General Conference Packet Roundup

It's nearly time for General Conference and it seems like I am always scrambling at the last minute to print out activity packets for my girls. Well, not this year.

Here's what I've found.

A conference packet directly from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Also, a packet from Deseret News.

A packet from LDS Bookstore.

A packet from Somewhat Simple

A few ideas from The Red Crystal.

Sugardoodle has a conference section.

Katie's Blog-Ness has created a very cute Conference Train.

What are your favorite conference traditions?

"He finds us. He makes us whole."

“He finds us. He makes us whole.”

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This is one of two talks from this past April #generalconference that I have listened to over and over.
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I’ve often wondered why Jesus Christ would retain the marks of the crucifixion when we are promised in Alma 40:23, “every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”

Because of this scripture, I concluded that Christ’s “proper and perfect frame” must include the marks he gained from His Atonement. I am grateful that Elder Gong took it a bit further and has helped me understand why.
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“Hosanna is our plea for God to save. Hallelujah expresses our praise to the Lord for the hope of salvation and exaltation.” “He lives—not only then, but now; not just for some, but for all. He came and comes to heal the brokenhearted, deliver the captives, recover sight to the blind, and set at liberty those who are bruised. That’s each of us. His redeeming promises apply, no matter our past, our present, or concerns for our future.”
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“He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the author and finisher of [MY] faith.”
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@gerritwgong #comefollowme #comefollowme2020

Motherhood Monday - Obedience Through Our Faithfulness

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"...The challenges associated with having faith in Jesus Christ and obedience will be more difficult for some than others.... Each of us is a son or daughter of God, and we have a unique premortal and mortal story. Accordingly, there are very few one-size-fits-all solutions. And so I fully recognize the trial-and-error nature of life and, most importantly, the constant need of the second principle of the gospel, even repentance.

While some very intelligent and insightful people might believe our more complex time demands ever more complex solutions, I am far from convinced they are right. Rather, I am of the frame of mind that today’s complexity demands greater simplicity...

Too often we think of obedience as the passive and thoughtless following of the orders or dictates of a higher authority. Actually, at its best, obedience is an emblem of our faith in the wisdom and power of the highest authority, even God. When Abraham demonstrated his unwavering faithfulness and obedience to God, even when commanded to sacrifice his son, God rescued him. Similarly, when we demonstrate our faithfulness through obedience, God will ultimately rescue us.

Those who rely solely on themselves and follow only their own desires and self-inclinations are so limited when compared to those who follow God and tap into His insight, power, and gifts. It has been said that someone who is all wrapped up in himself or herself makes a very small package. Strong, proactive obedience is anything but weak or passive. It is the means by which we declare our faith in God and qualify ourselves to receive the powers of heaven. Obedience is a choice. It is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power and God’s unlimited wisdom and omnipotence."

Taken from Elder L Tom Perry's Obedience through Our Faithfulness



I was reading this talk the other day and these passages really struck me, especially in relation to my feeling on motherhood.  I'm not going to share why today, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.  In your opinion, how does this apply to motherhood?  Do you think it applies at all?

General Women's Meeting

Amelia and I watched General Women's Meeting together this past Saturday.  I am not normally one to stay home and watch these meetings, but I was not feeling well.  I still wanted it to be a special thing for Amelia, since this would be the first time she would attend.  I asked Nathan to keep the boys occupied and quiet while Amelia and I watched the broadcast together in my bedroom.  Clara joined us.

I always try to take notes at these meeting and so I got out my notebook.  Amelia decided she must take notes also, so she quickly went off to get her notebook.  Not to be left out, Clara also went and got a notebook and pencil.

I thought that Amelia would pretty much copy whatever I wrote down, but she didn't.  She only copied the person's name.  Every so often she would say, "Have you written anything down yet?"

Nathan snapped a picture for me right as it was starting.

The meeting was amazing!  Such great counsel and such uplifting messages of hope.

This video had me in tears. It reminded me that life is not always easy, but we can find lasting happiness and peace through making and keeping covenants and living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

A couple of my favorite quotes from the evening were these:
"While Satan is attacking sisters at earlier ages, the Lord is lifting sisters to higher and higher levels of spirituality." #PresEyring

"Keeping covenants protects us, prepares us, and empowers us." #SisterWixom

#inspiredby #womensmeeting

Conference Quotes

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from General Conference a few weeks ago.

PS - I took these directly from the church's Google+ account.  It was so handy to just +1  them and share to keep track of what I liked.  If you haven't tried Google+, you should check it out.  And while you are at it, add me to your circle (+Wendy Harwood).

"True change—permanent change—can come only through … the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” #ElderNelson #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr

The whole "change of heart" thing has had me intrigued for a while now, so I loved hearing this.

"We believe that the ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven are our children and our posterity." #ElderOaks #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr

"Let us reach out to those for whom we are responsible."#PresMonson #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr

“Success in His service always produces miracles beyond our own powers.” #PresEyring #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr 

“The miracle of becoming one [in unity] requires the help of heaven, and it takes time.” #PresEyring #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr

Patience, man I have a hard time with that one.

“Fatigue is the common enemy of us all–-so slow down, rest up, replenish, and refill.” #ElderHolland #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr

This brings to mind a couple times I have needed to remind myself of this.  I posted about a couple of them here and here.

“What is said is not as important as what I hear and what I feel.”#ElderHales #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr

As soon as he said this, I immediately thought of my experience that I talked about a few months ago after finishing the Book of Mormon.

“We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner." #PresUchtdorf #ldsconf http://bit.ly/1b6cvPr

General Relief Society Meeting Broadcast

This past Saturday I went to my Mom's stake center to watch the General Relief Society Meeting broadcast. My mother is the Stake Relief Society President for her stake and they always serve dinner to the women and then watch the broadcast.

