America Foretold in Matthew

So I have been studying the New Testament focusing on the 4 Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. As I was reading in Matthew 21, I found verse 43 which says;
Matthew 21:43

"Therefore say I unto you, The ^akingdom of God shall be ^btaken from you, and ^cgiven to a ^dnation bringing forth the fruits thereof."

He was talking to the Jews about this. He told them that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be given to another nation to bring forth the fruits, what are the fruits? Doing good, building the Kingdomof God and we do that through missionary work, to save souls. And what nation is He talking about? He is talking about the American continent.

Look at the rich history we have in such a short span of time. Once this country was founded real growth began. This country began its history on grounds of religious freedom. Once people were allowed to worship as they pleased and allowed to act upon the principles of the Gospel, this country began to blossom.

Who can deny it? God Please Bless America. I love this land which has been blessed so greatly by our Father in Heaven. Let's help Him keep it free from evil and tirany.

Quiet Toys as Easy as 1-2-3

When my children were young I would sometimes let them bring one toy to play with during family church time but they still weren't very quiet. My son would make action  figure sounds, or my daughter would pretend out loud. Sometimes it was embarrassing, and we were always afraid of taking away from the spirit of the meeting.

But President Monson said once in a Stake Conference, "Parents, don't worry that your children are not quiet during meeting times, we have to remember that they are big spirits in tiny bodies full of wiggles." We all laughed. But we still wanted to teach our children that they needed to be quiet and reverent at church.


So we went to coloring books or reading books quietly. That worked but never lasted the whole time of the family meeting. Then one day someone behind us let my children play with a quiet toy that they had made. It was awesome and my kids loved it.

Creating a Sunday bag is a good idea that can be helpful in keeping little ones quieter. A couple of treats, mess free, are good starters. Some picture books are good during the passing of the sacrament.

You can create your own sacrament books by finding pictures of the things Jesus did while on this earth. Put them inside a clear page holder and then put them inside a small binder. You could even create a book of nature (animals, flowers, etc) doing the same thing.

Here are some ideas that I have found for making quiet time toys. I hope they are helpful and easy as 1-2-3 to create.

Make a felt play board, the instructions are as easy as 1-2-3:
1) find a small box with a lid.
2) glue a piece of felt to fit the inside of the lid
3) cut out different kinds of felt pieces to create pictures, they store inside the box

 Make a seek and find bag:
1) take a zipper pencil bag with a window in it
2) fill it with beads and misc shaped items, shake it up good, after it is zippered
3) make list of the misc items for your children to seek for, while looking through the window,  among the beads, make sure you put in enough beads in it to make it a little challenging for the kids to find.

Lace Cards
1) Create a few patterns like the one in the picture and create cut outs from foam squares
2) Use a single hole punch and spread wholes about an inch apart.
3) Get shoe string laces to guide in and out of holes.

This last one is a Popsicle stick puzzle:
1) Paint Popsicle stick several different colors
2) create designs on white paper squares using different colors to match Popsicle sticks.
3) have children try to create the design on the paper using the Popsicle sticks.

Well, those are just a few ideas, there are tons more that are so easy to make and helpful in quiet time needs. Have fun creating!!!

Family Search for Family History

Family Search is a LDS Church owned web site. Family Search has made leaps and bounds recently to create a better webpage and collection of data. Everyday they are progressing to create tools to help with your family history search. Here is the link, take a look and see all the new stuff. It's open to everyone throughout the world.

Familysearch.org

It was just announced that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will have free access in the near future to some paid websites like Ancestry.com and Myheritage.com. This is awesome. Family Search has also made deals with many places to give us access to important documents and even obituaries. That's even more awesome.

I can see God's hand in this work because of technology is rapidly changing for good, and it is making the search for ancestors more possible and easier. I love that and it should inspire many to want to seek for those who has gone before us.

With all this new research processes in place, we first need to turn our heart to our families.

The prophet Joesph Smith said,"The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead..." HC 6:312

Wow, that made an impact on me. I have thought a lot about this and found that he was talking to me. This is my greatest responsibility. When I started looking for names and putting together my family history, they were just names but when I started studying more about them and the times that they lived in, they started becoming more than just names. AND...when I took those names to the temple the true meaning of it all...God's purpose...began to unfold before me. My heart was turning to my fathers and I couldn't get enough of it.

Family History work is now my passion. I love this work and joy that comes with finding family and developing my tree. One thing that was an eye opener was when I started tracing the female side of the tree. It was easier to find the stuff on the male line but when I started working on the female lines I realized that there were so many more people to see.

I truly can see now how we are all related, as you do one line then the next and on and on.. your story never ends. And we are all connected, Family Search is trying to show us just that, we are all one big family.

I hope you will look in your hearts to see and understand this great work that God has entrusted to us. The work that brings us all together as God's family. Our ancestors need us to do this for them, the work that they can no longer do. And we need them to help us grow in understanding God's plan for us. I love my Heavenly Father for this great plan of happiness because I know the joy I get from doing this work.

