Roses Thorns and Buds

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This book was a lot of fun to read with my family. The kids and I have read it probably five or six times. While reading this series my son advanced 4 reading levels.  Raymond and Graham kept us laughing.

But the way this book helps our family battle the Dark Side was unexpected.

Raymond and Graham go to camp and at the end of the night the camp leaders have the kids do Roses,Thorns, and Buds. Each camp member tells something good that happened that day- Roses. Then they tell something bad- Thorns. And the Buds are something to look forward to the next day.

We've now done this game for several years before everyone goes to bed. This helps my husband who is depressed just plain talk in general. This helps us know how the kids interpreted the day. But it also showed me that my husbands meds were out of balance.

How would it show me the meds were out of balance? We had four months where my husband didn't experience anything good, or bad. Everything was okay or fine. We lived in a world of grey. We didn't experience any joy.

2 Nephi 2:25 says:  Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

This simple exercise and the scripture helped change the conversations at the doctor's office.

Thank you Mike Knudson for helping my family to laugh, read, and interpret life.