Formerly titled: Catching up on Family Home Evening Stuff

I’m doing a small edit here to fix a really bad title and some formatting on what I think is a good post. Good Post + Bad Title = No One Reads It.

Are You Ready?

September 23rd was a Monday. It was also the day of a local emergency preparedness drill. At 6:00 p.m. we were supposed to report to our neighborhood block leader the whereabouts of each person who lived in our household as though we were in the immediate aftermath of a serious disaster such as flood, earthquake, etc. I am happy to say that my stellar kids were on top of this and took prompt care of the reporting. I, myself, was sick in bed with a fever and oblivious to the world. If we’d actually had an earthquake that day, I’m pretty sure I’d have slept through it. Our status was everyone safe and accounted for except Mr. Hot Stuff, who was driving home through rush hour traffic.

That evening, after Mr. Hot Stuff came home and everyone who wasn’t asleep ate dinner, the family home evening was all about emergency preparedness. From my off-and-on awareness in bed, I heard, “One, Two, Three, GO!” and then the stampede of a herd of humans running through the house, down and up the stairs. The thundering stopped just when shouts of, “YES! HA! DID IT!” rang out. After that it was quiet and I dosed off, roused occasionally by loud bursts of laughter from the living room.

I asked Mr. Hot Stuff a few days later, when I woke up again, what the Family Night noise had been about. He said they’d had a race to see who could get their 72-hour kit backpacks to the living room in thirty seconds or less. The great thing I learned was that they (the girls) had even helped Casi get one — they found Miss Electric’s backpack and gave it to her. Then they each unloaded their kits to re-familiarize themselves what was in it. Everyone laughed when Miss Sassy was emptying hers and said, “And here I have my underwear,” as though she was a tour-guide at a the Timpanogos Cave displaying unique stalactite formations. Casi emptied hers with the exclamation of, “It’s like Christmas!” They had a good time together, but I’ve realized I’d better stock up on some more vegetarian options for a kit for Casi while she’s here, or a disaster would be a far thing from Christmas.

The Purpose of Prayer

The next week Mr. Hot Stuff gave a lesson about how and why we pray. We have a big white board that he pulled out and wrote great stuff all over it, but I didn’t get a photo, so you’ll just have to imagine. We talked about how prayer gives us a chance to think about and give gratitude for the things we are blessed with from day-to-day. Did you know that science has actually shown that people who take the time each day to list three things they are thankful for are happier than those who don’t?

Gratitude

Prayer also helps us to take an inventory of areas where we may have come up short during the day and to think of ways to make improvements. God wants these good things for us, and going to him in prayer is a great way to get His help as we work to do His will. Third, we talked about how we can use our prayer time to ask  God to help us to be aware of ways we can serve those around us in our daily lives, through small and simple things. Did you know that science has also found that people who serve others have a greater contentment with their own lives and may even live longer? Good stuff, huh?

This video gives some food for thought about

Giving Service

Yeah, and now I can’t find the websites where I saw those two “science facts.” Drat. Well, how about you conduct your own experiment and see for yourself? What could it hurt?

winner-winner veggie dinner