brazil. My husband served his mission in Brazil, so it’s definitely our family’s favorite South American country. After two years of eating black beans and rice (and some of the most amazing fresh fruit), he still sometimes we occasionally visit local Brazilian restaurants, because nobody makes black beans as tasty and satisfying as they can. But that isn’t the only foreign country Elder Soares has ties to. He has also lived in South Africa, and served as president of the Portugal Porto Mission. He also speaks four languages: Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish.
3. He filled out his mission papers at the age of 11. This probably says more about his bishop than about him, but it is a unique way of planning for your future.
4. Elder Soares loves his wife. In fact, his love for his wife and their family might be his defining characteristic. “The couple rarely says ‘I’ and ‘me’ when discussing their respective lives—opting for the pronouns ‘we’ and ‘us.’” In fact, we love his wife, too! She was first invited to visit the church when she was eight or nine years old, but her parents didn't allow her to be baptized until she was seventeen! That didn't slow her down. Only a few years later she was a missionary serving in the Brazil Rio de Janeiro mission. After her mission, she married another convert to the church who had served in the same mission: Ulisses Soares!* 
5. Elder Soares is humble. He said so himself. Kidding! (Although he did once give a talk titled, “Be Meek and Lowly of Heart.”) Actually, the real reason I believe Elder Soares is humble is that in the seven times he has spoken in General Conference, he has only shared personal stories twice. For some people, a microphone is an invitation to monologue, but when Elder Soares takes the podium, his focus is clearly on scriptures, doctrine, and Jesus Christ. He knows it isn’t about him.

REFERENCES

• Hear President Eyring’s pronunciation of “Soares” during the April 2018 solemn assembly.
• Read about Ulisses Soares' family's conversion, his mission, and courtship in LDS Living's article, "5 Things You Should Know About Our New Apostle Elder Soares."
• Elder Renlund reviews the homemade Brazilian pizza made by Elder and Sister Soares in a caption in the September 2018 New Era article, “Take the Savior’s Hand.” (The online version is unfortunately missing the photograph and caption).
• An interview with Elder and Sister Soares was published this April: "Meet Elder Ulisses Soares: Committed to Serve and Testify Worldwide."
• An infographic of his life was published in the September 2018 New Era.
• The talk, “Be Meek and Lowly of Heart,” was given in October 2013.
• You can see all the talks Elder Soares ever gave by going to the General Conference homepage on lds.org. At the top of the page is the option to select a speaker. Scroll down until you see his name (it’s currently number 15).

* Elder Soares was six when his family joined the church, so he will say he grew up in the church, but his family was converted.

Sometimes We Struggle with Small and Simple Things

This weekend was our stake's turn to help with the hurricane clean up in North Carolina. I had been wistfully watching clean up efforts for years, wishing one day my children could be part of that kind of service.
Many members of our ward signed up to serve. So many, in fact, that it was decided that the home ward would only have a sacrament service today due to the lack of teachers and leaders. It felt good knowing there were so many true-blue service-oriented members in our ward.
My two oldest sons decided to go. So did my daughter. When it came down to which parent to send, there really wasn't even a discussion. The parent who bought all the mallets and crow bars was obviously the one who could most effectively handle them, and that parent wasn't me.
I helped pack a bag of travel food, and helped my husband rearrange the garage so we could get to all the tools.
When it was time to see them go . . . without me, I was surprised by how sad I felt. Part of it was being left out of an adventure with my husband. We travel so frequently together that it felt unnatural not to. But I knew another part was my desire to be part of this special service project, to be part of something big and uncommon and memorable and noteworthy.
My job was to stay home with the three year old.

Our short church meeting today was mostly testimonies. The first was given by my 10-year old's Primary teacher. In his testimony, he mentioned the Bible story of Naaman the leper. Naaman goes to the prophet to be healed. The prophet doesn't see him in person. Instead, he sends his servant out to tell the leper to bathe seven times in the river. Naaman is insulted, and might not have obeyed if his diplomatic servant hadn't suggested that if the prophet had asked Naaman to do a mighty thing, that Naaman certainly would have done it.
Brother S. went on to compare that to small and simple things the Lord asks us to do. He must have been inspired, because that resonated strongly with many members of the congregation, myself included. I would have been happy to wear the yellow t-shirt and work with the other Helping Hands . . . or at least have taken pictures of them working. My small and simple assignment was to stay home with my youngest two children. It wasn't difficult. I've done it many times before. But it was not what I had hoped to be doing.

