We had a great day today. I have a headache triggered by emotion — but that’s ok.

This morning I got ready for church and then sat outside on the front porch and read my scriptures. I really enjoy being out there these days. The August morning temperature is just perfect in the shade, I have a cute patio chair to sit in and I enjoy hearing the subtle sounds of nature while reading. We gathered in the piano room for Sacrament meeting. Emily played the piano, Matthew led the music and Dad prepared the Sacrament — the first time without Ryan by his side.

Our Come Follow Me lesson was good. We’re in Helaman now and this lesson reviewed the Pride Cycle — which was interesting to discuss with the boys. In Helaman Chapter 1 it explains that ‘there began to be a serious difficulty among the people of the Nephites’. There was contention in the judgement seat… divisions… people were exceedingly wroth, they tried to flatter… and rose up in rebellion against their brethren. With this came anger, more contention and the murder of Pahoran. Through this they had not kept sufficient guards in the land of Zarahemla. Coriantumr - leader of the Lamanite armies - marched in with great speed and there was no time for the Nehites to gather together their armies. We talked about how when there is contention, divisions and anger within our family then we let our guard down and Satan and his armies are able to march in with great speed. As always, it’s fun to learn together and bear testimony of how much we need each other and the gospel. We had a long conversation about the fruits of the gospel — which I think really helped the kids understand the blessings we enjoy because of what we know.

We transitioned smoothly into Children and Youth goals. We pulled out our goals from the beginning of the year and reflected on how we did with previous goals and which to continue working on. The girls wanted printed papers and the kids quickly began assessing and filling out their new goal chart while we pulled one of them at a time for a special ‘Parent Interview.’

Matthew was first. I opened our little meeting with prayer and quickly became emotional as I voiced how much we loved Matthew. So grateful for his personality in our family. We asked him about his concerns with 6th grade (almost nothing) and talked about schedules, possible goals, device rules and experiences, his testimony, preparing for the priesthood and his relationships with each member of the family. Love that kid.
Emily wanted to go next. This girl is starting her Senior Year!! For several weeks I’ve been thinking about having a conversation with her about how to strengthen our relationship through this final year of High School. Often times parenting Seniors can be really tricky. Parents have a tendency to think about how much they need to teach their kids before they leave for college and with the best intentions tend to correct, want to initiate change or push ‘last minute lessons’. Seniors have a tendency to think they know it all, perhaps do a little eye rolling and are unaccepting of said ‘last minute lessons’. At least that’s what I’ve noticed and gathered from friends. Because of these thoughts on my heart and a desire to strengthen our already strong relationship, I began my opening prayer with silences and sobs. Boy do I love this girl and thinking about having only one year left before she graduates makes me a little sad. I was emotional as I expressed to my Heavenly Father that this is a really tough year to start a Senior year of High School and asked for a multitude of blessings for her social life, mental health and academics. We chatted about what her goals were… physical, social, academic and spiritual and asked her how her testimony is doing. She shared that it’s good and that although our Come Follow Me family church is long… it’s helpful and she appreciates it. We talked about her worries (not many) and encouraged her to continue to be such a good example for her siblings and to try to strengthen each relationship individually and be a sibling that is supportive, understanding and a cheerleader. We made goals to be loving, understanding and communicative during this Senior year. It was a good discussion and she was just a bit emotional as we ended. Dad asked her to say the prayer and she said, “I can’t pray like this - my voice will be too high” but started to pour her heart out to Heavenly Father asking him for help with her goals and to strengthen all of her relationships. Then hugs and a “I love you guys” as we finished.
Megan was next. Again I prayed with pauses and emotion. With each of the kids I felt my love for them but also felt Heavenly Father’s love for them as well. So grateful that we have this girl around for another three years. We told her that …and that she is such a joy to us. We were emotional and one of things I love about this girl is that she mirrors our emotion. Loved to see her glossy eyes as we talked about testimony, relationships and goals. We continue to be impressed by Megan and how she desires to be better… spiritually, socially, physically and academically. It’s going to be a great Sophomore year for Megan. She closed our meeting with an emotional prayer where she thanked Heavenly Father for her relationship with her parents and siblings. So good.
Luke was last and so eager to sit on the couch with us. He’s just such a cute kid and so excited about his goals for this 7th grade year. I began with another grateful prayer to have this boy in our family. We talked through what the beginning of school is going to look like and encouraged him to work quickly and stay focused. This kid has a lot of physical issues going on right now… constant tics… not enough weight and a constant focus on eating more calories… and an upcoming Covid test and procedure to diagnose Celiac Disease. He also struggles to maintain his composure at times. He knows he struggles with all of these things and is just so pleasant, understanding and positive through it all. Luke really feels the Spirit easily and has such a desire to learn and do what’s right and his goals certainly reflected that. It was a great conversation.
After chatting with the kids we were able to FaceTime Ryan to hear about his weekend and hear about his list of well thought out goals for the semester. He is great example of working hard and wanting to improve in all areas. Love that kid.

The kids helped me get everything ready for our Back to School Dinner… waffles with cream and berries.

After dinner we gathered for Father’s Blessings. So grateful for Chris who thoughtfully blessed each of the kids with things that they’ll need this year. And my favorite part… a blessing for me too. Love my man. Love my family.

Back to School Dinner and Parent-Kid Meetings