High Cost of Milk

Good Grief!!! Milk costs what now!!!

I cannot believe I am paying over $4 for a gallon of milk. I think it's time to buy a cow. Or...maybe there are other solutions. I have been able to find it under $4 by going to places like Dollar General and Family Dollar, you have to shop around to find the best prices but if everyone goes to the same place does the demand for more milk increase the price (economics 101)?

With cost aside, milk is a necessity in life. Milk gives us certain vitamins for healthy bones and teeth. I read an article recently that list 3 reasons all people, of any age, need to drink milk.
3 Benefits to Drinking Milk Daily

1) It reduces risk of some diseases like colon cancer, osteoporosis, as well as hypertension.
2) It builds strong bones and teeth.
3) Milk helps you sleep.

The article says even when you are lactose intolerant you can find milk product that helps you to still have the milk you need daily in your life, but I think that costs even more. :(

Now that we know some of the benefits to drinking milk, how do we get past the cost of milk? As I said earlier, shopping around is helpful, I shop around my area for the best prices for everything. Another option is one my mother did when I was a kid while living in a high inflation period. She used to buy powdered milk.

She would take a gallon of whole milk and she would pour half, or sometimes thirds, into other containers. Then she would make a few quarts of powdered milk and add to the whole milk. This gave us a 2% or 1% taste of milk. We never knew the difference but it always helped her to stretch her budget money. She was a single mom working long hours to make ends meet and this was a solution to her problem. I thought it was a brilliant idea to saving dollars and still getting the vitamins you need.

I just recently read an article that asked the question about powdered milk being bad for you. I've attached it here for you to read for yourself.
Is Powdered Milk Bad for You?

Lets look at the cost of Instant Non-fat dried milk:

Walmart Brand $7.78 for 25.6 oz
Shelf Reliance $21.19 for 3.38 lbs
Ebay (variety of product) $47.50 for 10lbs

There are a variety of places you can find the product, you have to shop for what is best for you and your family. Here are some tips that can be helpful.

Powdered Milk Storage Tips

Saving Money with Powdered Milk

The shelf life of the dry milk product varies but average is about 8-10 years.
Shelf Life of Dry Milk

If you are someone like me then you want to be prepared for times of high cost in foods, or disaster; having an option for milk on hand is comforting. We use milk in preparation of many foods daily, using powdered milk as a substitute can also save money. So drink the regular stuff and use dry milk for cooking.

I hope this information is helpful, I know it was for me in my research process. I would love to hear more about your use of powdered milk or creative ways you saved money using powdered milk.

Hasten the Work of Salvation

We have been commanded to hasten the work. What is the work; to progress the cause of God. Moses 1:39 says that His work and His glory is us! So how do we help in that? We build the Kingdom, which is to strengthen one another and to help people find Christ.

When we think about that we pretty much think of missionary work and helping in that area but it also means to help those who have passed on. We do this through family history work. We are running out of time and now is the time to get this work done.

I have just recently been called by our Stake at church to be a Family History Director, there are two of us. The other one focuses on the Family History Center, and I focus on getting people into the Family History Center to do their work.

I love this calling because I love this work. But I have come to realize that with that love and helping other to get busy in it, I have not done as much in mine as I should have by now. Genealogy has been a part of life for over 30 years. But I am still just barely getting it organized.And that is the key, getting organized. There are many ways to keep your records but you have to choose one or it can be time consuming just trying to...well organize.

Some ways to organize your records are by keeping a hard copy in binders, or filing cabinets. But what if you have a fire, flood, or storm that destroys those records? Keeping a soft copy is good, too.
You can store it on a SD card, a CD, or just on the computer in organized files, and even on an external hard drive.

But what if your computer gets fried or stolen? What if you lose those SD cards or CD's? The way modern technology keeps changing, those SD cards might not be able to be used in the near future.

Hmmm, what else can you do to save your records? I think one of the safest ways is to record this information on websites that specialize in family trees. This is one way people learn about their ancestors is by sharing information on the websites. Ancestry.com would be a great place a to share that info but it has a price attached. It's worth it if you use it a lot, but if you do it only once in a while, well it may not be advised.

Ancestry.com

Familysearch.org is an excellent place to store your information, its free!!!

Familysearch.org

They believe that we are all one big family and if we all submit our trees then we can see how we are related to one another. I thought that was pretty cool. There was a team of 150 people who submitted as many names in their tree as possible and they found that 148 of them were related within 9 generation, that is way cool.

Your ancestors are calling you, it's time to answer and find them. Time is short and technology has made easier than ever. Hasten the Work now!!!

Continued Ways to be More Like Jesus

At the end of last year I started sharing ways to be more like Jesus. A young man preparing to go on his mission showed me this information in the Preach my Gospel manual. I would like to review what I had posted from before and then add the rest.

