General Conference Fall 2013

What a super General Conference!!! It is so wonderful to be taught and instructed from living prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ. I truly felt the voice of God speak to me through them as He poured forth peace, love, hope, insight, guidance, inspiration, direction and power. Isn't it so great to be able to receive all those wonderful things whether you sat in the Conference Center with 21,000 other people or in your own living room with your little family? After such an intense spiritual high, I am always a little blue when conference weekend is over but I am so excited to listen to and read the counsel again and again over the next 6 months. As Elder Hales said yesterday, “The greatest blessings of General Conference come to us after the Conference is over… We gather to hear the words of the Lord, and we return to our homes to live them.” 

I can't choose a favorite talk as they were all so good.  But you can catch all the talks online anytime you want at http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions

On a family side note, the kids were so great this conference.  We kept things simple and that seemed to really work for us.  In the past I have done a bunch of coloring pages and activities to keep the kids happy but I didn't this time and I actually think that helped my sanity before, during and after conference.  And the kids didn't seem to miss those things anyhow.  They sat and listened amazingly well.  It probably didn't hurt that we gave them small dollar store gifts when each apostle spoke or that they earned pennies whenever they heard one of the speaker say one of our 10 pre-selected keys words.  We also allow our kids to color or play quietly in the living room or kitchen during the talks but they were really great about still listening to the speakers since they would still come get their pennies whenever they heard one of the words.  They were able to spend the pennies on candy and treats at our "Conference Store" between sessions.  We told them we would double any money they had left over after treats.  Jack spent all his (again) but Eve made a pretty decent income this weekend.  Porter just seemed to play along with the big kids and he was really good the whole time so he earned whatever treats he asked for.    It was really nice to have so much quality family time together this weekend.  We were all gathered together instead of doing our own activities.  I felt that everything went really smoothly this time and these simple traditions are something special and anticipated every 6 months.