Morning Devotional: Saved By the Bell Style

So lately we've started a new little routine in the mornings.  It is quite simple really.  We sing a few songs, usually one non-churchy song which has lately been the "ABCs" or a classic from a few years back, maybe some of you will recognize it, "B--B-B--B-B-B! B--B-B--B-B-B - GO BAYSIDE!"  I know it is silly, but you gotta love it! One day my husband randomly sang it and both of our kids loved it, sometimes it even ends up being added into the mix at FHE. Our 14 month old will even say "B-B-B" in a little bit of a rhythm.  We usually end in saying Baby for our daughter, instead of Bayside, and then proceed to do the letters of all of our names and end with our last name.  Then after our more up tempo song we do one or two church songs which has lately been "I am a Child of God" or a random song listened to on one of our Primary CDs.

After our silly and peaceful singing we each say our individual prayers.  Then following this I started out having our son read a verse of scripture but have recently turned to reciting an Article of Faith.  After a little over a week our 3 year old has the 1st Article of Faith down and we are about to move on.  It is fun to see him get so excited about getting it.

It has been a great addition to our day and especially a great way to start our day.  It helps us to stop and remember what is most important and reminds us to always start the day off with a prayer and with happy family moments, even if it does mean bringing back Zack Morris and the gang.  :)

What does your family do to start the day off right? 

A Fumigated Room and a Late Night Prayer

So the day started with a visit from Grandma and a fun little Aunt. Our little man and his fun Aunt played and played. They had fun together.

Then the night came and a not so good night when it comes to sleep. First he woke up and my husband went to his room and soon after came back to sleep. Then he woke up again and I took a turn. The instance I entered his room I noticed a very strong smell. It was a smell that I did not recognize but as I tried to help our little guy get back to sleep I felt more and more nervous about it. I finally headed back downstairs and stirred my husband to ask him if he noticed the strong smell in his room. He hadn't. I was shocked that he didn't notice anything because it was so incredibly powerful to me. I really didn't want to wake our little boy up and move him out of his room but I felt anxious about keeping him there in that "smell".

So my husband went up for one more trip to his room to see if his nose could get a whiff. While he investigated I prayed that I would know what to do and that I would receive peace about the situation and be able to go back to sleep. He returned again without smelling a thing and I felt torn between a nose that smelled nothing and my nose that smelled a lot. I laid in bed a little longer still feeling anxious and finally I felt strongly that I needed to go back up to his room. And so I did.

I felt like a magnet. I opened his door and caught a huge gust of the smell up my nose and then suddenly I recalled our little guy and his little Auntie playing with some modeling clay, and then in complete darkness I made my way directly to a particular shelf and found his playdough board covered in fume releasing balls of clay. The answer to this prayer came so clearly, a thought followed by such detailed directions to the culprit. It really wasn't directions my body almost seemed to move by itself to find the problem and to bring peace to my heart. Now I don't think that my little boy was in any danger from the fumes coming from that modeling clay but I do know that I was a worried Mom who needed an answer and my prayer was not forgotten.

MM: I Am a Child of God

"What a wonderful song that is. And what a great truth it teaches. You have an earthly father. He is your mother’s dear companion. I hope you love him and that you are obedient to him. But you have another father. That is your Father in Heaven. He is the Father of your spirit, just as your earthly father is the father of your body. And it is just as important to love and to obey your Father in Heaven as it is to love and obey your earthly father.

We speak with our earthly father. He is our dear friend, our protector, the one who usually supplies our food and clothing and home. But we also speak to our Father in Heaven. We do this with prayer. I hope that every night and every morning you get on your knees and speak with your Father in Heaven...It is not asking too much, is it, to take a few minutes of each day to speak with your Father in Heaven when you know that you are a child of God?"
(Gordon B. Hinckley, “You Are a Child of God,” Ensign, May 2003, 117)

Night Terrors and Knowing God

My 2 year old little boy has the wonderful joy of having night terrors, not nightmares (well at least not yet) but night terrors. On several occasions I have been startled awake by sudden screams of a little boy just about 2 hours after he has fallen asleep. I make my way upstairs to witness a weird and sometimes scary scene. He flails, he screams at the top of his lungs, and his eyes have a very glassy look to them. For our little boy this typically lasts for 15 minutes to a half an hour but occasionally longer and this particular night was definitely longer.

Sometimes all that we can do is just simply wait it out with him and make sure he is safe but this night was dragging on and on with no sign of the madness coming to an end. I tried several times to reach my arms out toward him to pick him up and countless times I was greeted with more screaming and a more horrified look on his face. I tried to assure him by saying, "It's Mommy." My attempts were not successful and I began to cry. I remember in that moment feeling so helpless and thinking how can I help him when he doesn't even know who I am.

