They're listening!

Just wanted to record an experience from family night this week:  Tim was teaching a lesson (in the car on the way to buy Annie birthday presents- family night on the fly!) about General Conference, since it's coming up this weekend.  I have to admit that I do not have a stellar attitude about conference- not that I don't love the talks and enjoy the spirit, but because it is hard to sit through 8 hours of talks with 7 kids who don't usually want to sit still and listen!  I've always kind of thought of myself as doing it for show- to set an example for the kids of watching conference.  I can always read the talks later and feel the Spirit then, right? Well, as part of his lesson, Tim asked everyone to tell about a favorite conference talk that they remembered.  Inwardly, I was rolling my eyes, sure that very few of the kids would be able to remember anything.  Tim told his, and then Ethan said, "I remember one!" and shared with us- then Annie said, "I remember one!" and told the story of the kids and the marshmallows from a couple of years ago.

Yep, despite my skepticism, it turns out that ALL of my kids (well, with the exception of Eliza- but give her time- she's only been alive for two of them!) remember specific General Conference talks.  I got kind of teary-eyed- because it was a witness to me that the Spirit is working on each of my kids individually, and they're starting to get it.  There are parts of being a Mom that I don't enjoy- like the boys' fight in the Walmart parking lot over the front seat when we were leaving- but I LOVE seeing my kids grow into their own people.  I'm not raising a family of little me's- I have stewardship over 7 unique individuals who will make their own wonderful lives.  What an amazing thing!  And I have a better attitude about this weekend's Conference, too.