My mind went back to a conference meme I saw this week. Maybe you've seen it. It had a photograph of President Nelson with the message: "You thought last conference was exciting? Buckle up!"
I had idly wondered to myself what other exciting things could possibly happen that hadn't already happened. Most of my ideas were improbable, if not unlikely. Then, during sacrament meeting, I had a startling thought: what if no new exciting thing was announced during conference? What if we went in with high expectations of excitement, only to be told to read the scriptures as a family, serve our neighbors, and keep going to church? Could we handle that?

At this point, I would almost be more surprised if the October 2018 conference didn't have surprises than if it did have surprises. Either way, the Lord is at the helm. Either way, these are his servants that he has sent to us with a message. Are we willing to hear, even if it is a small and simple thing?

5 Things We Love About Elder Gong

Today I am delighted to share a family video: 5 Things We Love About Elder Gong.

This has been an ongoing family project for over a month.
I read everything I could find about Elder Gong, from his conference talks to his writer profile on Goodreads,* each biographical sketch the Ensign ever published, an old interview in The Friend as well as the fun biographical sketches shared in the New Era and Friend this year.
I noticed my children most connected with the "fun" stories we found about him.

1. We love Elder Gong's family. His grandparents immigrated from China. His parents were married three times: a Chinese ceremony for family, an American ceremony for friends, and later, when Gerrit Gong was a young child, they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.
2. We love that he has traveled all over the world. How many people do you know who have visited all seven continents? Elder Gong has. He has traveled the world for diplomacy, spreading the gospel, and family trips. Antarctica? I guess that was just for fun.
3. We love his sense of fun. Once, he asked cheerleaders to perform silent cheers for the chess team. Another time, when he was filling out an application to become a Rhodes Scholar, he listed tree climbing as an athletic ability. 
4. Elder Gong is smart. Not only did he attend Oxford University, but as a Boy Scout, he learned morse code. When he was a missionary in Taiwan, he felt inspired to write a note to an investigator in morse code. It turned out the investigator was a radio operator, and was delighted to receive the personalized message.
5. We love that he sang in conference. Some people barely have the courage to speak in public. In the April 2018 conference, Elder Gong didn't just speak with confidence and courage, he sang.

REFERENCES

• Elder Gong shared his family's story in his October 2010 conference talk, "Temple Mirrors of Eternity: A Testimony of Family."
• As a seventy, Elder Gong shared his memory of being sealed to his parents in an article in The Friend magazine.
• A photograph of Elder Gong with penguins in Antarctica (and another of him serving ice cream to missionaries) is in the August 2018 New Era.
• On the final page of that issue, there was a biographical infographic of Elder Gong.
• The morse code story is found in a biographical sketch the Ensign published when he was called to the Presidency of the Seventy. 
• He sang on Easter Sunday in the April 2018 LDS General Conference

*His published works appear to be of a professional and philosophical nature on the topic of diplomacy.

Get Prepared with Me: Tropical Storm 2018

September and October are the peak of hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean (Northern hemisphere). The last few years we have had a stormy General Conference weekend. That was on my mind last week when I bought a few extra containers of water at the store.

Apparently, it was just in time. 

By Monday, we were facing a 10% chance of hurricane force winds in our area by the end of the week. My husband helped me move the lawn furniture into the garage and ordered an adaptor for our camp stove.  On Tuesday I topped off the gas tank, withdrew cash from an ATM (the latter two in case of a prolonged power outage), and the adaptor for the camp stove was delivered. It will allow us to use the big propane tank to power our little two burner camp stove. I hadn't realized how much I was counting on it, but I didn't truly feel prepared until it came.

In this video I talk through some preparedness considerations and meals I can cook without power.

This stack of totes shows some of our layers of food preparation.

The first bin has granola bars, pretzels, crackers, and other snacks that need no preparation. This is our evacuation bin. If we chose to evacuate, I would want to put a couple hundred miles behind us before pulling over for anything.

The contents of this bin will be rotated within the next few weeks as we use some of the food for our next temple trip.

The next bin has some lunch or dinner foods that I can prepare quickly with boiled water:
Ramen
Angel Hair Pasta-roni
Stove Top Stuffing
Not in the bin, but also in the house is canned soup, as well as a lot of peanut butter.

