100 day Book of Mormon Reading Challenge

In our Relief Society we started something new and wonderful - a Book of Mormon reading challenge! Last year we did a 6 week challenge so it ended up taking around an hour every day to get it done in time. This year we wanted to mix it up a little and make it easier. Somewhere, someone in our presidency found this 100 day challenge. I love that it has a thought for every day and a question to ponder so it makes you STUDY instead of just READ. Simply submit a comment with your address and I'll email you the pdf file. (I haven't figured out how to do a link to it on blogger - if anyone knows how to do that please comment.) We cut them and put them together as booklets with a whole punch in one corner and held it all together with one of those metal rings. You could pass it along to your ward's RS presidency or make one for yourself to do this summer.

September - Baptism

E chose to be baptized and we couldn't be more proud of her. Our children receive their own set of scriptures on their baptism day as a gift from Mom and Dad. She was so excited. Afterwards we had dinner at our place. Our theme was Rainbows since her favorite song is, "I Like to Look for Rainbows" which talks about baptism. We had lots of rainbow balloons, rainbow cupcakes, rainbow jell-o salad, etc. Later than night, Grandma Y. got babyK to giggle. Too cute!

Challenge

Our Relief Society is doing the Book of Mormon challenge again. We read the Book of Mormon in just 6 weeks - interestingly enough it ends right before I'm to be induced. This time I wanted to challenge myself a little more so for FHE a few weeks ago, I challenged our family to read together every night and it has been such a blessing. The kids stop and ask questions and we've had so many great discussions. Granted, it takes twice as long and sometimes the little ones fall asleep but it's been well worth it to take the time together to study the gospel as a family. I challenge you to read the scriptures together with your family every night and see what great blessings come from it. I find it funny that when my kids ask how many chapters we need to read that night and I say, "four", they say, "that's all?" :)

By studying the word of God we will feel the love of God in our lives. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the lesson that I gave when we issued the challenge to our RS sisters:

"Whatever you read, listen to, or look at has an effect on you. Therefore, choose only entertainment and media that uplift you. Good entertainment will help you to have good thoughts and make righteous choices. It will allow you to enjoy yourself without losing the Spirit of the Lord." ~from the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet

President Gordon B. Hinckley promised members who read the Book of Mormon that “there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God”.

Elder Holland's talk in the October General Conference was so inspiring as well. Here's the link to it: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1117-28,00.html It reminded me of Bruce R. McConkie's last talk when he said:

"And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way."

Let us feel the great influence this book has to offer. It was written for us, for our day. The blessings that come from reading the Book of Mormon are too great to pass over. Let us feel the change in our lives as we read daily from it. This is my testimony and I share it with the world. ~Karen~

Second Piano Recital

So the kiddos had another piano recital - hence the reason we hung around for Easter instead of heading down to Moab for Easter Jeep Safari week.

I tried but can't find the cord to upload the video I took. During J's performance N made a move to go out the Emergency Exit door so it was a little jumpy. They all graduated to the next level of piano books. And of course, J has already played ALL the songs in his new book... in one day.

Other than that life has been busy with my calling and I re-painted our living room, kitchen and family room in one week. The trim & doors look so much better in a semi-gloss ultra white. I love it! I had my neighbor help me finish it up since I had a craft night for some church women. We made birthday and baptism explosion boxes. I love the store Pebbles in my Pocket! They have some cute ideas for Young Women as well. http://www.pebblesinmypocket.com/ Check them out!

P.S. I finished the Book of Mormon challenge - Six Weeks Closer to Christ. It was so much fun marking up my new scriptures and it's become a wonderful habit for me to carry them around and read whenever I have a free moment. This book changed my life and every time I read it I get new insights. It has brought more peace into our home and I am thankful for that. Now I'm starting the Old Testament and am going to try to read about 13 pages a day.

Good Goal

Recently our Relief Society Presidency gave out personalized letters that invited every sister to come closer to Christ by reading the Book of Mormon in just six short weeks. I've never read the Book of Mormon that fast before and I have to say that this first week has been a challenge. Things come up and I'm sure Satan is trying very hard to discourage us from finishing together. Don't worry - I won't let him do that to me, I'm too stubborn. LOL I know that only good can come from this.

I'm up for the challenge, are YOU? You can choose to read a certain number of pages or a certain number of chapters each day. There are many sites online that offer calculators and on http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/ you can get a little blog tracker for fun.

Only good can come from reading the Book of Mormon. You can do it! If you're hesitant, ask yourself "why?" Sure you might have to give up watching your favorite show every night. But what good is that TV show in your life... seriously. It's always good to evaluate your priorities every now and then. LMK if you're up for a good challenge and we can have a cyber party when we finish! :)

"Don't you wonder what would happen if we treated our Book of Mormon like we treat our cell phones?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we spent an hour or more using it every day?
What if we used it to receive messages from the "text"?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
Oh, and a few more things- Unlike our cell phones, one Plan fits all.
Unlimited usage.
No roaming charges.
You always have reception.
No weak signals AND we dont ever have to worry about our Book of Mormon being disconnected, because our Savior already paid the bill!" --Author Unknown