Please Read This Post And Find Out Why My Summer Has Been Incomplete

So, this is how it is.  We have been livin' it up big time this summer.  BIG TIME!  We have had a blast.  We have been running from one awesome fun thing to the next.  All.  Summer.  Long.  We have grown closer together as a family.  We have made some pretty epic memories.  I'm feelin' pretty good in regards to the fact that I have given my children an "Awesomely Epic Summer of Fun to Remember and Cherish Their Whole Lives Through".

But it feels incomplete.

I read this the other day:

"You are here on earth for a divine purpose.  It is not to be endlessly entertained or to be constantly in full pursuit of pleasure.  You are here to be tried, to prove yourself so that you can receive the additional blessings God has for you."  -Richard G. Scott   (click here to read it in it's entirety)

And it made me think.  About our Epic Summer of fun.

Then I stopped by a friends house last night and ended up having a little chat with her.  She was telling me how much unfun it is to have her younger children in school right now, while her older ones are still enjoying their summer vacation.  You see, our Elementary School just switched to year round and the first track started last week.  My two youngest should have started school last week.  But they didn't.  At the end of the school year last spring, I was ready to either pull my kids out of school and home school them or pray that they got into this really awesome Charter School we were trying to get into.  Well, Heavenly Father must have known I couldn't handle home school very well, because all 3 of my girls got in!  (it doesn't include High School so poor Zac has to go to regular old school)  Anyhoo, it made me feel so grateful that I still have my kids home for 3 more weeks.  Because, like I said, our summer was incomplete.

Ever since I read that quote from Elder Scott, I have been trying to formulate a plan to add a little depth to our "Awesomely Epic Summer of Fun to Remember and Cherish Our Whole Lives Through".  Then today I found myself in the middle of an amusement/water park that we have season tickets to this year.  And a little part of me wanted to take my children and run right out of there, never to return.  Now!  I had to formulate something NOW!

So, I did.

My children do not know this yet, because half of them have not been here today.  But by tomorrow, they will be all informed.  I am challenging my family to read the Book of Mormon in 30 days, starting August 1st!  I'm a little nervous, I have to say.   But I'm more excited than nervous.  This is not an impossible task.  Have you looked at a Book of Mormon lately?  It's not that long.  531 pages, in which half of the page is footnotes.  I've read books with more pages than that in less than 30 days.

Just listen to this:

"There is a power in the Book of Mormon which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book.  You will find greater power to resist temptation.  You will find the power to avoid deception.  You will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path."  -Ezra Taft Benson 

"Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God."  -Gordon B. Hinckley

Ummm...I can't think of a better way to end our summer and prepare my kids to go back to school than this.

I have read the Book of Mormon many times.  I know, without any doubt, that it is a true book.  And I know that the promises made above are also true.  I have felt it's power working in my life many times as I have read it.  I have felt it bless my family as we have read it together.  If you are reading this and you don't know what the Book of Mormon is, give it a try!  Read it and then draw your own conclusions.  The end of the book has this promise:

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."  Moroni 10:4-5.

At the end of this post I'm including a 30 day reading schedule I found online.  Just in case any of you would like to join me.  If you have a smart phone and have the free LDS Gospel Library app downloaded, it will actually read the book to you.  Wherever you are.  How handy is that?  It will also do that if you read it online by clicking here.  If you don't own a copy of the book you can request a free copy by clicking here.  Or, you can just ask me and I will send you one, no strings attached.  To find out more about just exactly what the Book of Mormon is, click here.

"I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page.  I then read the testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and translated.  After this I commenced its contents by course.  I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep.  As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true." -Parley P. Pratt