 The last bin includes breakfast foods I can make on our camp stove. I love that you don't even need to dirty a pot to make instant oatmeal and hot chocolate. You just need to boil water.
We have a griddle that attaches to our camp stove. It doesn't do the best job at pancakes, but if a power outage lasted more than a couple of days, it would be nice to have something to eat besides oatmeal.

 Lastly, I have Dutch oven supplies (don't worry, I know to go outside and not use charcoal inside where it would use up the oxygen). The only Dutch oven dish our family has perfected and looks forward to is a dump cake of sorts. If the neighborhood gathered to clean out their freezers on the barbecue, I could contribute dessert.

Update: The storm moved to the south, so we have had a blessedly boring week. Most of these supplies are going to be saved in the cupboard for the next storm that threatens to blow through.

Blog Posts Coming Soon:

5 Things We Love about Elder Gong (video)

A Peek into Our Weekly Family Council

5 Things We Love about Elder Soares (video)

Conversation Topics for a Week of Family Dinners

This summer I read The Secrets of Happy Families, by Bruce Feiler. In his chapter on family dinners, he suggested that what is even more important than sharing food is sharing conversation. That means making an effort to say more than "please pass the potatoes."

That's easier said than done. By the time I get dinner on the table and herd the family to it, it takes willpower to add a "please" to my "pass." Then there are the children. Have you ever asked a child what they learned at school today? Some children will start talking and just won't stop. Mine will reply dismissively by saying, "nothing."

So what do you say at the dinner table?

Feiler suggested that you have a different topic or theme for each day of the week, much like many families will assign tacos to Tuesdays. 

I read through his ideas, and decided to make up my own. It went something like this:

Sunday

Food: We break bread. Dinner rolls, challah bread, and sometimes stromboli are the anchor of our Sunday dinners.

Talk: An adult begins with "I'm thinking of a ____ who _____." The children guess who the person could be. On Sundays we focus on family and church, so this is usually a story about a family member, scripture hero, or prominent church leader. It helps to pay attention in Sunday School.

Examples:

I'm thinking of a grandparent who attended Olympus High School.

I'm thinking of a Biblical prophet who had to run away from a wicked queen.

Monday

Food: Meatless Monday. This is a great day to rotate our food storage by using vegetarian recipes like lentil chili or Brazilian black beans and rice.

Talk: What are you reading? 

I've found that not everyone is in the middle of a good book, but those who are enjoying telling everyone all about it.

Tuesday

Food: Taco Tuesday. When appropriate, leftovers from Monday will appear along with other toppings.

Talk: What is the best thing that happened today?

In his book, Feiler refers to studies that have shown that children who told experiences in detail remembered those experiences much better in the future. My hope is that by encouraging my children to talk about good experiences that they will hold fast to more happy memories.

Wednesday

Food: Sandwiches. For example: sloppy joes, gardenburgers, French dip, chicken salad, bbq pulled pork sandwiches, and pigs in a blanket (yes, that last one is a stretch).

Talk: What's the difference between _____ and _____.

This one was rather unmemorable. I'd like to try a comedy night instead, with each person sharing a clean joke or amusing story.

Thursday

Food: Pasta. Our most frequent pasta dish is spaghetti and meatballs, but I try to rotate in more sophisticated recipes to avoid palate fatigue. I plan to try minestrone when the weather cools.

Talk: It's thankful Thursday. What are you thankful for?

Friday

Food: Pizza. I make a homemade crust with the help of the bread machine every week.

Talk: Share a poem or a proverb. 

That's right! Friday is pizza and poetry night. This has quickly become my favorite conversation topic, and no, my kids don't spend a week preparing. I'll usually remind them to choose a poem while the pizza is in the oven. We have a volume of Shel Silverstein on a shelf in the dining room that often gets used. Jack Prelutsky is also a popular poet with kids. 

The 3 year old will proudly recite a nursery rhyme. One week my 10 year old surprised us by reciting a poem he had learned in school. I've been known to do a quick online search for a poem that goes with whatever topic suits my fancy. At least a couple of kids choose to share a wise or witty proverb instead of a poem, which is equally as entertaining.

Saturday

Food: Simplicity. Repurposing leftovers is typical, although frozen meals or homemade sub sandwiches are also possibilities.

Talk: Discuss a current event. What would you do if you were in charge?

