'Rona Requires Home Church

This week marked the 8th week that we have been having church at home.  When the Corona Pandemic shut down the entire world, it included church.  Large groups can not gather, and of course, church is a large group. Luckily, the President of our church was inspired a while ago to start home centered church supported church programs called, Come, Follow Me.  When church was announced cancelled, we already knew exactly how to continue with our home church services.  I am so grateful for modern day revelation, and for church leaders who are inspired by God.  

Every Sunday, we get ready just as if we were leaving the house to go to church.  All the kids are in their Sunday best, minus shoes.  We either sit in the living room on the couch or in the kitchen around the table.  The best part is that Kevin is worthy and has the authority to bless and pass the sacrament. It has been wonderful to still have the ability to partake of the sacrament each week to renew our baptismal covenants.  We even had some super nice sacrament cloths made and sent to us by my sister, Lisa.  Before her cloths, we were just using paper towels, because that is all we had.  

Our Sunday home church has usually been about an hour.  We take turns preparing a talk and talking about different things from the scriptures or about gospel principles.  We also take the time to listen or watch a conference talk and then take time to talk about it and apply it to our family.  We always have an opening prayer and song, and a closing song and prayer.  Some of the Sundays, Big Sis or M&M has even played a church song on their cello and violin for us.  It has been a very sacred and uplifting experience for us.  After our church services, we will either learn a primary song as a family, or talk about the weeks scripture reading. One of our most favorite things to do after our home church is to watch Drawn In.  I have a subscription for the redheadedhostess, and part of her subscription includes weekly videos by artist David Bowman as he draws and describes the weeks scripture readings for Come, Follow Me.  David Bowman takes the scriptures and makes it so even our Little Monster can understand the material.  We love watching Drawn In.  

A few weeks after the world shut down and church was closed until further notice, I reached out to my family to see if they wanted to do a family church service together.  Every week at 6pm our time, the family gets together on a zoom meeting to be spiritually uplifted together.  It has been so great to see family every week.  The kids have loved seeing their cousins and Aunts and Uncles.  It has been great to feel their spirits and feel my spirit be strengthened by them. We can't commit to every Sunday, because 6pm is awful late for our two littles, and Monster especially is on crazy mode by that time, but we join when we can.  I think my kids have seen family more during this time of COVID than they have the past 3 years.

This Sunday was a special Sunday because it was Mother's Day.  Kevin had all the girls prepare a talk on Mothers.  It was such a joy to hear all my girls and their sweet words.  Lucky for me, they all wrote down their talks, so I am going to include all of their talks.  It made me feel such joy to be learning from my little ladies.

Little A's talk on Mothers for Mother’s Day 2020:

God gave us mothers because if we did not have a mother then how will we be born?  Who will watch over you when your dad is gone and no one will do everything?  If we did not have a mother, who will do cooking, shopping, cleaning?  No one would give us  attention. So, God gave us mothers so we can be born.  He also gave them to us so we can be taken care of.  I am grateful that I have a mother of my own.  So the real reason I am talking about mothers is that they can be with us all the time and also that dad can not be alone all the time.  Also they can help each other and I love my mom. 

Big Sis's talk for Mother's Day 2020: 

Good morning to you all. So the topic that we all were given is “Why did Heavenly Father give us mothers?” 

In the October 2001 general conference, Sister Sheri L. Dew gave a wonderful talk called “Are we not all mothers?” She explains many great things about the role of mothers, and why Heavenly Father gave us mothers. She says, “This summer four teenage nieces and I shared a tense Sunday evening when we set out walking from a downtown hotel in a city we were visiting to a nearby chapel where I was to speak. I had made that walk many times, but that evening we suddenly found ourselves engulfed by an enormous mob of drunken parade-goers. It was no place for four teenage girls, or their aunt, I might add. But with the streets closed to traffic, we had no choice but to keep walking. Over the din, I shouted to the girls, “Stay right with me.” As we maneuvered through the crush of humanity, the only thing on my mind was my nieces’ safety.

Thankfully, we finally made it to the chapel. But for one unnerving hour, I better understood how mothers who forgo their own safety to protect a child must feel. My siblings had entrusted me with their daughters, whom I love, and I would have done anything to lead them to safety. Likewise, our Father has entrusted us as women with His children, and He has asked us to love them and help lead them safely past the dangers of mortality back home.” 

There are two words that really sum up why we have mothers. Leading and loving are those two words. Mothers roles are not only to care for and look out for her or other children, but to also lead them, and love them. Sister Dew really touched on this and I highly recommend reading the rest of her talk. She also says that Heavenly Father gave us mothers so that they will help him love and lead and care for his children that are here on earth. Mom has done such a wonderful job at doing this. I am so grateful that there is a day that we get to celebrate mom because she definitely deserves it. Mom has led us through so many situations, both easy and hard ones. She has taught us all new things and has given us the love that no other person could give us. 

