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Blogger has been giving me a lot of trouble with formatting so I have switched this blog to Wordpress. You can continue to follow our Hero Hour journey HERE.

President Monson - Kindness & Service

President Thomas S. Monson

Lesson

We are still preparing for General Conference next weekend, so we talked about a few stories from our dear Prophet Thomas S. Monson's life. I told the Little Macs about how when he was in Primary he didn't have good behavior. The Primary President took him aside and while crying explained that the boys didn't behave well during Primary. He asked if he could help and she answered, "would you?" The issues in Primary ceased right then and looking back President Monson laughed and explained that he had been part of the problem.

We discussed how he showed kindness to the Primary President by listening and behaving better during Primary. The boys could relate to the story since they're both in Primary now.

Next I told a story about President Monson serving in Germany. He had just had foot surgery and despite the pain, he climbed 5 stories of stairs without complaint to visit with and give a blessing to a stalwart pioneer of the Church in Germany. 

I reminded the kids about how King Benjamin taught that serving others is really serving Heavenly Father and how President Monson is an amazing example of serving others. 

We then talked about how General Conference is coming next weekend and that we'll get to listen to President Monson and other leaders speak the words that Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to hear. I closed our Hero Hour with my testimony about how I know President Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God sent to teach us the things Heavenly Father wants us to know and to help lead us back to our home in Heaven. 

Activity/Craft

The Little Macs colored a picture of President Monson I printed off of lds.org. They love to color and enjoy any opportunity to do so.

Treat

We had left over chocolate Rice Krispies so I made Rice Krispie treats again. They are a family favorite and so easy to make.

We've been preparing for General Conference early so next week we can discuss the Savior right before Easter. This coming week I plan on teaching the kids everyday about the last week of Jesus Christ's life, in the hopes that it will invite the Spirit into our home and help prepare us for Easter Sunday when we celebrate our Savior's resurrection. You should join us!

Love, Sue

P.S. All the stories about President Monson were found here.

Feeling The Spirit

The other day I put away all of my St. Patrick's Day decor and got out my Easter decorations. Included in the Easter box were a few Easter books. Growing up, my Mom always had holiday specific books that only came out around their respective holiday. I have continued this tradition with my own family.

During bedtime that night I read all of the books (there's only three) to the Little Macs. Two are about bunnies and eggs but the other (pictured above) is more about the true meaning of Easter, our Savior's resurrection. As I read the book I could feel the Spirit testifying of the truthfulness of the things I was reading. Once we finished reading, I felt inspired to ask the boys how the book made them feel. Benson said it made him feel happy and Liam said it made him feel good. We talked about how those feelings were from the Spirit. 

Sometimes, it's easy to pass up opportunities to talk about the Spirit or how he makes us feel but I know they are beneficial to us and our children. It's been several days since we had this experience and Liam can still tell me how reading this book made him feel. I normally would have pushed away this prompting as just a thought but I feel like since I've started our Hero Hour I've been more perceptive of the Spirit's promptings and have been looking for opportunities just like this.

Love, Sue

King Benjamin - Listening to the Prophet

King Benjamin

 

Lesson



With General Conference just around the corner we discussed King Benjamin from The Book of Mormon and how important it is to listen to the Prophet. We talked about how the people gathered together to listen to King Benjamin as he stood on the tower. They faced their tents toward him so they could see and hear him better. We discussed the things he taught them about Jesus and serving others.

Activity/Craft

For our activity we watched a short video of King Benjamin speaking to the people from the lds.org Media Library. The video expanded more on the things that King Benjamin spoke about.



After the video we sang a few verses of Follow the Prophet which the kids love! They enjoy marching around as we sang the chorus or sitting on Daddy's lap.



 Treat
 
While the kids watched the video they ate a baggie of pretzels. Your treat doesn't have to necessarily be a "treat" it can be a snack too.



Today's Hero Hour didn't go as smoothly as previous ones (they came inside right away when I called them but were a bit distracted at the beginning) but I know that if we continue to do it consistently the Little Macs will learn and feel the Spirit.

Love, Sue

Sunday Recap

During dinner on Sunday nights, we take turns going around the table and talking about what we learned during church that day. I'm always amazed at the things the Little Macs remember from their Primary lessons or sometimes even the Sacrament talks. We discuss what they learned and ask follow-up questions. I think it makes them listen better the next week at church because they know they'll have to talk about what they learned over dinner again.


 

It has been about 10 days since I started this blog and we have only done two Hero Hours but I have already noticed a difference in our home. The kids are still crazy but my patience to put up with their crazy has grown tremendously. For months and even years I have prayed to have more patience and never really felt like I did. I feel like all those prayers have finally been answered. Now I wish I had started doing Hero Hour when I first felt the promptings to do it. Another thing that has changed is my desire to do things with them like play outside, read books, go to the park. Before they were always so naughty or would just fight so I felt like it was more work to take them anywhere or do anything special with them. Now we have fun together and enjoy each others company way more! On Saturday we biked as a family to the park and played for over an hour with a little bit of fighting and a lot of smiles and laughter.