The plan was for me to skim through the international headlines of The Guardian, or the week in review of a national newspaper, then choose a family dinner friendly topic to discuss (nothing too stressful or depressing). So far this theme has just made me realize how little attention I have been giving the news lately.

So, How Did it Go?

Well, poetry night is a new favorite, and "thankful Thursday" is easy to remember. Any of the nights that required preparation (aside from poetry night) were quick to slide as the weeks have gone on. Nights with rushed dinners were still difficult to make time for conversation.

What did we get out of this experiment? A couple new traditions, as well as a resource to pull from when the silence hangs heavier than cold gravy or the superficial chatter of cartoons and video games dulls the appetite.

Coming Soon . . .

I hope all my readers enjoyed a wonderful summer with their families. I know I have. There was a great day at Busch Gardens, two teens went on trek, swim lessons almost every day, a robotics camp, and a cross-country trip to see the extended family.
Now we're sorting school supplies, emailing school counselors, deep cleaning children's bedrooms, and almost ready to jump back into the school year.

With that just around the corner, I wanted to give you a peek at what we'll be sharing soon:

• Dinner topics for a week of family dinners
• 10 Things We Love about Elder Gong (video)
• Weekly Family Councils in Our Home
• 10 Things We Love about Elder Soares (video)
• Updated coloring journals for General Conference (if I have time)
• Temple Week: Daily Posts about My Favorite Place

The videos will go live first on my YouTube channel, Enjoying the Intentional Life, but soon after I will share them here, embedded in my blog, for my readers.

10 Before 10: My Summer Morning Routine

During the school year, I keep a morning routine for myself of things I daily attempt to complete before 9 or 10 in the morning. What makes sense during the school year and what works well during the summer are sometimes different things, so while I was working on my expectations for the children, I also worked on mine.
For summer, my list contained 10 tasks to complete before 10 am. In case you are wondering, I am waking up to an alarm at 6:30 on weekdays this summer.

My Summer 10 Before 10

1. Pray, Ponder, and Gospel Study
2. Exercise and Drink Water
3. Shower, Hair and Make-up
4. Make Bed
5. Family Prayers
6. Breakfast
7. Start Laundry
8. Unload Dishwasher
9. Tidy Kitchen and Dining Room
10. Plan Day

I feel like I can get a lot more done first thing in the morning when I don't have to reinvent the wheel every day. I also live most comfortably with a moderate amount of structure. Spontaneous summer fun is more likely to be fun when the kitchen is functionally clean and I feel ready to face the day.
Some mornings are definitely smoother than others. If we have a busy evening where dirty dishes get left out overnight instead of run through the dishwasher, it's going to take me a lot longer to get through steps 8 and 9. I have found this to be great incentive to do the dishes in the evening!
If we stay up late the night before, I know it will be much harder to get up at 6:30. Knowing I am getting up at my summer variation of "early," I purposefully choose not to be up late the night before, so I really believe I'm getting as much sleep as if I wasn't using a schedule.

Book Review: Diary of Two Mad Black Mormons

About a month ago, I attended Time Out for Women in Raleigh, North Carolina, and enjoyed hearing Zandra Vranes and Tamu Smith speak. They were a pair of fun and dynamic speakers, with unique and thoughtful insights into Bible stories and life itself. They are also the authors of Diary of Two Mad Black Mormons.

Written as a series of diary entries, the "sistas" reflect on gospel lessons found in their everyday lives. They cover a wide range of topics, from "Dysfunctional Families Are Forever" to "Set Your Standards High So You Can Fly," and my personal favorite, "Don't Save the Drama for Mama," but the theme that runs through this book is learning to love Jesus and turn your life over to him.
Zandra Vranes and Tamu Smith share the gospel as they've learned it, bravely sharing stories from their childhood and youth that don't always portray themselves in the best light as they, like anybody, have needed to pass through hard things to find and follow Jesus.
The book is full of good choices and bad, real-life encounters with service, forgiveness, family drama, what it's like being the only black family at a Mormon church, and a healthy dose of "black momma sayings" (their words, not mine).
We are all individuals. There is such a range of personalities, choices, and life experiences, that I think it would be a mistake to assume any one book can represent the thoughts, feelings, and life experience of all black (or even African-American) Mormons - or Korean Mormons or Southern Baptists or --well, you get the idea. And yet, experiencing the gospel through the eyes of someone with a different life, culture, or race does help me feel more strongly connected with Saints all over the world.
I'm very glad I read this book. It was an enjoyable read, and helped me focus on the core of the gospel (as opposed to the pseudo-culture that is sometimes associated with the gospel). I felt closer to these great sisters in Zion, and appreciated their courage in sharing their views and experiences with the world.

