Weekly Recap: With the first week of school!

Last Sunday as I was sitting in Sunday School I had one of those light bulb moments when the spirit speaks directly to me. It was even about those moments of teaching and inspiration. We were discussing D&C 128:17-18 when thoughts came into my mind about an upcoming Family School lesson we'd have on Tuesday. We were also discussing 1 Corinthians 15:29 about baptism for the dead. The question in class was about why we need our ancestors and why they need us and why we need them, including when Malachi says "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

We have a timeline on our wall with dispensations as "key links". We add cards about people and events in history to this timeline. President Gordon B. Hinkley teaches that we should not be a "weak link". D&C 128:18 talks about ushering in the dispensation of the fulness of times (which we are currently in) and welding together the dispensations so that more can be revealed from the days of Adam to the present time, and things which never have been revealed can be, even to babies and children. Woah. I imagined a chain in place of the black tape that forms my timeline, and as we work to connect each link of that chain, more teachings that haven't been recorded and mysteries that haven't been revealed will be revealed to us.

If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you have probably heard of moments of revelation happening in the temple and may have even had them yourself; when you suddenly learn something that you cannot learn from any other place. I'd personally like to experience more of those moments, and temple work is the way to experience it. As we continue to embrace the spirit of Elijah and use the keys that he restored to this earth in the Kirtland Temple in 1836, we are working to join the generations for eternity, avoid the curse Malachi warned us about, increase our own knowledge including these teachings and hidden things, and bring ourselves closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Other exciting events on Sunday - J spoke in church! He prepared his entire talk by himself and chose to speak about choosing good language. His former scout leader brought his First Aid merit badge over, and my husband gave all of us priesthood blessings for the new school year.

We started school on Monday. We did Foundation lesson 1 and N helped teach us about the importance of order and our school binders. Then we watched the eclipse! We hung out with neighbors for part of the day, and Daddy brought moon pies for the kids. N finally climbed the tree by herself! (We have a rule.. until you can climb it yourself, you won't be found in a tree.) She was so excited to finally accomplish her goal of getting up in the tree! In other news, I can be found in silent prayer even more frequently now.

I saw a suggestion to help keep the eclipse glasses covering kid's eyes, place them on a cardboard box! So we made eclipse helmets. They are awesome, no light sneaks around those glasses. I pressed the glasses tightly against my face and could still see brightness around them. I wished I had made a cool helmet for myself.

Tuesday J and N taught Family School; their lessons were about the timeline and The Principle Approach the 7 principles of liberty. We had an easy school day with not much other than Family School. J fell while using his rollerblades and discovered why Mom insists that he use wrist guards. Fortunately it's just a strain and will heal soon.

Wednesday M and I taught the Family School lessons about 4R-ing, and word studies, character charts, and marking what we read and learn. M led us as we drew a huge theology tree on our driveway. School was light again, and as soon as we could we left to visit our cousins! My oldest niece and her husband had their first child earlier this week and we had been invited to meet the new little lady! We also attended the county fair parade to see another niece dance. Then we had dinner with the cousin's family and came home late.

Thursday we slept in and started school late. We had a geography lesson on the four main types of maps. M and J finished up the photography merit badge and will start the course book next week. E made chocolate cookies with a cookie press. She noticed the cookie press when we rearranged our food storage room and shelves last week and wanted to try it out. She did great using it and the cookies were delicious!

Friday was a music lesson that introduced us to the music eras and a few composers we'll be studying this year. We switched our schedule up and we do Family School together first thing each day now. So after the lesson, we turned the music down and continued to listen as we all started our first math lesson of the year. It was quite nice! Math went well too! After school, we got 7 eggs. That means all the chickens that should be laying DID! J mowed his grandparent's lawn, and our neighbor interviewed me for a class at school.

Saturday we tried to relax a tiny bit after such a busy week, but we still did a lot of chores. J got his hair cut and wasn't too thrilled with the results. He had asked for the hair to blend up the sides of his head, which it does on one side, but the other side is shaved until his part. I think it's the new style, and we didn't realize we had to be specific about blending on both sides of the head. But it will grow, and it is nice, just not his style.