the Jesus tree

I was contemplating our family prayers lately..you know the ones with lines like:

" help us to be more like our savior", or "help us to remember the teachings of our savior", OR "help us to act as the Savior would act SO we can be more like our savior Jesus Christ"

I wondered how much my children understood those lines...I mean when they get in a sticky situation do the actually think " hmmmm, what would Jesus do?"

Obviously, Mike and I try to teach them about their Savior, but do they KNOW him well enough to use the knowledge in all the moments they need it?

I decided probably not, since most of the time I wonder if I even kind of understand it well enough to totally apply his teachings in my daily life. I mean, knowing stories of some ones Life is different then understanding who they are, and how and why they choose the path and choices they did.

Since it is fall I couldn't help but think of cute sparkly fall leaves ( in my world every thing sparkles!) so I talked with ranner about building a paper tree for my hallway, where my kids would be able to write the things they learn about Jesus on leaves and decorate the tree. I am hoping for real lessons to be learned, I don't just want a recap of stories. I want the whys and hows here...which means I need to be a good enough mom to teach those lessons. BUT Ranner thinks bigger then me...

SO, we made a vinyl tree, I can decorate and redecorate it with the seasons and all the lessons we learn. We did it all from hand, the cost total was 7.50. I am hoping the lessons learned are price less.... we dubbed the tree the " Jesus tree" since that's the first set of lessons I want to teach the kids....its not decorated yet, but I thought I would share our hard work...I think it turned out pretty good. Maybe the Lord helps with a project when the objective it right?=) I think so, because I am no artist and this tree just happened..