Our Easter Lesson

I really love this visual aid shared in this blog post. I know it will help the kids enjoy and take a little more away from the Easter lesson I'm putting together.

Because the post is more fit for a signing time in Primary (Mormon talk for kids sunday school hour), I wanted to try to find a good way to fit an all-encompassing Easter lesson behind the tissue paper, and in the paper bags. This is what I've come up with. We'll make sure to designate a good little 20-30 minutes during the day tomorrow to talk all about Easter, leading into Easter Sunday. I do last minute. Yes, I do. And I do it well. So Ha!

I will build the board just as the blogger did. Inside the bags, there will be items and scripture verses printed out that address each of these topics.

1. What does resurrection mean?
In Leah's words - It's something/someone that is dead being made alive again. I will likely put into a bag a picture of one my favorite perrennials - Lantana. When lantana is alive and thriving, it's strong and beautiful. The lantana in my yard typically grows a good 4 feet tall, and shows the most amazing array of blossoms all summer long. Lantana dies when it starts getting cold in the autumn. When this happens, I cut the plant back to a small stoop (only about an inch or two off the ground). This stoop looks like a dead cluster of sticks - brittle, no life at all. BUT, every spring, new life emerges once again.

2. What does atonement mean? 
Copying from a primary manual... Link here.   


The Atonement is Jesus Christ’s voluntary act of suffering for our sins and giving His life on the cross to overcome death. We need the atonement to satisfy Heavenly Father's plan. In this plan, Heavenly Father lets us all come to Earth to gain bodies, experience joy and learn in families, experience pain along the way, but we will all one day die. We need a Savior to save us from  physical death and make our resurrections possible.


Another citation I like is from LDS.org where we see the definition of "redeem." It says "To deliver, to purchase, or to ransom, such as to free a person from bondage by payment. Redemption refers to the atonement of Jesus Christ and to deliverance from sin. Jesus’ atonement redeems all mankind from physical death. Through his atonement, those who have faith in him and who repent are also redeemed from spiritual death."


3.What happened to Jesus leading up to his crucifixion and on that very day?


Scripture citations beautifully portrayed in this video. 


Jesus was betrayed. Matthew 6:14-16
Jesus was denied. Luke 22:54-62
Jesus was rejected. Luke 9:22
Jesus was bound. Mark 15:1
Jesus was mocked. Matthew 27:29
Jesus was reviled. Matthew 27:39
Jesus was scourged. John 19:1
Jesus was spit on. Mark 15:19
Jesus was crucified. John 19:17-19

Show picture of Jesus on the cross. Share these scriptures:

John 19:16-42 and all of John, chapter 20. This is the most reading intensive question of all.

4. Why did they crucify Him? 
If I have over-simplified this, I'm wide open to suggestions on how to make it more accurate. I will print a picture of a king wearing a crown. The description is that (again, according to Leah) Ceasar was the king of the Jews. The Jews crucified Jesus because they felt that Jesus was trying to say that *HE* was their king. Mark 15:1-14. 


5. Watch the "He Is Risen Video" on youtube. 7 1/2 minutes. Beautiful! It ends with Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene as cited in John, chapter 20, verse 17. Link to video.

6. Who did Jesus Christ atone/die for? 

In the Book of Mormon, we find a passage that says: "Behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord." Helaman 14:17. Also, the third Article of Faith says: "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

I also wish to impress upon the kids that an idea like "all mankind" is kind of hard to fathom. But, to make it more personal, we will make sure to list the kids, one by one, and many of the people they know and love - even those who they've never met, like Steve, Rodney's dad, and their great-grandparents. The atonement is for each individual person who has ever lived, or will ever live.

I'll end now. :) 

I know these things are true. I am so very thankful for my Savior. I am thankful for the Plan of Happiness. I know that through Him, I can be with my family forever. 


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This is my day after edit with a few pictures of the board and the kids! :)

3"x4" cutouts from poster board, tissue paper & simple image for each question

They really enjoyed the destruction part. ;)

The First Vision

I was reminded of this beautiful text earlier tonight, and wanted to create something with it.

