August Reading Assignment for Primary Kids

 Book of Mormon Trail Guide - August 2011

1 sticker option* = 151 v. for August

July 31-Aug. 6: Week ONE: (32 v. week's total)

Gadianton and Kishkumen plan to kill Helaman but Helaman's servant outsmarts them -Hela. 2:2-13 (12 v.) / Helaman has 2 sons, Nephi and Lehi; the church suffers from serious problems with pride -Hela. 3:20,21,23,25,26-35 (14 v.) / Church members become weak and lose the spirit -Hela. 4:11-14; 23-24. (6 v.)

Aug. 7-13 Week TWO: ( 39 v. week's total)

 Miracles happen when Nephi gives up the judgment-seat to become a missionary with his brother, Lehi - Hela. 5:4-9; 12; 18-23 (13 v.) Nephi and Lehi are imprisoned on their mission but the earth shakes and commands people to repent; A "less-active" saint named Aminadab helps convert people in the prison- Hela. 5:24-49 (26 v.)

Aug. 14-20 Week THREE: ( 47 v. week's total)

 Lamanites preach to the wicked Nephites - Hela 6: 2, 3; (2 v.) Gadianton robbers are assisted by Satan but squashed by righteous Lamanites - Hela. 6:20, 21,29,30,31,35-37 (7 v.) Nephi makes a prophecy to the wicked, telling them that their judge has been murdered by his brother, who both belong to the Gadianton gang. -Hela. 8:27-28 Nephi gives more prophecies about the murderous Gadianton
robbers, and is proven correct - Hela. 9:1-21; 25-41 (38 v.)

Aug. 21-27 Week FOUR : (33 v. week's total)

The Lord gives Nephi incredible power to seal, to move mountains, etc., and nobody can take him or throw him in prison -Hela. 10:2-7;12-16 (11 v.) Nephi persuades the Lord to replace their war with a famine -Hela. 11: 4-5, 7 (3 v.) Samuel the Lamanite preaches to the wicked Nephites -Hela 13:2-4;22,38 (5 v.) Samuel the Lamanite predicts that light will shine all night to signify Jesus' birth far away - Hela. 14:1-8,14-17, 21-26 (14 v.)

*Remember that the one-sticker option can be fulfilled by reading, by finding the picture in the gospel art kit and asking someone to tell you the story, by enjoying the story in the Illustrated Book of Mormon Reader, or by listening to the audio version at http://lds.org

2  sticker option

= 239 v. for August

July 31-Aug. 6: Week ONE: ( 62 v. week's total)

 The Lamanite leader Coriantumr kills the Nephite Pacumeni, but then Morinihah kills Coriantumr and regains Zarahemla - Hela. 1:3-31 (29 v.); Gadianton and Kishkumen plan to kill Helaman but Helaman's servant outsmarts them - Hela. 2:1-13 (13 v.) Helaman has 2 sons, Nephi and Lehi; the church suffers from serious problems with pride -Hela. 3:20,21,23,25,26-35 (14 v.) / How church members become weak & lose the spirit -Hela. 4:11-14; 23-24. (6 v.)

Aug. 7-13 Week TWO: (52 v. week's total)

 Nephi and Lehi are imprisoned on their mission but the earth shakes and commands
people to repent; a less-active saint, Aminadab, helps convert people - Helaman 5:1-52 (52 v.)

Aug. 14-20 Week THREE: (84 v. week's total) Lamanites preach to the wicked Nephites - Hela 6: 2, 3; (3 v.) Gadianton robbers are assisted by Satan but squashed by righteous Lamanites - Hela. 6:20-37 ( 18 v.) Nephi preaches -Hela. 8:1-17, 24-28 ( 22 v.) Nephi gives prophecies about murderous Gadianton robbers and is proven correct -Hela. 9:1-41 (41 v.)

