I have always enjoyed Glenn Beck. His passion, energy, and enthusiasm are infectious and fun to watch. So, with great interest we sat down to watch Glenn Beck's conversion story in his own words. I was captivated by it. It is funny, engaging, spiritual, motivational. He gave a very powerful testimony of the church and his conversion. It was a great way to spend an hour of my time.
If you have teenagers or you know an investigator or someone struggling with their testimony, this video will have even greater meaning to you.
Our family tried this game out for Family Home Evening a couple of weeks ago. If you are familiar with the artwork of Val Chadwick Bagley, then you will know why I love this game. The pictures are so cute! They are bright, colorful and engaging for children and my kids love to look at the pictures and talk about the different Book of Mormon prophets on the pictures like Nephi and Ammon.
There is nothing new or different to the rules of this version of Go Fish. It is the same as all the rest, but we enjoyed playing it because of the cute pictures and the opportunity to talk about each character as we played. Besides Go Fish, it also includes the rules to play Old Maid (except the Old Maid is a Gadianton Robber), Crazy 8s, and matching. It is nice to be able to choose a different game to play each time with the same cards. I also enjoyed the fact that my young kids could play this game.
Even though these two products about the Articles of Faith are by two different people, I thought pairing them up was the best way to teach the Articles of Faith to my children. We started just the other night for Family Home Evening. In the short time of 15 minutes, my kids had learned the first three.
First, we used the flashcards to teach them what the Articles of Faith said. The flashcards have adorable pictures that are easy for kids to trigger their memories about what goes in what order. Then I played the CD of the first three Articles of Faith songs. It was great to reinforce what I had just taught my children. They were able to sing along while they pointed at the flashcards at the same time. I felt like it really cemented those into their memory. If we do that from time to time, I think they will have them down quickly. Combining the pictures with the music is a fantastic way to memorize. I was very excited that even I will be able to brush up on the Articles of Faith that I memorized long ago!
The flashcards also have different games that can be played with them. We have not tried those yet, but I'm sure when the kids learn all of them, that will be a great way to keep them retained. I'm grateful we have tools like these available for better learning.
This is now my seven year-old's new favorite game. Everytime we play it, he can hardly contain himself because he's giggling so much. It's not too complicated, but it's a lot of fun!
Everyone takes turns turning a card from their hand onto the pile in the middle. Anytime a cherry is turned over, the first person to slap the deck gets to keep all the cards in the pile, adding to their hand. If two types of ice cream that are the same are turned over in a row, slap the deck and get those cards. If an ice cream, then a sauce, then a topping are turned over in order, slap the deck again. But watch out for the spoons! The spoons can change the whole outcome of the game. The person that ends up with all the cards at the end is the winner!
This game moves quickly and you have to think on your feet. I was amazed at how often my son got his hand down first. We love games at our house because they have a tendency to bring us all together and get us laughing. I think Fast Sundaes will be a keeper at our house.
I had the opportunity to review both the book and DVD of "Joseph Smith; The Man, The Mission, The Message." I will comment on them individually.
The book is outstanding. If you need a beautiful coffee table book in your home, you won't be disappointed in this one. It is a beautiful hardbound book and has lots of pictures. I have thumbed through it several times just looking at the pictures and I don't get tired of looking at them. The book is a biography of Joseph Smith that I thought was very easy to read and well done. Interspersed with the history are pictures of artifacts from Joseph Smith and those that associated with him, as well as pictures of important locations in church history. I thought it was a perfect mix of words and photos. It was neat to see the personal effects of Joseph Smith like a lock of his hair and his cane that I didn't know even existed. I tried to imagine him wearing and using the items shown in the book. I also learned facts I didn't know about the Prophet. I would highly recommend the book.
The DVD, on the other hand, didn't appeal to me quite as much because it was a typical DVD of the history of Joseph Smith. It had a few scholars talking about his life, but it was nothing new that I hadn't heard before. However, if you are looking for a basic introduction to the life of Joseph Smith, especially as a gift to an investigator, this would be a good choice.
