Royalty

We had a great Family Home Evening this week. I told the kids the story of Queen Esther and how brave she was to stand up for what was right even when she may have been killed. Jason and I shared some experiences we have had in our lives where we had to stand up for what we believe in, even if others didn't agree or would think badly of us. Lucy loved the story and I felt like she really understood what we were teaching. Graham is grasping more of the spiritual side of things, but usually just answers our questions with, "Because Jesus loves us!" or something of that nature. Good thought Graham, but not really what we're looking for right now. We ended the evening making our own crowns. I thought they turned out pretty cute.

The kids under the crowns are even more cute, though.

I've been thinking a lot lately about a talk that one of our apostles, Elder Bednar, gave a few conferences ago. He talked about the importance of having regular family scripture study, family prayer, and family home evenings. He gave the analogy of a tapestry that we are weaving. In a tapestry, each strand on its own is not anything special. But, when all the strands are put together, a beautiful masterpiece is made. Our daily habits of scripture study, prayer and weekly FHE at times seem pointless. Graham is climbing all over the couches, Ben is doing his best screech, and Lucy keeps asking if I have faith in mermaids. Yes, there are times (way more than I'd care to admit) that I feel like the lesson I planned was a complete failure or that I'm just too tired to do scripture study with the kids and they don't pay attention or "get it" anyways. But, almost every time I have those thoughts, I remember that talk and think of the beautiful tapestry that is being weaved as Jason and I stick with it and try to be consistent. They may not remember the exact lessons or all of the scripture stories, but they will remember the feeling we have in our home. Maybe the spirit they feel during those times will counterbalance the screaming they heard from me as we struggled through homework, dinner, and bath time. I wonder what THAT tapestry looks like.....yikes.