Aug. 21-27 Week FOUR : (41 v. week's total)

The Lord gives Nephi incredible power to seal, to move mountains, etc., and
nobody can take him or throw him in prison -Hela. 10:2-7;12-16 (11 v.) Nephi persuades the Lord to replace their war with a famine -Hela. 11: 4-7 (4 v.) Samuel the Lamanite preaches to the wicked Nephites - Hela 13:2-4;22,38 (5 v.) Samuel the Lamanite predicts that light will shine all night to signify Jesus' birth far away -Hela. 14:1-8,14-26 (21 v.)

Baby H. --10 months old

This little boy is so loved it's undescribable. 
He's so funny.
His first word is "Mmmmmm," meaning "let me try that thing you are eating," or "that was delicious."
He bobs his head to music.  All music: hymns at church, ringtones from cell phones, his dad's piano playing, or anything from Abba to opera in the car.
I found him playing at the toilet today.  Both arms in.  Grose!
He still wants to nurse every three hours.  And he mostly gets his way.
He likes to turn the X box on and off.  Green, shiny button with a nice sound effect.
He loves beets, deep purple plums, cooked greens, watermelon, smashed peas, cheerios, small pieces of potato chips.
He says "aaaaaahhhhh" during strolls if he's happy.  Even if there aren't any bumps in the sidewalk to joggle his voice.
He showers with his dad every morning. 
He waves to strangers in parking lots.
He waves to the empty garage any time of day, because that's where we stand to say goodbye in the mornings
 as DH drives to work.
He crawls fast, with his hands up high and down flat, like a baby dinosaur.
He stands as often as he crawls, holding on to chairs, couches, rails, drawer knobs.
He eats small pieces of paper, lint, mud, or tape that he finds on the ground and screams when I plug his nose to remove them.
That's our ten month old, baby H.

Mishmash of Summer Photos



AJ, CE and SE on the 4th of July at the parade

SE and the baby

I actually love this crybaby expression on the baby's face as much as SE's pretty smile.

AJ with a balloon parrot tied to his shirt

CE and her best friend

We spent 3 hours at the thrift store.  DH and the baby did not have fun.  But they are good sports.

How many summer hours the kids spend at this canal, I do not know.  It's a lot.

AJ and SE at the rope swing

AR and the baby on the 4th of July

My wonderful sister

Death and Resurrection

I have been thinking about death and resurrection for weeks. 

No matter how much faith you have, death is scary.  Losing people is scary even if you are losing them to a better place.  Death-- separation-- feels permanent.  Resurrection and reunion seem such very far away concepts.  If you love, you cannot meet death, not even indirectly or hypothetically, without pain.

First there was the terrible news of a family driving along and being hit, in the canyon a few weeks ago, with some members living and some dying, and with the other car's driver also dying.  We see the little memorials on both sides of the road, with flowers and pinwheels and teddy bears, along the sides of the road, every time we drive up and down the canyon.

Then there was the terrible news of a teenage football player who drowned while swimming in the creek with friends, close by.  Neighbors and friends of ours knew him well.

Then, a dear lady whom I used to visit-teach every month passed away after a nine year battle with breast and lung cancer.  No chemo; just alternative medicines.  I went to the funeral but couldn't handle going to the viewing.

The strange thing was that I thought of her many times about a week or two before I got the phone call that she'd died.  I wish I'd listened to that still, small voice and called her, visited her, said goodbye.

So, this week, when it happened again (I kept thinking and thinking about my dear old mission president, Joseph Fielding McConkie, who has been battling lung cancer for a few years) I did not dismiss my thoughts.  I found his phone number and called.

His dear wife answered.  She told me his illness has been hard, and that he just got out of the hospital again and that she's just trying to keep him comfortable.  His potassium was very low, probably because of the nasty chemo treatments.  Yet, he went to the family reunion and went fishing with his kids, not because he actually had the strength but because he wanted to so badly.  Dear Sister McConkie.  She said she's had some days that are so hard, dealing with all the thoughts.  But on one particularly hard day, Julie Beck called her, out of the blue.  That was, she said, a tender mercy of the Lord. 

She asked if I wanted to talk to President McConkie and I said thank you but that's okay; just give him a hug from me.  I don't want to tire him. 

