20 Ways to Honor the Sabbath as a Family

Here is another list of activities we choose to do to honor the Sabbath Day:

1- Take dinner to an elderly friend or someone who lives alone. This one is easy- just prepare an extra plate of whatever you are already cooking that day and share it. We did this for a neighbor every week for almost a year and really loved the friendships we developed this way. I would always sit and chat with our neighbor for several minutes before leaving, since nourishing the soul is just as important as providing a nutritious meal.

2- Write letters to missionaries or relatives.

3- Write thank you cards to mail this week. We write cards thanking our teachers from church, our neighbors who served us, our school teachers or the bus driver. It's such a great way to train us in the habit of noticing the ways we are blessed from other people.

4- Read church magazines together as a family.

5- Listen to General Conference talks or CES firesides.

6- Play dough scripturenary. We write scriptural nouns on slips of paper and divide into teams. Each team draws a random slip of paper from the bowl and tries to sculpt that noun with play dough while his team guesses the word. It's a really fun game! Some suggested words could be: Noah's ark, lion's den, angel, sword, fig tree, fish, sheep, dove, temple, Bible, sling, armor of God, etc.

7- Make a treat to share with neighbors or friends. This is a great way to introduce yourself to new people in your area.

8- Use dinner time to discuss what everyone learned in church that day. 

9- Read family journals together. My children love to cuddle with me while I read the pages of my journal, sharing stories from when I was a child.

10- Read ancestral journals together. I love to tell stories from our pioneer ancestors. It really helps us feel connected to our forefathers and provides real examples to strengthen our own character.

11- Make up fictitious stories together. We sit in a circle and begin a story. Each person gets to say 5 sentences to contribute to the plot, then the person to the right gets a turn to add to the story. This goes around the circle with each person adding plot twists or details. It sure makes for interesting narratives!

12- Take a walk or bike ride together as a family. 

13- "Adopt" a grandparent in your area and visit them on Sundays. We are blessed with a talented Texan Grandma who invites our kids over to paint and knit with her. Our kids look forward to this very much and always beg to go to Nana Precious' home.

14- Dramatize scripture stories together. Dress up for your character and consider filming the production to enjoy again another day for a family  movie night.

15- Plan and carry out a family service project. 

16- Plan the FHE lesson for this week.

17- Select a talent you'd like to develop. Set goals for learning the new skill.

18- Listen to reverent classical music all day to invite the Spirit in your home and enrich the soul.

19- Have an object lesson contest in your family. Pick one or two items around the house- any tool or item works- and have everyone come up with a story about how that item can illustrate a gospel principle.

20- Write in a family journal or help younger children write in their personal journals.  Help them reflect on their week and record what is important to them.

You can see even more Sabbath activity suggestions here.

What works in your family? Please share your ideas with us!

Pointillism Painting

7 kids + 1 huge canvas + 500,000 fingerprints = Pure awesomeness

Have you ever heard of Destination Imagination?

No?

Well, let me tell you.

It's a creative academic competition for kids around the globe.

I coach a team comprised of various home schooled friends and church friends.

"Coaching" is a generous word to use. 

Sometimes it's more like trying to quell uncontrollable chaos.

Sometimes it gets pretty crazy. That's when I pull out our Mighty Pipe of Power.

No one can talk unless they wield the Pipe of Power. 

(It's really just an old piece of PVC pipe that was left over from one of our projects.)

The kids actually really love this thing. I should spray paint it gold or something so it looks more impressive.

Anyway, back on track. 

I train the children how to think outside the box and creatively solve challenges as a team. 

Then I tell them to invent a  unique piece of kinetic art and build it. 

Then they are asked to write a play that incorporates the kinetic art and an invisible character.

They are on their own to write the script, but they get more points if they also write a song to fit in the story.

Then we ask them to build their own costumes (thank goodness both girls know how to sew!).

And they must make their own backdrops and scenery.

And don't forget, the more creative they are, the more points they'll score. 

Parents and coaches are NOT allowed to touch any of it.

The kids make it up and build it on their own.

I personally love this program: it encourages all the creative thinking that public school squelches.

When public school says 2+2=4, 

Destination Imagination says otherwise.

2+2= 22 or a ballerina tutu or the Star Wars robot R2D2 or any variety of answers.

It's very fun! 

I love seeing their minds work.

Well, during Christmas vacation we invited our team over to work on one of their backdrops.

They decided to paint this one with the pointillism approach, to rack up more creativity points.

They worked for  hours, carefully placing paint one dot at a time.

While they painted, we laughed, told jokes and wrote songs for the script. 

When it was finished, they stepped back and had a moment of silence. 

The painting looked so impressive.

 They were so proud of their work!  

They envisioned it, they created it, they loved it.

I'll post pictures later of the finished project.

Until the competition, it's a bit top secret.

The regional competition is in 6 weeks, so coaching will be taking up more and more of my time as we enter the home stretch.

Just in case you wondered what we're up to.

We still need to design and build our kinetic art. 

And build a unicorn out of cardboard and cans. 

And sew a costume for Death.

And teach the kids how to face paint for their stage makeup.

And paint a village.

And not go insane before it's all over.

Wish us luck!

  

The Sound of Silence

Anyone there?

(Crickets chirp in the silence.)

I thought so. 

I know. 

I haven't been here for ages.

I don't blame you for leaving for greener pastures.

Good news!  I'm finally emerging from my black hole.

I hear you asking, "What happened?"

During the Christmas break, I made a rule for myself of zero blogging. 

I wanted to soak up every minute of having my children home from school.

We really enjoyed our vacation time together.

After school started again, we all caught the influenza virus. 

This year the virus is really nasty.

The virus loved our accommodations and wanted to move in to stay.

We spent a lot of time cuddled under blankets or playing quiet games like chess.

After I spent 5 long days sick in bed, the pile on dirty laundry was big enough to rival Mount Everest.

Depressing, eh what?

Nathan came home from work and stayed up until 2 am conquering our laundry for me. 

He also deep cleaned the kitchen while I slept in a feverish stupor.

He's such an angel!

We are finally -FINALLY!- getting better.

I'm slowly returning to normal.

Now I'll begin the task of catching up on here.

There's so much to update:

Our new Christmas traditions that encourage our children to make a positive difference in the world,

Several project updates (like the Hogwarts reading fort I made for our kids for Christmas),

Our bathroom renovation updates

 (the shower is DONE DONE DONE!!! I'm totally doing my happy dance over this one!),

new quilts in the works for our boys bedroom,

and our batch of 100 new chicks arriving in the mail.

I'll start updating right away. 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your day!