I really like your idea of the picture of Christ and the colored cellophane on the back. What a great visual aid. I also use clear contact paper. It doesn't come out as professional as laminating but it's a lot cheaper. I have children ranging in age from 3 years old to 21 years old. My oldest children are out of the home. Right now I plan Family Home Evening for a 3 year old and a 5 year old. My calling in our ward right now is in the Valiant Primary where this year we are studying the Book of Mormon. I have learned to create a Family Home Evening lesson from one of the Primary lessons. I've used the "Armour of God" complete. The primary lesson is great because it comes complete with visual aids (I don't have to create them - ya hoo). There is also a lesson that I'll use on "Faith". The primary book has visual aids of a seed, fertilizer, sun, water etc. etc. Why re-invent the wheel. I just use the parts that are appropriate for the younger children. Thanks for your ideas. Melody

Not any one single person really, My sister who is 14 years old than I am was and is such a great sister. I alway know she will support me and help me. I really love her alot. Also several friends I grew up with as a teen (I grew up in Missouri with very few LDS friends in my school). They were church members and that influenced me to stay active and strengthened my testimony. I could really think of a lot more!!! Robin G DS surgery on 10/26/04 in Brazil with DR. Marchesini

My mom. I've had lots of good influences but my mom's been the best. She's amazing. She's endured a lot and is a very strong woman.

Melody, I used to be in an FHE group and I have a ton of kits.....my kids are too old for them now, but I could try to find them and get some ideas to you. Our kits had to include the original, without being colored so we could recreate it if we wanted in the future.....(what copyright laws????) One kit I really liked was an 8x10 inch photo of Christ, and across the top layers of colored cellophane was stapled on but folded back behind the photo....and you told of a kid who kept making poor choices, and with each choice you bring one more layer of the cellephane over the photo.....at first you can still see Christ through it, but after 4 to 5 layers it gets pretty hazy, and soon you just can't see Christ at all. As the child repents, the layers are flipped back behind the photo and Christ comes back into view. It's very simple, but very visual. We used that one often in our stories and the kids liked it. And I don't believe this is a copyrighted issue....haha It's a cool enough visual to use for adults too....just change the story to fit the crowd...... So if you can write a nice story to go with that idea, there's a kit for you. We had pretty strict rules for our kits, because some women would spend alot of money and time laminating and coloring things, and other women would have their 3 year olds color stuff and it was a mess. So we tightened up the rules so stuff was high quality. I couldn't afford lamination much, but found clear contact paper worked well for small pieces. It was hard to enforce the rules as it would hurt feelings, I was glad that wasn't my position in the group. I think I did snacks.....haha I'll see if I can find them and if they are any good, I'll glean what I can for you. They've been in storage forever.......about 8 years..... What age group are you doing them for? Ours were primary ages...... Have a great day, Tracey

What a good idea. Our ward doesn't do anything like that. I still have small children at home and I was just put in charge of a Family Home Evening group where each of us create an entire Family Home Evening lesson and duplicate it as many times as there are people in our group (usually between 5-9 people) then we meet on a designated day and swap out our lessons. We each go home with a bunch of already made Family Home Evening Lessons. Thanks for Sharing Alfie. It's good to socialize and once again like most LDS social gatherings it's centered around food. Melody