Breastfeeding in Church

This is something that I’ve had on my mind a lot lately, especially with the recent birth of my fourth child, and I need to share my story.  But first, I’m going to blatantly rip content from other woman’s blog and look at a few pictures from ldsbreastfeedingart.blogspot.com.

On the left in front of the wagon wheel a mother is nursing her toddler.  (C.C.A. Christensen)

Full zoom:

In the Cardston, Alberta temple, there are three nursing mothers in this painting:

The Seagull Monument at Temple Square:

"Father Lehi Blesses His Posterity" by C.C.A. Christensen on display in Palmyra, NY:

Here is one I found when I was reading the Book of Mormon scripture reader to my kids, in the chapter about Enos:

 

The church does not frown on breastfeeding in public among mixed company.  This picture, so recently published in a children's book, confirms to me that children need not be shielded from watching the baby eat.

Now look at what the church has to say about breastfeeding:

From "A Parent's Guide":

The scriptures often refer respectfully but plainly to the body and its parts. There is no embarrassment and often there is sacred symbolism. It is the world that makes the divinely created body an object of carnal lust. For example, it makes the female breasts primarily into sexual enticements, while the truth is that they were intended to nourish and comfort children. It promotes male sexual aggression in contrast to Christ’s example of tenderness, long-suffering, kindness, and steadfastness in the home.

Shame about the human body, its parts and purposes, is justified only when a person uses it for carnal purposes. Teach your children that they will find joy in their bodies when they use them virtuously after the manner taught by Christ.

From "Nutrition for Mother and Baby" from The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part A

Our Heavenly Father made the mother’s body so it could produce milk. This milk is made especially for human babies to drink. It is better for babies than milk from animals. The first fluid that comes from the mother’s breasts after a new baby is born is also important. It contains substances that help protect the baby from diseases for the first few months.

Now, backing up, I share my breastfeeding story:

When my first child was born, I was excited to go back to church when he was two weeks old.  I was still learning how to breastfeed comfortably, I was breastfeeding on demand (which, for a newborn, means OFTEN), and it was my first time going out in public.  During sacrament meeting, my baby cried, so what do I do?  I take him to the mother’s lounge.  Like many LDS church buildings, this nice little room was adjacent to the women’s bathroom.  It had a nice cabinet with a sink, two comfy rockers, and a speaker so I could still hear what was going on in the meeting.  I fed my baby and decided I would stay and have him all ready to go by the time I went to Sunday school.  No problem.  Well, as my hungry baby would have it, I ended up missing half of Sunday school anyway, as well as Relief Society.  (grunt.)

The next week the same thing happened again during sacrament meeting, only this time another breastfeeding mother joined me.  I like to chat, and I have been as guilty as any other mom of chatting in the mother’s lounge, but this week it was frustrating to me because I wanted to hear the meeting but I also didn’t want to be rude.  In the end I asked my husband for the cliff notes after church.  In Sunday school, I looked around to see what other mothers were doing with their babies.  I saw a lot of bottles, and I thought to myself, “these mothers are lucky because they can feed their babies right here in class.”  (Yes, I really thought that, as I left for the mother’s lounge.  Again).

Then during relief society, I saw something that gave me a paradigm shift in the way I look at breastfeeding in public.  A mother that I highly admire, who had five children of whom the last was born about the same time as my first, was making a comment.  As she spoke, her baby started fussing, and she latched him on.  She was confident.  She was sitting in the first row.  The teacher simply acknowledged the comment and went on with her lesson.  Nobody seemed uncomfortable.  WOW!  You mean, I could feed my baby right here in class?

When I went home I thought about it, and realized that I had a choice to make.  Like this woman who set such a great breastfeeding example to me, I wanted to have a large family.  If I was only going to have one or two children, then maybe spending all of my nursing time (sometimes half of church) in the mother’s lounge wouldn’t be that big of a deal.  I didn’t want just one or two kids.  I could bring a bottle during church.  Breastfeeding is important to me, and I believe that it is important to feed my babies when they are hungry.  So, looking ahead for the next 15+ years of childbearing, I could either spend my church time in the mother’s lounge, or I could do my feedings right there in class.

