I am GRATEFUL for Stake Conf., the Scriptures, and a Fun FHE!

Gratitude Journal Entry#54

Last night we had a fun FHE, we already had family home evening the night before at some friends house, However I felt very strongly like we needed just a little bit more. At Stake Conf. We had the Pres. from BYU Idaho come to speak to us on the family and what's important, he said that we should all Memorize the proclamation to the family, so we have been reading it for family home evening and then discussed it last Monday night. He also talked about how families usually sit in two categories...He drew four boxes on the dry erase board, then he said that families usually sit in either Low Love and High Standards or Low Standards and High love, He said we should be in the box that has High love and High Standards(Zion) and we need to work on this area, the fourth box you don't want to be at all it's "Babylon" Low standards and low love. So Sloane and I for family night we spotlighted everyone and everyone got a chance to say something nice about each person in our family and wrote them down on nice paper, then I told them to hang it in there room, I also said that we are all God's children and we are loved by our Heavenly Father very much and we too should love each other just as much. Sloane and I have also been working on being more positive in our home, we told the kids that for every negative they say to each other or just in general than they owe us five positive things to say right away on the spot, it has changed the love in our home and I am so grateful for it. We too are trying to be more positive towards our children when we speak to them and less teasing ect. There was also a speaker at stake conf. Sister Richeal and it was excellent, we like that family, good parents! She spoke on having more faith and reading your scriptures, that struck me, she said we need to be consistent, I have been wanting to be consistent however I haven't been, my excuse is that I want to retain what I read but have a hard time doing so, so it's not motivating to me. So I prayed about how I could retain what I read and the spirit told me that for each chapter that I read, write something down about that chapter that you learned or inspired you. So I have been doing that, and let me tell you I have been getting more out of the scriptures more than ever before! Something that struck both Sloane and I also was what she said about watching movies ect. She told about a story that when she was a young womens advistor and she wanted the girls to feel the spirit more in her class and she prayed about it and the spirit told her that she was doing good at being careful about what she watched for movies ect. however she could take it up a notch and so she did and at the end of the year ALL the girls wrote her a letter thanking her for the spirit that she felt in her class, so Sloane and I have decided to take it up a notch so that the spirit in our home could be even stronger.