Church

Today was a fun day.  Although Zach’s team lost, they played the Broncos (Zach’s old team from last year).  It was fun to see all the kids he played with last year, as well as Coach Tim and the other coaches.

Tonight, we had our Stake Roadshow performances at the Naperville Stake Center.  It was a hoot to watch them.  Our ward’s performance was one of the better ones and the kids had a blast doing it.  The olio’s were also pretty funny as well.  There are a lot of talented kids (and kids who aren’t afraid to get in front of others and act crazy) in our stake.  The theme of the night was Bedtime Stories.  Our ward’s performance was around reading “For the Strength of Youth” and Rapunzel (Denzel), Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo (Nema), and others.  We hope to get a DVD of the performances soon.

I tried to get some pictures, but we were a ways away and with our small camera, it was too dark.  I only got one of Sarah that turned out blurry but recognizable…

Sarah played Nema’s mom and they were dressed up like clownfish.  🙂  Brittany was a cute pink fish and had her face painted up as well.  Kirstyn was one of Rapunzel’s (Denzel’s) flock of girls who thought he was really cute.  🙂  I guess you really had to be there to understand.  🙂   I’ll try and get some better pictures posted.

Great job girls!

Tonight we went up to the temple with all of our young men and young women to do baptisms.  We had about 360 names that we needed to complete and got all of them but about 10 completed!  The kids were so excited because all the names came from the work that members of our ward had done (including us)!  🙂

We took about 35 youth and each of them did about 10 names.  Due to the sheer number of kids and the number of names we did, it was very late when we finished up.  We all had donuts and milk in the parking lot and then drove home.  We didn’t get home until almost 11:00pm!

What a great feeling!

Tonight, we held our yearly Young Men and Young Women “Standards Night” at the church.  It turned out very well.  The other counselor in the Bishopric and I split up the youth based on age, and I had all the 12 & 13 year-old youth.  We had a great discussion (along with a little video clip).  It is so important that we teach high standards, especially when the kids are young, as it’s getting harder and harder for them out in the world today.  I have even a higher vested interest in this since we have 3 young women right now.  Just seeing what they have to deal with on a daily basis makes you sick.  As a father who wants what’s best for my daughters at this age (and sons when they get there), it’s hard to not jump in and “take over” or “ruin” their lives as all teenagers tell their parents often.  🙂

The Bishop took the parents and had a great discussion with them as well.  I hope that the parents took away a great deal from this as well!

We all emphasized the importance of the “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet and that the kids AND parents read it often.  Here it is for those who don’t have it…

https://lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth?lang=eng

If you want a .PDF of it, you can download it here…  For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet

Today, our Ward went to Feed My Starving Children!  We packed a ton of boxes of food.  I can’t remember how many cases we packed or how many meals were provided, but everyone felt great about their contributions.  This time, I stayed home with Ben.  This was Zach’s first time to go and he was really excited!  He had a blast and wants to go back again soon!  At the facility that we pack the food at, they have a huge wall where they pin up shirts donated by people who come (business logos, etc.).  Angela took a “Mormon Helping Hands” yellow shirt up there and gave it to them after we had finished our packing job.  They were very appreciative and will post it up on their wall (hopefully next to the Grant Thornton one)!  🙂

I didn’t hear where the food we packed today will go, but no matter where, we saved some lives today!  🙂  What a great feeling!

Today Sarah and Brittany had their Seminary kick-off meetings for the new year!  They are SO excited!  The homes that they will be meeting at are very close together and does not require too much driving.  That way, they were able to separate the classes to have one for Fr/So, and one for Jr/Sr.  The teachers are wonderful!  Brittany has the two that taught them last year (Sarah is very jealous).  Sarah’s teachers sound like they will be wonderful as well.  Turns out that one of them is a Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Chicago Bulls.  🙂  I’m hoping that they go to a Bulls game this year and he needs help from parents!  🙂

The girls will be studying the Old Testament this year.  They aren’t looking forward to getting up at 4:30am to be at Seminary by 6am, but they know how important it is and are excited to do it.  We are very proud of them for their desire to do what’s right!  People can’t believe the fact that they get up so early to study religious “stuff.”

Today Zach went to school and met his new teacher, Mr. Farrell!  He was very excited because he knows Mr. Farrell a little bit from when Kirstyn had him for math.  Zach can’t wait for school to start.  I hope that his teacher feels that way too!  🙂  I’m sure Mr. Farrell got an update from his teacher last year!  😐

Tonight, the girls and I went over to the South Point Swim Club for the end of the summer pool party with the young men and young women in our ward.  We had a GREAT turnout and the food was wonderful.  The kids brought friends and I think that altogether, we had over 5o people there!  Brittany was extra excited about the evening, but I won’t go into it any further!  🙂  You’ll have to ask her yourself!

Tonight we had a Ward Temple Night and what an awesome night it was.  As part of Youth Conference, we came up with names for the girls to do baptisms for in Nauvoo.  We asked the Raketic family if we could do the work for their family, and they said that we could.  Brittany and Sarah did the baptisms, and tonight, Angela and I went to the temple and did the work for Tracy’s Mom and Dad!  It was really a cool experience doing that for someone that you know.  We haven’t had much of a chance to do that because a ton of work in our families on both sides has been done.  We have about 14 more names to do and are excited to do these over the next year!  🙂

Over the last 3 days, Sarah and Brittany were able to participate in a wonderful Stake Youth Conference in Nauvoo.  It is great having Nauvoo so close!  🙂  They went down with a couple hundred youth and leaders and spent the time learning about church history, dancing, and the highlight:  doing baptisms in the temple.

The stake leaders decided that they would make this youth conference all about family history so all the youth were challenged to come up with their own names of family and friends to take to the temple.  We don’t have any that we know of due to very diligent grandparents, parents, and other relatives, so we asked the Raketic family if we could do their names.  They were very willing to let us do this, so she provided all the information that she had.  We did all the prep work and submitted them for doing the temple work.  Brittany and  Sarah were able to be baptized for all the names we prepared, which included Tracy’s parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.  What an awesome experience!

Overall, our ward had about 600 names (I think) that we all need to finish the work for, so we are going to take this on as a ward project for the next year-and-a-half.  This should be an amazing experience!

Overall the girls loved it!  They came home pretty excited and couldn’t talk enough about it!