I have not been great with personal scripture study. But one thing I have done well is telling my kids scripture stories every night before they go to bed. They really look forward to it. Dallas usually brushes their teeth, gets them on the potty, and reads them each a book while I nurse the babies. Then he leaves them in their room with all the lights off (except for their Frozen night light given to them by Grandma Tamyra) and they patiently wait for me to come tell them a scripture story. I don't know if it's because they are just so righteous and love the scriptures (that could be it - they are pretty awesome kids) or because they just want more time with mom and a later bedtime...
But whatever the reason, even if I forget to study my own scriptures, the kids expect me to teach them something EVERY night (and it reminds me that I need to get my tail in gear so I have something to teach them)! It's been a little tough lately because I try to coincide with what's happening in Come Follow Me. That was pretty easy when we were in the war and story chapters like Alma but we've been in 3rd Nephi for a while and the last few chapters have had a lot of teaching and less of story. Which isn't bad - it's just taken me a while to figure out how to take a principle like "Jesus said to be kind" and tell it in an interesting enough way for it to count as a "scripture story" for the girls.
I've started including examples of the principle - either from my own life or from the girls' lives or from conference talks. The other night I shared the story from President Monson's talk, In Search of Treasure. about a boy Benjamin who loved his violin so so much but gave it up so that he would have the money needed to serve a mission. My favorite part of that story is when Benjamin says, "The greatest decision I ever made...was to give up something I dearly loved to the God I loved even more. He has never forgotten me for it."
So, tonight I wracked my brain trying to remember some other principles from Book of Mormon chapters for this week and remembered tithing. I talked to the girls a bit about tithing and the discussion turned into, "How do we make money?" I told them how I made money as a kid. As a little kid, mostly flyers. As a teenager, my money-making jobs consisted of babysitting, baking bread, pressure washing with my brother, and mowing/painting/cleaning/tiling my parents rental homes. I think I may have also taught a bit of piano lessons in High School.
My first time having an employer other than my parents was at BYU. I worked at Subway in the Cougareat for a whopping four or five weeks. The girls were so impressed. "You were a chef?!" Ah, I wish. I explained I was technically a "sandwich artist" which they still thought was incredible and so cool. My next job didn't sound quite as cool as the "sandwich artist" but I sure made more money. I worked as a ....I don't even know what my title was. I worked at the Center for Instuctional Design at BYU. We helped with getting courses out for Independent Study and helping professors with things they wanted done for their classes. I honestly have no idea what to call myself for what I did there. And I think I mostly got the job because my friend had the job before me.
Anyway, that was the end of our discussion tonight. It was nice to reminisce back on my life. The discussion made me think about how we need to help our kids learn more about money and it also reminded me of the good ole' days of being a little college student. I told my kids that I loved my time at BYU - that I wished I had been less shy and more willing to try new things - intramurals, being more friendly, study abroads, interesting classes, etc. I told them that when they go to college I want to hear about all the things they are doing - their jobs, classes, friends, what they are worried/excited about, etc.
I know. This is the most rambling post of all time. Take home message is...bedtime scripture stories with the babes have turned out to be something I love. I am grateful for the motivation it gives to help me study my own scriptures and so grateful for the opportunity it gives for me to converse with my children about things that matter. Side note take home message is we need to start helping our children learn about money now. But wow. That seems like a lot of work. Luckily I'm married to Dallas - I'll just tell him and he'll figure something out. Phew.