Free Printable Covers for Scripture Stories from The Friend

I wanted to share how we've been getting so much more use out of the wonderful scripture stories printed each month in The Friend, and share the (free printable) binder covers I made to go along with them (scroll to the bottom for the download).

These illustrated retellings are an amazing (and practically free!) resource for parents and Primary teachers.

The Author and Illustrator

The retellings are written by Kim Webb Reid, and illustrated by Apryl Stott.
The stories are written with a beautiful simplicity appropriate for ages 4 and up. My little one is only 3, so the first few times we tell a story, I'm pointing at the pictures and paraphrasing the story in the simplest way I can. Once he is comfortable with names and words unique to the story, I can transition into actually reading the text.
In picture books, an illustrator can make or break a story. What I often see in children's scripture stories are cartoonish renderings that are incapable of showing the depth of these great stories. I have completely fallen in love with Apryl Stott's thoughtful illustrations, which are sufficiently stylized to draw your eye to what matters most, while containing thoughtful details for those who want to linger on them. As if that wasn't enough of a treat, she has been designing a monthly coloring page that appears right after the story.
Together, this author-illustrator team has created a powerful resource for parents and Primary teachers  to introduce children to the scriptures.

Book of Mormon Stories

In 2016, The Friend printed a story each month from The Book of Mormon.

2016 was the year we tried (and mostly failed) to read our church magazines online, so I didn't have access to physical copies from that year. Ink can be expensive, but I felt like my little one needed this, so I printed all of the pages, slipped them in sheet protectors in a 1" binder, and made a cover for the binders.*
The illustrations really appealed to my 3-year old. Paraphrasing the stories as I went, he let me read about half through before losing interest (for this child, it was more than I expected).
Then my older children picked it up, one at a time, and read through it themselves.

Bible Stories

In 2017, each month included a different story about Jesus.
This year, 2018, The Friend has been publishing stories from The Old Testament.

This year I'm prepared. I put a stack of repurposed sheet protectors (anyone else reuse those things?) in a 3-ring binder (for the year, you will need 24). As soon as we get a new Friend magazine, I can carefully tear out the Bible stories (and anything else in "The Friend Jr." that I think we will want to reread) and slide them straight into the sheet protectors.

I finally got around to making a binder cover so I would stop losing this binder when it's in plain sight. I named it Bible Stories so that this year's Old Testament stories and last year's Stories of Jesus could go in together.

Church History

While I have no inside information, I'm going out on a limb and guessing that 2019 will finish things off with a year of stories from church history.
In case of that eventuality, I also made a "Stories from Church History" cover.

Free Printable Covers

The link for the binder covers takes you to Google Docs, where you can view and download them.

Scripture Binder Covers (Original, Full-Ink Version)

Low-Ink Version of Scripture Binder Covers

Printing the Covers from a Mac

• Download (see links above)
• Open the document in Preview 
• Select "Fit to page"
• Select "Single-sided"
• Print

Printing the Covers from a PC

• Download (see links above)
• Open file
• Select File, Print
• In the print dialogue box, choose "single-sided"
• Print

Getting the Stories

*If you need to go back and print some stories you are missing, go to the website for Friend magazine. Choose the year you need, then the month. Scroll down until you see "Scripture Stories." Off to the right it will have the author's name, Kim Webb Reid. Click the download button (an arrow in a circle), and print from there.
I recommend printing the stories SINGLE SIDED on plain computer paper (it doesn't need to be cardstock), fit to page, and if there is an option for image quality, I choose "Best."
There is one story in each month, so if you're missing stories, YES, you will have to go separately to each month.

Travel Vlog: Philadelphia Temple

In this video, I share parts of our overnight temple trip up to the Philadelphia Temple, and how we managed child-swapping so both my husband and I were able to enjoy sessions, while helping the kids have happy feelings about our regular temple trips.

Budgeting

How do we afford this? Well, we have a little checking account that on the first and fifteenth (payday) we automatically transfer in a set amount of money. It's our temple-trip account. We track how much we have spent on previous temple-trips (i.e.: hotel, fast food, gas, tolls). This gives us a good idea of how much we need to save to go to the temple. When we have enough money in the account, it's time to go. 

