Teaching Children about Temples

This last Sunday I taught a lesson to the women at church about teaching our children about the temple. It was based off of a talk I heard at our last Stake Conference. Elder Larry Lawrence from the Quorum of the Seventy gave it and I just loved his message. It is, after all, our goal to be together as a family forever and the temple is how and where it happens!

So, if you're interested, here are my notes from his talk combined with two others. There's a whole lot of goodness here. (Special thanks to Holly for typing up her notes for me since my sweet hubby accidentally chucked mine. And to that same sweet hubby who found me the supporting materials!)

Don't be afraid to say too much.

… in a family setting, there are many precious truths that, with sensitivity and common sense, will help prepare our children for the temple.  ~Carol B. Thomas

            President Howard W. Hunter has said: “Let us share with our children the spiritual feelings we have in the temple. And let us teach them more earnestly and more comfortably the things we can appropriately say.

• Point your children to the temple
• Hang pictures of the temple in your home
• Share answers to prayers received in temples (house of prayer)

In the peace of these lovely temples, sometimes we find solutions to the serious problems of life. Under the influence of the Spirit, sometimes pure knowledge flows to us there. Temples are places of personal revelation. When I have been weighed down by a problem or a difficulty, I have gone to the House of the Lord with a prayer in my heart for answers. These answers have come in clear and unmistakable ways. ~President Ezra Taft Benson

• Attend temple open houses
• Describe temple rooms (Celestial = God's living room)
• Make family trips to do baptisms
• Teach of Adam and Eve
• Show temple clothes.
• Take teaching moments as they come.

Where may we teach our children? Family home evening is the formal setting, but there are so many more places where we may talk about our spiritual feelings for the temple. One of my favorite times was when my children were in bed at night. Occasionally I would lie on their bed and tell them of spiritual things. There in the peace and the quiet, the sweet Spirit can bear testimony to their heart and soul that the things you are saying are true. ~Carol B. Thomas

• Modesty and light to the world

What it means to be worthy for the temple. Can we teach our children that receiving one’s endowment and the wearing of the sacred garment will not require a change of wardrobe or lifestyle if the principles of temple worthiness are understood and lived in their earlier years? A young woman who wears knee-length skirts will not have to buy a new wardrobe after she receives her endowment in the temple. A young man who anticipates going to the temple will respect the Church’s moral standards in his social behavior. ~Carol B. Thomas

• We can never become like God without temple ordinances
• Covenants are a great blessing.

In the ordinances of the temple is the power of God made manifest

• The temple is the Lord’s classroom.
• Understanding gospel language.
• Pray about temple in family prayers
• Do children know temple recommend questions?
• LEAD OUR CHILDREN TO THE TEMPLE
• If we go, they will go.
• Pray in family prayers that they will marry in the temple. 
• Talk about your Wedding day.

The temple is an ever-present reminder that God intends the family to be eternal. How fitting it is for mothers and fathers to point to the temple and say to their children, “That is the place where we were married for eternity.” By so doing, the ideal of temple marriage can be instilled within the minds and hearts of your children while very young. ~Ezra Taft Benson

• Trips to visit temples (other than our own temple)
• Picture of your child and/or family at the temple
• Sing, “I love to see the temple” often in the home/car/grocery store, etc.

Resources:

·        Carol B. Thomas, “Preparing Our Families for the Temple,” Ensign, May 1999, 12

·        Ezra Taft Benson, “What I Hope You Would Teach Your Children about the Temple,” Tambuli, Apr 1986, 1

·        Elder Larry Lawrence, Columbia Stake Conference, Saturday Adult Session, May 2010

Silly Tanner

My sister-in-law had taken these pictures back in March when they were visiting. I was looking through her Picasa pics the other day and came across these. I just love how she captured my silly son.


Featuring....

Tanner! (and mom)

Off roading

This summer has been filled with lots of fun things to do.  Bass Pro offered a free children's arts and crafts activity each week to entice customers through their doors.  The kids thought the best part was stopping by the ATVs and having a "ride"!

Lexie was sure she she was pretty stylish in this orange one.

Colin was definitely ready to buy!

Tanner thought he died and went to heaven. (Little does he know that that is where he might end up if he owns one of these! But who wants to spoil their fun?)

This one is so big all three of them had a spot to sit. Orange just looks so good on them don't you think? hee hee

City party

Our city throws some pretty fun family parties once a month here. They get a lot of community involvement and the kids just love them.

Missouri Department of Natural Conservation brought some river life for the kids to touch and look at.

I love the look on that little girls face! The moms were in the background doing the same. I don't mind fish so much, so it was fun for me to let the kids explore.

(Colin's response to the fish.)

Check out the gills!

Colin had his eye on something else while we were checking out the fish....

The fire truck!  He literally dragged me across the parking lot TWICE so he could get a piece of this big red love of his life. Bye-bye fish, hello heros!

