New Month, New Theme + Random Stuff

I recently read President Uchdorf's talk on patience from the priesthood session in last April's General Conference. It is an amazing talk! And it has inspired me to strive to be more patient. Feel free to try along with me--although I should warn you that striving for patience often means you end up in situations requiring more patience. But if I am willing to try, hopefully you will be too. This month's scriptures will be about patience to help remind me to be more patient.

Just a few housekeeping issues:

- I had five more authors respond to the Author Royalties survey and will be reposting the results from that in the next day or so.

- Don't forget to participate in the Summer Treasure Hunt (see link in sidebar). On the 16th the prize is one of my books, so keep your eyes open for that!

- I went with my family to the Visitors' Center on Sunday evening and they have a beautiful new display of art. The pieces are those that won awards in a Church-wide contest held last year. I highly recommend stopping by to see this beautiful display!

Scripture of the Day: Alma 32:41-43

New Month, New Theme

The Conversion of Peter, by Caravaggio

Time for a new month and new scripture theme. I have to say I will miss the General Conference theme; I enjoyed it a lot and am continuing to read the talks. Hopefully the new theme this month -- conversion -- will be just as enjoyable.

From President Faust:

Peter’s conversion to the great principle that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone is another example of this slowness to comprehend. He had been an eyewitness, as he stated in 2 Peter: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Pet. 1:16). To what had he been an eyewitness? He had been an eyewitness to everything in the Savior’s ministry.

Following Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan at the well of Jacob, Peter had seen the Savior welcome the Samaritans, who were loathed by the Jews (see John 4). But when Peter saw a vision and heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:15), he was thoroughly confused. Finally, when Peter was fully converted to the instruction and had received a spiritual confirmation, he “opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34–35).

James E. Faust, “The Surety of a Better Testament,” Ensign, Sep 2003, 2–6

Scripture of the Day: 2 Peter 1:16 (as linked above in President Faust's quote)

New Month, New Theme

April marks the beginning of a new month, so it is time for me to switch the Scripture of the Day theme. This month I have decided to stray from the Easter theme I have done the past several years and instead go with General Conference. I will be posting scriptures quoted in this weekend's general conference sessions. In my family's morning scripture study I will share the scripture as well as a quote from the talk in which it was given. If I can scrounge up a picture of the speaker, I will show that as well.

PS: I will be posting summaries of conference talks as I did last April. It may take a bit longer if I have tech issues. Conference is no longer broadcast in Arizona on regular TV (only on the expensive cable/satellite), so I will be relying on internet streaming and/or radio.

Scripture of the Day: 1 Nephi 3:7 (from Richard G. Scott's talk "To Acquire Spiritual Guidance." October 2009)

New Month, New Theme

This month's theme for the scripture of day is goal setting. Verses selected will highlight areas in which we might try to improve ourselves by setting a goal this year. Enjoy!

Scripture of the Day: D&C 88:119

New Month, New Theme

Christmas time is here and it is time for a new theme for family scripture study. In my home we are going to be reading scriptures about joy. The scriptures are on the back of colored paper ornaments, which will go on a poster board with a Christmas tree. As the month goes on we will be decorating the tree. On Christmas day a star will be placed on top. Feel free to copy this idea, it is easy to create at home!

Scripture of the Day: 2 Ne. 2:25

New Month, New Theme

I am so excited that November is finally here! It is my favorite month of the year with its cooler weather, Thanksgiving, and a focus on gratitude. This month for family scripture study we will be using this 1981 Friend Magazine article and reading scriptures on gratitude. I am making 4 copies of the fruit (shrunk down in size a bit) and then placing the scriptures on the back. Each morning we will read the scripture on one of the fruit and then place it on the cornucopia. We may also make a running list of things for which we are grateful.

BTW, if you have a copy of Adventures with the Word of God, there is a chapter with scriptures on gratitude. If not, and you still want to play along, you can use your Topical Guide to find them. Or, check back here to read the Scripture of the Day.

New Month, New Theme

October is finally here and that means a new theme for the scriptures of the day--our last set of scripture mastery scriptures: Doctrine and Covenants. Enjoy!

BTW, I will be out of town to attend conference. As a result I will be unable to post the summaries of the conference talks. I will likely have highlights next week, though. I hope you all tune in, enjoy hearing the words of our leaders, and feel of the spirit.

Scripture of the Day: D&C 1:37-38

New Month, New Theme

Welcome September!

