Goliath

We had some great experiences tonight!

Scott finished a big work project he pushed hard to finish.

Coral was asked out for her first date with a college man.

We registered Isaac for high school next year.

I had an awesome missionary experience.  Members are usually not supposed to go out with the missionaries on Monday night, because we're supposed to be home having Family Home Evening, but I felt that I should go to this particular discussion tonight at 6:00.  So I asked the kids to feed themselves dinner and be ready for FHE when I got back around 7:00.

Jessalyn took on the challenge!  Even though she had just gotten home from tennis practice, she made sure that the kids ate some dinner.  She helped Dallin prepare an awesome lesson about David and Goliath.  She made a cake that went along with the David and Goliath theme, all in an hour!

To go along with the lesson, Jessalyn and Dallin created a life-size picture of Goliath and hung it over the stairs.  Here is Dallin standing in front of Goliath.  Aysha is on the landing, observing.

Here is Isaac -- even the tallest child in our family is dwarfed by Goliath!

Emerald also wanted to compare her height to the giant:

Jessalyn ended the lesson with excerpts from a talk by President Gordon B. Hinckley in April 1983:

"There are Goliaths all around you, hulking giants with evil intent to destroy you. These are not nine-foot-tall men, but they are men and institutions that control attractive but evil things that may challenge and weaken and destroy you. ...

"It is almost impossible to entirely avoid exposure to their products. You see these materials on all sides. But you need not fear if you have the slingshot of truth in your hands. You have been counseled and taught and advised. You have the stones of virtue and honor and integrity to use against these enemies who would like to conquer you. Insofar as you are concerned, you can hit them 'between the eyes,' to use a figurative expression. You can triumph over them by disciplining yourselves to avoid them. You can say to the whole lot of them as David said to Goliath, 'Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.'

"Victory will be yours. There is not a [person] within the sound of my voice who needs to succumb to any of these forces.  ...  You have His power within you to sustain you. You have the right to ministering angels about you to protect you. Do not let Goliath frighten you. Stand your ground and hold your place, and you will be triumphant."