I started out only sitting in the back row of Relief Society (a class for women 18 and up).  Nobody judged me, and one older woman even pulled the blanket aside a little so she could see my little angel’s face and tell me how cute he was.  As bold as her action was, it empowered me as a mother.  There was nothing to be ashamed of.

Now, less than five years later as I nurse my fourth baby, I feel very confident nursing at church.  I have three small children that need me to be there during sacrament meeting to help them be reverent.  My husband has only two hands.  I NEED to be with them.  Only once has anyone at church shown their disapproval of my breastfeeding in class, but the overwhelming majority of members have been very supportive.

A note on the mother’s lounge

I am glad that there are mother’s lounges.  When I was learning how to breastfeed, it was invaluable to me. However, in the two wards that I have been in, you have to go through the bathroom to get to the mother’s lounge.  Not only that, it is also one of only two places set aside for mothers to change diapers.  (in my current ward, the other place is upstairs, and few know about it).  In both, there are two rockers.  I have been fortunate enough to be in wards with young families with more than two lactating mothers.  In fact, my little baby Ruth has two other babies that were born the same week as her.  Surely all of these young babies shouldn’t have to only eat in the smelly changing room.  Do people really expect that?  I once went in there to change a diaper, and there were three nursing mothers, two of whom had nursing covers on.  One baby pushed it off and the mother apologized for showing a little skin.  I immediately responded, “It’s okay.  Really.  If you can’t nurse in the mother’s lounge, where can you?  How many of us have done costume changes in a room full of other women without batting an eye.  You are with other breastfeeding moms, and feeding your baby is nothing to be ashamed of.”  Maybe I was a little too bold, but I did see a few thinking caps turned on.

The mother’s lounge is a great place to breastfeed, or bottle feed, for that matter.  It’s not the only place.  Nursing covers are great if they make the mother feel more comfortable.  You don’t have to use them, especially in the mother’s lounge.  I personally try to make my skin be discreet, but it’s no secret that I feed my baby during all of the meetings.  I wear my baby in a wrap, and that’s what I use to hide my skin when I feed my child.  That’s just what works for me.  Perhaps some members have seen some skin, but I'm okay with that.

The LDS church is a family friendly establishment.  Most churches are.  We believe that we should multiply and replenish the earth, and we believe that breast is best.  Feed your baby what the Christ-child ate.  It's okay to feed your soul at the same time.

Okay, I’m ready to get off my soap box now.

Further reading:

Modesty and breastfeeding (highly recommended!)

Breastfeeding history moment-lds

Maria lactans: Mary as a Nursing Mother (lots of art!)

Once more into the breach, dear friends

Lets flesh this out-Breastfeeding and the Bible 

Breastfeeding in Church

Breastfeeding in public- the beach

The Electric Universe (or Plasma Cosmology)

Warning:  Contents of this post challenge mainstream science, and the ideas are really “out there”.   A paradigm shift in how you view the universe may result if, like me, you believe them.  I share this on my blog because it may be a scientific theory of interest.  It is what I plan on teaching my own children.

As always, take what you want and leave the rest.  I have been addicted to a study of the electric universe over the last couple of months, and for those who have never heard of it, well, here’s your chance to become aware.  At the very least, it is an emerging scientific theory to be aware of.  This post is also long.  It takes an essay to present a case like this.  I’ve referenced some YouTube videos you can skip to if that’s more to your liking.

For me, finding this information was like finding the missing puzzle piece in my scientific view of the world.  From a Christian perspective, I believe that the world was created during a relatively short period of time.  From an LDS perspective (this is not a religious post, bare with me), I have been taught that the earth once orbited a different sun, and that as a result of the fall, the earth was sent to this solar system.

Mainstream science tells us that the solar system evolved over millions of years, and the Earth’s place within it has likewise been constant.