So I posted thoughts about Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love) found in November 2013. I mostly wanted to focus on understanding the concept then showing ways to apply it in our lives.

Faith - Just believing in something with out tangible proof. We do this each day we arise from our beds and go through life. We have faith that we can get through the day and that there will be another tomorrow. With faith great things can happen in our lives but we have to be willing to let go of those things that hold us down. We have to have faith that we are not alone that God is there and wants to help us, always.

Hope - Hope goes hand-in-hand with faith. Hope is to want something and believe that it can happen. We hope that the Savior will return someday and redeem what is His, that would be us, those who are followers and do much good in the world.

Charity- This is love, this is the main purpose we are here. We have to find love in our hearts for everyone and do what we can to help them to find the same. There is only one way we can do this and that is by following the footsteps of our Savior and become like Him. When we do this we can do great things by small acts of kindness.

Virtue - This has been defined as what you think or do when you think no one is looking. If you are good then you produce good, no matter what, if not then you do not. It is a matter of self control, you can control your thoughts and actions to become virtuous. Proverbs 31:10-31says that a Virtuous Woman is of great worth. Why, because everything she does is good for her and those around her. Read the scripture and liken it to yourself today to see what you need to be doing to help build the Kingdom of God.

Knowledge -We should gain more knowledge of the teaching of our Savior and of other things. The scriptures tell us we should seek learning by study and by faith. I love to learn new things, things that make me a better me. I love to know what I am talking about when it comes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in order for that to happen I have to study the scriptures and learn His ways. They say that with more knowledge comes more power.

Patience -When we are patient we find that we don't get angry too often. This helps us to be able to develop more love for people. There are so many reasons to get mad at things people do but with patience we can forgive and move on. Wed can take the time to figure out that maybe that person who cut us off was on their way home to a sick family member, or they would get fired if they didn't get to work on time. We do not know why people do what they do but we can find in our hearts forgiveness and not dwell on the negative.

Humility - If we are humble we have the heart to submit to the will of God in our lives. That means we are teachable and willing to make changes in our lives to do what ever we are asked of God, so long as we realize it is from Him and not other sources. Humility shows that we trust in God to direct our lives for good. It's hard sometimes but we have to be ready and willing to do whatever He asks and trust that all will be well.

Diligence - This means we will be steady and continue on a righteous path. Its easy to waver but being diligent requires effort on our part. we have be willing to continue to stand no matter what evil winds howl around us and they will. We have to endure until the end. When we do this we will find peace and joy.

Obedience - Jesus was obedient to His Father in Heaven. He was submissive to His will. We should be, too. If we are obedient we can find peace and joy in our lives. I tell my children that as a parent I don't make rules just to have control or be mean, I do it for your safety, which makes you happier. The same is for Heavenly Father, he tells what we should do because He knows that we will be protected and happier if we do those things; works for me.

In all of these Christ-like characteristics we have to be focused on the Savior. He needs to be foremost in our minds so that we are willing to do things and become more like Him. These attributes will strengthen who we are and will help us become the people we need to be to move on to the next level of our progress. Ponder these things and seek answers to how they can work in your life. You will come to know true happiness and peace that we so need today. May God bless your life as you seek to put the Kingdom of God first.

Saving by Making Homemade Treats

This year I am trying to save as much money as I can but not everyone in the house understands that concept. So I tried to think of ways to save money but still meet the wants of my family. As I was browsing I found some cool recipes that keep the favorite treats in the budget. Yes, it may require more of my time to prepare them but this helps to keep up with two of my goals, savings and family fun.

Better than Krispy Creme Bites

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

 Mini Banana Cream Cookie Pies

Chocolate Cookie recipe

Cute Sewing Ideas

Well...I'm back. I have excuse after excuse why I shouldn't continue this blog but I keep coming back to "I have to keep doing this."

So here I am, again. In reviewing the past blog posts I see that the most view posts were relating to crafts and food. SO I will post those kinds of things as long as you are willing to also view one of my spiritual posts as well, deal?

I haven't pins in awhile either so I decided to try and catch up on some and I found these cute ideas to sew. I think they are easy to do but honestly I haven't tried them yet. Let me know how they come out for you; what was easy and what was hard. Have fun!!!

This first one looked like a fun idea. I usually just stick business cards from those I meet with in a pocket of my purse, then when I go to look for them, I have to shuffle through everything, this cute little pouch could probably save me a lot of trouble.

Zipper-card-pouch

This looked cute. I looked it as a diaper bag first then said, "Nahhhh, it's cute as just a plain bag."
I was looking for something to carry my family history stuff in for when I go to a Family History Center to do research, or to take with me when I go Dead People Hunting. It also works as a Graggy Bag (my grandson named me Graggy instead of Granny). I could use it to put coloring books and supplies, treats for road trips with my Graggykids, just a thought.

Diaper/Messenger Bag

How about making a super cute scripture bag for your scriptures?

Scripture Bag

This looked so cute that I just had to add it to the list.

 Mini wallets