Extraordinary Ministering Sisters

This blog is filled with all kinds of tips, handouts and ideas that can help to motivate and fulfill your calling as a Ministering Sister, and more because it is filled with helpful ideas for Relief Society related topics. PLEASE JOIN US ON our Facebook Group page called : Extraordinary Ministering Sisters https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExtraordinaryMinisteringSisters/

Monday, January 31, 2011

Tender Mercies - Gods Hands in our lives

I found this sweet image at
http://www.markmallett.com/blog/2007/12/those-hands/
I am such a believer in the Tender Mercies of the Lord.  They are all around us and His hand in directing our lives is shown through them in all the time.  This has happened for me over the past few months, as I have had some serious health issues that I have had to confront.  I have been blessed to see the Lords hand, throughout this process and today, I received the answer to my hearts desire, and my prayers.  Once again, He showed me in quite a miraculous way, that He is  mindful of me, and knows my heart, and needs.  I know that if we put our faith in Him and recognize even the little things that happen around us, we all can know and feel the
direction that is given for us in our lives, by our loving Heavenly Father. 

When we can understand that Heavenly Father knows much more about us and our lives, than we know ourselves, and that He knows our past, present and even our futures, then we can acknowledge and receive of His Tender Mercies to help and bless our lives. 

I would like to share with you one of the tender mercies that have brought me to this point today and testify that without recognizing that they came from the Lord, I may not feel quite so blessed today.
Last year, for many months I experienced some pain in my neck, below my ear, and I thought somehow it was related to my type 2 diabetes.  It became so painful that I began telling my doctors about it, and that it felt like I had the mumps on one side of my face.  This would come and go and I though at the time that it was a result of my blood sugars going to high or too low. 

In about September of last year, I began to get these feelings that I needed to go see an Endocrinologist, because I felt that I not only needed help with my diabetes management, but I felt that something was definitely wrong with my glands.  My doctor would not give me a referral to an Endocrinologist, but wanted me to come in talk about it.  I had such strong feelings inside of me that I needed to see an Endocrinologist, I found another doctor and went in and told him what had been going on with my health.  He not only referred me to an Endocrinologist, but ordered a scan on my neck to be done to try to find out what was causing me such pain.  (This was the first tender mercy.  The Lord gave me the feeling that was very strong and didn't let up, that I needed to go see an Endocrinologist. )  

The second tender mercy came when I went in for the scan and the woman who was the technician, offered to scan my whole neck instead of just where my glands were by my ears.  I had told her that I believed that I had some glandular issues and would be going in to see a Endocrinologist and would she please take a look at my Thyroid as well.  She agreed, and through the scan, she found a very large nodule on my Thyroid. In doing my own research, I realized that nodules on Thyroids can turn into cancer if left undetected.

Well to make a longer story a bit shorter, 2 Months went by and finally this past week, I went in to see the Endocrinologist, who scanned my neck once again and found a second nodule on the other side of my thyroid.  She did a fine needle biopsy and told me that I needed to have my Thyroid removed. She sent the biopsy in to be tested.   I scheduled an appointment with a surgeon and will be seeing him to schedule surgery in a couple days. 

Just about an hour ago, I experienced yet another tender mercy, that just about swept me off my feet.  I had been praying to my Heavenly Father, along with all of my family and some friends who I have told about what has been going on with me, and I received a direct answer to all the prayers that have been said on my behalf.  Even though the biopsy and scans indicated that one of my nodules looked irregular, deep, dark, and contained many elements that could indicate caner, the biopsy results came back that there are no cancer or unusual cells in the tissue samples taken.  I cannot tell you how grateful I am feeling after receiving this news.  I have been worried and actually making plans about how things would be orchestrated with the iodized radiation or other means of treating thyroid cancers.  I also knew and had faith that Heavenly Father could bless me to be healed if it was His will. 

I have a long road to travel before this experience is over and once my Thyroid is removed, it will still need to be tested further, but for now, I am so humbled and gratified by this tremendous tender Mercy sent my way. He put into my mind, what I needed to do to care for something only He knew was happening inside of me.  He inspired the technician who found the nodules, and He guided the Endocrinologist to find yet a second nodule. It was Him, who answered the prayers and fasting that had taken place on my behalf, and I acknowledge all of these tender mercies came directly from God!