But she handed him the phone anyway, and I was glad to hear his voice and I told him I'd been thinking about him.  "You need to get your mind on a higher plane," he said.  That's so like him.  I told him the things I had in my heart, as if it were my last chance to give him the thank you that is emblazoned in my heart for all he has given me.  Words are inadequate.  But I did try to tell him how very much I appreciate all he did and what an influence he's had on my life and so many other people's lives.  And I told him this, which I am sure he got: that when I read descriptions people gave of Joseph Smith, who knew him personally, those descriptions often remind me of President McConkie *. 

I will write them:

• From Jonah R. Ball:  The way he unfolds the scriptures is beyond calculation or controversy....He explained it as clear as the [noonday] sun."

• From Mercy Fielding Thompson:  "To him all things seemed simple and easy to be understood, and thus he could make them plain to others as no other man could that I ever heard."

• From Mary Alice Cannon Lambert:  "Saints and sinners alike felt and recognized a power and influence which he carried with him.  It was impossible to meet him and not be impressed by the strength of his personality and influence."

• From William Clayton:  "...whilst you listen to his conversation you receive intelligence which expands your mind and causes your heart to rejoice... He seems exceedingly well versed in the scriptures... such light and beauty is revealed as I never saw before.  If I had come from England purposely to converse with him a few days I should have considered myself well paid for my trouble."

• From Brigham Young:  "...he could reduce heavenly things to the understanding of the finite."

• From Howard Coray:  "I have sat and listened to his preaching at the stand in Nauvoo a great many times when I have been completely carried away with his... power of expression --speaking as I have never heard any other man speak."

• From Joseph L. Robinson:  "He truly had been educated in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God and was highly charged with the Holy Ghost, which was a constant companion."

• From Orson Spencer:  "I have never known him to deny or depricate a single truth of the Old and New Testaments; but I have always known him to explain and defend them in a masterly manner...at his touch the ancient prophets spring into life, and the beauty and power of their revelations are made to commend themselves with thrilling interest to all that hear."

* (These people are talking about Joseph Smith, but they might as well, to me, be describing all the best I have experienced from President McConkie, who, by the way, is a great-great-great nephew of Joseph Smith, and a direct descendent of Hyram, who was martyed with the prophet. I don't think it's any coincidence that these quotes remind me of him; it's a family inheritance, a spiritual gift of knowledge and the ability to teach knowledge, that his father, Bruce McConkie, also had, and of course his other ancestor prophets, Joseph Fielding Smith and Joseph F. Smith.)

Well, I have a stepdaughter whom I've never met.  She passed away at age three in a freak accident with a boulder rolling off a mountain.  A.R.'s sister.  She would have been a teenager now.  I have often told D.H. that I can't imagine how he survived the pain of such a terrible loss, an indescribable pain.  He said that it's impossible to describe.  He also said that God gives you, in the moment, what you need to get through that moment.

We get so busy in life that we forget that we're all going to die someday.  We're like pretty blown bubbles, floating in the wind for a little while, just a little while.  We're all going to attend each other's funerals and cry.  It is a fact I don't like to think about.  But it pares down the soul to the core.

And it makes me turn to God, in humble faith, that He will hear my prayer and protect me and my family, that we will live long, healthy, happy lives together.  And if it is not in His will to grant that prayer, I pray that He will give me His spirit to give me the ability to survive that pain with love still in my heart. 

I don't know how anybody mentally faces death without a faith in and knowledge about Jesus Christ.  That, I don't get.  If I didn't know He had paid for our sins and for the power to resurrect our bodies, to reunite us with friends and family in happiness one day, I would curl up and give up.

I have put all of my eggs in the basket of my belief in Christ.

Summertime

Baby H., D.H., and A.R., camping

S.E. and her dad

Baby H. and C.E.

CE and Baby H-- the two kids with the blue eyes

Relaxing during A.J. and the other kids' treasure hunt

A treasure.  A glow in the dark dragon pencil topper

C.E. started blowing bubbles.  Then, A.J. started popping them with his teeth.

The baby thought that popping bubbles with teeth is about the funniest thing there could be.

Soon, he was laughing so hard he was red faced and almost crying.  

C.E.

I love candids.

