FHE and Walking

Jane spent almost the entire hour during cub scouts today, tottering around. That's the most she's walked yet! Lately she's been standing up and just balancing there, and occasionally taking a couple steps, but today she was going like 6-8 steps. It's so fun to watch! I swear, watching a baby learn to walk, never gets old.

Tonight I was so excited for Family Home Evening! One of my goals this year and hopefully every year hereafter, is to start preparing the kids to be future missionaries. Really, consciously, preparing them. I want to talk often about missions and missionaries, and hang pictures and quotes that relate to missionary work. I want to pray as a family about missionary opportunities and teach the kids to be comfortable talking to their friends about the gospel. (And teach myself, too. I'm no pro at any of this!) Tonight I planned a lesson on missionaries.

We talked about what missionaries are, and what they do. We discussed 5 ways that the kids can prepare to be missionaries, and everything is things that can do now. At the end, they got to open the mailbox and each found a letter addressed to them, with their own mission call and a name tag. Don't read them closely, I have no idea how they are supposed to be worded and I may have addressed the letter from President Monson ... not sure if that is an OK thing to do? I mean I didn't sign his signature or anything, so is that bad? Oh, and apparently the name tags are wrong. It's supposed to say "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and nothing else, below your name. Thad told me that. So they weren't perfect, but guess who can't read and don't care? The kids! They were really excited to open their "mission calls" and get name tags. Next week not only will they get to wear their name tags, but they will get to dress like missionaries and learn about what missionaries do every day. And they'll learn more about the places that they are going: Benji is going to California because for some reason that's where he says he wants to go every time we ask him. And Ana is going to China, for the same reason. She has a fascination with China right now. I wonder if she will be one of the missionaries to open China some day?

Now, lest anyone think that I made this goal sound so lofty, and this lesson sound so perfect that it was cheesy, let me inform you how wild and distracted the kids were during the ENTIRE thing. It always seems that when I'm the most excited for a lesson, thats the night that the kids are the most ADD. Our lesson tonight started with all 3 kids crying. Jane was tired, Benjamin bonked his head on a door frame, and Ana was mad that Thad took her Clifford dog away because she and Benjamin had been fighting over it minutes earlier.

So on that note, we started our lesson. Then Benjamin got mad because he wanted to pick the song, not Ana. Then we sang his song before Ana's so she got made. Then Benjamin lost interest in the whole thing, and walked around playing with a jump rope and hanging it on some wall hooks. I had to stop what I was saying several times to say, "Benjamin, stop pulling on that, you're going to break my hook off the wall!"

At one point, I threatened, both of you sit down on the ground right now! The next person to talk, or touch anything besides the ground or himself, goes straight to the bathroom!" They obeyed for about a minute. Then Benjamin picked up a bat and started swinging it. I turned to Thad, "Can we pin their arms down, duck tape their mouth's shut, and staple them to the ground?"

I didn't actually lose my temper, but I was close a few times. Either way, I tried to bring the Spirit and I hope that the kids got something out of our lesson tonight! And I'm still excited for next week's lesson!