Piano Lessons, Dating Lesson, & A “Father’s” Blessing From Uncle Curt

Mom has been teaching some of the girls at church how to play the piano. That way they can start to learn so when she leaves to come home someone might be able to play in church for the hymns. Here’s what the email said:

“The young lady on the left is “E,” she is 18. Me then “P,” she is the ward chorister. On the far right is “M”. She is 20 and the aunt to “E”. Together they teach the gospel principles class and are the counselors in YW. So many people want me to teach them. I tell others I can only have 3 at a time. Crazy! I feel so inadequate, but I'm the only one they have. Our ward is about 35 minutes from the Temple in good traffic but “E” has never even seen the Temple in person. Sad. I don't know about the others yet. She's the only one I've asked.”

There was also an article written about Mom & Dad in one of our local online newspapers. We miss them so much, but are so proud of them and we wouldn’t want them to be anywhere else. Sure, they miss a few life events since they’re not here at home, but serving the Lord is a much more important thing for them to be doing.

Autumn & I decided we looked good today before church, so we snapped a quick selfie before heading in to our meetings. I’m slowly getting the hang of this Type 3 stuff.

Autumn wanted me to get a picture of her “fancy” hair. A lot of times she’ll ask me to do her hair for her, but it’s in the morning when we’re running short on time and trying to get out the door to work/school. Since we had time this morning I was able to fix her hair pretty. This is the outfit and pearls she wore to the fancy birthday party yesterday. She is turning out to be such a beautiful young lady.

I got to teach the Priests (16-18 year old boys) today during the 3rd hour. Bishop had asked me last week if I would be willing to teach them about dating. They wanted a woman’s perspective. I laughed b/c I haven’t been on a date in over SIX YEARS, so I’m definitely no expert. But, I did come up w/ a few things and it seemed like it went over well. First we talked about what some of the guidelines are, and I used these road signs to keep their interest since most of them are just starting to drive.

Then we talked about the “funnel theory” and how at this point in their lives they should just be dating for fun. Once they get back from their missions, that is when they should start to date more seriously and start to “funnel” it down to eventually one girl that they want to marry.

Then to finish it off I had a bunch of candy sitting out on the table and I let them each take one. Once they had picked one I read them the descriptions that I found here (and I changed it to be a girl instead of a guy). We talked about what qualities are most important to look for when choosing someone to spend the rest of eternity with. I enjoyed teaching them and hearing their comments. Now if I could just go out on a date myself so I could try some practicing some of my own advice! LOL.

Right after church we went over to Curt & Mary’s so Curt could give Autumn a “Father’s Blessing” before school starts tomorrow. The past few years Papa was the one to give Autumn a blessing, but since he’s in Africa I knew we’d have to ask someone else. I brought it up to Autumn a few weeks ago and one day when we were Facetiming w/ Mom & Dad she asked Papa if he could just put his hands on his phone and then she could put the phone on top of her head and do it that way. LOL! We had to explain to her that that’s a good idea, but that’s not how it works.

I had suggested a bunch of different people for her to choose from including family members, our Bishop, home teachers, etc. She thought about it for a few days and then one night when we were eating dinner she brought it up and said she’d like Uncle Curt to do it. I called him to see if he would be willing to do it and he said absolutely.

So, we went over and he gave her a beautiful blessing. The things I remember are that he blessed her to do well in school, but several times he said that Heavenly Father wanted her to know how much He loves her and what a special and choice daughter of God she is. The Spirit was very strong in the room as he gave her the blessing.

I’m beyond thankful to have such an incredible and tight knit support group. It was humbling to think that we had a list of at least 10 different men we could have called to give Autumn a blessing. Anyways, we came home and had some dinner and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

We worked really hard today on keeping the Sabbath Day holy and making “the sabbath a delight.” ~Isaiah 58:13
I’m so shocked that we didn’t watch ANY television today, b/c that is usually our “go to” activity on Sundays. Instead I blogged before and after church (keeping our family history), we listened to spiritual music, and Autumn worked on making rainbow looms charms (developing talents). It’s interesting with all the craziness and turmoil that is going on in the world that the Church’s focus in the past month has been to keep the Sabbath Day holy.

“Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.”  ~Ezekiel 20:12

“And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” ~Ezekiel 20:20

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” ~Exodus 31:13

When doing anything today we asked ourselves what type of sign we were sending Heavenly Father about how we are honoring His day.