Mainstream science once told us that the earth was flat.  Then it was the center of the universe.  Now gravity, dependent on the mass of an object, governs the role of celestial bodies.  The only problem with that assumption is that, while it works perfectly within our own solar system, scientists have been at a loss to explain the phenomena we are now viewing in deep space.  If gravity is based on mass, then there must be massive objects, such as black holes, holding galaxies together.  Well, that was fine at first, but then black holes didn’t behave the way they should, and not only “dark matter”, but “dark energy” was hypothesized.  Given this “blank check” variable as they explain the universe, they have placed these mysterious, unseen elements anywhere they want to make the math work.  Now, only roughly 5% of the universe’s mass is the matter that we can actually see.  If you do a crossword puzzle and the last word just doesn’t fit, do you change the spelling of your word, or do you go back and see if you made a mistake somewhere else?

Here's an interesting video on mathematical vs empirical science:  (no offense to mathematics of course.  I love math)

In the Electric Universe, electricity, not mass, governs the universe.  Scientists who support this theory have recreated in the laboratory on a small scale exactly what we are seeing on a large scale in the cosmos.  Is science based on mathematics, or on the scientific method, a key element of which is experimentation?

For more information on the electric universe, www.thunderbolts.info is a central hub for the scientists involved in this study.  For media resources, check this page out:

http://www.thunderbolts.info/mmarchives/index.htm.

Also, their “picture of the day” is an active, growing resource you can use with your kids.  The following is their hour-long introduction to the theory, entitled "Thunderbolts of the gods"

Immanuel Velikovsky is the original author to introduce the idea to society in the 50’s.  His ideas were VERY controversial, but nevertheless entertaining to read so the books did well.  His research was not based on science as much as ancient texts from around the world.  He suggested that the myths and legends should be taken literally, and that the world over, the legends could be explained by catastrophic events witnessed in the heavens.

Video introducing Velikovsky:

Velikovsy held that Saturn was once a star, and the earth it’s natural satellite.  Saturn entered our solar system and became Sol’s satellite.  For a brief period, Saturn, Venus, Mars, and the Earth were aligned in the same orbit.  Then something happened to disrupt that orbit and a “war in heaven”,  played by these planets, commenced.  Then each settled into their own orbits.  Yes, that sounds really far out, but as I have researched the ancient beliefs of different cultures, this story really does appear in the ancient texts, and the electric universe can explain the science behind it.

Take for example, the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, from which many of our Christmas traditions have sprung.  To this day, Pagans hold that Saturn once ruled in the sky, which was a Golden Age for man.  Then Jupiter overcame Saturn, and Saturn was forced to sleep for a time, falling from it’s place in the sky.  The Saturnalia celebration wakens Saturn for a week, in an effort to mimic that golden age (producing instead, in many cases, riotous behavior).  It is also a celebration to remember that one day Saturn will waken and return, creating a new golden age.

But it’s not just the Pagans.  Look at the ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Aztecs, and the various Asian religions.  It’s all there if you’re willing to dig for it.  Since Velikovsky, many scientists have looked into the electric universe, and his work is gaining popularity in the scientific world, especially as we learn more about deep space.

What about the LDS perspective?  Did you know that there are Saturn stones on the Salt Lake City temple?  Why?  mormonprophecy.blogspot.com offers compelling answers.  Here’s a video appetizer:

Nothing about this scientific theory is contrary to the gospel.  In fact, Velikovsky is referenced in the CES Old Testament manual on the creation:

“Although the majority of geologists, astronomers, and other scientists believe that even this long period is not adequate to explain the physical evidence found in the earth, there are a small number of reputable scholars who disagree. These claim that the geologic clocks are misinterpreted and that tremendous catastrophes in the earth’s history speeded up the processes that normally may take thousands of years. They cite evidence supporting the idea that thirteen thousand years is not an unrealistic time period. Immanuel Velikovsky, for example, wrote three books amassing evidence that worldwide catastrophic upheavals have occurred in recent history, and he argued against uniformitarianism, the idea that the natural processes in evidence now have always prevailed at the same approximate rate of uniformity. These books are Worlds in Collision, Ages in Chaos, and Earth in Upheaval. Two Latter-day Saint scientists, Melvin A. Cook and M. Garfield Cook, have also advocated this theory in their book Science and Mormonism. A short summary of the Cooks’ approach can be found in Paul Cracroft’s article “How Old Is the Earth?” (Improvement Era, Oct. 1964, pp. 827–30, 852).”

