Have you ever had these before?
We have....a few times. Tonight we decided to change the recipe a bit.
I started out by having the boys collect a bucket of dirt for me and leave it outside the back door. Next, I chopped up the Oreos in plain sight. They were very curious and full of questions at this point. (Suspense is a killer!) After dinner, while they were putting on pj's, I gathered all of the ingredients and put them in a brown paper sack, including the small baggie of dirt that I snuck from the bucket while they were in their rooms. We started F.H.E. with a song (Keep the Commandments) and a prayer. Then the fun began. Mwahahahaha! I told them we were going to go backwards tonight...."Dessert first!" They were SO EXCITED! I made a big show of getting the cups, ice cream, and worms out of the big brown bag. Then scooped one scoop of yummy Oreo ice cream into each cup. There were lots of "oh...YUMMY!, Doesn't that look so good", "I can't wait to taste that," etc on my part and the kids did not disappoint with their "Oh's and Ah's" either. I got them all psyched up! I told them we would be talking about commandments and obedience. I had Rob read the 10 commandments from Exodus 20, putting emphasis on some more than others (relating to what we are particularly struggling with in our home), discussing them with age/circumstancial appropriateness. I put a couple of worms in each cup and likened them to each of our spirits by asking them how it made them feel to know that they were going to get to eat these yummy desserts. (They all answered that it made them feel good/happy...and we added "just like our spirits are happy when we chose to do right and be obedient." Do you see where this is headed yet? We hit them with a couple of positive scenarios where the person in the story chose to be obedient and follow the commandments. After each positive action, I put a tablespoon of crushed Oreo's in each cup. Eyes were bugging out, tongues were swiping back and forth, more "Oh's" and "Ah's" were had. I could not have asked for better participation. I then hit them with a story of a little boy who hit his brother because he wanted his toy. "Is that following God's commandments?," I asked. "No", they appropriately answered. I reached into my little bag of tricks and scooped out a 1/4 cup full of dirt and dumped it into each boys cup. They were a little confused. We went on... The next was a scenario of a little boy who was disobedient and disrespectful to his parents. "Is that following the commandments?," I asked. "No", they said. Again, I dumped a scoop of dirt in each cup. By now there were questioning looks and we got a few, "what's that?" 's. After one more story and one more dumping they were thoroughly worried about what it was that I was dumping in their cups. "MOM...WHAT IS THAT?!?" G-McBabe says (by this time I think he was finally catching on). I tipped one down so they could get a closer look. They were floored!
I not only saw the looks of shock, hurt and disappointment on their faces, I could FEEL it! It was AMAZING! I could actually FEEL what they were feeling. It was truly a profound moment for me. Then the shock wore off. Instant pandemonium! Mini Rob (who didn't have a nap today) broke out in SOBS, Little Red whimpered incessantly, G-McBabe stormed out of the room yelling something or the other about "I'm not going to eat it" amidst his tears, and Mr. Golden Locks just kicked his feet happily in the high chair wondering what everyone was in a tizzy for. IT WAS CLASSIC! Rob and I laughed (to which the kids looked even more betrayed), we called G-Mcbabe back in the room and we began our lesson. I asked them to really think about how they were feeling inside. I likened their unhappiness/sorrow to how our Spirits feel when we don't follow the commandments. "See how happy your spirits were (pointing to the worms) when you were making right choices and how sad you are now that you have been disobedient (aka had dirt dumped on your food)?" Amid their sniffles (and Mini Rob's continuted sobs) they all shook their heads. They got it...they REALLY got it! The Spirit was so tangible in our little kitchen. It was awesome! I hope they remember that feeling forever. "But how are we going to eat it? Are you going to pick the dirt out?" Little Red says. Insert lesson on the Atonement (which I hadn't actually planned on). We talked about how Jesus Christ suffered for our sins so that we can be forgiven. We talked about how we can be made whole after we make bad choices. "There are still consequences for our actions (aka. time out for hitting, etc) but then we apologize to Heavenly Father and to the person we made sad and we can be forgiven and made clean. Then our Spirits are happy again." While we discussed how each person in our little scenarios could repent of their actions, I removed each of the soiled desserts from the counter. As I bore my testimony of the Atonement I felt the Spirit confirm the truthfulness of it to me. It was AWESOME! I then dished up our "real" dessert. It was super tasty. Who knew that by torturing my children we would all feel the spirit so strongly? It obviously didn't cause too much permanent damage....
(I actually elaborated on an idea that came from my mother-in-law, who heard it from her daughter, who heard it from her mother-in-law ('s dog's brother's friends, aunts, etc yadda yadda yadda....). Just thought I would give credit where credit was due.