I testify to all of you who read this blog post, that I know the Lord loves each and every one of us, no matter what and including how imperfect we are!!  I also know that He is in our lives all the time and watching over us, and we can know and feel His hand and presence in our lives if we are in tune to His promptings, and recognize even the little things, that lets us know He is near.  I have felt His continued presence and I am so grateful to know that I can pray to Him at any time, and anywhere and He will be listening and provide me comfort.   I know and testify that He hears my prayers and the prayers of all of us, and that He answers them, though sometimes in ways that we have to look alittle  harder in order to to recognize from whence they came.  He knows us and He loves us, and wants us to come back to Him one day, at the right time, that only He knows.

I hope this experience will help you in some way and that you will feel Gods love and power in your own life.  Now.... Have a marvelous day!!  Love, Katie G.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

I'm Back!

Wow, what a wierd week.  My gmail was hacked into, and after I changed my password, all of my blogs disappeared.  Now all of the sudden they are back... Go figure???  I am certainly glad that they are back because I was so very sad that I had thought I had lost all of those years of working on them.  I have one word for hackers..... well, I guess I just won't say that word because I am better than that, but hackers need to get a REAL Life.  Enough said.

This has been a crazy past couple of weeks for me but I hope things will get better, and one thing I know is that there is always lots of hope.  My greatest hope is that once I exit this blog, I will be able to come back to it again.  Let's all hope that is true.  I am glad to be back!!!  Katie G.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Visiting Teaching Videos at LDS.org

There are three really good videos on LDS.org about Visiting Teaching.  They are called this:
  • This is Visiting Teaching - Sister Thompson teaches that visiting teaching "is more of a way of life than a task"
  • A Visiting Teacher - In this video - Relief Society sisters share what it means to be a visiting teacher and what visiting teaching has meant to them.
  • Julie B. Beck on Visiting Teaching - A sister in this Church has no other responsibility outside of her family that has the potential to do as much good as does visiting teaching.
To go directly to the videos, click on this post title.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

LDS Relief Society

With this 2011 years focus on the organization of the Relief Society, I thought I would try to find some things that would be helpful.  At LDS.org, you can go to the Relief Society page for information and also research past conference talks and such as well.

I discovered a really good website that has allot of detail that I thought you might like to go to find out more about the Relief Society's early beginnings.  You can go to this link and it is a great resource for you:   http://www.ldswomenofgod.com/blog/?p=77

It was fun for me to go through the above site, and see the history of Visiting Teaching.  You can read about if for yourself here:  http://www.ldswomenofgod.com/blog/?p=2292


The document to the Left is of the First meeting of the organization of the Relief Sociey which was called "The Temple Relief Society of Nauvoo."  Click on the image and you can see all who were at this meeting.  It is a really neat document!   This is the link to that document:  http://www.ldswomenofgod.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ms3424_29.jpg

At http://www.ldswomenofgod.com/blog/?p=1013 are the minutes taken to the very first Relief Society meeting.  On the Left column, under the document, are links to the 1st - 18th meetings, as well as a few other things that are very interesting reading.

Hopefully this site and others will help you with your year for Relief Society history as well as for sharing the messages through Visiting teaching. 

If any of you have planned events for this coming year and have scripts for plays, special music, or anything else that you could share that would enrich everyone around the world's year of learning the history of Relief Society, I urge you to send it to me.  I will prepare special posts with those ideas included so that everyone can benefit and share.  After all.... isn't that what Relief Society is all about?  Please email your tips, handouts and ideas to me at ktgauger@gmail.  I will make sure that you get the credit as my blog is only a forum for helps for others. 

Best regards,
Katie G.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Happy New Year!!!

Isn't it great that a brand new year has begun, giving all of us the opportunity to get our acts together again and begin a fresh start.  I personally didn't make too many resolutions this year, because I wanted to really fulfill them this time.  I find when I make too long of a list, I always disappoint myself, so this time I am focusing on one change in myself that will have a ripple effect on other areas of my life. I am not going to tell you what that resolution is, and just get your imagination going by sharing the inspiration for my one resolution..... It is a song that my mother use to sing, when I was a child and it goes something like this....

"You've got to accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
Latch on to the affirmative,
And don't mess with Mr. In between".


Don't you just love those words?  I give them a hearty thumbs up!Well they are much  more than words for me, as they are my inspiration to becoming the a better person all the way around.  I wrote a post just moments ago on my Extraordinary Visiting Teaching Facebook page, about one of the sisters that I visit teach. No matter her adversity, she  emulates this song.  No matter how hard live has become for her, she wears a smile and never seems to utter a negative comment or thought. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful example for me, and I am her visiting teacher.  My gift to her can be friendship, a listening ear, prayers on her behalf, and service for her and her sweet husband as they need it. 

