The Future is as bright as your faith...

Your Father in Heaven knows your name and knows your circumstance. He hears your prayers. He knows your hopes and dreams, including your fears and frustrations. And He knows what you can become through faith in Him. Seek to comprehend the significance of these doctrines.

Cherish your esteemed place in the sight of God. He needs you. This Church needs you. The world needs you.

A woman not of our faith once wrote something to the effect that in her years of working with beautiful women she had seen several things they all had in common, and not one of them had anything to do with sizes and shapes. She said the loveliest women she had known had a glow of health, a warm personality, a love of learning, stability of character, and integrity. If we may add the sweet and gentle Spirit of the Lord carried by such a woman, then this describes the loveliness of women in any age or time,every element of which is emphasized in and attainable through the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To my granddaughter and to every other young person in this Church I bear my personal witness that God is in reality our Father and Jesus Christ is in reality His Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I testify that this really is the Church and kingdom of God on earth, that true prophets have led this people in the past and a true prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, leads it now. May you know the unending love the leaders of the Church have for you and may you let the eternal realities of the gospel of Jesus Christ lift you above temporal concerns and teenage anxieties I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Holland Oct. 2005 "To Young Women"

Be assured that if you but hold on, believe in Him, and remain faithful in keeping the commandments, one day you will experience for yourselves the promises revealed to the Apostle Paul: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”²²

Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.

God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.

May we ever believe, trust, and align our lives so that we will understand our true eternal worth and potential. May we be worthy of the precious blessings our Heavenly Father has in store for us is my prayer in the name of His Son, even Jesus Christ, amen.

DIETER F. UCHTDORF Oct. 2011 You Matter to Him!

Top 10 Board Ideas

Top 10 Movies (We decided the best way to answer the Top 10 Movies was to ask if you could only own 10 movies what would they be?  Then applied this way of thinking to help narrow the thought  process.)

Top 10 Disneyland Rides
Top 10 "Heros"
Top 10 Books
Top 10 Reasons my Family is better than yours
Top 10 Restaurants (might break into fast food / slow food)
Top 10 Foods (Savory)
Top 10 Foods (Sweet)
Top 10 Dream Jobs
Top 10 Things I am most Grateful for
Top 10 Past Vacations
Top 10 Dream Vacations
Top 10 People I wish I could meet - living
Top 10 People I wish I could meet - dead
Top 10 Things I want (realistic)
Top 10 Things I want (unrealistic)
Top 10 TV shows
Top 10 Meals
Top 10 Things to do Before I die
Top 10 Super Powers

Stout Family Moto

Taken from the LDS "Handbook 2" 1.4.1 - "A Christ-centered home offers adults and children a place of defense against sin, refuge from the world, healing from emotional and other pain, and committed, genuine love."  Click Here 

We added "Our home is" to the begining, and "and full of fun" to personalize it to our family.  Find a statement that is your family and make it your motto.

 

Watch How You Spend Your Time!

"Parents should teach gospel priorities through what they do with their children" - Elder Oaks

Rely on HIM!

Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.” ¹¹ You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even—no, especially—when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibility as mothers, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” ¹² And it will make your children whole as well.

- Jeffery R Holland, "Because She is a Mother" General Conference April 1997   Click Here 

Plead to Parents from Pres Hinckley

President Hinckley has pleaded that we "work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it."  - Pres. Gordon B Hinckley, "Each a Better Person" General Conference Oct. 2002. Click Here

Belonging NO MATTER WHAT!

Ideas to create a family team feeling:

• Think of a team/gang.. what do they do to mimic "family" - they build each other up... are we doing that ? are we doing that? They are there for each other no matter what.  They have each others back!  They are great familyers, but can never compare to the family unit designed by our Heavenly Father!  
• Give Responsibility... do chores TOGETHER - some of my greatest childhood memories come from the after dinner dishes.  It was a full team effort & there were often bubbles, and laughter involved.  Once even a kitchen sink sprayer that sprayed all the way across the kitchen... by my (very serious) dad!!  
• Give Acknowledgement - One of the basic human needs is Acknowledgement!  We need to show our kids that they are good at doing things!  I have a friend in her late 50's and to this day when we have gone to serve by cleaning houses, she will pipe up,  "I will clean the bathrooms!  I know I can do that well because my mom told me I am the best bathroom cleaner!"
• Sit at the table for a while after dinner.  Growing up our best conversations & honestly by testimony started at the dinner table.  We sat at the table every night, and then my tired mom would stay there, usually someone (even my 16 yr old, very cool brother) would sit on her lap and we would talk for a little while.  This was our dessert, and it was a sample of heaven.  
• Get to know each other... like friends do. Sister Feinhauer taught the three F's 1. Food 2. Fire 3.Fanny.  Each of these bring the kids. especially teenagers together.  1. Food - build it and they will come! 2. Fire - what is it that draws us to fire, but try one in the back yard... it drives away flies and drives in family members (especially if roasting things is involved). 3. Fanny - If my sits her fanny down, the kids will gather, IF there are not any "screens" turned on.
• Make Top 10 Lists - We have a white board that changes each month with different Top 10s to be filled out by each family member.  It is a fun way to get to know a little about each other.
• Create a family motto/logo/mission statement - It will help you define how to family each other.
• Call yourself a team - a friend from out of town called, can she come over?  AAAHHH, 10 minutes until company! " Team Stout, all hands on deck company in 10 minutes!"  My kids know that means all hands on deck right now, and get an area in the house ready for company.  If they are spending the night, sheets on a bed, towels ready for them.  Make sure the kitchen is clean... you know the drill.  OR - It is 6:45am and I hear the garbage man on other street and I realize I forgot to take the cans out to the street.  "Team Stout!!  Garbages!" Then in life when there are real challenges there is a Team Stout!  It is fun to to have Team awards, or a surprise trip to ice cream... 
• Have family (private) jokes, stories, words... that you repeat to belong. 
• Play Mom always said..., Dad always said.... Simply ask your kids, "What does Dad always say?" Or "What does Mom always say?" It is eye opening!  And bonding!
• Play "Remember When..."
• Traditions - Make them, then keep them!  Even when they seem stupid, do it anyway!
• Write heart felt letters and then go and read them out loud to the family member, then leave it for them.
• One-on-one time/dates/talks - pray pray pray, have an open heart/mind, treat as friend.
• Mom Daughter Journal - get a cute note book and start it with a note to your daughter saying you would like to have a chance to get to know her better, so you will be writing notes (like the ones you used to pass in school)  to her, and then she can write you back, ect.  I know one mom that says anything she needs to vent about in their journal, she will not get in trouble for saying.  It is the safe place.