We can transfer all the money over to our checking account right before we leave. If our account is full from a recent pay-day (i.e.-and the bills haven't fallen yet) we can wait until Monday morning to transfer it and see how much we spent.

Preparation Check-list:

• Call temple to schedule sessions
• Reserve a hotel (about 30 minutes outside the city is close enough, and cheaper than in the city)
• Add money to E-ZPass for tolls
• Download Netflix episodes to iPad and/or choose books
• Top off the gas tank
• Buy and assemble snacks
• Pack overnight bags

Drive Up:

We left late (after 7). The sun was setting as we drove across the bridge-tunnel. I read to Cory while the kids watched downloaded episodes on the iPad. We ate dinner before we left (remember . . . it was late) so we passed out snacks as needed. We also had water in our Thermos bottles. The kids don't spill them, and since water is a boring drink, they don't drink more than they need to, which keeps down on rest stops.

We pulled over at a gas station when kids needed to use the bathroom, and topped off the gas tank. By this time it was 10 pm, we were still 2 hours from our hotel, and that light dinner had worn off. We pulled into a drive-through and ordered some sandwiches from the economy menu to round-out our snacks. For me, this really hit the spot.

Hotel:

Most of the kids fell asleep almost immediately. Q took some coaxing to quiet down and sleep somewhere that wasn't his bed or a hotel crib. We had brought his special toddler sleeping bag, which I think helped him emotionally. I didn't get to sleep until almost one in the morning, but we had to get up with our alarm if we were going to make it to our sessions in time.

Cory and I showered before waking the children, who got dressed quickly. They like hotel breakfasts and will get ready for the day in a hurry if I require that first. We left breakfast about 30 minutes before we wanted to leave the hotel, because packing-up and checking-out always takes longer than I think it will.

Child-Swapping Temple Trip

We pulled into the temple parking garage about 30 minutes before my 10 am session. Cory gathered the kids and walked to the Franklin Institute (a family-friendly science museum) a couple blocks away, where we got a membership. Crowds were light in the museum that early. Little Q, who loves trains, got to spend a lot of time in the train room. The kids were happy.
Meanwhile, I took the elevator up to the temple entrance, where I got our parking ticket validated. Getting out of my session took longer than Cory and I had expected. I met him with the kids between the temple and the museum a little after 12:30. He headed back to the temple.
The kids were hungry. A nearby food truck sold Philly cheesesteaks and hot dogs. Hot dogs were either 2 for $6 or 3 for $6. There were two signs and I wasn't sure which was current. The kids weren't interested, so we walked a couple blocks to a mini-Target. We got two bags of bagels, meat, cheese, and a bag of sliced apples for everyone to share. Then I gave the kids permission to choose a drink and a side (most got a bag of chips). I think this second category may have doubled the cost of the meal, which was about $30.
It was a little chilly to eat outside, so we thought we would try to use one of the cafeteria-style lunchrooms on the bottom floor of the Franklin Institute. We asked a nice lady at the check-in desk, who went and checked on the rooms. It turned out that all the tables were folded up and a custodian was cleaning, so she gave us permission to go upstairs. We found a corner near the snack bar (not the restaurant), and enjoyed a leisurely meal. I put the leftovers back in the grocery bag. We enjoyed the museum for about half an hour before deciding to use restrooms and head back to the van.
The parking garage was mostly empty when we got there. The kids settled into the vehicle (unbuckled) and soon Cory joined us.
After enjoying his lunch in the car, we got on the road. We waited for Q to doze off, which didn't take long, before the kids started watching The Greatest Showman on the iPad. We had the sound faded through the speakers toward the back of the vehicle, as I was reading a book to Cory (the middle-grade sci-fi novel Bounders).
We got home with just enough energy to unload the van, dumping the laundry in the laundry room to wait for Monday.
We all slept well that night.
The kids are already asking when we can go back. Hurray!

Temple Trips with Children: How We Do It

Can't go to the temple often because you have kids? It's so hard to find a babysitter . . . and who can afford to pay a decent one for that long of a trip?

Today, I share how we have become more successful (i.e.-more frequent) about our temple trips, even as we've moved farther from temples and had our family grow.