(https://www.lds.org/manual/old-testament-student-manual-genesis-2-samuel/genesis-1-2-the-creation?lang=eng)

So there, in a nutshell, is a different approach to cosmology, the king of sciences.  I am now a believer in this theory, and this is what I will be teaching my children.  Like evolution, they cannot avoid learning about and being aware of the mainstream sciences, but I am so excited to have a concrete resource to teach them which supports creational science.  I’ve been looking for this my whole life.  I hope that this can be of some interest to you as well.

Tamsyn Spackman

Supporting the Role of Fathers

Last week I gave a talk in church about fatherhood and I want to share what I had to say on this blog.  My research on the role that the father has in the home has really helped me to clarify my own role as a mother.  I am so grateful for my wonderful husband!

 Today as I have been asked to talk about Fatherhood, I wish to emphasize the importance of women supporting men in this important calling.  God created men and women in His own image, and all children of our Heavenly Father are created equal, in that we are loved equally, and our individual worth, and our Divine potential is equal as sons and daughters of God.

However, we are not created the same, and we have different roles to fill.  By honoring and supporting men, and specifically our own husbands and fathers, in their stewardship as they preside over our homes, we are likewise empowered in our own roles and wives and daughters.

Laura Wood, from The ThinkingHousewife, says,

ALL of civilization depends on the father. As goes the father, so goes society. When fatherhood as an institution is strong, when a man governs his commonwealth in obedience and submission to God, order radiates throughout society.

“Power, like nature, abhors a vacuum,” writes Fr. Chad Ripperger. “Either the man will be head of the house or the wife will; it is that simple.”

Today, women rule not just their homes but the world. The pop singer Beyoncé is right: Women rule the world. They rule the world with their passions. They rule the world with their mounting unhappiness. They rule the world with their frustration and its accompanying irrationality. They rule like those capricious and unpredictable goddesses of the ancient world who alternated between wrath and seduction.

They rule because men have let them. Men have progressively denied their authority until it is all but gone.

The question I ask is, are we more happy now?  Are the men?  Is society stronger?  Strong, Godly men are the foundation for a Godly home, and women long for men who will assume that leadership so that they won’t have to.  After all, we have our own work to do.

Fatherhood, an Eternal Calling

Elder L. Tom Perry spoke of the diminishing role of fathers, saying:

Satan, in his carefully devised plan to destroy the family, seeks to diminish the role of fathers. Increased youth violence, youth crime, greater poverty and economic insecurity, and the failure of increasing numbers of children in our schools offer clear evidence of lack of a positive influence of fathers in the homes. A family needs a father to anchor it.

We truly are witnessing a decline of fatherhood in our nation.  There are more single mothers than ever before, but more than that, the divine calling of Fatherhood has been diminished in the media.  The modern father is portrayed as crass, lazy and weak compared to the modern woman who is taking over the world.  I am grateful that this is not what the gospel teaches, and what I have witnessed in my own family life.

Look at the recent “Marriage of the Century” of Prince William to Catherine Middleton.  The word “obey” was infamously taken from the ceremony.  Although men and women are equal, the gospel teaches a different perspective.  In the LDS Temple ceremony, do we vow to obey our husbands?  While those words are not actually part of the sealing, they are in the endowment, as exemplified by the very first marriage in the world, the marriage of Adam and Eve.  Eve covenants to hearken to her husband’s council, and Adam covenants to hearken unto the Lord.  When the Lord is taken from the marriage ceremony, like everything else in society, we are left with a hollow question of, “Why should the wife obey the husband anyway?”  But it the Priesthood authority for the husband to preside over the home, and his covenant to hearken to the Lord is often forgotten when we talk about obeying our husbands.