Image should be clickable, to view larger, if you wish.

I'll take this moment to share that I do believe that Joseph Smith did have a vision, just as he said he did. I believe that God the Father, and our elder brother, Jesus Christ appeared to him. Just before, Joseph had been confused about which church to join, and was reading in the scriptures (James 1:5) and knew he should ask God for help with the matter. What happened next is a miracle, indeed.

More about the history and organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be found at this link: http://www.lds.org/church/organization/the-church-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng

Marriage and Parenting

Just a couple of Photoshop creations I made last night. I got the quotes from this talk I listened to this past weekend. Here's a link for a video of this very uplifting message by Elder Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  I'm so thankful for my blessings of a happy marriage and the opportunity to be a parent to three of God's most beautiful creations. <3

"The days are long, but the years are short."

I stumbled upon a really special website tonight. Click here and watch the 3 minute video:

http://www.theyearsareshort.com/

"The days are long, but the years are short..."

In honor of the little moments that help shape their childhood memories, I'll post a few pictures of my boys, that I took off my cell phone memory card this week...

August 16, 2011 - The day Carter "kinda" learned how to swim

August 10, 2011 - Jackson posing with his very own dessert creation of mango, banana, fresh coconut and strawberry & chocolate syrup

August 18, 2011 - Brady posing with his math equations we'd drawn in the sand

happy fall wreath (and some pinterest love)

So fall is knocking on my door.
The air is just a smidgen cooler.
Football season is here.
Grass doesn't need to be mowed (as much)!
Bathing suits are being retired till next year.
Baby Hancock (the first grandbaby in the family who will have this last name, grandbaby #14!!!) is due this month.
Windows can be left open at night.
Fall. Is. Coming!!!

So, what better way to celebrate than to add some fall colored accents around your home?!

Just about a month ago, I found pinterest (Here's my "site"). Mercy. Have you seen pinterest!?! If not, you better not. It's just as bad a time-waster as facebook. Not kidding. Pinterest has been both good and bad though... Yes, I've wasted time on this website. BUT, I've also found ways to spend money that I don't have! Jackpot!!!

I kid - I have really and truly found ideas (recipes, kids games, quotes, DIY projects) that have proven to be valuable finds. In fact, these three recipes have been huge hits, and I'm sure to use them again and again:

1. Honey Rolls from thepastryaffair.com

2. Roasted Red Salsa from oneparticularkitchen.com

3. Baked Parmesan Tomatoes from eatingwell.com

Yes. Pinterest and I are besties.

This brings me back to fall. It's almost here, and I could not be more thrilled! Pinterest has excited some pent-up (no pun intended!)  creativity in me, and apparently all I needed was a little inspiration. In fact, these are the wreaths that I had in the back of my mind as I went shopping for the right supplies for the one I ended up making...

#1. Love this one. Love the colors. Love the textures. Link to original post here.

  

#2. And love this one too. Great colors, and I especially love how she made the "x" pattern on top of the first layer of single colored yarn. Link to original post here.

#3. And one more that makes such great use of fall colors. I'll be using this one for inspiration again, as I also bought a grapevine wreath that I'm just itchin' to embellish! Link here.

Finally, here's a little tutorial for the wreath I just made to adorn my recently painted red front door (Color is named "Calico" in the Eddie Bauer line at Lowe's)... SUCH a good red... slightly bricky/brown/coral, but just a tad... not too much. Did I mention it's a great red?