And of course we couldn't pass up the bounce house. We got there before there was much of a line, so the kids got the place all to themselves. Wahoo!

Summer joy

Summer brings such a wonderful package of beauty to our yard. The flowers in their brilliancy just fill my heart with joy.  This summer has been particularly amazing as our 4 years of hard work have left us with beauty at every turn. Derek and I love to walk the yard in the evenings after we've put the kids to bed. It pulls on our heartstrings to know we are leaving this in a year. And just as the cycle will begin again with summertime in its splendor. This year we have savored it a little extra for all the summers yet to come that we will miss.

Porter @ 6 months

I just love anything smocked. Sailboats aren't too frilly, girly, cutesy are they?  Derek wasn't too keen on this outfit, but I had to take him to church in it at least once. And of course, Porter will LOVE seeing photos of himself in pure cuteness as he gets older! Here he is at 6 months. A keeper!

Mud Volleyball

We were invited to a high school graduation party for one of Derek's young men from Church back in June. They had a nice dinner served in their back yard, then they turned on a sprinkler and filled their empty garden spot with water.  Anyone who dared joined in for some good Missouri fun:  Mud volleyball.

I was so grateful Derek was in slacks, a white shirt and tie.

This guy was my favorite.  He walked out onto the "court" with a brand new WHITE top and shorts. I overheard one by-standing mother ask him if he was sure about his choice in clothing.  Maybe he ought to borrow someone else's? Nope, he was there to play DIRTY!  

Derek and I left after a while. We looked at each other and wondered if our kids clued into what these guys were doing. Throwing mud.  We hoped not. Gotta love some good ole Missouri flavor!

Colin's hat

Meet Colin's hat. The love of his life. It is a SHAME to cover up such a beautiful head of red hair, but this little guy absolutely adores this hat.  And I am so grateful because it keeps him protected from the sun. One day at the beginning of the summer I pulled him straight out of the mud in the back yard and began stripping him down for a bath. As I was lifting him into the tub he stopped me with a great urgency and insisted I put him back on the floor. When I did, he snatched his hat right up, put it on, then climbed right in!

Colin's strength

This isn't a very good picture, but you know toddlers! I had to catch it quick before he was gone. This is Colin opening our sliding glass door. It is very difficult to slide, so I was quite impressed with how he put all his strength into it and opened it. You can't quite see it, but one foot is completely off the floor.

A few months ago, Derek caught our little Colin walking around the garage with our sledge hammer. Derek told me later about it and remarked at his strength.  I believed him!  When Colin wants to get my attention, he whacks me on my arm, or leg as hard as he can.  This kid can give me bruises!  Last week I also caught him opening my sliding van doors. Lexie has only been able to do this for maybe 4 or 5 months now and Colin is 2.5 years younger. I can't wait until he is a teenager, I'm going to put him to work!

Sparkler

My sister gave Tanner a beautiful red and blue beta fish for his birthday last year. Being that it is on the 4th of July, the colors were perfect and he named it Sparkler. We were quite illiterate in the beta fish care so we did what we thought every fish needed.  Mom cleaned his tank (sparkly clean) and Lexie fed and fed and fed this cute little guy until, a few short weeks later, he died. This happened to have occurred on a Wednesday evening while Derek was out at mutual, so I sent him a text and told him to stop by Walmart and just pick up another beta fish.  (quick before Tanner sees!)

Isn't that how moms always are?  We just want to shelter the blow. Dads are the insightful ones.  They allow the suffering, but allow a teaching moment to occur. Well, the next morning Tanner went to feed his fish and found it floating in the bottom of its tank. He cried and cried and cried like I haven't seen him cry before. Ever.

We had a wonderful discussion about the Atonement and then we suggested that maybe we could check out some books at the library, get educated on how to care for them, then take the plunge and try again.

So, right away, we got the books. We discovered that mom cleaned the tank a little too obsessively, and well, Lexie was BANISHED from coming anywhere NEAR the tank.

A year later, we got up the nerve to try again. Tanner picked out another beautiful beta and things seemed to be going well. A week into the experience, Lexie received one from our neighbor. They were both thrilled to have their betas and were doing their so so best to take care of them. (In separate tanks of course.)

It didn't take dad long to get involved and before I knew it, he was changing the water and feeding the fish.  I eyed him warily as he did not read any of the books with us, but the chemist in him insisted he knew what he was doing.

Three weeks later, both betas died on the same day! This time no tears were shed. Just some sad faces and a lot of discouragement.  Honestly, (which translates to esthetically), I'm a bit relieved to not have fish tanks all over my house now. And going out of town won't be much of a problem. But I think if we muster up the courage to do another beta fish, we're going to have to educate dad a bit. It would be nice if it took us another year before we embraced this project again too.