Family Home Evening

Note: This is religious-themed post. If that will offend you or cause you to think that I am preaching to you, QUICKLY exit this page and whatever you do, DO NOT click on the comments link.

A few weeks ago, we had a sacrament meeting specifically focused on Joseph Smith and the Restoration. They concluded the meeting by saying the Stake Presidency had requested each family to have a FHE on the topic within the next few weeks. We finally got around to it this week.

It was Rebekah's turn for the lesson, so she essentially held the pictures while everyone talked around her. There wasn't anything special about the lesson; it was just your standard retelling of the First Vision. Joseph did try playing the piano through much of it. Maybe that's something to really make it stand out.

Anyway, at the end of the lesson, Chad gave each of the kids a paper to draw their version of the First Vision. I promised them I would "put them on the computer." So here we go! I apologize for any hard-to-see shots. The scanner doesn't care what I actually want to do with the pictures.

This is Joseph's. I think this is from that night. I don't see any other pictures that he could have done. It appears that he didn't work completely alone.

Here is Rebekah's picture. She has mentioned (several times) that it is a picture of her (left) and Joseph Smith (right). You can see that she is really good at likening the scriptures to herself, because I'm pretty sure she never actually met him.

Leah worked very hard on hers. Here is Joseph by a tree. One tree equals the entire grove.

Nathan's is very colorful (as usual). And as usual, Nathan didn't actually do the assignment. This is a picture of Joseph retrieving the gold plates. It's still part of the Restoration. Right? ;)

And we end with Daniel's. He is really a pencil man. The strawberry shortcake really cut into his coloring time. You can see he understood what the picture was to represent. Notice that every one of his trees has a single knot or hole on it? :)

Family Home Evenings are looked forward to in this house...by the kids. I admit, I would be relieved to skip some. But they usually do end up with good results and it's a fun, but informal way to teach some of our values and beliefs to the kids. I look forward to the day when they actually do TEACH their own lessons and prove to me that it has all been worth it.

Family History Story

I tried sharing this story during FHE with the Collett Cousins last night and was chagrined to have nearly no details.

The version I told was a little different than the one I actually found. I have a sneaky suspicion that Mom told the story to me with a few extras of her own (she can deny this, but I know how she tells stories!).

Anyway, here is the story, copied straight from the page. This story was told to Marcella (Graham) Allred by her grandfather, William Benona Graham in the spring of 1926 while helping him do his family research. William was a nephew to Margaret Graham, the star of the story.

I am not editing the mechanics or grammar. Just enjoy.

Margaret Graham, daughter of Robert and Catharine (Russell) Graham, a half sister to James Graham who is a son of Robert and his first wife Ann (??) Graham was waiting table in Carthage, Ill. when a group of men came, seated themselves around the table and began talking.

Margaret being a waitress overheard their conversation stepped into the other room, closing the door behind her, peaked thru the keyhole and knew who killed the Prophet and his brother Hyrum.

On telling her story to others, her life was threatened by the mob. Through quick thinking and action, she was disguised as a man, having her hair cut and dawning a stovepipe hat carrying a large cane she was rushed from the city.

The mob was so violent they stopped her carriage, seeking her life, but because of her disguise, her life was spared.

Pretty exciting, huh?