How much are women to submit to their husbands?  Are women diminished when we allow fathers to preside in the home?  My response to that is another question: To what degree should men submit to the will of the Lord?  Do men become less when they follow the Lord’s teachings?

In the LDS Church pamphlet, Fathers,Consider thy ways, it says:

Fatherhood is leadership, the most important kind of leadership. It has always been so; it always will be so. Father, with the assistance and counsel and encouragement of your eternal companion, you preside in the home. It is not a matter of whether you are most worthy or best qualified, but it is a matter of law and appointment. You preside at the meal table, at family prayer. You preside at family home evening; and as guided by the Spirit of the Lord, you see that your children are taught correct principles. It is your place to give direction relating to all of family life.

You give father’s blessings. You take an active part in establishing family rules and discipline. As a leader in your home you plan and sacrifice to achieve the blessing of a unified and happy family. To do all of this requires that you live a family-centered life.

Pastor Donald J Gettys tells thisstory:

A cute little girl was sitting on top of a pile of luggage in a hotel lobby. Her parents were registering for a room. A sympathetic lady asked if they were staying long. "Oh, we are just going to live here until we find a house. My Daddy has a new job and we had to sell our old house and move here." The lady said: "I am sorry you don't have a home any more." The little girl said: "Oh, we have a HOME, we just don't have a house to put it in."

Do you have a home?

What is a home?  In short, it is the family, the fundamental unity of society.  When the family is based on love, service, and unity, based on the pattern that the Lord has set, we will be a happy home, and we will find joy in fulfilling our different roles in the home.

Since it is father’s day, I would like to finish by honoring my own father by sharing a poem that he wrote about his Paternal grandfather, Alvin Anderson.

Grandpa’s Garden

         by Farley Anderson

Memories flood of long, long ago

  When as a very little man,

I loved to be with Grandpa.

   I was his biggest fan.

His garden was a special place,

   For love and growth was there.

The flowers seemed as tall as trees

  And made the people stare.

The rows were straight.  The earth was warm,

  And not a weed was seen.

The peas were sweet, the carrots long

  A boy felt like a king

It didn’t make much sense to me

   How much he always grew,

For when I looked in his small house

   I saw only two.

Then every fall like old St. Nick,

   A smile upon his face,

I saw my Grandpa sneak around

   And fresh vegetablize the place.

The greatest mystery to me

   Was the flowers that he grew.

You could not even eat them.

    Their stems you could not chew.

I asked about this mystery,

   The labor down the drain,

And so he paused to teach me

  And my little brain.

“You see this world is vast and large.

  I cannot change it all,

But this brown earth is my own space.

  It is special call.”

“I make it like a paradise

  For those who pass to see

What love, labor, toil and sweat

  Can make this earth to be.

And when they smell this fragrance,

   Their mind will upward turn.

Problems left, their heart will change.

   For higher things they’ll yearn.

I cannot make these flowers,

   But I will do my share,

And God and I work side by side

    To give them needed care.”

One last thing he told me,

    Though to learn it I was slow,

“For every flower you give away,

    Two in it’s place will grow.”

When from this life I travel

    To that Garden eternally

And meet the master Gardner,

   And a welcomed child to be.

I will not be a stranger,

   For I knew him here below,

And was taught about eternal things

    While Grandpa leaned

            upon his hoe.

Thank you to all of the fathers for everything that you do, and for your example to us.  We are inspired by what you do. 