The influence of mothers on their children have been seen and recorded throughout all of the Book of Mormon history. One of the most easiest ones to see is the story of the 2000 stripling warriors. The warriors' mothers taught them to truth and have faith in the lord, and because they did, not a single one of those mothers' sons were lost through the battle in which they served in. 

Elder Jeffery R. Holland, in the October 2015 general conference, gave a talk called, “Behold Thy Mother.” He says so many wonderful things in this talk. He says, “...no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child…”

I am so grateful that countless times that mom has simply come up to me and gave me a hug or said, “I love you” because elder Holland is right, and no love is great then the love of God then the love given by a mother. I love my mom and for all the many wonderful blessings that she has given to me and to everyone else in this family. I know that God gave us mothers so we can also learn to be just like them and that we all will have a chance to give our love and guidance to others as well. 

M&M Talk on Mother’s Day 2020:

Hi! I prepared a talk dedicated to Mothers and my mom on this very special Mother’s Day. Mothers have been around for so long. They are mentioned in the scriptures a lot. One of my most favorite scripture story about mothers in in Alma 56 verses 47 and 48. In these verses, Helaman takes his army of two thousand and he takes them to war. They are all boys and men and they fought with the power of the lord. They also believed in the words that their mothers taught them. They were told by their mothers that god would deliver them and they trusted their mothers. After the battle, Helaman counted his men and he found out. That not one had fallen to the Earth and not one of them had been killed. They fought with the strength of the lord and trusted the words of their mothers. 

Mom, you have taught me many things that have kept me from hitting rock bottom. You cheer me up when I am having a bad day and you even take time from doing things that you want to do to helping all of us. You always put us before yourself and we are so thankful that we have a mom like you. You have taught me to never give up and to keep trying my hardest. 

Elder Ballard says “There is no one perfect way to be a mother, each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. Elder Ballard acknowledges that some women are “ able to be full time moms “ and that some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work, but “ what matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and , in keeping devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all. “ 

Elder Ballard also said that “because our mothers love us, we learn, or more accurately remember, that God also loves us. “Mothers give us time, love, happiness, and so much more things that they can’t all be listed. My mom is amazing and I am so lucky to have a mom like her. You have taught me so much mom and I have learned so many things from you. I love you so much. 

Thanking Corona for the Time to Run

Ever since the Corona Pandemic, I have ran 133 miles, completed a half marathon race, two 10K races and a 6K race. I ran almost every single one of these miles with Kevin.  If I wasn't running with Kevin, I was running with Big Sis or M&M. Before March, I couldn't even run 2 miles without stopping and feeling like I was going to keel over and die.  But, with all the time that Corona has given us, I have consistently been able to run and add my miles on. I have to give all the credit to Kevin.  When we first started I had convinced myself I couldn't run more than 2 miles, so I would grudgingly drag my feet when Kevin said it was time to run.  I would mumble and grumble, but he wouldn't put up with my crap, and just waited patently as I stalled.  I'm going to apologize ahead of time, because this post is going to have a ton of pictures.  I just couldn't decide which pictures to keep and which to take off.  I decided to keep most of them, because each picture is proof of an accomplishment and a memory.  So, pardon the overload.

Big Sis has joined Kevin and I on many of our runs.  She does an amazing job with keeping up with us.  When we do our short 3 miles, we really push her and she stayed right there with us.  Of course, by the end of the race she is super red in the face and can hardly breath, but she never complains and she never stops.  Watching her endurance and watching her run is pretty spectacular.  She has really surprised me, and I wouldn't be surprised if she completes a half marathon before the year is over.  Kylee has completed a 10K race, a 6K race and two 5K races.  She has really done fabulously.  We have had the funniest conversations while running.  It is so fun being matched step by step with her on our runs.  

It has been so much fun running with Big Sis and M&M.  I found a race put on by Potterhead Running Club, called the Shrieking Shack 6K.  Since we are nerdy Harry Potter fans, we were all super excited about running for something Harry Potter related and the medal was super awesome. When M&M started she could only run about a mile.  With consistent running, she was able to complete a 6K without stopping and at a really good pace.  It's so fun seeing her run and watching her work at something that is hard for her. Sometimes Kevin and I needed to run 5-6 miles and M&M and Big Sis only needed 3 miles, so Kevin and I would run, then I would hop on my bike to follow the girls while they ran.  It is fun to talk to them while they run.  I feel our relationship and communication has been strengthened through our time running together and being together. And doing something hard together.

Kevin, Big Sis, M&M and I are excited to continue our running.  We are excited that we have been able to do this together.  We honestly have so much fun.  Some days are easy and we all feel great after a run.  But there are days that the run totally sucks, and my legs hurt, or my knee hurts, or I just die after the race and want nothing more than a nap. But, we are sore together and we laugh when one of us is walking funny because we are sore. It's been fun seeing our time improve and everyone getting stronger.  It is so great just being together and doing something hard together, because we can do hard things. 