What a blessing for me to be a Visiting Teacher.  I have had another sister on my route, for about 2 years now.  We have become really good friends.  She is fun, and crazy just like me.  She has her share of adversity too, and moves forward each day with a song in her heart.  She has the voice of an angel, and I love so much to be around her.  How lucky for me to get be her Visiting Teacher.

Isn't it interesting that Visiting teaching is really a swinging door, because the blessings go both ways.  We get as much as we give.  I certainly know that I do. 

I have another sister who is fairly new to me, and I so enjoy going into her home and getting to know her.  She doesn't attend church, and I would not have normally had the opportunity to meet her if it were not for Visiting teaching. I am so glad that she was put on my "LIST" because I have just begun to scratch the surface of a smart and talented, and really nice friend.  How lucky I am to be her Visiting Teacher. 

Visiting teaching is a gift to both the giver and receiver,  that is sort of like the Energizer bunny.... it just keeps on going.  Those who don't take the opportunity they are given to get to know some really wonderful women, are really missing out.  I would like to urge you to include in your resolutions to become the kind of Visiting teacher that you would want for yourself.  Even if you don't have that kind of Visiting teacher, you can be it for someone else, and the rewards are great!

P.S. The January 2011 Message can be found at http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,2044-1-5233-1,00.html  The History and Heritage of Relief Society and a wonderful Scripture that you should recognize is found http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/7.45,46,47?lang=eng#44 or you can look it up here:  Moroni 7:45-47. Now go out and make someones day!  Enjoy!  Katie G.

General Conference Talks

Hear the words of the living prophets.
General Conference Reports
Proceedings of Recent General Conferences
There is no question in my mind, that we who call ourselves Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are indeed Christians. Those who would say otherwise remind me of the words my Savior, Jesus Christ spoke as He hung upon the cross... "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." This same Jesus Christ attoned for my sins, and died that we all might live.

What shall we give?

<>Other wonderful Christmas Videos, go to \http://www.lds.org/topic/christmas/christmas-videos.html

An Apostles Easter Thoughts on Christ

"This Easter and throughout the year, may we have uppermost in our minds His divine teachings, the unparalleled example of His pure love, and His willing sacrifice of self to accomplish the holy purposes of God, the Eternal Father." The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints"

This short video is an Important message from the mouths of our Prophets!

My sister sent this to me today and I feel like it is an important enough message, that I wanted to share it with all of my blog readership. The words spoken are directly out of the mouths of our Prophets, past and present. Hear them, heed them. Love, Katie G. You can find this at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehD390q9G3k

July 24th - Pioneer Day

July 24th - Pioneer Day
Click on the picture and it will take you to the last post. Did you get your Visiting Teaching done by today? If not, just keep on trying, just like the pioneers. I would love to hear what you have learned from these wonderful Pioneer Women's stories. I know that I have learned alot about sacrifice, and persecutions of the early saints, and of a strong testimony that these Pioneers had to have to endure all that they did, and gave in establishing zion. Once again, I say, Blessed, honored Pioneer! If you would like to comment, please email me at ktgauger@gmail.com or click on the link and comment on the last story. Happy Pioneer Day! Love, Katie G.

July 22 -Maggie Anna Ferrell Orr

July  22 -Maggie Anna Ferrell Orr
Copy and paste into your address bar and this will take you to the story of Maggie Anna Ferrell Orr, another of the wonderful Pioneering Women.

By now you should be alittle curious about your pioneer heritage.

By now you should be alittle curious about your pioneer heritage.
Do you want to find out if you have Pioneer ancestry. This site is most useful to those who have had members of their family tree that belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the Mormon migration period of 1847-1868. By the way, the goal for this Pioneer Women Journey is about to reach it's end. You only have one more day to do your Visiting teaching, before the 24th of July, which was the goal. You still have time to push the proverbial handcart up the hill, so get out and get it done. Share a pioneer story with your sisters, and you have pleanty to choose from right on this site.

My broken wagon wheel, hath bit the dust!