He eventually calmed down and went back to sleep and of course didn't remember a thing about it the next morning, but I did. I learned a great lesson that night. I saw a small glimpse of what our Heavenly Father might feel when His own children do not know Him and what it might feel like to have them not accept your help and to not even recognize or acknowledge who you are.


It is hard for our Father in Heaven to help us if we don't know Him. We must go to Him in prayer and talk with Him. We must strive to know Him and to accept His outstretched hand. He is there. Even when we our lives are in a flailing and screaming state, especially when our lives are in that state, we must accept his helping hand and not be afraid to make changes or to have the faith to move forward in difficult situations.


It was sad and scary to me to have my son not know who I was and through the process I realized how much more sad and more scary it is if we don't know who our Heavenly Father is. I hope that we all can strengthen our relationship with our Father in Heaven and recognize that He is always there even in our darkest and most confusing hours. And even when we feel we don't know Him, He always knows us. He knows us and He loves us.

Finding Hope After 9/11

You're Never Alone

Following a Prompting, 50%

One of our cars has been in and out of the shop for the last week or so. It took them a while to figure out how to fix the problem and thus my little boy and I have been carless off and on for the last little bit. So on Friday when we knew we'd finally have the car I told my little man that we'd be heading to one of this favorite spots, a nearby museum. This was not only a treat because of the lack of having a car for a little while but also because we haven't been there in quite a long time due to the yuckiness of the beginning of pregnancy. He was excited to say the least. He talked about it the whole night before and as soon as he woke up that morning. And so we were off on a fun outing.

Not so. For some reason before we'd even started getting ready for the day I looked for my keys and they were no where to be found. Normally I wouldn't look for them until the moment we were heading out the door and I'd grab them off the counter in the kitchen or my dresser in the bedroom (I really need to find a specific location for them) and we'd be off. But this day from the moment of waking I began the hunt for my keys.

I thought through the day before and where I might have put them and looked in my usual locations with no luck. Then it was on to the hiding spots of our little boy. I searched the couch cushions, behind the couch, in a corner in his playroom, the heating vents and so on and still no sign of my keys. Finally I resorted to calling my husband to see if he might have accidentally taken them to work but his pockets only held his keys. Then it was off to search in the car and eventually to call a sister in the ward whose house I had been to the night before and still nothing.

I was getting frustrated and my little boy was anxious to hit the road. I said a simple prayer asking for help to find my keys and still felt like I had no clue. I decided that maybe I needed to stop focusing on it so much and maybe they'd turn up. Then I had the thought that I should go get ready for the day. This thought came a few times. At this point I was wearing a t-shirt and basketball shorts with smeared make-up left on my face from the day before. It was late and I determined that I really should get ready and even thought maybe I am supposed to get ready because somehow my keys made there way into my bathroom drawers. However, it was late enough that I determined I was going to bag a shower for the day and just do my hair and my make-up to feel half-way human. At this point I didn't even change my clothes, at least I felt a little more put together but still no sign of my keys. So I determined that the thought to get ready was just a thought of my own because the keys were not in my bathroom drawers like I had hoped.

So our day went on with no luck, no sign, no grand revelation of where my keys might lie. Then my husband arrived home from work and I told him that they were still no where to be found. He immediately started searching and still...nothing.

That night my parents were making a trip up our way to take me out for a belated Birthday dinner (my birthday was right in the midst of pregnancy yuck). So as my husband was searching everywhere I determined that now not only did I need to get my face and hair ready for the day but the rest of me as well. So still with no shower I headed to change my clothes and yes this includes my under garments. And you'll never guess it, sure enough there they were gleaming, shining, bright as could be at the very top of my drawer just waiting to be found. There they were shouting, "If you'd only have gotten completely ready for the day. If you'd only listened to the prompting that came and listened to it 100%."

I smiled and sheepishly said, "Honey, I found them." It was a great lesson to learn that following a prompting 50% only brings you 50% of the way to an answer. Not only did I waste a day searching for my keys but I lost out on an opportunity to follow through on something I had assured my little boy. The moment I found the keys he showed more excitement than me as he jumped up and down ready to go to the museum. My parents were almost there and the opportunity had passed. I felt bad and on Monday we spent a good hour and half at the museum.

I've learned my lesson - next time I will listen to the prompting and get ready 100%. Next time I will be ready to hear and follow a prompting 100%.

Topical Family Scripture Study

Well, I've decided to try something different for family scripture study. Originally we started out going through the Book of Mormon from the beginning and selecting small (2-4 verses) passages to read each day. It was nice that it was not a lengthy read (especially because we are trying to engage our toddler) but I felt like by the time we finished a story it had kind of fallen apart. The story wasn't cohesive and we lost the whole point and the application that could've been grasped. So now we are into our second week of topical family scripture study. We'll see how long this lasts. We are trying to find something that works for all of us and so far (although we haven't gone far yet) I am liking this new way and I think my husband and little boy are as well.

