Season for Family

A community of women finding time for family connections.

Finding your part in the temple work

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It’s our season for the temple! But what is your role in this? Is it your time to attend regularly? Is it finding family names to take to the temple? Is it being an ordinance worker? Is it working on receiving your own ordinances? Whatever part of the temple you are participating in right now, we can always find ways to strengthen our own testimonies of the temple and our families.

Last week we took the opportunity to go to the temple with our children. It was a Monday night and the temple was closed. So, we sat down in front with a picnic blanket and a big plate of brownies 😊. We talked about the temple with our kids. It wasn’t planned out or scripted. It was an opportunity to just talk about what we love about the temple. To explain and share with our children the importance of the covenants made in the temple. I took time to share how I feel in the temple and even shared my most special memory- the day I was sealed for time and all eternity to my best friend.

My children LOVED the stories. They loved understanding more about what goes on in the temple. They sat in rapture as I told the story of how our family began. It is NEVER too early to instill a love and reverence for the temple in our children. And it’s a funny thing, how as I took that time to teach my children, I felt my own testimony grow. I remembered some sweet and sacred memories I had not thought of for a long time. I realized how much the temple has blessed my life over the years as I vocally shared those tender feelings with my children. I recognized the strength the temple offered me in the past and was available for my future. We grow so much when we teach our children. They need us, but oh how we need them.

What are ways your share your love for the temple with your children? How do you get them excited to attend the temple?

KAYLA BERRETT

IG: @kaylaberrett

Taide

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What is resiliency? Where does it come from? How do we get it? Resiliency is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Research is showing that knowing your family stories is one way to gain resiliency. Knowing and searching out your families lives is a healthy and healing way to deal with hardships. Search for them, remember them, find out how your ancestors survived. Literally “flesh them out” with stories, photos, and a little history of what was happening in the years and places they lived. I guarantee this process will change you for the better.

On the left is my great grandmother Taide. On the right is me. I know she faced great hardships, as did many of the women in our family before and after her. Whatever resiliency she gained, I know it lives on in me.

MICHELLE FRANZONI THORLEY

florafamiliar.myportfolio.com
IG: @flora_familiar

The experience behind the lilac bush

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Before this year, I had never given lilac bushes much notice, and neither had my kids. But now they are one of our favorites. Lilac bushes have become a meaningful and special symbol in our family.

In 1892 my great-great-grandparents, Swen and Thilda, along with a few of their children, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Swen was the first of the family to be introduced to the gospel and to have a desire to join the church. At first, Thilda was not happy about it at all, but that changed after Thilda had an experience behind a lilac bush.

One of her sons, Helge, wrote about Thilda’s conversion: “I still remember when Mormon missionaries came to our home. Father seemed a little interested in their teaching, but mother was hesitant until one time when they came back to talk to father. She went outside, and kneeling behind a lilac bush, she prayed that she might know if their message was from God. After that, she never faltered but remained faithful and true to the gospel all her life.”

This spring, we cut some fresh lilac’s from a bush in my sister’s yard and took them to Thilda’s grave. For several weeks after this experience, while the lilacs were still in bloom, anytime we would see a lilac bush, my 3 year old daughter would point to it and say “that’s the bush were Thilda prayed!”

There are a couple of things that I really love about this. I love that my children feel a real connection to Thilda and they are learning more about her life. I also love that the lilac bush has become a symbol of receiving revelation from Heavenly Father.

I hope that this story from our family history helps my children to know that Heavenly Father was involved in Thilda’s life and that they should seek and expect similar experiences in their own lives. 

SHELLY LOPEZ

IG: @goodmorningshelly