Category Archives: Divinity

The spiritual side of motherhood.

Countdown to General Conference: Packets and Preparation

Posted in Divinity, General Conference Book Club by

UPDATE:  If you’ve landed here looking for stuff related to the upcoming General Conference, click here for more current resources.

I wanted to share the summary of a workshop I’ve taught a few times about preparation for General Conferences and how to get more out of it.  Also, at the end, I’ve posted several links of General Conference packets for children of all ages and a few extra resources as well.  I submitted this over at MMB as well, but I’m not sure it will make it up this week, so I wanted to pass it along to my readers.  I think most of you know how I feel about General Conference.  Love.  It is my semi-annual recharging of the spiritual batteries.  I really encourage all of you to consider joining us this next round of General Conference Book Club, too.  It helps so much to keep the words of the prophets fresh on the mind and in the heart.  Maybe those of you who have participated in the past can leave a little testimonial in the comments about your experience in studying a talk a week.

Preparing Yourself for General Conference:

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Prophets in the Land Again,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 104-7

“In my own expression of testimony and gratitude for the messages and meaning of general conference, may I suggest three things these twice-yearly gatherings declare to all the world:

1. First, they declare eagerly and unequivocally that there is again a living prophet on the earth speaking in the name of the Lord. And how we need such guidance! … We all need that word. No one is safe without it…

2. Secondly, each of these conferences marks a call to action not only in our own lives but also on behalf of others around us, those who are of our own family and faith and those who are not.

3. Lastly, a general conference of the Church is a declaration to all the world that Jesus is the Christ, that He and His Father, the God and Father of us all, appeared to the boy prophet Joseph Smith in fulfillment of that ancient promise that the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth would again restore His Church on earth and [return] again.”

Henry B. Eyring, “Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 24

“There seems to be no end to the Savior’s desire to lead us to safety. And there is constancy in the way He shows us the path. … Those means always include sending the message by the mouths of His prophets whenever people have qualified to have the prophets of God among them. Those authorized servants are always charged with warning the people, telling them the way to safety….

In our own time, we have been warned with counsel of where to find safety from sin and from sorrow. One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated.

One of the ways we may know that the warning is from the Lord is that the law of witnesses, authorized witnesses, has been invoked. When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention…”

Boyd K. Packer, “The Twelve Apostles,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 6

“We are overcome with what the Lord said of those who hold these sacred callings: ‘Whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.’ (D&C 68:4) … These men are true servants of the Lord; give heed to their counsel.”

Think about and write down questions that you would really like some insight about.  (Think about your role as a wife, mother, friend, sister, employee, calling, etc. . . . What would you ask the Lord about?)  Imagine the Savior as your “Counselor”and ask Him things with a desire to hear His advice.  Pray about those questions.  Request that He answers them as you listen to General Conference.

As you watch conference, pay careful attention and identify talk(s) that may give you some direction for your questions.

As you listen to (and later study) these talks, look for two things: (I recommend writing them down.)

1) main points: truths, principles, doctrine
2) action items: what does this speaker want me to DO? What is the “call to action”?

You can watch a highlight video from the latest general conference here at this link.

In summary,

How to make General Conference meaningful:

1. Pray and prepare before General Conference.

2. Carefully study the Conference edition of the Ensign.

3. Watch or listen to General Conference with purpose.

4. Identify action items based on their counsel.

5. Obey.

President Monson stated at the conclusion of a recent General Conference:

“My beloved brothers and sisters, my heart is full and my feelings tender as we conclude this great general conference. We have been richly blessed as we have listened to the counsel and testimonies of those who have spoken to us. I believe we are all more determined to live the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we long remember that which we have heard during this conference. I remind you that the messages will be printed in next month’s Ensign… I urge you to study the messages and to ponder their teachings and then to apply them in your life.”

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Resources to help your children prepare for and be active listeners during General Conference

The Church has provided this page with some print-outs and computer games to help children prepare for General Conference.

The following are all excellent references offered from Sugardoodle.net, including General Conference Activity Packets for all ages (When you click on them, you can download the documents and print them out.):

Youth Packet

Senior Primary Packet and Sticker Pages (print on sticker/label paper from Office Supply Store)

Junior Primary Packet

Primary Packet (compact 2-page)

Nursery Packet

Check out this Sugardoodle.net page for other General Conference ideas, coloring pages, snacks, activities, etc.

Here’s another site with a lot of packets, cards, and other resources.

This is an article that I helped author:  “Preparing Our Children for General Conference” It has some specific ideas of activities/games you can do with children (even small children) before, during, and after conference.

Here are also some great articles to help you get yourself and your children in the General Conference mindset:

Neil L. Andersen, “Teaching Our Children to Love the Prophets,”

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Prophets in the Land Again,”

Henry B. Eyring, “Safety in Counsel,”

Here’s to having your best General Conference experience ever.