Getting Creative during COVID

I have four little girls who love art and being creative.  When we found out school was closed due to COVID-19, we sat down and talked about things we could do to keep the day interesting and fun.  All the girls asked if we could have a craft time and do a craft or art project every day.  Every day was a little too much for me, so we compromised that on school days, once they finish all their required school work, we would do a craft together.  Little did I know when I agreed to do this, that it would be one of the most special and look forward too times of the day.  Every morning the girls would ask what craft we were doing for the day.  Every day, they spent way longer then the half hour I allotted to make a craft or art project.  I spent some time on the internet and Pinterest looking up school art projects.  The girls helped me pick activities and save them to a Pinterest board so they would be easy to find.  It usually took two to three days to finish one project, so I was happy with that.  All of the arts and craft stores are closed right now, so we had to do projects with material we already had in the house.  I did make an amazon order for a few things we would need later.  Since we had Saint Patrick's Day and Easter, It was easy to do holiday projects.  Big Sis and M&M really wanted to do nail art, so we decided we would make our St. Patrick's Day project a four leaf clover using nails and string.  All the kids were able to do their own four leaf clover.  I helped monster and the three girls didn't need any help.  Big Sis and M&M helped me hammer all the nails in the night before. The kids did such a good job and all their projects turned out super cute.  Believe it or not, but this is the first St. Patricks decoration we have ever had in our house. 

Finding Easter projects was super easy.  The kids really wanted to make some Easter eggs using balloons and yarn.  They got their fingers all messy as they dipped the yarn in a glue and water solution then squeezed off the excess.  We learned that you need to put a lot of yarn around the balloon for the egg shape too hold after popping the balloon.  Most of the kids just put a few strands around the balloon, so we only had three yarn eggs survive the popping of the balloon without imploding. 

Another Easter project that they enjoyed was making jelly bean wreaths.  Monster enjoyed it best as he only put one single row on his wreath then ate all the rest of the jelly beans that were supposed to be put on his wreath.  We first tried to use elmers glue to stick the jelly beans on the wreath, but that was a flop.  We ended up having to use a hot glue gun.  I got quite a few burn battle wounds from this project and the glue gun.  I was surprised at how extremely heavy the wreaths were when they were finished. The kids all took their wreaths and put them on their doors or on book shelves.

One of the favorite projects that we did were yarn Easter animals.  We watched a tutorial on how to make a yarn ball using forks, then we all grabbed a fork and made yarn balls.  We then turned the yarn balls into chicks and bunnies.

After Easter we moved away from crafts and started doing more arts.  I found a cool technique online called fluid art, and we decided to try it out.  We took different color of acrylic paints and added stuff to it, like soap, oil, alcohol, water and such.  We poured the solution paint on paper and picked up the paper to make it roll around on the paper and thin out.  We then took a popsicle stick and brushed it along the top of the paper to move the fluid around.  As we did that, different colors would sink and others would pop up to the top. It was one of the coolest things we did.  The kids each went back and made two to three fluid paintings.  This one ended up being a super neat art project, but also a science experience as we discussed why some of the colors sunk and other would pop up.  

One of my personal favorite art projects that we did was the cityscape oil pastel resistence paining.  Each of the kids chose the city that the were going to draw a cityscape for.  M&M chose Rome, Big Sis chose London, Little A chose Chiang Mia, and I chose Singapore.  We used permanent marker to trace our drawing of the cityscape.  We then used oil pastels to color in windows, lights, the moon and the reflection in the water. Then we used watercolors to make a night lighting in the sky using blacks, purples and blues.  I loved the way these turned out and the kids all loved making them.  They have all requested to do this project again and try to create all the cities we have traveled to.

Another project that turned out super cool was the Banyan Tree art.  We saw some of these trees while we were in Cambodia, so it was fun talking about the trees and looking back at our pictures from Cambodia.  The kids then each drew a tree with large trunks and limbs.  I gave them the option to include the branches that grew straight down from the limbs or not.  They then painted the tree black with acrylic paint (because that is all we have).  The next day, we used oil pastels and blending to color in the spaces in the tree limbs with like colors.  The kids took their time and all of them loved the ways the colors blended.  Once the tree was done, I let them choose whatever they wanted to do for the background of the picture.  I think these all turned out really marvelous.

These are just a few projects that we have done the past almost two months.  It has been so fun watching the kids get super creative.  I am excited when frame stores open, so I can get these all framed and hung on the wall. We continue to do fun art projects and continue to keep the creative juices flowing.  COVID-19 might be keeping us close to home, but it can't squash our creativity.