2017 April General Conference Files

I started putting these together for myself, but my missionary's birthday made me get them done really fast.  Sharing the wealth - enjoy these printable PDF files of the April 2017 general conference.

General Women's Meeting

Saturday Morning Session

Saturday Afternoon Session

Priesthood Session

Sunday Morning Session

Sunday Afternoon Session

Booklet Sequence Ordering for Double-Sided Printing

This is completely for my sake and sanity, one of the random things I find myself doing and stressed over that could have been easier, and I don't want to forget when it comes up again.

In the last few weeks I've made two programs for two different plays in our area put on by homeschoolers and directed by amazing mothers of some of these kids purely volunteering their time.  The first one I had kids in the play and it was my way to help make it happen.  The second one was a favor for a friend (and we get free tickets because of it - bonus!).

I know there is a way to print it and have it come out right, but the place the first one was done just printed it double-sided so things were out of order.  It wasn't horrible, but I knew it was wrong.

I couldn't send off the second to be done the same way in good conscience, so I sat with the single-sided pages in the right spots on my lap, flipping back and forth.  Of course when I had fiddled and messed enough, I finally figured out there is an easy pattern to it all, as seen in this graphic.  Follow the black arrows down and the blue arrows back up, and voila, in the right order.

Like I said, for me next time.  I have a feeling I will get to do this again.

Sorry this is so random...

Generosity Backfired, or Why Did They Learn What I Was Teaching?

It's always been a goal to have our children be service-minded, good workers, and generous.  We've followed what those smarter than us have said works to do that - be involved together on service projects, take them to deliver meals and treats (Melanie is excellent at making cinnamon rolls, as several ward members would testify), and just generally be on the watch for opportunities to do good and do it.

Well guess what.  They learned it.

A few weeks ago Adam went to a dance and ended up giving 5 people rides home.  Two lived within about 5 minutes of the dance, two were about 15 minutes away, and one was about 20 minutes away.  Mom and Dad didn't feel quite so generous when we discovered the closest to the dance went home first, the closest to home went second, and the furthest away last, which put them more like 30 minutes away.  In an awesome parenting gesture, I asked him why he didn't stop in to say hi on his way past.  Yes me, the one that should be encouraging good, kind, generous behavior.  Yes, he got home late, past Holy Ghost bedtime late. And he heard he needs to plan better if that's going to happen again.

But I realized later that I should be happy he's willing to be helpful, because really that's what was at the heart of it all.

Yet when another child showed similar lessons learned (that's three sentences in a row I've started with a conjunction), I was again similarly irritated.  I got a text yesterday saying the Beehives were taking dinner in to a family for their activity, and reminding Melanie that she offered to bring soup.  I was grateful for the notice since I hadn't heard, but the immediate thought that ran through was, Really?  Nothing cheaper/easier?  At least this time it all stayed in my head (until now), though I did mention that I'm glad her leader let me know so I didn't hear about it a half hour before it needed to be done.  She did a great job today making it all by herself.  Sheesh, if she can rock cinnamon rolls, of course she can throw some soup together!

Trying to repent a little, sending this out so that when someone else's child learns the great lessons you want them to, maybe you'll remember better than I have to take note, enjoy, encourage, and be grateful.

"Filled with..."

In Moses 8:28 & 30 it mentions that at Noah's time before the flood, the earth was "filled with violence."  What a sad thing to look around and see that the earth now is much the same.

I brought up the idea of being "filled with" during family home evening a few weeks ago after Erin led us in talking about Joseph of Egypt.  We made a chart comparing what Joseph was "filled with" vs. his brothers.  Joseph's list had things like love, patience, forgiveness, and faith, and the brothers' list had revenge, anger, and violence.  At one point Melanie mentioned that towards the end of Joseph's story the brothers were filled with repentence.  I really liked that.

In our ward we've had some unexpected happenings recently.  A few weeks ago our neighbors had a fire in their home, and yesterday a different family had their washer flood 2 1/2 rooms in their home.  Ward members reacted quickly, and lots of help was both offered and given in both cases.  On a more personal level, after Isaac was born we got the standard 2 meals set up by the Relief Society, but then over about the next 6 weeks we received a call almost every week from someone saying they were bringing dinner.  What a blessing to closely associate with so many people that are filled with love and service!  In true "pay it forward" fashion, it makes me want to give random service more myself.

A search from this last conference mentions being "filled with the spirit," "filled with faith and hope,"  "filled with people who desire . . . to keep the commandments," "filled with potential and grace," "filled with this love," "filled with gratitude," "filled with love for the Savior and the loving father who sent him," "filled with the rich blessings of priesthood power," and "filled with love and courtesy and the spirit of The Lord."  Wow! The conference before that adds in filled with light, compassion, peace, joy, hope, miracles, courtesy, harmony, emotion, and (ha!) food.  What a great list!  

