We had Family Home Evening last night, and we read a sweet story entitled Living the Somoan Way It focused on teen brothers who live in Somoa. Their life has been so different from ours. It was interesting to hear how they live off the land and see how they take care of one another. (For example, the older brother works in town and his earnings help provide for their family and also for his younger brother's education.) Learning about these brothers really brought a sweet, reflective spirit into our home.
We then talked about some of the blessings that have come into our lives since the quarantine. It was interesting to hear what the fam mentioned. I am going to make a few notes down below so I can better remember the significance of a few blessings that were mentioned.
-More time for scripture study. Aub mentioned this one, and it made my heart happy. She has a goal to read The Book of Mormon this year. She started strong but with school, homework, Young Women's and athletics her scripture reading started to slip. I love that she realized that and is using this time to study the scriptures more.
-Learning to cook. Bryn said this one. The kids have helped make dinner for years. We have a chore chart, and they rotate nights. Often, however, I do a portion of it while they are at school so they have never felt fully confident in making the entire recipe themselves. (I didn't realize this until the summer before Bryn was going to college, and she was concerned about not know how to cook. What????) Now they have the time to be involved in making the meal from beginning to end.
Parker has been learning to grill his deer meat and has actually been the one initiating that. He looks up the recipes on the internet, makes the marinades, when applicable, and cooks it. Pretty impressive. He has made back-strap, sausage, and fried venison so far.
-Be with Tanner. This was thrown out by someone because Tanner had a negative remark about pretty much every blessing mentioned. He gave a half grin. Such is life with a 15 year old boy, I think.
-Butter gets more attention. Buttercup, Butter for short, is our dog. She's getting lots of loves from Aubrey and lots more walks than usual.
-More snacks. This one is no joke. We are all eating lots and lots of snacks, and I have chosen not to make it a battle at this time. With no extended family time, no friends, no school, no sports, no church, no shopping....if an extra 10 cookies will bring you joy, so be it. (I think my kids will recover just fine from this. I, however, am going to have to rein myself in because I will not be happy if I gain 10 pounds during this quarantine.)
-Family dinners. I mentioned this one and Park, Tan and Aubrey were incredulous. "We ALWAYS have family dinners. What are you talking about?" (They didn't make that point with joy either...more with annoyance.) Their protests made my day! I am glad in their minds we have almost always have family dinners. I know this is something Bri and I feel is important, and I am probably too hard on myself for all the times it hasn't happened. It is super tricky with evening games, practices and other commitments. It is not very tricky at all right now. We really get to have family dinner every single night together! It's the best.
We have so many blessings. I was reading in Moroni chapter 9 yesterday and it brought peace and hope to my heart. Christ is merciful and long-suffering. Christ lifts us up. I am glad we were able to reflect together on some of the blessings in our lives right now.
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