My broken wagon wheel, hath bit the dust!
Wo is me, I am so behind on my own treck of keeping up wonderful Pioneer women posts. Actually I have a great excuse, and almost made it when I realized how little I have to complain about. Ok, so I am going to tell you anyway. My air conditioning has been off for 6 days now, and I am having to live in my basement, though my computer in upstairs. It is ten degrees cooler in the basement, but my main floor has been up to 92 degrees inside my house. Wo is me.... and what do I have to moan about. I began thinking about the pioneers in their covered wagons, crossing the hot, hot prairie, and their only hope of relief from the blazing sun is the cool shade of a tree, or a stream, or night time if it cooled off enough for them to actually sleep. I have not slept well until I decided to go in the basement. Wo is me. What do I have to complain about. I have been so sick from the heat and a medication change that I have been nauseated all day long. So what do I do... hop in my car and go to Walgreens and get some acupressure wrist bands that took away some of my nausea. Wo is me, but what do I have to complain about.... the pioneer women suffered without any relief. If herbs didn't work for them, or if they didn't have access to them, they just suffered. I feel so blessed to live in this day and age where even if I have to be inconvienenced by having no air conditioning, I still can go in my basement, or hop in my car and turn up the air full blast, or just drive down to a store and walk around and shop, or even go to the pool and cool down that way. You know that poem.... "Father forgive me when I whine, I have two legs, the world is mine"? I have no reason to complain, but you still didn't get the updates on the Pioneer women because I am still too sick and hot to stay upstairs long enough to do them. Count this one as an update and count your blessings along with me. The wagon might be broke for a bit, but once the wheel is back on, the wagon will keep on rollin. Now, I am going to hurry back down stairs and try to replenish the sweat that is pouring off my face and body with gatorade. Don't give up on me, I will be back! Love, Katie G.

July 17 - Handmade by the Pioneers

July 16 - Margaret Alice McBride

July 16 - Margaret Alice McBride
....You know the drill... click on the photo and it will take you to the story of Margaret Alice McBride. Enjoy! Katie G

July 15 - Julia Ann Chapman Lee

July 15 - Julia Ann Chapman Lee
This story is told through the eyes of Julia's husband. It is a short but touching story, all to familiar to Pioneers. Click on the image and you will be directed to the story.

July 14 - Louisa Miller Belleston

July 14 - Louisa Miller Belleston
I thought it was important to realize that not all pioneers only traveled from Missiouri, Ohio or other Eastern States, but many were converted to the church and traveled from overseas. This story tells of the Church Emigration fund, and Louisa's family traveling first by boat and then on to Utah. Their travel took them 8 months to get there, with their fair share of challenges. Click on the picture and it will take you directly to the story.

July 13 - Mary Ann Payne

July 13 -  Mary Ann Payne
This is a cute little story about Mary Ann Payne that I found, and I know that you will enjoy reading about her. She is the top right photo. Click on the photo and it will direct you to the link that has the story. Enjoy!

July 12 - Margaret McNeil (Ballard)

July 12 - Margaret McNeil (Ballard)
Click on the picture of Margaret and you will be taken to the link that you can read about her.

July 11 - Jane Jenkins Howe

July 11 -  Jane Jenkins Howe
Please click on the photo to see the history of Jane Jenkins Howe entitled - A WIDOW SUPPORTING HER FAMILY

July 10 - Julia Anne Phippen Eldredge Evans

July 10 - Julia Anne Phippen Eldredge Evans
Click on the photo and it will take you to the link to read about Julia Anne Phippen Eldredge Evans

July 9 – Camilla Dorothy Jacobsen Corbett

July 9 – Camilla Dorothy Jacobsen Corbett
Click on the photo and it will take you to the link to read about this amazing Pioneer woman

July 8 - Catherine Gougar Goodman

July 8 - Catherine Gougar Goodman
This is a short story of a non-Utah Pioneer woman, who was taken by the indians as a little girl, and to read the rest of the story, you will have to click on the picture and it will take you to the link you need.

July 7 - Elizabeth Case Miliam Wheeler

July 7 - Elizabeth Case Miliam Wheeler
The life of this marvelous Pioneer woman can be found by clicking on the photo which will take you directly to the link. This woman is classic Mormon History as her story tells of her being apart of so many of the historical accounts in Nauvoo, Hauns Mill, handcart pioneers, and so much more. I found her story so interesting that I couldn't stop reading until it reached the end. It was also interesting to me that she was given 3 Patriarical blessings in her lifetime, and she was truely a wonderful woman. I know you will enjoy reading about her as I did. Love, Katie G.

July 6 - Pioneer Cooking

Since all of us cook, I thought it might be interesting to find out what Pioneer Women cooked, how they did it and recipes they used. I found quite a few recipes, but I would like to open this one up to you and if you have any authentic pioneer recipes, please send them to me and I will add them to this post. My email is just to the right of this page.