 

I've also noticed over the last 10 days that the Little Macs hug each other more often, tell me they love me, and they say "I hate you" hardly at all. They still fight, wrestle, and take forever at mealtimes but there has been improvements.

I can't wait to see what happens as we continue doing our Hero Hour and growing closer as a family. If you're on the fence about doing your own Hero Hour, take the leap and try it. What do you have to lose?

Love, Sue

The Good Samaritan - Serving Others

The Good Samaritan

Lesson

For Hero Hour today, I taught the parable of the Good Samaritan from the New Testament (Luke 10:29-37) in my own words. I explained how the Samaritan didn't know the man he found on the road but he helped him nonetheless. We discussed how helping others makes us feel good and the person we're serving too. I referenced Mosiah 2:17 and said, when we serve each other we are really serving Heavenly Father. 

We talked about ways that we have served in the last couple of days and about how when the kids help me with things around the house they are serving me. I told them that we show our love for others when we do things for them. 

 

I asked Benson if he remembered a time he served someone else and he told me about how we took cookies to his friend Chloe's Mom yesterday because she was sick.

 Activity/Craft

I printed a coloring page of the Good Samaritan off www.lds.org and let the Little Macs color to their hearts' content.

After they finished coloring we read one of my favorite books, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

 

 

We talked about how the tree gave everything it had to make the boy happy.   

Treat

I had to make cookies for our Relief Society activity on Thursday so I made extra so we could have some for Hero Hour. 

Don't make Hero Hour harder than it has to be. Use what you have in your house or if you want, go crazy and find something really creative to teach, create, or eat for your Hero Hour off Pinterest. Whatever you do, make sure you let the Spirit guide you.
In the future I'll use heroes/doctrine from the Book of Mormon and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) Church History but also plenty of Bible heroes/doctrine. If you are not a member of the LDS Church, don't let that deter you from starting your own Hero Hour. Find heroes/doctrine in the scriptures you're familiar with.

Love, Sue

Genesis: Part 2

I think sometimes as women and especially mothers, we can feel like we're in competition with each other. We should be banding together, fighting Satan instead of each other. When we work together we can accomplish so much more than we can alone. As I stated in an earlier post, this whole Hero Hour was not my own idea. My friend Sarcie started it all and was inspired to share it so that others might benefit too. This is her Hero Hour genesis story. 

 Isn't her family so cute? 

"As a Mother I have felt overwhelmed about raising this generation in the world we live in. I was talking to my Mom about some of my fears and worries, and as a seasoned Mother herself... raising 7 children in the gospel, I knew she would have some good insight. What she said will always stick with me... She said, 'your children need to gain a testimony at a young age and how they do that is by feeling the Spirit OFTEN...Sarcie that is your job as a mother. To create and allow spiritual experiences to happen in their life so they can start to recognize that special feeling.'

 Recently I have been praying a lot about that. Asking my Father in Heaven of other avenues where they can feel the Spirit and to increase the times they feel it. A few weeks ago I was sitting in Gospel Doctrine and this idea popped into my head of focusing on the Heroes in the Bible and The Book of Mormon. The first thing I thought was... oh we can do that for FHE... but as I thought about it...this was an answer to my prayers. Our children need to feel the Spirit more than just at FHE or at church. 

 So last Friday we had our first Hero story hour. As they sat on the fireplace munching on pretzels, I told the story in my own words of David and Goliath. I printed coloring pages from lds.org and after... they got to color what they had just learned. I can testify to you that the Spirit was in our home and they felt it. My children were extra happy and helpful and they were complimenting each other on their works of art. The best part about it was I was able to talk them about recognizing the Spirit and how it feels.

 As I look back on that hour we did have a couple set backs where Satan was working hard to crash our party. There were several interruptions and a huge pretzel mess that Annabelle made but with all of that...I can tell you Satan lost... that Friday afternoon. After we were all done, Tage came to me and said, 'Mom can you tell me another story... like the lion one and the den” so I told him that every Friday we will do our Hero story hour, and next Friday we will do Daniel in the lions den...he gave me the biggest smile and a hug. Those are the moments that make being a mother awesome!" 

May we all, women, men, mothers, fathers, and especially families, band together in this war we are fighting against the Adversary. He is a dirty and tricky player and will use any advantage he sees. The outcome of this battle has already been determined. It's just a matter of which side we end up on. Like Sarcie, I believe in sharing goodness. If it brings the Spirit, makes life easier, uplifts, or improves, then SHARE IT! so that we all might be benefit. 

Love, Sue