September means:

• Beginning of the best time of the year,
• Labor Day fun,
• Football (Go BYU!),
  
• Cooler night temperatures,
• The desire to wear sweaters (although still completely impractical in AZ),
• Time to start planning for Halloween costumes, Christmas shopping, and Patch's birthday,
• And apple season! Yum!

And since it is a new month it is also time for a new scripture study theme. Is everyone ready to move onto Book of Mormon scripture mastery scriptures? These are some of the best of the best, so enjoy.

(Image credit)

Scripture of the Day: 1 Nephi 3:7

New Month, New Theme

I love the scripture mastery scriptures from Seminary! They are definitely some of the best verses out there! For the next few months I will be using the scripture mastery verses for my scriptures of the day. This month I am starting with the Old Testament. Enjoy!

New Month, New Theme

June is finally here and it is time for a new monthly theme! This year it is Father's Day again, but different from last year's theme in that instead of being about the different types of fathers this year it will be about the responsibilities of an earthly father.

As shown in the picture above, I have developed six different ties that represent different responsibilities, including being a provider (tie with green dollar signs), a counselor (tie with question marks on it), a teacher (apple tie), a priesthood holder/patriarch (key tie), a helper (tools tie), and a friend (hearts tie). Throughout the month there will be different scriptures that go with each of these.

Originally (about eight years ago) I developed this as part of a family home evening lesson, but my kids still love it. This year I will adapt it to scripture study; but if anyone out there would like a copy of the FHE lesson just leave me a comment or send me an e-mail. It may take me a few days to get it scanned in, but I will definitely get it to you within a week.

Scripture of the Day: "By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness." (Family Proclamation, paragraph 7)

New Month, New Theme

Yay for May! And time for a new theme. This month all the Scriptures of the Day will be about Moms. And for our family scripture study we will be reading the scriptures on the backs of pictures of roses, which the kids will add to a poster with an empty vase on it. Kind of a nod to Mother's Day (not to mention Heidi Ashworth :-).

If you would like to join along, here is the picture of the rose I am using. If you need to know some of the scriptures ahead of time, all 10 of these will be included. Actually, this is one of the ideas that will be included in my new book (just a little teaser for you)! Scripture of the Day: Gen. 17:16

New Month, New Theme

April has arrived! Time for a new theme and I can't help but choose Easter. I have to admit it is one of my favorite holidays because of the religious significance. I have not been asked this year or last, but for five years I had the opportunity to work as the research director for the Easter Pageant here at the Mesa temple. It was an experience I will always be grateful for because I learned so much and really felt the spirit of the siginificance of Christ's resurrection.

The pageant itself is wonderful, the largest of all the LDS pageants (even Hill Cumorah!). And the volunteer leaders who put so much time and effort into it (for over 6 months per year) do such a fabulous job. If you have not been recently, I highly suggest you go again soon. Here is their website with this year's dates and times. I think I will be heading down there tomorrow night since my brother and his family are in town from Denver. Feel free to join us!

Scripture of the Day: Helaman 14:15

New Month, New Theme

I have not actually put together a visual aid for this month, but the scripture theme is going to be temples. I hope you enjoy reading the temple scriptures that come with the posts each day.

New Month, New Theme

I am excited it is February. I love all the spring-y pinks and reds and whites that make this month so fun. To go along with Valentines Day, the theme this month is "Love at Home." I made this advent calendar of a home (pic above was before I added the numbers for the flaps). You lift up flaps on the windows, garage door, front door, etc. to read scriptures that go along with the theme. We have already been testing it for several weeks and the kids are enjoying it, so I think this one is a success.

Scripture of the Day: Genesis 18:19

New Month, New Theme

This month's theme is the Liahona. In the Book of Mormon the prophet Nephi discovers that the Liahona works according to the faith, heed, and diligence of his family to the commandments. So scriptures this month are about faith, heed, and diligence to the commandments.

At my house I will have a large copy of this Liahona. The square at the bottom is cut out and we will be turning a disk behind the Liahona to change the "wording" (scripture) daily, kind of like how the words on the Liahona changed for Lehi and his family. Hopefully I can get this put together today--I have been very busy this past week with extended family get togethers and now I am behind in some of my prep work.

Scripture of the Day: Mark 13:33

New Month, New Theme

This month's scripture study theme is Journey to Bethlehem. I have made a "map" (in the loosest of terms) of Israel with stepping stones winding from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Each day of the month Mary and Joseph get to move one step closer to Bethlehem and a scripture about the birth of the Savior is read.