Click on this link to take you to the Pioneer Recipes:
http://visitingteachingsurprisedocuments.blogspot.com/2009/07/pioneer-recipes.html

I was also thinking that if you were to copy some of these recipes and print them off, that might be a fun handout for the Sisters you Visit Teach!

July 5 - Ann Parker

July 5 - Ann Parker
Sorry I am so late posting this story, but click on the photo and it will take you to the link where her story will be told.

July 4 - Margaret Ann Howard McBride (My Ancestor)

July 4 - Margaret Ann Howard McBride (My Ancestor)
I had to post about someone very special to me on this day. I chose one of my ancestors whose trek took her with the other ill fated pioneers of the Martin Handcart Company. I could not locate her photo, so I substituted one of her son's wives photos. Click on the photo and it will take you to the account given by two of her sons, of what she and her family dealt with after joining the church.

July 3 – Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw

July 3 – Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw
I hope that you are enjoying so far, the stories of these wonderful Pioneer women. I hope too that your testimony will strengthen as you read about those who came before us and the unimaginable things that they had to do to pioneer the way for us to have what we do in our wonderful church. My gratitude and love for them has deeply increased, and I would echo the words in the hymn..."Blessed, honored, Pioneer!" Click on the photo of Elizabeth and it will take you to her history and for more reading about Elizabeth, you can go to http://students.ou.edu/G/Erin.R.Ging-1/story3.html Also there is another account of Elizabeth found in a book that you can read by going to this link... http://books.google.com/books?id=rzkAcWtngX4C&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=BRADSHAW,+Elizabeth+Simpson+Haigh&source=bl&ots=UJEtgTZ4Sf&sig=2h_qWhKeYEiK6hM8ev95tiRuu2M&hl=en&ei=kHE-SpW4JpDosQOe94n0CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

July 2nd - Diana Lucina Spicer Block

You can find the posting of a marvelous Pioneer woman, whom I have chosen to spotlight on my other blog that is located at http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/ and just click on the link and it will take you there! I hope you are having some good Pioneer fun!

July 1st - Anne Eliza Leavitt Baker

July 1st - Anne Eliza Leavitt Baker
Did you think I forgot? Actually my life became so hectic today, that I am just getting some time to make my first Pioneer woman post. I hope you will enjoy reading about these marvelous women who came before us. I hope that you can feel their courage and understand that we too have a purpose for living in our generation. We are the generation that lives to prepare for the second coming of Christ,though none of us know when that will be.... and with that I will just say... Keep your wagons rolling along in good works, do your Visiting Teaching, strengthen your sisters through your testimony and determination to get your visiting Teaching done. Click on the photo and it will take you to the link where you can read about our Anne, who is most likely the woman in the middle front of the photo, holding the baby.

Visiting Teaching Tips, handouts and Ideas
For many years, I have been creating very cute and fun things to take to the ladies I Visit Teach. I have shared from time to time, my ideas with others and they have really appreciated them. I decided that since I do these anyway, I would start doing one every month and then post it on this blog to share with anyone for their Visiting Teaching. I do need to make a disclaimer.... the ideas, thoughts, stories, graphics etc. used are created by me and they are not in any way official LDS Church quotes, handouts or ideas. They are my creations or others as noted, except for the quotes that will come directly from the Monthly Visiting Teaching message found in the Ensign. Also, many thanks to the talented designers of the digital paper and elements that I use to create the beautiful artwork, and handouts you see on my blog.

You can go to http://www.lds.org/ and look up and even print the monthly message if you do not have your own Ensign magazine subscription in English or to choose to read the Liahona or Ensign in a different language go to http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=03103c7ff44f2010VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD&locale=0.
For Spanish you can go to http://www.sud.org.es/

I highly recommend you get your own subscription because you will find a wealth of really good & wholesome, moral reading, that you can't find anywhere else. If you go to http://www.lds.org/ and click on "Gospel Library" then click on "Magazines" you can order your own Ensign, Liahona, New Era, or Friend magazines.
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Downloading

When you click on the pictures or ideas that I have on my site for you to download, sometimes the picture ends up really large. What you need to do to size it is to go to the "page button" then click on zoom. Take it down to 50% and that should fit better on your screen for viewing . Also, if you right click "save picture as" then save it to a file on your computer, you can size it using your own desktop publishing program and then print it off with my compliments! Enjoy!

A February Enrichment Idea

A February Enrichment Idea
"The Hearts of Angels" dinner & program. Click on the picture and it will take you to where you can find the entire program written out. Once you get to the site which is my Visiting teaching surprise, make sure to scroll down a ways because there are alot of other great ideas, printables and handoust before you will find this wonderful "Angelic' program. Enjoy!