Fishing at Fish Lake National Forest --A.R., A.J., C.E., the baby, me, and D.H.

AJ does the flying squirrel

AJ

These are my favorite pictures of the baby.  Ten months and 24 pounds of pure love and butter.

July Reading Assignment - Primary Book of Mormon Treasure Mapping

Book of Mormon Trail Guide  -  July 2011

1 sticker option*  = 112 v. for July

 

Week ONE: July 3- 8  (29 v. week's total) Alma 44: 1,9,10, 12-15 (7 v.) Moroni gives Zerahemnah a chance at peace, but Zerahemnah refuses and is scalped. Alma 46: 1-22 (22 v.) Amalickiah causes problems;  Moroni raises the title of liberty

Week TWO: July 10-16 ( 22 v. week's total)  Alma 49:1,4,8,18,22,23 (6 verses) Lamanites cannot beat Moroni's defenses; Alma 50: 1-6 ( 6 v.) Moroni fortifies cities and outsmarts enemies; Alma 50:25-35 (10 v. )Teancum beats Morianton

Week THREE: July 17-23 (35 v. week's total) Alma 53: 10-18, 20-21 (11 v.) People of Ammon see the dangers the Nephites bear for them and want to take up weapons;  Alma 55: 1-24  (24 v.) Moroni outsmarts Ammoron using an undercover agent named Laman and a gift of wine to make enemy guards drunk before throwing weapons in to the imprisoned Nephites

Week FOUR : July 24-30 ( 26 v. week's total) Alma 56: 5,10, 17, 45-48, 56 (7 v.)  First story of 2,000 young warriors; Alma 57:9-27 (19 verses) the trials of holding Lamanite prisoners;  2nd story of how  valiantly Helaman's 2,000 warriors fought  

* Remember that the one-sticker option can  be fulfilled by reading, by finding the picture in the gospel art kit and asking someone to tell you the story, by enjoying the story in the Illustrated Book of Mormon Reader, or by listening to the audio version at http://lds.org

                                            2 sticker option   =   250 v. for July

Week ONE: ( 68 v. week total) July 3- 8  Alma 44: 1-22 ( 22 v.) Moroni gives Zerahemnah a chance at peace, but Zerahemnah refuses and is scalped; Alma 45: 1-24 ( 24 v.) Alma talks to Helaman, prophesies about the promised land and disappears; Alma 46: 1-22 (22 v.) Amalickiah causes problems;  Moroni raises the title of liberty

Week TWO: July 10-16  (56 v. week total) Alma 47: 1-35 ( 35 v.) Amalickiah poisons a Lamanite leader named Lehonti and stabs the Lamanite king to become the Lamanite's king.  Then he tricks the people into thinking he is a good guy, and marries the Lamanite queen.  Alma  48:1-4, 7-23 (21 v.) Amalikiah inspires Lamanites from his towers to hate Nephites while Moroni prepares his people to fight for righteousness and liberty.

Week THREE:  July 17-23 (32 v. week total) Alma  49: 1-8, 23-30 ( 16 verses) The Lamanites cannot beat Moroni's defenses; Alma 50: 1-6 ( 6 v.) Moroni fortifies cities and outsmarts enemies; Alma 50:25-35 (10 v. )Teancum beats Morianton

Week FOUR : July 24-30 ( 94 v. week total) Alma 53:10-21 (11 v.) People of Ammon see the dangers the Nephites bear for them and want to take up weapons; Alma 54: 1-14 (14 v.) Moroni's negotiation epistle to Ammoron for prisoner exchange; Alma 54: 15-21 (7 v.) Ammoron's negotiation epistle to Moroni; Alma 55: 1-24  (24 v.) Moroni outsmarts Ammoron using an undercover agent named Laman and a gift of wine to make enemy guards drunk before throwing weapons in to the imprisoned Nephites. Alma 56: 5-10,  45-57  (19 v.) Helaman tells Moroni the first story of the 2,000 stripling warriors; Alma 57:9-27 (19 verses) the trials of holding Lamanite prisoners;  the 2nd story of how  valiantly Helaman's 2,000 warriors fought