Holy temples make it possible - Day 9

"Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

In a talk given by James E. Faust in the November 2003 Liahona magazine, he says this:

"Searching for our kindred dead isn't just a hobby. It is a fundamental responsibility for all members of the church. We believe that life continues after death and that all will be resurrected. We believe that families may continue in the next life if they have kept the special covenants made in on of the sacred temples under the authority of God. We believe that our deceased ancestors can also be eternally united with their families when we make covenants in their behalf in the temples. Our deceased forebears may accept these covenants , if they choose to do so, in the spirit world."

We were on a camping trip when we taught this lesson, and we were able to have a combined family home evening lesson on the topic. We discussed what temples were for (sealing our families together) and why it was important to do work for our ancestors if they did not have the chance to do their temple work themselves.

We discussed the Salt Lake Temple, and how during the building of it, it was discovered that the foundation would not hold, and that they would have to dig it up and start over again if the temple was to stand in future generations.

We then split into four groups and built model temples out of sugar cubes, using cake frosting as the glue. Everyone was so creative in their designs and one group even made a visitors center to go in the front of their temple. We then sang How Firm a Foundation, Hymn number 85. I didn't have my camera with me on this camping trip, but one of our friends did, so as soon as I get the pictures from her, I will post them :)

Families are forever - Day 8

"The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave."

This activity is a takes a bit of prep work...so I recommend having it ready to go before beginning day 1 of teaching the proclamation.

We made a memory game using pictures of our ancestors. I just xeroxed some pictures that I had from a family book and cut them out to fit on an incomplete deck of cards that I had lying around the game closet. The great thing about this is that you can use as many or little matches as you want. After the kids had found a match, I told them a little bit about each person and how they were related to them. I am grateful to be able to teach my kids about their ancestors and to have a family book of pictures that date back to the late 1800's. It made this activity so much easier, and I am thankful for all my family members who took time to keep journals and to other family members that put all of this information into one book.

When my kids are older, I want to play this game again...but it will be fun to have them try to match grandma's with grandpa's and see if they can remember who is married to who.

Everybody ought to have a body - Day 7

"In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted his plan by which his children could obtain a physical body..."

For some reason the musical My Turn On Earth comes to mind when I think of our spirits obtaining physical bodies...One song imparticular...

"Everybody ought to have a body.
A body is the only way to go.
Oh, everybody ought to have a body,
Having a body really helps you to grow.

It can yell, it can cry,
but it can't stay dry.
It can holler and crawl around the floor.
It can stumble and fall,
It can bump into a wall.
Having a body is really a chore.

It can dance, it can sing,
It can race around a ring.
It can jump and thump until it's sick.
It can quiver and quake,
It can tumble and break.
Keeping a body is really a trick.

It can frown, it can stare
It can pull somebody's hair.
It can pound around and weep and sob.
It can hit, it can bite,
It can even fight.
Teaching a body is really a job."

It's really a lot more catchy if you can hear the song instead of just reading the words. I really loved watching the play (on dvd).... But the play really portrays the plan of salvation very well.

That's what this sentence of the Family Proclamation is talking about...the beginning of the plan of salvation...we were all spirit sons and daughters in heaven, we knew God, and because we accepted his plan we are now on the earth with a body and we have free agency.

So to illistrate this concept to Levi and Hannah, we acted out the words to the song....we had to be gentle with the biting and pulling hair parts of the song, but they enjoyed it. We talked about all the things our bodies can do and how we need to be thankful heavenly father gave us bodies.

They also made clay handprints....I have been wanting to do this for some time now, and they turned out really cute...

Gender Matters - Day 6

"Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose."

Well, today's lesson was really simple...yet it seems this subject is really difficult for some adults to understand...I know that Levi and Hannah didn't need this lesson, but I think that's how it is with any lesson...it's better to learn the principles ahead of time, and then have those lessons in your mind when you need them.

I started off today's lesson of the Proclamation by asking Levi and Hannah if they were a girl or a boy. I told them that this is what the word 'gender' means.

Then I asked them if they were a girl or boy before they came to earth. I told them that this is what 'premortal means'.