Enrichment Ideas Anyone?

Enrichment Ideas Anyone?
I have also been enrichment leader from time to time as well as have been asked to do many projects for Enrichments. I am not sure if anyone would be interested in some of my ideas, but if you are, please leave me a comment and I will respond. One thing that relates to Visiting Teaching that I wanted to share is something I have taught for many years, and in fact my Daughter in her Park City ward just used this idea in their Super Saturday last week for the second time. It is Glass etching and it is really pretty easy and turns out to be a great project. The etching I do is etching glass casserole or platters with the name of the person who will receive this gift or for whomever is signed up for the class. I have given etched casserole dishes as wedding gifts and have taken many casseroles, rolls, cakes, and all kinds of goodies to people, and always get my dish back, because it has my name etched in it. Go to http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/ to get instructions.

Gardening with Kids

Gardening with Kids
Read the idea below

"Returning to the Past" A Relief Society Activity Idea

This is an email I received from a wonderful sister as well as a new Relief Society President about an idea that they will be doing as a theme for their activities for this year. (if you have a great idea to share, please email me at katie1956gauger@mindspring.com and we can add it to all the other terriffic ideas!

Dear Katie,
I just found your blog. It is so great. I love the idea of the Hearts of Angels. I am trying to figure out how we can use it for our VT conference and incorporate some of the things for our VT interviews. I am a new R/S president and all these things we have to do throughout the year are a little overwhelming. I love all of you ideas. So much work involved, thank you for being willing to share with all of us! I would love anything else you could pass my way.
WE had the thought earlier to use a theme of "Returning to the past" for our activities this year. So all of your old-fashioned pictures will be great to use as invites and handouts.
You might be interested in the idea we had for our B-Day dinner. We always have a progressive dinner in December to the homes of different sisters. We divide them up into about 5 smaller groups and go around to the different sisters homes in the ward. Because of the weather we cancelled it and had it at the church. We decided to do it for our B-Day dinner instead when the weather would be better. We are having the women bring a sack lunch with them and to wear something old, like a grandmothers broach or shawl, or to dress up in the time of the 1800's, and to bring a pint jar with a lid. We will have the sisters make lemonade at the first house and take with them in the jar that they brought, and then go to the next house. At the last house we will have and old fashioned cake to serve like apple walnut cake or something like that.
We still have some details to work out but at the end each member of the presidency will be at a different home and will share a prepared script. It will be written as if they were at the very first R/S meeting when the prophet Joseph Smith organized the R/S with just a handful of women.
Anyway, thank you for sharing what you have! You have a great talent!
Stacey McClellan - Blackfoot, Idaho


SELF RELIANT SISTERS BLOG HAS A GREAT ACTIVITY ABOUT GARDENING WITH KIDS - go to http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/ It is well worth the time and a terriffic idea as Spring is just around the corner! Here is a tiny bit of information that you will see at the site.....

Gardening with Kids has great tips on getting kids started with gardening. Give your child some space; literally! Kids loving having spaces that are all their own, whether it`s their own desk area in the house, or the tent they've created with chairs and blankets in the family room. The same is true for gardening. Dedicate a small plot of the garden just for them. Put a fancy border around it, perhaps purchase one of the stepping stone making kits found at crafts stores in which they can mold their name and make their hand print.
Let them join you at the nursery. Let your kids know you value their opinion. Ask them which kinds of plants, flowers, and vegetables they like. Explain what will work well in your garden and what won't.
Give them (limited) choices. While you're at the nursery, ask them if they'd like pansies or petunias, marigolds or zinnias. This will give them the feeling of power without letting it get out of control.
Remind them money doesn't grow on trees. With older children discuss the budget. Let them help select seeds and blossoming plants at the nursery - and turn it into a math lesson. Let your child do the money calculations; they can tell you when the money runs out.
Let your child do what he will (especially if you have a preschooler). Let him dig, explore, play with bugs. You may be tempted to steer your child in another direction (like actually watering or weeding his garden), but this is a great way for your child to explore this exciting new universe.
Plan, plan, plan. If you have older children, say 8 or 9 or older, let them plot out their own garden on paper. Provide him or her with graph paper, pencils and seed catalogs. Give them a group of flowers and vegetables from which to choose, and then let them draw out their garden.
Get them their own gardening tools. Nothing will motivate your little gardener more than having her own little shovel, her own gardening gloves, and her own watering pail. And don't forget those bright colored rubber boots.
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