How to Completely Ruin Family Home Evening...

...and then make it one of the best ever.

I had planned a great posting about a delicious way to use leftover turkey or chicken. But that will have to wait until next week, because today I learned first-hand, how to ruin family home evening and then turn it completely around. Just follow my step-by-step instructions.

1. Plan a Webelos activity to BYU where your boys will be dazzled by a chemist who does incredible things including pyrotechnics.

2. Take the Webelos to the BYU creamery for a scoop of the ice cream of their choice.

3. Leave your wallet sitting in the booth when you leave.

4. Once you arrive home at 6 p.m., load up the family to go out for hamburgers and then a trip to the BYU Museum of Art to see the Carl Bloch exhibit that will help build their faith and their love of incredible art.

5. On the way to get hamburgers, stop to get gas and discover that your wallet is gone, along with the Costco cash cards, your checks, credit card, library card (and even your two full punch-cards to Flour Girl and Dough Boy, which are good for a delicious sandwich and a couple of mouth-watering treats). Have a family prayer in the car.

6. Drive to the creamery, check with the manager, search the booth and leave disheartened. Drive home with the gas light on since you're now almost out of gas, a hungry family since you have no money for the promised hamburgers and a healthy dose of worry since you're missing your wallet and all the important things inside it.

7. Call banks and credit card company while your daughter makes some noodles. Have another family prayer. Let your husband go put in $6.00 of gas (all the cash he has in his wallet) so you won't run out of gas on the way to the bank in the morning, where you'll finish closing out your accounts.

8. Have your husband come home with a flash of inspiration that maybe someone stole the cash, but dumped the wallet in the dumpster (like they did with his wallet several years ago). Try not to be too proud as one of your children suggests and offers another prayer.

9. Watch your kids gather flashlights as they excitedly talk about dumpster diving. Drive to the Creamery again (it's only a half an hour each way, so three times in six hours isn't a big deal).

10. Split up, with two of you going inside to check with the manager and search the booth again and three of you checking the dumpsters. Have one more prayer in the car just before you leave, disappointed, but holding out a little bit of hope.

11. Drive a block from the Creamery, then answer your phone that is ringing with an unknown number. Try not to cry as the manager, who you're now on a first-name basis with, tells you that someone just turned in your wallet.

12. Drive back to the Creamery, control yourself so that you don't give the manager an unwanted hug, hurry back to the car and search your wallet to find that EVERYTHING is still there. Not one thing is missing.

13. Say a prayer of thanks and then listen happily as your children talk about how prayers are answered and how we're very blessed.

(Image from trendora.com)