I met up with one of my oldest and dear friends, Cristy.

After the broadast, I asked my mom to snap a picture of the two of us.

And because my mother is not so familiar with technology, she ended up taking about 10 pictures in rapid succession.  Here's the proof!

Then Cristy snapped one of me and my mom, where I suddenly looked stoned for no apparent reason.

The talks were amazing and I really felt the spirit.  If you want to go back and listen to some or all of the broadcast, click here.  You can watch, listen, download or print the messages.

One of the messages that really stuck with me was a quote from President Thomas S. Monson:

General Conference Study Helps for Adults & Teens

Yesterday, I posted about Conference Packets for kids.  Why should they have all the fun?  Today, I am highlighting some of my favorite General Conference study helps for adults and teens.

Allison Kimball, who is super creative and all together awesome, has put together an amazing General Conference Notebook Download, which is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.  These are more for embellishing your own notebook.

Sugardoodle.net has put together a great packet which is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

There is also an older version of Sugardoodle.net's conference packet available here.  It has a few games in it for adults who lack concentration like myself....

Prepared NOT Scared has prepared downloadable sheets for note taking.  She also has  binder cover avaiable so you can print everything out and keep your notes secure in a 3-ring binder.

The Red Headed Hostess also has a printable note-taking packet that is a couple of years old, but will still work well for this conference.

VisitingTeaching.net has a printable page for you to take notes on.  Just print as many pages as you would like.

One of my favorite designers, Holy Handouts, has created this note-taking page.  Although it was created for conference in 2011, the design still holds up well for this year.

She has also created one with a spring theme.

Now I just have to decide which one I am going to use.

dry erase quiet books for church (or other quiet times) customized to your needs!

the other day i was cruising around on pinterest and came across a pin for dry erase quiet books.

you can make these books for anything.  it doesn't have to be for church stuff.  you could print pages with a child's name to help them practice writing, or it could just be coloring pages or whatever.  the possibilities really are endless.

here is my version and what i did.

all you need for this project is

1. a 3 ring binder
2. sheet protectors
3. dry erase markers or crayons
4. pictures from the friend magazine (or anything really)

i had plenty of random 3 ring binders hanging around as well as some sheet protectors.  i had a few dry erase markers, but they were the fatter kind, so i grabbed a pack of skinnier ones while i was grocery shopping.  I also picked up a 3-ring binder pocket to hold the markers.  for an eraser, i just used a folded paper towel.

for the pictures, you can either round up your old friend magazines and tear out the pages or you can print them from the friend website, which is what i chose to do.  the easiest way i found to do this is to:

• go here and click on the issue that you want to print from.
• at the top of the page near the month and year of the issue, click on the download button (see below for a picture).  click on the download button and choose a .pdf format. this will download the whole issue to your computer in a .pdf format that you can scroll through the pages and print the ones you want.   when you are done, just erase the .pdfs from your computer.

• print as many pages as you want.  i printed the coloring pages, hidden picture pages, and the fun stuff pages.  you can do as many as you want.  i did about 2.5 years worth to make 4 good sized books.

once you have them printed, put them in the sheet protectors in your binder.  i sorted my pages according to age level.  my youngest only has coloring pages in her book.  the other books have a couple of coloring pages but are mostly filled with activity pages.

my finished books

in the original pin, she had also purchased dry erase crayons.  i didn't see any of those at the grocery store, but you can pick some up on amazon here.

**Update 07/27/13 - went to staples and picked up some of the dry erase crayons and they are awesome! definitely worth looking into getting some of those if you are going to make a dry erase book for a younger child.

i did a test run of the dry erase coloring book this past sunday with my youngest.  she did great with it but i think i will definitely look into the dry erase crayons.  i was a little worried about her drawing on herself or the church benches and hymnals with the markers.

i didn't bring the other books for the older kids because as a rule, we don't allow the older kids to draw and such at church.  they will get to use their books for general conference sunday and stake conference.

am i'm getting old? i can't remember

i had nathan download the recent general conference talks onto my phone so that i could listen to them during my commute to and from work.

i figured that if i just paused the talk on my way into work or when i got home and then didn't close the itunes player, it would pick right back up where i left off.... it didn't.

for the first few days, i thought i could just remember what the time stamp was when i got out of the car, but i didn't.  i would take me forever to try and find where i had left off.

so i thought maybe if i wrote it down somewhere, but i didn't want a random paper floating around in my car.  i thought i could keep track on the notes in my phone, but i knew i wouldn't.

then it hit me.... i'll just write in on my window before i get out of the car with a dry erase marker!  so that's what i've been doing.

and it is working out wonderfully!  i just keep the dry erase marker in my cup holder for ease of use.

i've been loving listening to the messages of hope and strength as i drive.  really enjoyed this talk by sister elaine s. dalton on my way into work the other day.

general women's conference

on saturday, september 24, mom and i went to general women's conference at the conference center in salt lake.  we went early and ate at the lion house before heading over to the church history museum.  i had never been to the museum before and it was quite interesting.  i'd like to take the kids there sometime.

hurried over to the conference center to get our seats for the meeting and ran into a dear old friend cristy and some of her family.  it was great to catch up with her.

mom and i after some good instruction by church leaders

l to r: me, mom, anita, sarah, cristy and ariane

after a quick drive back down to utah valley, we stopped and picked up amelia for ice cream.  she was excited to get to go out with the "girls".  grandma told her that when she turns 18 she can come to the conference center with us too. amelia quickly replied. "grandma, you'll be dead by then."  mom and i got a good laugh at that, but i hope my mom is around that long.  she is so wonderful and i love her dearly.