Game--Mother Will You? (A Problem-solver's game)

Here is a game called "Mother Will You?" rather than Mother May I?  It can be used in conjunction with the May Family Home Evening called "What a Mother Wants."  Besides being fun for the whole family, it also helps family members better understand and think about the tools we all have to be problem solvers.

Cut out the tools and cards below to place in the card and tool piles.

 And here is the first page in black and white if you don't want it in color.

Mother's Day Cards to print and embellish . . .

Just print out, cut the sheet of paper (cardstock) in half, fold each half, and you have two Mother's Day cards . . . one for your mom and one for your husband's mom.  Add a little bow, or not, write inside, and mail with love!

May Visiting Teaching Pass-out Cards

May Family Home Evening

FHE Lesson      —   Let’s think about MOM!

What a  Mother Wants

by Marie Scott

May 2014

It takes a man and a woman to create a baby, in partnership with God, who creates all the spirits of all the babies ever born. But Mom gives of her very body as the host in the creation, and because of that she also makes a big emotional investment. Most mothers love their babies inherently, even when they’re inconvenienced, and that love grows as she cares for the baby. God also gave mothers an extra dab of compassion, and a mix of other things that make women ideal as nurturers.

The ideal family unit can be made up of a couple, or a couple with children. The family unit is the most important social unit in God’s universe. It gives us each a special place, and people to whom we belong, as well as natural love, in this vast universe. It is little wonder that Satan works so hard to destroy it, and in destroying the family, he attacks womanhood and manhood in every possible way. A crumbled family causes crumbled security.

Since May is the month of Mother’s Day, this lesson focuses on mothers, and what they want.

What do mothers want?

            Mothers want their family members to understand the importance of the family unit, and to help do the work required to keep the home going.  It not only requires organization to run a family, but cooperation by every family member old enough to help out. If everyone doesn’t help out, either the mother or the father, or sometimes a child, becomes the sacrificial lamb doing most of the work of the home.

Is there a sacrificial lamb at your house, or does everyone work together to help out?

            Elder M. Russell Ballard, in the article “Mothers and Daughters,” in the May 2010 Ensign says

:

                        It is, unfortunately, all too easy to illustrate the confusion and distortion

                        of womanhood in contemporary society. Immodest, immoral, intemperate

                        women jam the airwaves, monopolize magazines, and slink across movie

                        screens—all while being celebrated by the world.

                        Popular culture today often makes women look silly, inconsequential,

                        mindless, and powerless. It objectifies them and disrespects them and

                        then suggests that they are able to leave their mark on mankind only

                        by seduction—easily the most pervasively dangerous message the

                        adversary sends to women about themselves.

            Mothers want love and respect. Motherhood is not a silly or inconsequential occupation. Mothers work very hard doing many different kinds of things such as, counseling, nursing, cleaning, cooking, taxiing, tutoring, and teaching. The mother of the home is usually involved, in some way, with nearly everything every family member does. She may also work at a job outside the home to help supplement the family income. She’s the busy secretary of the family. She wants to be taken seriously.

An effective mother cannot be mindless, and a good mother is certainly not powerless. She can have the greatest power for good over her children, than anyone else on earth.  She does this largely through love and service, and by setting a good example. A true mother deserves the love and respect of not only her husband and children, but also from a world that, sadly, does not give it to her.

In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” it says:

            “  . . . By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”  (Ensign, November 1995, 102)

Mothers want to be treated as equals rather than servants, even though they choose to fill a role heavy on service in the home. Motherhood requires a woman to become vulnerable and give up a lot of her independence in order to bear and nurture a baby. This necessarily puts her at a disadvantage for indefinite periods of time as she puts the needs of a helpless baby ahead of her own. Until the child is raised, the mother often puts her own needs after that of her children. Sometimes Mom, and family members, get in the habit of putting Mom’s needs last all the time.

Do Mother’s needs always come last at your house?

            In the article, “Mother Told Me,” in the May 2010 Ensign, Elder Bradley D. Foster says:

           

                        Perhaps the reason we respond so universally to our mothers’ love is

because it typifies the love of our Savior. As President Joseph F. Smith

said, “The love of a true mother comes nearer [to] being like the love

of God than any other kind of love.” (“The Love of Mother,” Improvement Era,

 Jan. 1910, 278)  

            More than anything, a true mother wants just what our Heavenly Father wants for all His children. She wants healthy, happy children to spend time with and love forever.  She wants children who grow up to be good, responsible adults who love Heavenly Father and their fellow man. She wants her children to grow up active in the Church, to marry in the Temple, and to keep the Lord’s commandments. Then she wants grandchildren who do all of the same. She wants all of this because she loves her family so much.

            Childless women, who wish to have children and can’t, still want all those same things. It is a righteous desire to have and raise a family, and it is a privilege to be able to do so. (Read the wonderful article, “My Search for Motherhood,” by Linda Longhurst, in the April 2012 Ensign.) Whatever else a mother may accomplish in her life, the bearing, raising, and nurturing of her children will always be of paramount importance.

Teaching and practicing respect for womanhood in the home helps girls feel better about themselves, and helps boys see women more as our Father in Heaven does. It helps all children to act in appropriate ways towards members of the opposite sex as they grow up.

