A Few Gems

Last night as part of our FHE I had everyone fill out a "Thankful Questionnaire". I'm hoping that it will become a tradition and each year they can be added to a book and looked back over the years as a fun and interesting read. (hence the blog post to help me remember) The items on the list were

I'm thankful for Dad because (there was one for each member of our family)

Modern conveniences I'm most thankful for

Personal possession I'm most thankful for

Gospel principle I'm thankful for today

Event in the past year I'm most thankful for

Some of the answers will become even funnier over the years, but even as early as yesterday there were a few gems.

One child was particularly disgruntled the whole FHE. His answers were mostly quotes from the Proclamation. For example he wrote "Gospel principle I'm thankful for today is 'those who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God'." However, on the personal possession he was most thankful for he wrote 'cell phone' and 'mp3' then crossed them out (because he'd like to be thankful for them, but at this juncture we haven't deemed them necessary for him.) Then he wrote clothes and bed. Poor boy.

On the 'event in the past year' question, one child crossed out the word 'past' and replaced it with 'last three' then wrote 2006 BYU: 33 Utah: 31.

All three boys wrote something to the effect of "I'm awesome" on what they were thankful about themselves.

One person wrote that the modern convenience she is most thankful for is pink clothes.

And the gospel principle one person was most thankful for was nursery snacks. (now weren't those last two gems cryptic?)

All three boys made references to Tessa's VERY FUNNY prayer to begin FHE. As many of you know, when we read the For Strength of Youth pamphlet each day, "Tom says 'Open to (name of a person).' to tell us which page to open to. (See here BTW, Tom has thought of a few new look-alikes so I've added them to that post.) Well, in Tessa's prayer she manifested that she has been paying attention during scripture reading. She blessed each member of our family except me, then went on to grandparents, (uncle) Justin, then out of the blue: "And please bless Greg Chandler." Okay! We all busted up. It was out of control. I finally squeaked out an 'Amen'. At least it gave her brothers a reason to be thankful for her.

Although there was grumbling about this little thankful exercise, hopefully over time it will prove fun and maybe even beneficial. Time will tell.