General Conference was last weekend.

(Don’t know what that is? Skip to the end of the post.)

It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year because it always seems to come at the perfect time. In the fall, it literally saved my life. My super cute SIL explains this a little more over on her blog.

Even though we aren’t in crisis at my house right now, there were profound moments during conference that stuck out–moments I needed that I didn’t even know that I needed!

There is always one talk that I just cannot take enough notes on and I just end up putting a star next to it to remind me to read and study it later. This time, it was President Uchtdorf. His talk, for me, was on creating joy and light even when you feel like darkness surrounds you. It was so amazing.

I loved how Elder Anderson recognized blogs and other forms of social media. Thanks for the shout out!

And although Elder Clayton said that both parents need to participate in putting the children to bed every night (something that is usually Mr. R’s doing), I thought his talk on how to have a priceless marriage was powerful and just what our world needs. (After the bedtime routine remark, I sheepishly looked at my husband who proclaimed, “REBUKED!” LOL He is awesome.)

Sister Wixom’s talk on being present for our children. I love how she mentioned that too much time disconnected from our children and connected to technology, dims the light in our kids. She challenged us to unplug and reconnect with our kids. I loved it the advice! It’s something I already do, but now we are doing it with more gusto and putting it on the calendar! Unplugging is good for the soul.

A great reminder to see the good in people from Elder Scott. We don’t need to judge one another. We just need to love. There is good and beauty and light in everyone, why focus on the ugly stains?

And then there was Elder Holland. He pretty much knocks it out of the park out every single time. The world stops moving for me when he speaks. He talked about faith …and not giving up on yours. It was powerful. And empowering. An inspiration!

 

*Don’t miss my post on Friday featuring Mr. R’s grandmother’s CHUNKY NON-CLAMMY CLAM CHOWDER that we have every General Conference. It’s a Redfern Family Tradition!

 

 

What is General Conference?

 

Interested in watching? Get all the details here. (Available in like 70 languages!)

 

Just about every Monday, I feature children who are waiting to be adopted through the foster care program. Each child has been approved by the heart galleries that host them to appear on my blog. Not every heart gallery from every state has given us permission to post their waiting children (some we can only link to, some we can use photos and some change their minds constantly about whether or not we are allowed to help in their outreach efforts) …we are working on that. Brenda of Another Small Adventure really does all the work on this. She knows foster care waaay better than I do and I am grateful for all her help.

 

Twice a year, the LDS (Mormon) people gather to watch our General Conference.

We learn from our leaders and are uplifted. It’s always a favorite weekend.

During one talk, Elder Richard G. Scott spoke about a young man who grew up in foster care. (Start listening at 10:15–although the whole talk is wonderful.)

 
So sweet and so sad, right? It reminded me of the conversation I had with Tim Naylor, Foster and Adoptive Dad, where he talked about the kids he would only have for a short time.

Many of the talks we listened to over the weekend focused on seeing the potential in people and what they could become rather than focusing only on where they currently were.

My hope is that we would all remember this as we look through the foster care listings and the children featured on Matching Monday.

Of course we need to be aware and realistic about any and all circumstances surrounding the child, but for me, so much of parenting boils down to seeing the potential of my kiddos. It’s why I teach them to work, give them cooking lessons, read with them, etc.

So, look for the light in the eyes of these children and take a moment to think about all the good they are capable of.
 
 

You can view the heart galleries from all the states by going HERE and clicking on the states you are interested in.

Share the Matching Monday link on your blog to help these children find forever families! See all the buttons available HERE. Or press “like” at the top or bottom of the post to share these waiting children with your Facebook friends!

 

This weekend is General Conference. (Don’t know what that is? Skip to the end of this post for an explanation.)

As part of the R family tradition, we usually have a handful of siblings over. Recently, I have started making an activity book for us “grown-ups” to do while watching conference.

As for keeping the children entertained and educated, I put together something a little different this time. It’s so easy that I thought I would pass it along to you. We did it for Family Home Evening on Monday night and practiced using it. Very easy.

A couple nights ago for scripture study time, Mr. R explained to the boys about General Conference. Because they have tremendous Sunday School teachers, they already knew all the answers. (We were delighted!) We talked about how our church leaders will talk about the gospel and we picked three words to concentrate on and listen for as a family. Those words were:

• Prophet
• Temple
• Obey (Something we are working on at The R House.)

 

What you will need:

• 3 small bins, jars or tub. Mine are $1 from Ikea.
• 3 straws (I like having all 3 be different colors.)
• Visual and text representations of the words you chose for the family to concentrate on printed on card stock.
• Paper cutter
• Tape
• Candy
• Ribbon (optional)

 

Cut out the words you are choosing to concentrate on and attach them to the straws using the tape.

Attach straw signs to the bins using the tape.

Fill the bins with candy that your kids have picked out. (The bulk section at your grocery store is a great place for this!) And if you need to, add a little ribbon as flare. Place the bins by the TV so that you remember what you are listening for. (This also keeps them out of reach from your lounging on the couch so that that “grown ups” aren’t tempted to cheat!)

Here’s how it works:

You leave these three bins out during General Conference and every time someone hears one of these words, everyone in the family gets a treat.

Helpful hint: Leave the bins out before conference for your kids to get used to the words and build anticipation for your activity and General Conference. However, do not leave them full of candy pre-conference as you may have to refill them if you have a little one double-fisting the Starburst like I do.

 

What is General Conference?

 

Interested in watching? get all the details here. (Available in like 70 languages!)

Curious as to what a prophet of God would say to women today? Go here to find out.