Go ahead, cherish your mother. A loved, happy, and healthy mother is going to make for a happier, healthier family. Take good care of Mom and everybody wins!

Family Activities:

           

1.      Have family members each list what they think Mom wants.  Compare these lists to Mom’s list.

2.      Play the “Mother Will You?” game.  Learn more about what Mom faces each day.

3.      Make Mother’s Day cards, or plan a special day just to honor Mom.

Witnesses of the Book of Mormon

Relief Society and Priesthood Handout--Lesson 9
"Witnesses of the Book of Mormon"

Bunny Hills Recipe . . . for coconut lovers!

Quick and Easy Bunny Hills!

Bunny Hills

2   Cups  shredded coconut

1   Cup  powdered sugar

2   Tbs.  milk

2   Tbs.  butter

½   tsp.  Vanilla

2  Cups  Milk Chocolate Chips or Dipping Chocolate

Make a stiff dough with all ingredients except the dipping chocolate. Use more butter if needed; or more powdered sugar, as you knead the dough, to make it stiff.

Form into balls and place in freezer for half an hour.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips or dipping chocolate in a double boiler.

(I throw a jar lid in the bottom of a frying pan of water and place my pot on the jar lid to keep it off the bottom of the pan—and I have a double boiler.)

Take the  balls out of the freezer and either roll in chocolate as you would dip chocolates, or do as I do and coat the top of the ball with chocolate and garish with coconut and/or candy.  There you have bunny hills, and if you love coconut, you’ll love these!

The Church and Kingdom of God

Relief Society and Priesthood Lesson 8 Handout
"The Church and Kingdom of God"

April Coloring Book Page

Enjoy!

Flower Easter Baskets

Have fun making these simple Easter baskets--ideal for tiny ones, those who want to keep it small and simple, or older ones--who no longer think they need an Easter basket.

Easter Treat Envelopes

Twelve Easter Eggs Activity

You’ve been  “EGGED”!

TWELVE  EASTER  EGGS

FAMILY  ACTIVITY

Use the small pictures, or collect the listed items and place, with these scripture strips, in numbered plastic eggs, along with some candy eggs or wrapped candy. Hide the eggs and let the family find them, then read the eggs’ scriptures in numbered order. Use this as a review of the Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection, for an Easter Family Home Evening, or a Family Activity, or to “Egg” another neighbor. (Notice the suggestion at the end of this document.)

1.  A cup or cracker – representing the sacrament   (JST Matthew 26:26 - 28)

(At the feast of the Passover, Jesus gathered his apostles in the upper room and instigated the sacrament.) “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and brake it, and blessed it, and gave to his disciples and said, Take, eat; this in remembrance of my body which I give as a ransom for you. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is in remembrance of my blood of the new testament, which is shed for as many as shall believe on my name, for the remission of their sins.”

2.  Three Dimes – representing the thirty pieces of silver   (Matthew 26:14-15)

“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went into the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver.”

3.  Twine  - representing the cords they bound Him with  (Matthew 27:1, 2)

“When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.”

4.  Soap – representing Pilate’s effort to wash his hands (Matthew 27:24-26)

“When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person . . . and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”

5.  Red fabric – representing the scarlet robe  (Matthew 27:28-29, 31)

“And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe, And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!  . . . And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.”

6.  A nail – representing the nails in Jesus’ hands  (John 19:17,18 & Luke 23:34)

“And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him. …”

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

7.  A die – representing the lots cast by the soldiers  (John 19:23, 24)

“Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. …”

8.  Torn fabric – representing the torn temple veil   (Mark 15:33, 34 & Matthew 27:50, 51, 54)

“And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying … My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? … And Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. … [the people watching] feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”

9.  White cloth – representing the linen burial cloth  (Matthew 27:57-60)

“When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.”

10.           Stone – representing the stone over the sepulcher door  (Matthew 27:62-66)

“…The chief priest and the Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying Sir,, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. …Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”

11.           Empty egg – representing the risen Lord   (place  the message below in Egg #12)

The women came to see the sepulchre early on the morning of the first day of the week. They found the stone rolled from the door and an angel of the Lord told them:  (Matthew 28:6) “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

12.           Picture of Jesus   (D&C 76:22-24)    (Also place this in Egg #12)

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him even on the right hand of God: and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”

“Egg” Your Neighbor

Along with this activity, your family could “Egg” another family, by leaving 12 Easter Eggs hidden in their yard, and a sign on their front door letting them know they’ve been egged. The sign could read:             “YOU’VE BEEN EGGED!

WE’VE HIDDEN 12 EGGS IN YOUR YARD. BE AWARE THAT ONE IS EMPTY AS A REMINDER OF JESUS’ EMPTY TOMB . . . FOR HE IS RISEN!  HAPPY EASTER!

          You can sign the note or not.  Make your own note, or use the one provided below.

And I also say, Happy Easter, everyone!

Ten Plagues Match Game - FHE

Remember the Lord, your God

To go along with your Passover FHE Feast, here is a match game you can play to help your family become more familiar with the various plagues God sent upon Egypt, so they might know and always remember that He is the one true God.