Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Month of Thanksgiving
I have to share this neat project in hopes that it will bless you and your family in some way, too.
We kicked off the month with a Family Home Evening on Gratitude, using part of President Monson’s recent talk “The Divine Gift of Gratitude.” In part of that talk, he related the story of the ten lepers. We challenged the kids to find ways to show gratitude to others and to the Lord.
This morning, our Book of Mormon reading was in 2 Nephi 1 where Lehi is recounting to his sons all of the great things the Lord has done for them. It dawned on me that Lehi is trying to help his sons show gratitude to the Lord for their many blessings, that “notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise....” Part of Laman and Lemuel’s problem was their lack of gratitude to the Lord. I love that Lehi recognized their trials and extreme difficulties of their journey, yet also realized how merciful the Lord had been to them. Great lessons for us today!
Back to that project I mentioned... I am putting together short storybooks on each of my Mayflower ancestors (nine of the 102 passengers). The kids are eating up the stories as am I. In researching, I am learning a lot about the pilgrims, particularly my ancestors.
This book is a wonderful resource as well: “If You Sailed on The Mayflower in 1620.” This is a very well-written book about what the pilgrims’ experience was like on board the Mayflower as well as in Plymouth. I highly recommend it!
my ancestor: John Howland was tossed overboard during a storm and was saved by catching hold of a topsail halyard (a rope used to raise/lower a sail) - see story below
I recently discovered the site “Discover the Scriptures,” and am very impressed. I purchased and downloaded their new packet “Give Thanks.” I was not expecting such a large packet (103 pages), but it is excellent. It has way more than I could possibly use in one holiday, but I love the options including the history of the Mayflower and its passengers, how Thanksgiving became a national holiday, awesome worksheets for my kids, games, poems, songs, verses to memorize, crafts, and more. It is a great resource!
Anyway, I felt like I should share, so hopefully someone will benefit.
Ditto to this book: “If You Were At the First Thanksgiving.” They are both information-based, but have great illustrations and are entertaining to read.
If you prefer more of a storybook, this one is much simpler and has less information than the two above, but is still accurate and well-done: “The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving.”