General Conference Weekend

I heart General Conference. A LOT.

We don't go on many vacations (I'll write a bitter post about this at a later date), so I try to concoct mini-special occasions whenever possible to make up for this bitter deficiency. Conference weekend is one of these.

I love hearing from our sweet and fearless leaders. They always say the exact things I need to hear. It’s like they KNOW what my problems are, and are now here to offer assistance. I sent up the bat signal and here they are to answer it. Of course they don’t really know me, but apparently my Heavenly Father does.

I heard a talk one time where a woman related a story about needing insight about a prospective marriage partner. She prayed that she would know if this person was the man she should marry. When she watched General Conference, she noticed that EVERY talk was on marriage. She heard what she needed to hear, and decided that this person was not the man who could be the eternal companion she desired. Later, she married someone else and had a happy life. Years later, she was assigned to give a talk or lesson on marriage. She remembered all the insight in those General Conference talks and looked them up. As she went through those talks, there was nothing specifically about marriage. Hmmm… Yet, she had heard advice about marriage, because that’s what she needed help with.

It’s amazing how that works.

I want my kids to love General Conference, too, so I try to condition them to associate General Conference weekend with FUN! FOOD! PAJAMAS! Laying around and doing NOTHING!If I were to be completely honest, I’d have to admit that this is part of the attraction for me, too. I don’t have to get dressed and go to church; I don’t have to plan a lesson, and I have eight hours of guilt-free television viewing. YAY!

We have food traditions for this weekend. I always make chili on Saturday and we eat the leftovers on Sunday. It’s interesting, though. I remember when we started the chili tradition, probably almost ten years ago, now. Wow. At that time, one pot would last the whole weekend and usually even through to Tuesday or Wed. Of course, babies can’t really eat chili. Yesterday, as I was packing up the leftovers, I realized that we’ll be lucky if it’s sufficient for Sunday dinner. Teenagers like chili. It’s bittersweet.