How to Substitue in Primary with 2 minutes notice

I was recently released from being the Primary President in my ward. This calling taught me to listen to the Word of the Lord and helped prepare me for our daily battle against the Dark Side.  I needed a lot of Substitutes and unfortunately most of them were last minute. 

How to Substitute in Primary with 2 Minutes Notice 

My Cousin Debbie always joked that if you pulled together a primary lesson in two minutes and it turned out decent you’ve served in the primary too long.  But she has a spiritual gift.  For all of us that don’t have Debbie’s talents here are a few tips on last minute teaching.

1.     Thank you for saying yes.  This is not the ideal situation for substituting, but last minute sicknesses do come up.  By saying yes you relieve stress for many people.  You are also in a position to strongly listen to the Holy Ghost.

2.    Remember to pray.      

3.    Look up the key scripture and topic of the lesson.    Can the scripture be acted out?  Can the kids play a game around this topic?  Good games are follow the Leader, hang man, or guess who are a few. 

4.    Share your testimony. 

Finally, don’t compare how this lesson went with a lesson you taught previously.  You did the best you could with the time you had.  

39 and Holding......Not Us

June 2014

Exactly one year ago my husband spent 10 days in the hospital. He was there for a variety of reasons, both physical health related and mental health related.  During that hospital stay my husband turned 39. His recovery is a long process and we are still on the recovery path.

Birthdays have always been a big deal around our house, and we wanted to make this birthday special because we were limited on our celebrating last year. (Due to his health and meds we couldn't even have cake last year that's how bad it was.)

The kids and I decided to decorate our home with a Superman Theme. I'm walking through the store picking up plates, tablecloths and that kind of things and there were balloons and buttons that said, "39 and Holding".

I thought 39 is over 40 has to be better.

When I told this to my husband about this though we laughed. He agreed 39 was over. It's time to look to the future.

Sometimes all you need is a fresh start and 40 is ours.

Yearbook Pictures

The end of school is near when your kids bring home yearbooks. The kids showed off every page to me. They told me which boy my little girl liked. They told me which girl liked my little boy, and pointed out every friend in the whole school. They even gave me a play by play of the entire school year.  

As a mother I've worried that my kids are becoming depressed because our house has a battle going on with the Dark Side every day. So I looked carefully at my children's pictures. They were happy in their school pictures. I had to look at the pictures again to be sure, but there was no doubt my children were genuinely happy.    

I may not be helping my husband battle the Dark Side, but I'm preventing it from taking over my children's lives. 

"Egg"selent

I've decided I believe in old wives tales....At least for today. Tomorrow???? But I've heard one of the fastest ways to get out of depression is to do service for someone.  The suggestion was also made in Primary on Sunday to serve others when you feel bad. So I'm trying to apply this advice. I know I'm a grown up, but I know my Primary leaders are praying for me too.

I'm starting to slip into those oppressive thoughts that lead to depression myself. My thoughts mostly consist of what have I done to "feed" my husbands depression? Are my expectations too high? Do I put too much pressure on him?

I logically know those type of thoughts do not get me anywhere that I should be going. And Action is required to change some of those thoughts. People say your brain can only think about one thought at a time. Another old wives tale. One that I believe, so it's time to take some action.

The kids are learning things from everywhere these days. Our church leaders say nothing can replace the work done in our own home. So today's thoughts consist of not passing on the depression.

We found a bag of plastic eggs from Easter. I had the kids write positive messages inside the eggs. Kid handwriting is cuter right? Then we made a note that said, "Your Eggselent" and "You've been egged." Then we scattered the eggs in a neighbor's yard.

So thanks for the "Egg"selent suggestion of giving service. It helped battle the Dark Side today.

Thank You to Eric Church

Eric Church has a song on his first album "Sinner's like Me" called Livin' a Part of Life.

When I am stressed or the song on the radio isn't creating good thoughts in my head I play this song.
I can relate to every line.

"Woke up early this mornin' and I'm already runnin'late." Since this started I've been waking up at 4:45 to 5:15 every morning. Even getting up an hour earlier, I slide into work at the last minute. 

"I've got a list of things as long as my arm that I want to get done today."
"Is it Tuesday? Is it Wednesday?" What did I wear yesterday?

But what I love best about this song is how I am reminded to take time for myself and make Livin' a Part of Life.  When I keep fun things in our family (puzzles, funny books, silly math games ect)I've found that even when my husband is down for the count I can breath during this battle.

Battling the Darkside is a daily battle at least for the time being. If I don't find time to have joy in this battle my kids will be out of the house, and not have positive memories to look back on.  Maybe just maybe, the kids might not know how strong the Darkside really is if I can keep Livin' a Part of Life.
Eric, thank you for my pep talk that I can replay daily, hourly, and every five minutes if I need to.

Memorial Day 2014

Memorial Day is a day that we as citizens have the privilege to say thank you to all the Service Men and Women that made and make great sacrifices for our current way of life. Today I'd like to say thank you to their families too.

Thank you to all the partners who have been woke up in the middle of the night from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) nightmares. Those are scary for both of you. Thank you that I may sleep at peace in my own bed knowing that I will be safe.

Thank you to all the kids that blew kisses to parents at the airport not knowing how long it would be before you could hug, or kiss your mom or dad again.

Thank you to every parent that taught their kid to stand up for what they believe, and then having the faith to let your child go and protect others.

Thank you to every Leader who stayed behind so that the team was out first.

Depression and Anxiety are not Cancer

May 2015

Many times on this journey of Battling the Dark Side I've found myself wishing this was Cancer instead of fighting Depression and Anxiety. People understand cancer. People understand cancer  treatments make you sick. People understand that cancer effects the whole family. People raise money for fighting Cancer.  

Truthfully, I don't wish our fight was cancer. I just wish people understood this is a hard battle.

People don't understand Depression, Anxiety, and the rest of the mental health trials. The last statistics I saw from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) says "1 out of 20 Americans 12 years of age and older experience current depression." 

So to bring those numbers home more logically I have 20 houses on my street with an average of 3 people over the age of 12. (20*3=60) Out of 60 people 3 people on my street are experiencing depression This Moment. 

I am not alone in this battle. 

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month.

Help family members get help. Don't be afraid to drive to the emergency room, or call a hotline. The family member may be mad for a moment, but a moment is not a lifetime.

Circling back to the cancer topic. I was asked to bring dinner to a dear friend name Hillary. Yes Hillary is her real name. When the compassionate service leader called and asked if I could bring Hillary a meal on Thursday, saying yes to the meal was easy. I looked at my calender and saw how busy Thursday night was, and had know idea how to get her the meal on time, but thought to myself, "We're not fighting cancer. We can do this."