Overachieving with FHE

So, Mormons are encouraged to hold a Family Home Evening every Monday night. It is kind of a big deal around town. Nothing happens on Monday nights. People are encouraged to stay home and have family prayer, conversation, a lesson, a game and a treat all together. Its a nice idea, right?

Tim and I didn't worry about it too much at the beginning of our marriage. Occasionally we would hold a family night. We would invite enough other and a stuff Mickey Mouse that I got as a gift while working for Radio Disney. Tim would talk in a pretend voice and welcome me and Mickey to the meeting. I wanted to slap him, but I went with it.

But we believe that our church doesn't just give us a lot of busy work. There must be something to this Family Home Evening thing. So when we couldn't get pregnant the first time, we gave it a try. Full speed ahead. We never missed a Monday.

And it worked. In a few months we were happier AND blessed by our obedience with the conception of little Kristie Quinn.

We have been very diligent ever since, but we got behind this year because Tim had to work on Monday nights. We tried switching to Thursday, but it just didn't have the same gusto. After 6 months, we are finally back on track.

Now here is the overachieving part: My phone reminds me every Thursday during Quinn's nap time to plan for FHE that night. Yesterday, I went to town and planned lesson called "Baking Spirituality."

I basically assigned a spiritual concept to each ingredient in chocolate chip cookies. Quinn and I made signs and tape them around the kitchen, and then Quinn and Tim had to find the right spiritually building concepts and ingredients as I made the cookies. When we were done, we wrapped them up for a new neighbor and as a birthday gift for an old friend. Seriously overachieving, right?

Here are pictures and the "recipe."

Avery McKenna is ready for family night. Nice to have her awake for the big event.

The kitchen is all ready!!! Each sign says something like, "Personal Scripture Study," "Church," "Tithing," or "Charity."

"Quinn and daddy search for the word "Temple," which is represented by the butter -- the first ingredient -- the Temple has to be the first priority in our lives.

Spiritual cookies ready for baking!

Cookies ready to take to the neighbor!

(Warning: This recipe is for High Altitude Only. Use a regular recipe if you are not in the mountains, folks.)

Making Spiritual Cookies

Family Home Evening

Start by deciding what you want each ingredient in your recipe to represent. Then write the names of each spiritual concept on a piece of paper and let the children decorate them.

Tape the papers in the kitchen based on where the matching ingredient is stored. For example, since the salt represents Tithing, would tape the paper that says “Tithing” on the cupboard where the salt is kept.

When it is time to make the cookies, tell the family "we are going to make spiritual cookies." Tell them to find each ingredient. Say, “First, we need the Temple.” They will go over to the “Temple” sign on the fridge and find the first ingredient. When everyone agrees that butter should go in first, explain the relationship between the temple and the butter. “If we are going to make it to the temple we have to think about it first a lot of the time.”

Continue this way until you have had a nice family lesson and discussion and a nice treat to end the night.

This activity can also be adapted to all age groups, religions and purposes. It can be done as a small lesson for pre-school ages by just making numbered signs and placing them around the kitchen. The child has to identify the number to know which ingredient comes next.

INGREDIENTS (Spiritual Nourishment)

• 1 cup butter or margarine – TEMPLE (Butter goes in first. Put temple worship as a goal BEFORE other activities)
• 1 cup white sugar FAMILY PRAYER (it is pure and sweet and makes the day better)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar FAMILY AND PERSONAL SCRIPTURE STUDY (Scripture study works with prayer)
• 3 eggs FAMILY HOME EVENING (Without eggs, it all just falls apart AND late is better than never. 2 Days Late)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract CHURCH (it’s just a little bit but it gives the cookies a lot of flavor)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt TITHING (Tithing – it is just a pinch, but it makes all the different)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda WORD OF WISDOM (We don’t eat yucky things)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour PRAYER (ADD LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OD PRAYER. Flour and prayer are the bulk of the cookies)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips CHARITY (The chocolate is an important ingredient that gives the rest of the ingredients their purpose. Without Charity, it is not a chocolate chip cookie. Plus, chocolate is sweet, and we should be sweet too.)

DIRECTIONS (Obedience)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, stir together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until blended, then mix in the chocolate chips so they are evenly distributed. Drop cookies by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets spacing 2 inches apart.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the edges begin to turn golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.