The wisdom of an immature mind

Posted in Diapers, Divinity by

My daughter Natalie is a 4-year-old genius.  (Doesn’t she look great in my glasses?) She’s like a grown-up, intelligent woman in a little tiny body . . . assuming that the grown-up, intelligent woman pees her pants a lot and screams like she’s being axe-murdered when her socks “feel funny.”  Anyway.  I was looking through some old abandoned drafts and I found this comment that Natalie made to me one morning.  It wasn’t just any morning.  It was one of those mornings where you’ve decided to give up before the sun even rises.  I think I actually crawled back into bed and told her that I’d decided to stay in bed all day and hide.  She bellowed with great sincerity:  “Nooooo.  We love you.  We want you to get up every day.”  I have to admit, it made me feel better, and I (mostly) recovered and survived the day.

This past Sunday, I arrived at church in a tizzy because I don’t care if we had church at 6:45 p.m., we would still be scrambling to get out the door on time.  It’s pathetic.  And in this case, I was pretty convinced that our family was hopeless, and that I was destined to be the lone, unappreciated crusader to get my family out the door and to church on time without missing any major articles of clothing.  I was annoyed.  During sacrament meeting, the hymns and prayers and sacrament began to cool me down (as they are designed to do), and at some point Natalie leaned over and whispered to Matt, “Daddies don’t have diamonds in their rings because they don’t make dinner.”

I love that girl.

That’s all.  Carry on.

Words! Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!

Posted in Diapers, Divinity by

Do you remember that song from My Fair Lady?  Thanks to my dad, I will forever have all the lyrics of all the songs from that show in my perma-memory.

Anyway.

I need to take a word vacation.

I think my brain is a little bit overloaded, and the more I blabber on about stuff, the less it makes sense.  At the advice of several people whom I respect, I registered for a writing conference in May, where I will actually be pitching my book idea to an editor.  And just so you know, as soon as I made that appointment, I kind of had a panic attack because . . . seriously,  I don’t even have a book yet.  It’s mostly still in the ideas and research stage, with a sketchy outline.  So the little devil in my head gave me a big long lecture about what a poser I am and boy, oh boy, how I’m going to make a fool of myself.  And even though the little devil in my head is usually wrong, I thought it would at least be a good idea to dedicate myself to some serious preparation.  In short, I need to work on my book project.

So, I’m going to step back a little bit from the blogging world and focus my scattered word-spilling into something a little more cohesive.  I’ll still do my regular features (General Conference Book Club and Find-A-Friend Friday), but my posting will be much less frequent, and I need to take a break from visiting and reading blogs too.  I just need to harness my time and energy so that I can be ready for this next adventure . . . and frankly to protect myself from public humiliation.

If I were going to write a bunch of posts this week, they would be about this:

  • My house looks like a disaster every night.  Food and dishes still on the table and in the sink.  Unfinished laundry spread around the family room.  Folded clothes moved from my bed to the floor.  (And, yes, I will try to avoid sentence fragments like this in my book.) Some people can’t go to bed when that kind of mess is looming around them, but not me.  Boy, I love to bid it farewell and go to sleep.  I function so much better in the morning, so I just get up and face it while the kids are eating breakfast and getting ready for school.  My renewed energy allows me to clean, sweep, wipe, fold, put away, etc. without feeling like I’d rather run away to a deserted island.  Which I’d still like to do, by the way, but not out of desperation.  Moral of the story:  You’re allowed to visit me between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm.
  • I took Natalie to a specialist yesterday and found out that a recently-discovered condition that I’ve been really worried about is probably not as bad as it seemed.  A few more tests will be done to make sure, but mostly I feel reassured, and that’s such a relief.
  • I’m reading a book called The Infinite Atonement, and so far it’s really good.  Not the easiest reading, but some really cool insights.  Here’s a little sentence that totally jumped out at me yesterday:  “What is the Atonement of Jesus Christ?  It is, in short, that suffering endured, that power displayed, and that love manifested by the Savior . . . ,” and then this: “The ability of man to be at one with God in both location and in likeness is possible only because the Savior first became at one with man in location, thorough his mortal birth, and at one with man in likeness, through his assumption of man’s frailties– without ever abandoning his godlike character.”  Such a cool, simple way to explain the purpose and function of the Atonement.
  • Last week on our date night, we went to a bookstore and Matt bought himself three or four new books (He’s kind of excited about his new post-Bar free time), and he bought me one too.  Right up my alley.
  • Since I’ve been thinking about this for my own book, I just wanted to say that being a mother is really, really cool.  It is the one role on earth that most closely mimics the ministry of Jesus Christ.  It’s a privilege to be in that crash-course adventure of becoming like Him.

Just so you know, this less-words business is going to be tricky for me, but I think it will be good for me too.  And hopefully it will get the devil in my head to shut up a little.