Lacing cards for the quiet bag

Here is a simple project to keep little hands busy and quiet during Church services.  The pictures came out of the Ensign magazine.  I printed out a little tidbit of information for the picture on card-stock, used a glue-stick on the other side for the picture, laminated it, and used a hole-punch around the edges.  When I originally did this project, we used a shoelace, and were subsequently mortified at how loud it was when our children used it during the meetings.  We experimented with several mediums before settling with boondoggle.  Fortunately Michael has an abundant supply from his boy-scout days.  It slides very nicely with the lamination.  My toddler doesn't have the attention span to finish these (8 1/2" by 11"), so I'm going to make some smaller ones for her.  This is a fast and easy project that you could use to teach any subject, and they are also great for car trips.  It's essentially a bit of intelligence card with holes around the edges.  Have fun!

Teaching reverence during church services

 Less than perfect

Okay, I admit it.  Yesterday our family was not the quintessential example of reverence during church.  I have a new calling as the ward organist, and we are learning the new ropes of what this calling is going to mean for our family.  While I played prelude music (so far so good), my husband brought in our three little ones and fed them a little lunch snack of quesadillas and apples.  The plan was for him to come in five minutes before sacrament with the children, but a diaper blowout prevented this, and wired nature of the children convinced him to stay in the foyer.  After the sacrament song, I went out to find him, and to his credit, all three children were sitting reverently on the couch.

Our family joined the congregation after the sacrament, and at first things went well.  There was a baby blessing, so seats were few and we accidentally split up a family as the father had taken a little one out and came back to find us.  For the intermediate hymn, I had to walk up in front of everyone, and pass behind the bishop to get to the organ.  When I sat down, I walked in front of the speaker and realized that I could have planned that better.  The closing song went all right, but during the talks I had to take Patrick out just to bounce him, Peter verbally wanted to know why the impact hammer in his book was tearing up the road, and Helen didn't want to stay in her seat.  I suppose it must not have been too much of a disaster since both my husband and I were able to enjoy the talks, but overall we decided that it is time for us to refocus our efforts to teach reverence during this most important meeting of worship.  After all, if we can't master this art now, as our family grows, well, we're doomed.

These two blogs, MormonChic , and BellaOnline, have some great advice on the subject, but my favorite blog was written by a minister's wife that I read two years ago and I couldn't find the article to share with you today.

A beautiful example

She said that the truth is, if you want to teach your children to be reverent at church, they are going to have to learn to be reverent at home.  If children are allowed to run the show all week long and then we expect them to sit quietly for just one hour at church, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.  The time of preparation far-spent.  This good sister has several children, and to the amazement of their peers, the children would all sit quietly and listen to each sermon.  She was asked several times how she did it, and so she wrote the article that I read.

When her husband was called the ministry, she looked at her small but growing family and knew that each Sunday would be her own battle, and she wanted to win it on her own turf- the home.  During daily devotionals with her family, expectations were explained, expected, and enforced.  She started small, by changing the environment for their bible study.  They sat on chairs instead of laying on the floor- little ones included.  Then she started adding things to scripture study- audio cassettes, films, inspirational stories, and singing time- until she had an hour-long devotional every day in her home.  Although her children were of course still children at church, teaching them how to sit still and listen at home made all the difference on Sunday.  After all, at home, it was just mom.  At Church they got to listen to dad, hear a live organ, and a real choir.  How wonderful!

My new resolutions

·                    No treats.  One of the things that has helped our family a lot during sacrament meeting is to leave the treats at home.  I was a believer in them, thinking that they were crucial for the little ones until a sister in our ward shared an experience where her church was remodeled and the bishop asked the families to leave the treats at home.  She told her husband that she had two small children and thought that it was unfair for the bishop to ask this of young families.  Her husband sided with the bishop and so she agreed, thinking that they would come to their senses after seeing how the children behaved after a few weeks.  Instead, her heart was changed as she didn't have to clean-up after the meetings and her children did just fine.  Sacrament meeting is the first block of the day and it is possible for them to not starve to death, especially if you feed them before the block.  We have already seen improvement in our own children by leaving the treats home.  I make an exception for the baby.  I believe on nursing on demand, and although I always feed him before church, he's little and the wants of a baby are the needs of a baby.

