Mission Accomplished

Last night, we finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family. Something we have been working on for...I don't know...two years now. It was touch and go two years ago. I have to admit that reading scriptures with a 2-year-old and 4-year-old was a lesson in patience...for me. But reading with a 4-year-old and 6-year-old is much better. For the last year we have been really consistent, nary missing a night. Even when Tyler was in Kingston for 2 weeks, we would FaceTime him and read scriptures as a family and say family prayers.

All things that the prophet says stick with us and are important - but family prayers and scriptures are a big deal in our house. Sometimes when we're getting home late from somewhere, we read in the van (praise you iPhone for your scriptures app) on the way, so we don't miss.

While Tyler was in Kingston, we were reading in Ether. We decided that we wanted to finish by Tyler's graduation - which is tomorrow. So we did it. We made our goal and it felt awesome. And it was so great to see how excited the kids were to accomplish our goal as well.

We read Moroni's promise in chapter 10, verses 3, 4, and 5 and decided to include that in our family prayer that night. Praying to know whether it wasn't true. Then Tyler and I prayed together that night that our children would feel a witness from the Holy Spirit. Lucy also suggested that we pray to know what we should read next. We've decided that we'll read Joseph Smith History next, but past that we're not sure. We'll probably head to the beginning of the Book of Mormon again.

A friend of mine decided that she would read the entire Book of Mormon in 30 days (June), and I decided to join her. When I read that she was doing it my mind immediately thought, "Great idea! I can do that too!" and I committed. And then my mind thought, "Wait a minute, we're moving in July - June is going to be a busy month!" But I've stuck to it. It's 18 pages a day. I have been reading, what feels like non-stop. I read every time I put Logan down for a nap (again, thank you iPhone for your scriptures app) and when I'm feeding him his bottles. And then whenever I can find some spare time. So far, i've stayed caught up, and I plan to keep it that way. (fingers crossed).

So far, I am finding that I am wasting my day a lot less. Now that I know I have to squeeze 18 pages into each and every day, I'm using my time wisely. Because other stuff still needs to get done. You know what doesn't need to get done? As much facebook or as much Oprah. (It might be convenient that she is no longer on the air, but 'Oprah' is just my code for lame-o unnecessary afternoon TV).

What I have noticed for our family as we have read the Book of Mormon over the last two years:

1. Lucy's reading has improved DRAMATICALLY. I know she is at that age now where reading is important and something she can finally grasp, but she is far beyond what we expected of her at this age. (That's a hard statement, because she's brilliant and we know it...but I guess it's still good that her brilliance still amazes us and we haven't become too complacent).

2. Max's reading is improving too. He really wants to be like his sister so he really tries hard to read a verse whenever we read.

3. The kid's aren't always paying PERFECT attention, but every once in a while they ask a question and it makes me glad to know that some stuff is sinking in. The other day as we read Ether 2:4. It talks about the Lord coming down and talking with the brother of Jared in a cloud. Lucy said, "Mom, how come Heavenly Father never talks to me?" I told her that Heavenly Father talks to us through the Holy Ghost. She responded by saying, "I've only felt the Holy Ghost one time I think." Now, I know this is not true, but it opened a big discussion of what the Holy Ghost feels like and how he talks to us. We decided that whenever we (Dad or I) are feeling the Holy Ghost that we would tell the kids and describe to them what it feels like to see if they're feeling it too. It has opened up so many opportunities for us to teach our children. It has also allowed us to recognize a pay attention to the Spirit. One time during sacrament meeting, we sang "Praise to the Man" for the intermediate hymn. The whole congregation was standing and I bent down to Lucy's ear and whispered, "I'm feeling it now." Her eyes got really big and then she smiled.

4. Priorities seem to be in the right place. I used to be so paranoid about getting the kids to bed 'on time'. Let's be honest I still am, but the scriptures are ALWAYS part of that routine, which means that no matter what, there has to be time for it. If Dad or Mom has to be out in the evening, then we read scriptures before so we can do it as a family. It just gets done. And the kids are so aware of it too, that when I say, "Ok kids, time to brush your teeth and get jammies on." they often respond with, "And scriptures and prayers."

5. Their knowledge of scripture stories is awesome. They love playing "Book of Mormon" battles with anyone that comes over and they usually school them in their knowledge of scripture characters. Lucy also taught our Family Home Evening lesson the other day on Nephi and his family getting the plates, journeying in the wilderness and crossing the ocean to the Promised Land on a boat...mostly on her own.
Lucy will tell anyone that her favorite story in the scriptures is Alma the Younger seeing the angel. Max loves Captain Moroni, Teancum, and Helaman. They also love that Nephi has a little brother named Jacob.

Loving it. I have to go, because it's tubbie time and we need to start JS-H. I like looking forward to scripture time.