We have given the kids the permission to use our old digital camera. They reached max capacity today on the memory card so it was time to download and see what they saw. It is fun to see what is at eye level for them. They use angels I would never get, from 2 foot higher up. Here are a few of Danny's best:
Classic Self portrait. It was impressive to watch him learn how to adjust the view in the mirror on one of his first camera adventures.
Keys: a close up
Angle on this one is super fun as he is even below his sisters.
He often is demanded to capture the girls on film, they are little divas.
Actual shelf on his eye level.
Early attempts to capture his favorite subject.
Taken a few days later, got the focus worked out.
Then in for a close up on an animate object, with no blur.
I actually took this picture but the story is what captures how much Danny is processing with film. His sisters were telling him all about the spots that were on his back. After a few failed attempts at seeing his own back in the mirror he came to me with the camera and asked for me to take a picture of his back so he could see the digital image of what he could not otherwise see. Smart guy.
Every morning at breakfast I try to take hold of the opportunity that the kids are all eating to get in a bit of Spiritual feeding for them as well. I have a very small window of opportunity as they are a wiggly bunch and fast eaters, but I do my best. As we have found previously, our small lessons can be drawn out (punny) a bit more with the use of colorful markers. If you really want to get the most out of a verse, try drawing pictures of the concept easy enough for 6 and under to manage.
We are studying in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon, in which the Savior visits the American continent and teaches them how His sacrifice has changed things and teaches these Nephite disciples many of the same things He taught to His disciples in Jerusalem. Chapter 13 in 3rd Nephi is comparable to Matthew chapter 6 in the New Testament.
The kids and I have talked for several days now about prayer. Jesus begins his teachings about prayer talking about hypocrites. That word alone took us one day to get understood and applicable to the littles, but it was certainly worth it. I sincerely desire the teach my children correct principles so they can form their own personal relationship with God that will be meaningful throughout their lives, and prayer is really the ticket. So it is important the Jesus taught His disciples that when you pray it ought to be for you, not for other people to see. The next day of talking about prayer was in the following verses as Christ talks about the reasons we pray. He notes that the Father 'knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him' which may render prayer meaningless to some if the outcome seems pre-determined. Yet, Christ teaches that we must pray in all things that the Father can continue to bless us. He warns against using "vain repetitions," which we learned in our little lesson as insincerity.
Today we approached what is well known in Christendom as "The Lord's Prayer." As we began talking about prayer again this morning and review what we had learned over the days previous, it was important to note that before Christ gives this example of prayer, He says to avoid repetitions. Deduction then teaches us that while showing us how to pray, Jesus was not telling us what to say. So, the kids and I went through Christ's example of prayer to understand the elements of prayer that he is demonstrating.
I have known this model of prayer most of my life. As a missionary I also had opportunity to teach people a pattern of prayer based this same model. Today, however, I noted something, perhaps more poignantly in an answer to my own prayer, that I had not taught as a missionary. Colored as the 2nd element in our model "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." I learned this morning, for myself, that just as important as giving thanks and asking for help, is recognizing that God already has a plan set out for my life and it is through understanding that in humility that prayer becomes most effective.
As I was breaking it down for the kids, I was reminded of prayers I had said as a distraught teenager, pleading that I wouldn't have to be part of my family. Obviously the Lord had had me born into that family, so that was were I was supposed to be, so praying to change that essential element in the plan was not wise. I thought of other times in my life where I have known the plan very clearly, but didn't like it so I still prayed against it. How sad it must have seemed to the Father, in His loving wisdom, that He had a child that was so missing the mark. This problem is by no means solved, which is why the revelation this morning has been so meaningful - I need to seek to understand the plan if my prayers are really going to be of any use to me. How would one sincerely ask for forgiveness or direction of I were stuck visionless of the real reason for needing direction.
I am grateful for answer to prayer found through scripture. I am further grateful that the Lord makes sure I get the message. I did humble myself in fasting and prayer and am recieving the answer. The follow-up to scripture study was in listening to the voice of an apostle, Henry B. Eyring, "Where is Thy Pavillion;"
Saturday's project was to be building a new room in the basement. However, our contractor helper was tied up in another job, and what resulted was just a lovely day of switching curtains around. It is amazing the difference that a proper window treatment can make in a room. When we initially moved in we just threw up the curtains we had for practicality. Now we are settling in to things better I had the gumption to bump everything around to where it ought to be. So here is how the switch-o went:
Everything is staged now to build a bedroom in this corner of the basement. The curtains over the very drafty window I had initially put in the kids' room because they are light/heat blocking curtains, but they didn't fit the windows.
The curtains I needed for the kids room were hanging around the makeshift bathroom here in the corner of the basement. I found the large red curtain and hung it on the important side, and with moving the food storage into that corner it created a fourth wall on the other side of the 'bathroom'. Note that the wooden cupboards on the left have no doors on them any longer.
I had got some thermal sheers for the kids' room a while back so now I could move the appropriate size and color window treatments into the kids' room that is coming together, slowly, but coming. Looks better with the right curtains to match the window sizes.
My favorite result of it all was our master bedroom, which now feels like a master retreat, thanks to the doors we took of the cupboards to make a head board and the sheers from he basement 'bathroom' to finally allow some privacy and daylight in the room. Josh was skeptical when I told him about moving the bed angled in the corner to get away from the draft under the window, but just as I suspected, by creating triangular floor space rather than rectangular pathways the room looks and feels twice as large! Always rethink a room, you may be surprised. And of course the cats now prefer our bed for the softness and sunlight.
At Christmas I had found the fabric to create the valances for the dining and kitchen area, which Josh and I created on Christmas day. I love the pattern and color (which can play both orange and red) and love how cozy it makes this end of the house. I have only the window in the kitchen and the back door to finish dressing and everything will look so fine!
All this fine home improvement with only the cost of the fabric for the kitchen windows. The rest of the window treatments I had from previous moves (way back to our first apartment in Mildred's basement) and the curtain rods were often splits of ones I had used before. It all worked out. As we are staying within budget it is fun to rethink our house over and over again to get the maximum benefit.