My inspiration came from a family I knew who lived about an hour north of the Seattle Temple. They would drive their whole family down on a Saturday and drop-off one parent at the temple. The other parent would take the kids to a nearby bowling alley. 

That's right: bowling!

Maybe somewhere out there is a kid who would rather sit and listen to conference talks for three hours, but that isn't my kid, and it probably isn't yours either.

When we moved to Charleston, South Carolina, it took two hours to get to the nearest temple. Fortunately, we had some great friends who also had children, so once every 6-8 weeks we would drive up on the same morning. One family would take all the children while the first couple went in. When they came out, it was time to switch. 

We all became pros at nearby activities we could do with the kids. Weather permitting, the nearby park was a good option. Often we would walk there, which would use up time in a good way. There was a small LDS bookstore that opened around ten. The kids would enjoy the play place while one of the adults perused the books. I tried to only go in if I was serious about buying something that day.

When the weather was bad, we would drive all the kids (yes, this took some car seat and vehicle planning) to the nearest Chick-fil-a, where they played gleefully. We would buy them a morning snack to "pay" for the visit.

Then we moved states and found out we were three hours (in ideal traffic - ha!) from the nearest temple. We had to get a lot more intentional about our temple trips if they were going to happen, and even more intentional if everyone was going to be happy about it.

This is the gospel of good news! I want my kids to learn that living the gospel makes our family happy.

We had money automatically transferred to a "temple trip savings account" every pay period to save up for our temple trips (we went about 10 out of 12 months). We needed money for a hotel, a tank of gas, at least one fast food meal, plus snacks and water. For better or worse, the snacks often came out of the grocery budget.

There were a handful of times we skipped the hotel and drove there and back in one day just to save money. It wasn't fun, so usually that was just if the youth were going on a temple trip.

For a while, our exhausting mini-vacation family temple trip looked like the following:

Sample Washington DC Temple Trip Agenda

1. Drive up Friday afternoon
2. Sleep in a hotel
3. Cory wakes early and makes the first session
4. I get dressed then get the kids to dress
5. I take the kids to the hotel's continental breakfast
6. Cory comes back and catches the last of breakfast
7. We check-out of the hotel
8. Cory drops me off at the temple for my session
9. He drives to IKEA and checks the kids into the ball pit
10. He and the kids get back to the temple
11. They wait in the visitor's center for me to get out
12. We drive downtown and pay for parking
13. Visit a Smithsonian museum for a few hours
14. Drive home

Right now, the Washington DC Temple is closed for renovations. That doesn't mean we've stopped going to the temple! Living farther from the temple just means being extra intentional about it. We're still automatically transferring money into our "temple trip savings account." After adding up the cost of an extra fast food meal, more fuel, and some expensive tolls, we have decided that we can afford to go to the temple once every 6-8 weeks.

Next week I'm posting a video of one of our family's trips up to the Philadelphia Temple. I'm excited to share with you what we did and how it went.

Royal Icing Temple Cookies

I'm a serious home baker, but I recorded this video the second time I used royal icing to decorate sugar cookies. The icing was a bit thicker than ideal, but I decided to post this anyway, because I thought it might be encouraging to those even newer to this process to see that the process doesn't need to be perfect to be perfectly beautiful.

Make Sugar Cookies

I used Alton Brown's sugar cookie recipe from Food Network. There are several videos as well as the recipe at that link. (I also made a batch of chocolate sugar cookies, but I lost that link. Sorry.)
Then roll the dough between two layers of parchment paper (divide the dough in half and do this twice), slide it onto a cookie sheet or cutting board, and refrigerate until firm, which will be in about 45 minutes.

When the dough is firm, peel back the top layer of parchment paper, dip your cutter in flour, and cut your first shape. While the cutter is still on the dough, slide a floured metal spatula under the dough and cutter, and transfer them together to a cookie sheet. This helps the cookies keep their shape better.

Put the cookies (with tented spires, see below) in the oven for the minimum bake time. Then remove the foil. Leave in the oven for up to a few more minutes, or until the edges of the cookies blush golden brown.

Make Royal Icing and Decorate

Make sure you have meringue powder and icing bags, couplers, and tips available!
Wilton's royal icing recipe can be found here.  Use the "thin icing" variation. Divide the icing among several cups. Cover the cups with a wet paper towel. One at a time, remove a cup from under the wet paper towel and add gel colors. Transfer into an icing bag with a coupler already in place.

