Mistilyn is home

Mistilyn gave her "homecoming" talk today. We all met together to listen to her and it was awesome to see what a spiritual power that she has developed in these last 18 months. The mission was a blessing for her and for all those around her.

We have had a lot of fighting at our house the last couple months and so we thought we might start reading the Book of Mormon again because of the promises about doing so in the home. We had been doing doctrine and covenants and it was going great, but we needed those blessings of more peace in the home and so we started the Book of Mormon again.

It has been a week and I have slowly seen some improvement in the levels of peace in the home and especially from me personally.  The only thing I can attribute that to is the power of the Book of Mormon. Today even Audrey and Evelyn who normally don't get involved at all were wanting to say things and I felt extremely grateful! Try the power of this Book in your own life!

Slacking again...

Three in a row and then slacking again! 😔 Today I took the day off and we went to Steed Pond a few miles away. We didn't catch much except for some 2-4 inch bluegill 😂. It was fun all the same. Then we came home and had lunch and then went to Hill Aerospace Museum. It was pretty neat and all the kids liked it.

We have been trying something new the last few days to have the kids read for family scripture study beforehand so we have more of a discussion and already have some things we've learned. I was impressed with the boys' answers and hope that we can keep it going.

It's been a rough couple months and I hope we can pull through and have less fighting at home. Putting our trust in the prophetic promises about the Book of Mormon and praying that we see those blessings 🙏🏼

Three in a row???!!!

Today started out with a morning study with Trey. He is preparing to receive the Aaronic Priesthood soon and so we decided to study together at 5:00 a.m. each morning so that he can learn the duties and blessings and responsibilities of those who are ordained to the priesthood. He was definitely tired😂, but he picked things up after a few minutes and I believe is starting to feel the importance of what is about to happen.

Trenton had been sick for a couple days and was feeling sick enough that he ended up asking me for a blessing which is saying something for him. The blessing did help him and he was able to feel better after a day or so and his pain decreased quickly. Tonight we had scripture study and talked about The Tender Mercies of the Lord and Trenton shared that that was a tender Mercy for him.  He has been very sweet the last couple days and very obedient.

We had a little scare with Jaren where they found a growth on his liver and they thought it might be cancer. We took him to Primary Children's last week and they didn't MRI and we found out today that it isn't cancer and so we were very grateful. our families did a special fast and so we feel the words mercy and grace through that blessing.

Taft came with me to work today and listened to summer seminary which was really fun.  I took him to Chuck a Rama for lunch because he finished all 9 volumes of The Work and the Glory!!! I would guess that is over 4,500 pages in total 😱. So proud of him!

Would you rather

So I have been letting the kids come with me to work one at a time and it has been really fun. Taft was supposed to come tomorrow but has swimming lessons. We told him to make the decision and he informed us that as he was thinking about what he should do (lessons or summer Seminary) he had the thought come to his mind, "do you want to learn physically or spiritually?"

I don't know if he just wanted to come to work with me or if that was a legit prompting, but either way it's awesome advice for all of us. Spiritual learning ought to be at the top of our priority list.

I also had monthly interviews with the kids today and Trey had a very emotional one as he is worried about Jaren's condition and what will happen and who might say things to him and what they might say. He is such a good boy and has such a tender heart. Love all of them so much!

In Taft's interview I felt impressed to invite him to pray to find out if Heavenly Father loved him. He forgot to follow through till later that night in our scripture study when we read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon and learned how Lehi prayed with all his heart. Taft informed us that after that he went in and prayed and as he asked he had a warm feeling confirming God's love for him and then had the words of a little picture that he had seen come to mind where the question was asked "How much so you love me?"  The Savior then said (obviously a non-scriptural quote but an accurate portrayal of John 3:16), "This much" and then He stretched out His arms and He died.

I thought it was a beautiful example of God sending the Holy Spirit to confirm an essential truth to my son that the greatest manifestation of the love of God is His willingness to give His Son for us that we might be saved and redeemed. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His Son!