Here is a {lousy} pic I took of the map on the wall at home. I wish it showed some of the details of the cities I had to draw--they look cute. And at the bottom is the manger with a star over it. You can see a close up of Mary and Joseph in the sidebar.

Another way to do a Christmas family scripture study theme was given a week or so ago. Or, you could print out verses and put them in an advent calendar that has little pouches or other containers.



My friend Heather made me the cutest advent calendar like that last week and I am loving it! Here it is in my kitchen. It has clear magnetic containers she has decorated that you pull off, open up, and then can put back on. The kids are so excited to use it (although this morning I was unprepared and the only candy I could find to put inside the container with the scripture was some candy corn--two out of three kids here dislike candy corns).



Scripture of the Day: Luke 2:1-3

Super Easy December Scripture Study Theme

I am posting this now so if you want to do this you have time to order or go out and buy it and be prepared. Three years ago this is the December Christmas scripture study theme I did with my kids. They loved it and still talk about it occasionally. I bought three of these little sticker books--one for each kid (currently $1.50 on Amazon; you may also be able to find them at local bookstores). This sticker booklet has an empty stable scene and then individual stickers of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the three wise men, shepherds, sheep, star, etc.

Each morning we would read a few verses from Luke 2 (and when we finished the Christmas story there, then we read the Christmas story in Third Nephi). After reading the verses the kids were each able to pick a sticker from this book and place it on the stable scene. As it got closer to Christmas the sticker picture became more and more complete.

The kids loved being able to pick which sticker they wanted to use that day, as well as being able to choose where to place it in the picture. I liked that there was no fighting or arguing about whose turn it was, and that the kids looked forward to doing it--in fact they often reminded me we needed to do it!

Anyway, I will have a different theme posted on the first of the month, but thought someone out there in the great blogging void might want to try this.

New Month, New Theme

I can hardly believe it is November already! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I am excited for the holidays.

In celebration of this month of the feast of Thanksgiving, the new theme is "Feast Upon the Word." For those of you who would like a theme of gratitude, that theme is in my current book Adventures with the Word of God. It has a cute turkey to use and everything. Since I did not want to duplicate that theme, I have developed this new one. But feel free to purchase my book and use the gratitude theme :-)!

The new theme has scriptures about scripture study, which are placed on the back of pictures of Pilgrims and Indians (or should I say Native Americans?). After reading these scriptures, the Pilgrims and Indians are placed next to/behind a long feast table. I love the way my little scripture people turned out--I spent a lot of time trying to get them just right. I have actually drawn six each Pilgrims and Indians. They are all cute.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this month's theme!

Scripture of the Day: (Starting off with the scripture that inspired the theme) 2 Nephi 31:20

New Month, New Theme

Yeah for the arrival of October! October means cooler weather, harvest time, pumpkins, costumes, candy corns (YUM!), apples, and Halloween, of course!

The new scripture study theme for October is Fruits of the Harvest--scriptures about harvest time, reaping, and sowing. The scriptures are a little more varied this go around because the harvest theme is used in several different ways. This will allow you to teach your family about the Law of the Harvest (you reap what you sow), missionary work (the field is white and ready to harvest), and the resurrection (Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection). So there should be lots of good family scripture discussions in October.


To make this theme fun I have made a matching game--Pumpkin Patch Match. There is a poster of a pumpkin patch and then jack-o-lantern pieces. The object of the game is to match which jack-o-lantern was made from which pumpkin. My kids are rarin' to go with this one because it looks like lots of fun.


And then to make it even more seasonal, I have decided to put the numbers 1 through 30 on my jack-o-lanterns and use it as a count down calendar for Halloween. On Halloween day itself we will carve a REAL jack-o-lantern and read a few Halloween scriptures (which I will post later).

So, if there are a few people out there who want to test out this theme for me, let me know by sending me an e-mail.

Hip-hip-hooray for October!

New Month, New Theme

This month's new family scripture study theme is based on the 10 Commandments. During this theme we will spend three days reading Old Testament scriptures that corroborate and help clarify the teachings for each of the 10 Commandments. The scriptures are placed each day on Moses' tablet. For this set all of the scriptures are magnetized. I am hoping by the end of the month my kids will have the 10 Commandments memorized. We will do this by repeating them out loud together each morning.

Scripture of the Day: #1 Thou shalt have no other gods before me -- Joshua 24:15