Besides making me want to be filled with all those things, it makes me think of Matthew 7:16-18, 20, which talks about knowing people by their fruits.  What wonderful fruit this gospel brings!  Gives a deeper meaning to "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteouness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6).

Service Just Makes It Better

I used to hate going to choir.  Well maybe not hate.  Really-really-didn't-look-forward-to.

Five of our six kids are part of a choir that meets every Friday for about 2 1/2 hours.  They are all off playing with friends around the house and yard we meet at, and a few of the moms hang out in a back room.  Since it's far enough away, I've been one of those moms, sitting there feeling those 2 1/2 hours slip away from my life.  Anything I tried to bring with me to work on wouldn't get done for one reason or another.

I asked the choir teacher at the beginning of this year if there is anything I could do for her while I'm there.  "Clean your house?"  (She thought about that one.)  One day I did it - cleaned as many windows as I could find, trying to not let her see me.  (I don't think she did.)

Another day I went thinking I really could get something done this time since Madeleine was home with her daddy.  I ended up with 5 or 6 (more?) kids on my lap, my sides, and behind me while I read to them.  One of them was a giant "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" book, that we joked made the wind blow every time we turned the page.

About this time I decided I was done with ME and went looking for ways to serve.

One day I decided that rather than sit in the "mom area," I would hang out where some of the kids hang out while waiting to head into the choir room.  They taught me a few funny tricks that they then performed on me over and over and over, and I taught them one that they in turn spread to some of the other kids.

Another day shortly after a lot of snow had melted and there was mud and muck everywhere outside, it somehow magically found its way inside.  I became the floor nazi, and swept it all up.  Then I grabbed a washrag and started wiping down the kitchen.  Then I asked where a mop is by one of their youngers who I figured wouldn't remember that I had asked long enough to tattle on me (shhhh, keep my secret!), and she instructed me on their family's way of doing that.  After the floor was clean and shiny, I REALLY became the floor nazi.  I set sentries at the door, and anyone that somehow made it through and created new footprints was quickly told to wipe them up.

Another day there was a microwave nachos disaster, and I cleaned that up, did my very best trying to get all he burn marks off the plate, and did a bit of other tidying.

All of this while my children and our lovely choir teacher were happily and beautifully singing away.  I've decided that I'm the substitute mother while the choir teacher is busy serving all of our families.

Choir is way more fun now.  Service just makes anything better!

(Fun tidbit - they even call it a service choir because they have four performances, three of which are at rest homes and one for family and friends.)

Quarters from Heaven

Yesterday Melanie offered to clean out the little van, and took quite a while gathering garbage and vacuuming it really well.  I was working on something else and didn't go down to check on her, but had to pick up the boys later from something and noticed immediately how nice it looked.

As I pulled out of the driveway I called her to let her know how great it looked and to thank her for her hard work.  Just as I hung up, I heard a sound I quickly identified as a coin, then felt something hit my shoulder and land in my lap.  A quarter had somehow fallen from a coin holder that is mounted on the ceiling of the van.

I had to laugh.  Though it should have fallen on Melanie for doing such a great job, it made me think of how quickly we probably get blessed for doing the right thing and being kind, even just by being grateful and saying thank you.  Stronger relationships and willing service are definitely great blessings.

My Comedy of Errors

All I wanted to do was take a friend some dinner, and this is what happened:

1.  I was making lasagna and realized I didn't have any mozzarella cheese.  To the store (also grabbed a bag of salad and french bread, which I wanted to go with the lasagna anyway, and extra noodles just in case!), and home.
2.  Got meat and noodles cooking, and realized quickly that I didn't have any ricotta cheese or spaghetti sauce.  Didn't even occur to me before then as ingredients I would need.  Argh!  Had enough sauce for one pan of lasagna (if I stretched it), but decided I just couldn't do it without the ricotta.  Back to the store, and home.
3.  Opened the car door to get out the ricotta and sauce, and a jar of sauce rolled right out and broke on the driveway (one of those slow motion moments - "Nooooooooooo!").  Thank goodness it was on sale, so I had bought three jars instead of just one or two (might have bought more, but I didn't grab a cart).  Cleaned up the mess, back to cooking.
4.  Cooking away.  Sammy got after Erin for playing with my iTouch.  Then he said something like, "What did you do?"  He grabbed it and turned to show me, dropped it on the floor (ouch), picked it up and handed it to me.  Something wasn't... right.  Erin had deleted a bunch of the programs I use the most.  Big Argh!
5.  Finally finished making everything, hoped the lasagna cooked long enough, but since it was already late, I dashed off with a few extra of my little friends to deliver it.
6.  While we were there, Carolyn walked back to their chickens and collected several eggs in her shirt (this girl should have been born on a farm).  My friend offered to let her take an egg with us, and put it in one of those little rubbermaid containers that hold next to nothing but was perfect for the egg.  Erin wanted one too, of course, so without another little container, I told her we could put it in a drink holder for the ride home.
7.  Driving home on the freeway, Erin asked if she could eat the egg.  "No, it's not cooked yet."  "But can't I eat it now?"  "NO, you cannot eat it now.  It's gooey and slimey, not scrambled or fried."  Silence.  A few moments later Carolyn turned to look at her.  "MOM!  Erin cracked her egg!"
8.  The egg was together enough (learned shortly that she'd cracked a hole just smaller than a dime), that she was able to pass it up to Carolyn.  Still driving on the freeway, we swapped the broken egg to the little container, and I put the uncontained egg in my cup holder.  Napkins were passed around; baby wipes found and dispensed.
9.  Made it home without further excitement.  Our dinner was done cooking.  We set the table, and ate.

