Sweetening the Scriptures/Conference

Last weekend was wonderful! Well most of it was. My allergies/cold that I have had for 4 weeks now peaked into a sinus infection Saturday morning. Clay, Ethan, and I spent a little time at Urgent Care to get some medication and time to talk. Thank goodness General Conference didn't start until 11 am here.

I have been meaning to add this post about our latest adventure in family scripture study and when the General Primary President, Sister Wixom spoke, I knew I needed to. So now I think I'm caught up with everything else so it's time to post.

Family scripture study has been quite the adventure in our house. Honestly, we really struggled (as in not trying as hard as we should have) until we moved to Iowa. At that point we started by reading the scripture stories the church had put out for our family scripture study. We only had Christina (5) and Daniel (1) at the time. We started with the Book of Mormon stories and slowly bought the other scripture stories the church produces as well, alternating back to the Book of Mormon between each of the other books. It was amazing to watch Christina learn to read so much faster as we read scriptures together. It was a great way for me to learn the stories better too.

While we were there we met the amazing Finch Family. Tammy and I started going for walks in the mornings together. One day she shared with me how their family read scriptures. They would use the scripture stories but would also read the verses from the scriptures as well so their kids would learn and become acquainted with the scripture language. We also began to read the scriptures this way and have for many years now. As the kids got older, we would often keep the older ones up to read just from the scriptures with them to incorporate some of the parts the Book of Mormon Stories would skip.

When our family moved last year after being separated for 6 1/2 months, we decided we needed to read from the scriptures themselves. Our kids were older, we had more readers now so we started. We would try to read a chapter a night, sometimes we would not have enough time for a whole chapter so we would just read/recite an Article of Faith. When Elder Bednar spoke in conference a while back about how it may be hard but we need to have a pattern of consistency in family scripture study, prayer, etc. I knew we needed to find a new way. It was getting frustrating having kids run off, talking, etc. during scripture study. The feelings there weren't always the best.

About a month ago, I was reading another friend's blog and she shared how they read scriptures as a family and I knew we had to try it. They had gotten the idea from a talk given in sacrament meeting in their ward. They got a new Book of Mormon. They each take turns reading a verse. Her husband writes the date and then the names of who read it by each verse. Mom is in charge of passing out Skittles for those who sit reverently.

We had started the Book of Mormon at the beginning of the year again so we didn't want to start over but we've began to practice something similar. I bought new hardbound Book of Mormons ($3 from distribution) that we use only for scripture study. About a month ago we started reading the scriptures this way. We both have been surprised at the response of our kids.

We each take a turn reading a verse, Samantha and Jonathan repeat the words. The kids are given a Skittle for the verse they read and then for each verse they can sit and be reverent during. Samantha is just required to sit during the entire. We're only reading 8 verses a night (Clay or I usually read a verse for Ethan) but it's made such a difference in our home.
It doesn't take long so we're getting the consistency down. The first week we did it, Jonathan would wake up asking if we were going to read scriptures that night. The kids are DESIRING to read the scriptures and remind us. Scripture study is so much calmer and more enjoyable now for everyone. I have learned that if we have Samantha "read" her verse towards the beginning, it helps her to remember the rewards of sitting during scriptures. She now goes to get her own little chair when we are gathering and put it on the floor by the couch in front of me.

I'm so grateful when people share ideas like this and hope that someone else might benefit as well. It was good to be reminded at General Conference that we all need to simplify our lives. Instead of trying to devour an entire chapter each night, we feast on a few verses for now. I know we'll expand as the kids get older but it's good to get into a better habit now.

I really enjoyed Conference this year. At one point during a Sunday Session, I was overwhelmed as I snuggled with Ethan, asleep on my chest, and I looked around and felt so blessed. My kids weren't sitting quietly the entire time but they were really pretty good and I'm grateful that they aren't just sitting there in a vegetative state. I'm grateful they have bodies to move and explore this wonderful world.