Escalator Elation

Autumn looked so pretty this morning in her bright and colorful Spring dress.  It looked warm outside, but when we got out there it was cold and windy.  In all the pics I took of her, her eyes are squinty b/c the wind was blowing so hard.  So, I had her spin for me instead.  I love how her long braid & ponytail are flying behind her.

I got to teach in Laurel’s today, and we only had 3 girls and 1 other leader b/c it’s Spring Break.  But, that ended up working out perfect for something I had planned later in the lesson.

A few weeks ago in Sunday School, I was just sitting there listening when all of a sudden inspiration struck me (which doesn’t happen often), so I got out a pen and started writing.  Below is something I came up with to teach the girls about the Atonement.  I think so often we say “the Atonement” at church, but even I didn’t really understand all that it entailed.  This was a simple yet effective diagram that made a lot of sense to me.

THE ATONEMENT
/                          \
EVENT      Christ’s suffering in the              Christ’s death & Resurrection 
Garden of Gethsemane                                                    
/                                        \
OVERCOMES    Spiritual death (sin)                            Physical death                               
  /                                                   \ 
SACRAMENT      Water (His blood)                        Bread (His broken body)              
/                                                              \
CELEBRATION   Every week during Sacrament                 Easter                                    

This is a pretty simple drawing, but we talked in depth about each thing and what it means.  For the treat (pic at the top of this post), I told them that Christ & His Atonement are the “Reisen” that our “lives can be saved.”  I also gave each of them a paper about the 4 different aspects of the Atonement that can help us daily.  I got these from “The Big Picture” by John Hilton III & Anthony Sweat.  They are:

1. The cleansing power of the Atonement
2. The understanding power of the Atonement
3. The strengthening power of the Atonement
4. The converting power of the Atonement

Anyways, after church we came home and had some creamy crock pot chicken that I had put in before we left for church.  Then we went over to Mom & Dad’s house to let Emma out, and then it was off to the airport to go pick them up.  We got there about 20 minutes early, so Autumn & I rode the escalator down, ran around to the other side, rode it back up, ran around to the other side and rode it back down, etc.  Autumn was laughing so hard, and she thought it was the greatest thing ever.  We’re SO GLAD that Papa & Mimi are home safe & sound.  I’m glad Dad got to go skiing w/ some of his brothers and that both Mom & Dad got to see their families and spend time creating memories w/ them.