Family Reading

I had the opportunity to attend the Women's Conference at BYU with my cousin Carolyn over the last two days.  A great deal was mentioned about reading to and with kids during the conference and I found myself being reflective as I listened.
   We started reading the scriptures with our little ones before they could even read, we would whisper in their ears the words and have them repeat it.  Later as they began reading we could see their skills increase just by the daily reading, or almost daily, that we did as a family.  Kerry's mom gave us the set in the lower right picture when we were well into our family, when Cydney was a baby, and they were a great tool as well. They are now roving from daughter to daughter.  We will always laugh when we hear a particular name in the Book Of Mormon because he pronounced it wrong to see if anyone was really listening.  I guess we were because we all giggle when using that name still.
  After we moved into this house in addition to reading the scriptures, Kerry read to us every night for a long time.  We all loved it and we quickly went through various books and sets of books in the process.  It was great to visualize as he read to us.  When the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was made into a movie I really didn't know if I wanted to see it because of the vivid images he (we) had created in my mind.  One of my fondest memories is of him reading "The Forgotten Carols" at Christmas Time and then listening to the accompanying music as we went along.  We love to go and see the play during the Holiday season as a result.
   He often has difficulty reading at times, because of content, and we have all learned to respect his sincerity and tenderness.  Often I am glad he is reading it aloud and not me!  He even read a series just to me, loved every minute of it.  These are very sweet moments for me.  And in relation to the conference it gives me a little bit of peace knowing we did do a few things right anyway!