I asked them what they thought they would be when they died and went back to heaven.

Each time I asked them, Levi said that he was a boy and Hannah said that she was a girl (after I told her that she was a girl) :)

I then had Levi hold up a picture of a boy and say, "I am a boy" and I had Hannah hold up a picture of a girl and say, "I am a girl."

I then layed out some pictures that illustrated premortal life, earth life, and life after death. I showed the pictures of the boy and girl each moving through each stage, and each remaining a boy or girl.

And that was it...pretty simple, yet I think it is amazing that the Proclamation was written 15 years ago, and yet the things we are taught and warned about have gotten worse. I mean...gender wasn't really an issue publicly discussed 15 years ago. At least not as much as today. I am grateful for prophets and apostles that lead and guide us and warn us of dangers. I know that if we listen to them and head their guidance we will always be blessed.

Here is a great quote from Boyd K. Packer that I love:

"When any unworthy desires press into your mind, fight them, resist them, control them. (see James 4:6-8; 2Nephi 9:39; Mosiah 3:19). The Apostle Paul taught, 'There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' 1 Corinthians 10:13

Of heavenly parents - Day 5

"Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny."

Well, we are on day four of learning the Family Proclamation and it is so fun to think of all the different ways to teach my children what Heavenly Father would want them to know. I had a totally different plan for today's lesson, but this one came to me and so I went with it.

I took a picture of the kids holding up a piece of paper stating that Levi was a beloved son of God and that Hannah was a beloved daughter of God....

It wasn't until just now that I realized I should have had their papers say that they were beloved a beloved son and daughter of HEAVENLY PARENTS. That is what the proclamation states. I know we all know that we have a heavenly mother as well as a heavenly father, I guess I wasn't paying attention when I printed off the papers for them to hold.

If I was to do this lesson again, I would have our family sing "Oh My Father" Hymn number 292 because of the last line in the 3rd verse that reads "...in the heav'ns are parents single? No, The thought makes reason stare! Truth is reason; truth eternal Tells me I've a mother there."

Tomorrow I will have to emphasize to Levi and Hananh that they have a heavenly mother as well as a heavenly father...just like they have an earthly mother and an earthly father...

Well, we then printed these pictures off our computer and we made picture frames for them out of popsicle craft sticks.

Then we let them have at it! They painted to their hearts content. Then I had them each put their thumbprint on the picture frame and told them that fingerprints are special because everyones is different.

This hopefully helped them understand that they are beloved and special.

When dry, we slid the pictures right in, and now they have a reminder that they are each beloved and loved by heavenly parents (and their earthly mom and dad too) :)

In the image of God - Day 4

"All Human Beings-male and female-are created in the image of God."

For tonights lesson on The Family Proclamation, we learned that we look like our Heavenly Father. We have a nose like Him...hair....eyes...chins....everything about us is in resemblance of what our Heavenly Father looks like.

So we drew picture shadows of the kids...this was trickier than I thought. We set up a camp light on a table in the living room and turned off the lights, then we taped a piece of white paper to the wall and traced the kids shadows...Levi was pretty easy, we only had to redo his once...

Hannah on the other hand was really tricky. It is just so hard to hold still when you're 2. At one point Brandon tried holding her neck so I could trace her face...we even had Levi sit right in front of her and sing her a song (which was so cute)...but despite all this she still moved her lips. Needless to say, we did the best we could.

After we cut out their silhouettes, we pasted them onto a black sheet of paper...and then we pasted the piece we cut out from on the back side. I think I like the picture of the black side best because it looks like a shadow.

The Family is Central - Day 3

..."The family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children."

I really tried focusing on the words of this part of the proclamation...if the family is central to God's plan for us, then that means the family unit is more important than anything else. More important than knowledge, service, gratitude, being humble, or having faith and integrity.

So to teach this concept to my kids, I took 7 bowls and put a different word in each, with the word family being in the middle (central) bowl.

We then took a little plastic ball and tried to toss it into the family labeled bowl....like the fish game at the carnival. The kids thought it was fun and laughed when the ball would go in a bowl and then bounce out. We talked about how the other words in the bowls were important...but that families were most important.