It's all much funnier now.

TED.com - Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things

This set of talks are some of my very favorites. The speakers aren't brainiacs that grew up digging fossils with their parents in Africa. They aren't masterminds of math and science performing experiments that cost millions and millions of dollars. They haven't been taking music lessons since they were 4 years old. They are "ordinary" people doing extraordinary things. They took an idea and ran with it. They saw something that needed to change and worked to make it happen.

Dave Eggers - This talk is absolutely inspiring to me, probably one of my top 3 favorites so far. Eggers saw a need and not only helped to fix it, but he did it in a really cool, really creative way (I had to force myself to not give it away). And he's really fun to watch talk about it. But not only did he help others do the same thing, he started the site OnceUponASchool.org where people can post their ideas to help local public schools, or just read about things others have done already to help. You can also go to the Pirate Supply Store website (though you have to watch to see what that's all about). Do not miss the Gallery of Signs.

Jonathan Harris - We all know that everyone has their own hopes and desires. Harris goes out and finds out what they are, both literally, and computerally (thank you, another word I just invented). This talk makes me want to type "I feel..." in every post now, but I would feel like a fame seeker or something if I did that. Watch the talk to see why, then visit WeFeelFine.com.

Rick Smolan telling the story of Natasha, an Amerasian from Korea. Just beautiful.

I'll keep adding...

Our 100 Year of Scouting Adventure

Happy 100 Years of Scouting today! Well yesterday, August 1st.

In our BSA council they've been advertising today as World-Wide Do a Good Turn Day. There is a group of scoutss that camped on Brownsea Island that as the sun rose this morning, renewed their committment to scouting and did a good turn.

Being the good scout that I AM, I rounded up the two cub scouts that live in my house (Adam and Sammy), and my three little girl cub scout wanna-be's (Melanie, Carolyn, and of course Erin) to go do a good turn. But I cannot stop there, as it is born within me to want to help other people have great scouting experiences as well. I called Adam's friend (Jason) and Sammy's friend (Cody) to see if they wanted to come along. Jason did, Cody didn't, but Cody's sister, Elizabeth, who is Adam's age, did want to. I knew it would be a bit of a challenge to keep everyone together and 'friendly,' but with promised rewards I knew we could do it.

We wanted to go clean up along a path near our neighborhood that I've heard is pretty trash-filled. It used to be a train track, but it hasn't been used as such for years so last year the city paved a nice walking/bike path with dirt along each side. We set out with lots of bags and water. Not very far into it, we realized some other good turners had been along not necessarily today but at some point previous to us, as there really wasn't that much to be found. Still, there were things here and there and it was a nice walk. Sammy even found an old railroad spike.

The kids kept telling me there were swampy areas ahead with lots of junk in them, and when we made it to them, yah, lots of pop cans and water bottles tossed in. The other good turners must have seen the swampyness as a challenge, but not us! We found some big sticks and went fishing. At least the swamps weren't too big - at the widest point maybe 4 feet wide, and a foot deep tops and overgrown with trees and bushes around. For quite a while the swamp runs along both sides of the path, with the path raised above it about a foot. Carolyn found a little toy frog at one point she wanted to toss in the trash, but I told her it was okay to leave it since some little kid probably left it there as a friend for the frogs that live there. As she was replacing it I heard a soft kind of, "Uh...!" I didn't turn at first, until my brain registered a half-panickyishness (did you know I like to make up words?) to it. I was surprised to see Melanie's bike tire laying down and sticking out of part of the swamp and overgrowth - can't see Melanie, and no more noises. I quickly got over to it, and could see that somehow Melanie had driven off the path and her bike took her right down into the slime. She still wasn't saying anything, but was struggling on top of the bike to get up and out of the mess. Thank goodness she was okay, but pretty covered in mud and other yummy stuff. I am still amazed that there were no tears involved.

After rounding up Adam and Jason, who had of course chosen right then to ride way ahead of us all, I got all the good turners turned back around for an immediate trek home and a big clean up.

So there's our Scouting Commemoration Adventure. Yes, I took pictures after we got home.