The first topic we did was PRAYER. I just used the Topical Guide and found scriptures that I thought would fit and this is what our scripture study looked like (some of links don't display the printable properly. I am still trying to figure out how to post things that I create myself. Any tips would be much appreciated.):

PRAY ALWAYS - 2 Nephi 32:8-9

We colored, cut, and taped our prayer puppet together. We talked about what he was doing: folding his arms, closing his eyes, and bowing his head.

GIVE THANKS - Alma 45:1

I printed off a thought bubble and we brainstormed things that we can thank our Heavenly Father for and then we taped it on the wall as if the prayer puppet was praying about these things.

PRAY FOR GUIDANCE AND COUNSEL - Alma 37:37

I printed off a question mark to represent us asking our Heavenly Father for things along with many things that we might ask for, e.g. peace, an answer, the Spirit, guidance, etc. and we taped them on the wall (I am sure you are noticing a trend with taping things on the wall but my little boy loves doing this).

PRAY FOR OTHERS - Alma 34:27

We got on the computer and looked at pictures of people we might pray for. We looked at anyone from grandparents, to President Monson, to President Obama.

PRAY WITH REAL INTENT, SINCERELY - Moroni 7:6,9

Here we didn't really have a fun activity but my husband and I had more of a discussion. This is something that I struggle with. I may post a more in depth post some other time in hopes to get some ideas and helps from all of you.

NO VAIN REPITITIONS - 3 Nephi 13:7-8

We gave our little boy a pat on the back this night. We talked about how he does a good job saying thank you for so many different things and different people. I think a lot of children are so much better at this and we adults could take a lesson or two from them.

FAMILY PRAYER - 3 Nephi 18:21

After we read this we had our family prayer.

PERSONAL PRAYERS - 3 Nephi 13:5-6

We used a picture from the Gospel Art Kit and talked about how we say our own personal prayers in private. Then we put together puzzles of all different types of prayers and talked about them.

SCRIPTURE STORY/MIGHT PRAYER - Enos 1:4

We read the one verse and then summarized the story while looking at a picture of Enos from the Gospel Art Kit.

There you have it...our first attempt at Topical Family Scripture Study. It was not flawless. It was not perfect. We are still figuring everything out. Some nights our toddler couldn't care less but I think that he grasps more about prayer now and so do I. I think that he actually gets what we were talking about at scripture time instead of us rambling off verses that had no connection to him yet. Prayer is something that he can relate to because it is concrete. It is something we do every day. So there is our start.

Here is our scripture poster and what it looked like throughout our prayer scripture block. To read my earlier posts on family scripture study click on this link - Family Scripture Study:

Do any of you have ideas for reading the scriptures topically or any scripture study ideas period? I'm sure we all can use some help in making our family scripture time more effective and enjoyable. Thanks!

Prayer Printables

Image Credit

Prayer Puppets from Sugardoodle.net
Prayer Chart from lds.about.com
Praying to Heavenly Father Puzzles by Julie Wardle from LDS.org
Prayer Puzzle from Sugardoodle.net

For additonal prayer ideas and printables you can visit this page.

A Janitor Closet Prayer

Image Credit

It was the end of my senior year in high school and my best friend and I were heading to our school for one last yearbook signing frenzy. She picked me up and we went on our way. The trip to our high school was only a few miles away from my house but we only made it a handful of blocks before we were hit.

I remember it all happened so fast yet in some weird way it was in slow motion. We were driving on a one lane road where the speed limit was 25 when all of a sudden a car turned left and was heading directly toward us. It was as if we weren't even there. My friend swerved in hopes of avoiding the collision but without luck. He hit us and then we hit the curb, bumped over it, and one-be-one hit and dislodged many wooden posts of a fence bordering someone's yard. We finally came to a hault, the car was totaled, but both of us, with the exception of a bruise here and some achiness there, were perfectly fine.

My Mom arrived at the scene shortly after and ended up still taking both of us to our school. We had decided previously that we wanted to go have our seminary teachers sign our year books so that was our first stop.

When we entered the building with a relief to actually be there and to be there okay my friend made a wonderful suggestion - she made the suggestion of saying a prayer. We weren't sure of where to go for privacy but ended up kneeling on the floor in the janitor's closet.

I don't remember if we said a verbal prayer together or if we each said our own seperate prayers but I do remember the great gratitude I felt and the assurance I had that we had both been watched over.

I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us. I know that He watches over us. I know that He has a plan for each and everyone of us. I also know that He listens to our prayers whether we are in need of help to find an answer to a question or if we kneel simply to thank Him for how much we have been blessed.