Here are the supplies I used:
One 18" round form from Michael's. ($3.99)
Six fall colored skeins of yarn. (On sale, I paid $2.50 each at Michael's)
Six small sheets of felt, about the size of standard copy paper, but not exactly. (Sale price, $0.29 each at Michael's)
Hot glue, which I already had.
Masking tape, which I'll likely remove and hot glue those spots.
Grand total for $ is about $21.00, $15 of which was for yarn, but I'm not even kidding when I tell you that those skeins look untouched. I could make a flippin afghan out of what's left! And I just might! Did I just say that?
I started by carelessly measuring (meaning, not exact...) about 3 lengths that my arms could stretch of all six colors of yarn, at the same time. I then kept them bundled and together, and started wrapping around the form. Sometimes I would twist a little, and sometimes not. I was going for a "free" look to the application, not too "stiff" or "perfect." As that length of yarn was done, I'd just start again with the same technique, until finally, after about 6 or 8 go's at it, the form was totally covered. These pics are of somewhere along that step:

Then, to embellish, I used felt flowers and various yarn "fixins." Here is a great tutorial on the felt flowers (click here).

As for the yarn, to be totally honest, I just played with it. One fixin is just a large bunch of yarn (cut to about 9") tied in a loose knot. Three knots are placed side by side on my wreath, but that's just what happened today - No set "recipe" here, friends. Another yarn-y accent that I really like is the one that looks like a yarn doughnut (that has a gold felt flower placed in the center). I think that technique repeated several times on one wreath would look great. I'm going to have to make a video of me making that, because there's really no easy way to explain it. Another little "moment" on the wreath is a twisted mess of yarn, that just melted all onto itself. SUCH an easy technique. Takes 10 seconds.

I'm thrilled with how this little lady turned out. She makes me happy and makes me want to do more, just to hang inside and around my life. Maybe one for the van, one for the aerobics room at Granite Falls where I spend a few hours each week, one for being my computer monitor, cause I'd surely get a good taste of it there. ;)

Finally, a few more detailed shots, and a finished work. That's all, folks.

Friends

I was taking a moment's notice today at a particular friendship I have. She's a gal I've known for about as long as we've lived in Rolesville, and come to find out, we have quite a bit in common. Apart from how we look (She: Native American, pitch black hair, paired with beautiful blue eyes; I: quintessential Scandinavian), we've found over the years, time and time again, that we are SO alike!

For example...

Easy one first, we act a lot alike. Hope she wouldn't mind me saying this but, we both sometimes act like we're a few fries short of a happy meal! haha! We forget things, we need reminders, we have rather peculiar memorization methods, the whole shebang. Just plain foolish, I suppose...

She and I noticed about 3 years ago that we wear the same exact watch; and agree that the battery is incapable of staying charged as long as it ought to...

We both wear (of ALL the perfumes sold in department stores and discount stores in this day and age) Jessica McClintock. I know that I started wearing it around spring '95ish, and I'm pretty sure she too has been wearing it for many years...

There have to be a dozen more ways, but finally, just last week, we discovered our LOVE for an unusual menu item. By menu, I mean, a fine cuisine prepared only in home kitchens, no restaurant would dare serve this, at least I think that's the case... IRISH POTATO SANDWICHES!!!!!  For those of you reading this who don't know what they are, they are simply potato slices, cut about 1/4" thick, fried in a frying pan, rested on a few layers of paper towels to absorb at least a little of that extra oil, then drenched with salt (YUMM!!!!). Finally, they're served on loaf bread with your choice of condiment. She likes it with ketchup, and I like it with mustard, but who cares!?! We agree that it was a favorite growing up, and that we should prepare it more now that we could sway another rising generation of it's fried-up-sodium-packed goodness...

I am thankful for friends... I have so many good ones who really "take care" of me...
~Friends who, at the drop of a hat, would help me or my family with *anything*...
~Friends who teach me about life, parenting, cooking, domestic goddess~ness, good health (or the lack thereof), and catching whatever curve ball life throws at you...
~Friends who I can complain to about anything, and they'll tell me they understand...
~Friends who I love to gossip with (but very, very sparingly! haha!)...
~Friends who make me laugh...
~Friends who listen to my occasional cries... (Somehow, they're very few and far between because I've grown more bratty and cynical than I'd like to admit. I should talk to one or many of these friends about how to get those cries out more often! They can feel so good!)
~Friends who make me a better me.

Thank you, friends. You're awesome. And, you know who you are. Love ya, mean it.