·                    Sit at the front.  This was our plan last Sunday, but it didn't quite happen that way.  Crossing in front of the speakers to get to the organ was, quite frankly, embarrassing.  So even if the family doesn't sit in the pews during all of the prelude music, we will now reserve a spot close to the organ so that I can fulfill the needs of our family and the ward with less disruption.  Does this help my readers?  Maybe not, but I know that sitting in the front when I was in college helped me be more attentive because there were less distractions.

·                    Stress the importance of family devotional.  In the past my husband and I have read scriptures independent of the children.  For the children, at bedtime we snuggle on the bed, sing primary songs and read from the scripture stories.  Often they roll around while we sing.  We will still snuggle at bedtime, but we are going to follow the pattern of the minister's family and start studying as a family, and the children will be part of our formal, unabridged study of the scriptures

·                    Let the children come to organ practice.  Okay, so this one is definitely not as useful for my readers, but during the week we are going to dress the children in their Sunday clothes and Michael is going to sit with the children while I practice for 20 minutes or so.  I can do a formal practice session on my own at another time, but teaching the children how to sit through music presentations is something that we want to teach them anyway, and doing it privately in this manner will benefit everyone.

·                    Reevaluate the contents of the "activity bag".  We do have a church bag with activities reserved for Sunday, and it has worked wonders for us.  I have made a few things that I will share in upcoming posts that have preserved the nature of the Sabbath, but perhaps the matchbox cars, and the ensuing "Vroom!" that comes with them, would be better served with the rest of the daily toys.  Yes, I'll take those out of the bag today.

·                    No reward for rambunctious behavior.  My son is new to primary his first week as a sunbeam he cried that he wanted mommy so I came and sat with him for a few minutes.  I left, and he cried again.  When the kind brother brought him down this time he sat with me in relief society and fidgeted the rest of the meeting.  Week number two when he refused to go to primary we went outside and he got to sit in his car seat.  He was content to do so for the rest of the block, defiant that he didn't want to go to primary.  It wasn't until the rest of the family came out to the car that he started crying, "I want to go to primary!"  That's great, Peter, next week you will get to go, but it's over today, you missed it.  I'm so excited.  Not only did he go last week, but he told me that it was a lot of fun, and he told me all about Daniel and the lions den.  It sure beat sitting in his car seat!  I hope that we nipped that problem in the bud.

Well, a short blog post has turned into a book, but these are my new year's resolutions, and my ramblings for a better Sabbath.  Of all of the things that I wish to teach my children, moral character, the gospel, and a love for our Savior, Jesus Christ are the most important.  Reverence is an essential part of the gospel.  I feel obligated to teach my children, and I am grateful for my husband's support in this endeavor.

Armor of God

Putting on the full Armor of God

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.-Ephesians 6:13-17

Recently "The Armor of God" was the central theme to our stake conference. One of the sisters told of a story where they dressed a young missionary in kitchen accessories to emphasize the importance of being clothed in the armor of God while he served his mission. With the exception of placing a butcher knife in the hands of my two-year-old, I thought this would be an excellent activity for our family, and, as I presumed, my two-year old loved it.

Lesson Outline

Our Family Home Evening outline was as follows:Opening prayer, and we sang The Army of Helaman as the opening song. Then we talked about what armor is and how it protects us. We explained it with a Family Finch game I made from a CD I bought a year ago, and then proceeded to dress my little warrior. He adamantly refused to be pictured for this post, and I respected that, but his clothing was as follows:

• For the loins girt with truth, a dish towel tucked in his pants
• For the breastplate, a muffin tin worn with pipe cleaners (I love those things!)
• For the feet shod with preparation, a pair of my sandals
• For the shield of faith, a pan lid
• For the helmet of salvation, a pot
• For the sword of the Spirit, a butter knife

After playing for awhile, we had a closing prayer and ate some treats. I have also heard of play castle armor being used for this object lesson with success. Also, you might consider using these Armor of God coloring pages I found online. Good luck!