 Use a small tip to outline your cookies (like a #1 or #3), and a slightly bigger tip for flooding them with icing (like a #3 or #5). Have fun with this!
I did a blue temple, then added yellow polka dots, and a blue CTR shield, then added yellow letters. If the icing is the right consistency, everything "melts" to the same level. It's part of the magic of royal icing.

Here, I did colorful diagonal stripes. Then I ran a toothpick through the stripes, but only in one direction:

This temple got a solid yellow background, large round white dots with little yellow dots in the middle. I pulled a toothpick from the center of the small dots outward, which gave a sunburst effect. (The lumps are from the icing being not quite thin enough.)

Then my daughter came home:

The cookies are supposed to air-dry for 24 hours before being stacked. That's the professional ideal. At the very least, don't stack them within the same couple of hours as when you decorate them, and then proceed with caution.
We served these as refreshments for our ward's Temple and Priesthood Preparation (Primary) meeting. I show a few more cookies in the video.

General Conference Study Challenge: President Nelson

After the October 2017 LDS General Conference, I wanted to learn more about Russell M Nelson. Each morning after dropping my son off at LDS seminary, I would listen to a talk by President Nelson. I started with his oldest conference talk, which he gave the day after he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and progressed to the present day. About two months into this challenge, President Thomas S Monson passed away, and Russell M Nelson became the new President of the church. I feel like my study of his conference talks prepared me to have a testimony of him as a prophet.
In this video I share how I did my study, as well as some of the things I learned along the way.



By the way: I was joking when I said President Nelson probably knew more Chinese than me. I'm sure he knows way more!

Sustained! April 2018 General Conference

It's a little funny . . . I never know any of these people called as general authorities, but I get so excited about their calls.
This year has taken that to the extreme as Russell M. Nelson has been called and sustained as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In one of my upcoming Youtube videos, I'll tell you all about my personal study challenge of all of President Nelson's conference talks.
Today, I was ecstatic to hear Gerrit Gong and Ulisses Soares announced as the two newest apostles. They were in the Presidency of the Seventy before their call, which means I'd seen their pictures and heard their names recently. Sometimes I've never even heard of them, so I was excited to have a little familiarity built in. It's easier to pretend I knew them.

Elder Gong, who was born in California, got a doctorate in international relations from Oxford, was the special assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, and served as the Asia Area President.
Elder Soares (pronounce: Swar-ez) was born in Brazil! Correct me if I'm wrong - but I believe this is the first time since the restoration of the gospel that someone from South America was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Elder Soares got his B.A. in accounting and economics from a Catholic University in Brazil, then became an account and auditor for multinational corporations in Brazil. He had been serving in the Presidency of the Seventy and was serving on special assignment for the Presiding Bishopric at the time of his call.

Why Bloggers Need Breaks . . . Plus a Surprise Announcement

I’ve been blogging, with varying degrees of regularity, since my middle schooler was a preschooler. With the exception of posting an updated coloring journal (at the request of a local Activity Days leader), I took most of last year off. Why?

• I’ve been blogging and posting thoughts about life, family, etc. for so long, that I was strugggling to discern between ideas that would benefit my family, and ideas to do with my family that would sound good on a blog. I decided a sabbatical might help me reconnect with my family and core values.
• Our family is not perfect. The more interesting stories I usually choose not to post online, because someone in the family is bound to feel embarrassed by it. That, combined with a thoughtfully composed photograph, presents an airbrushed (figuratively) and idealized family that often doesn’t represent reality.

That said, I really enjoy writing, and the things I present are things we have really done. I hope you can forgive me for glossing over the “interesting stories” as I carefully choose what content to present to my readers.

I also want to thank my many readers that have grown over the years. I know somewhere behind those numbers are real people, and I hope some of what I present to you is of use.

Now, as I prepare to get back into writing, I have a huge announcement to make:

I now have a YouTube channel! 

After some serious thought, I have named my channel Enjoying the Intentional Life. Expect posts about living joyfully within my/your means, self-care, recipes, home care, parenting, and more. I might even do a Lego temple video to celebrate General Conference. We shall see.

 I am in the process of making and editing the initial videos. Expect the channel to go live spring of 2018, before the spring General Conference. If you find the channel interests you, please subscribe. YouTube has a threshold number of subscribers (100) required before giving a channel its own URL, making it easier to link and share videos.

See you soon!

~Stephanie