Hook the Latch

tonite we're having a family home evening lesson with this title.  yesterday morning, i got up super early with ellee, ironed, etc. and then hopped in the shower.  ben was just leaving for his early meeting.  he came in and said he had bad news.  loren had called and all our chickens were dead...all 19!  i thought he was joking, cause he does that (ben, not loren).  but it was true.  sad.  murdered in cold blood by two dogs, strung all over the place.  we may or may not have seen the dogs running away.  we may or may not know who's they are.  but that's not the point.  i had this strong feeling to use this as a lesson for our family.  when bentley woke up i took him up there.  he was upset at first but then just started to cry when he found fred and wanda killed under the roost.  mean dogs!  and then you know how you have regrets...like, why did we let the chickens out to graze? why didn't the latch get hooked? why didn't we get shera from the shop or shad's house last nite?  she would have protected them since we've left the coop open before at night and nothing's happened.  oh, and why didn't i go out earlier with ellee and turn the water on the yard and i would've seen what was happening?  we have great, even perfectly logical reasons to these questions.  instead, i will liken this to our family.  the chickens are like our spirits that need nourishment and light.  they need consistency, something we've lacked with both our chickens and our scripture reading since ellee was born.  we must not say 'tomorrow we will hook the latch,' nothing will happen today.  we may be able to withstand for awhile not hooking the latch.  we may be involved in great and wonderful things that are good for us just like the chickens being able to graze the weeds and get out in the open.  but, eventually, the perfect storm will arise.  satan knows our 'latch' is not hooked and he will send in his mean dogs while shera's away (maybe while mom and dad aren't there to help) and he will be able to do his destruction to our souls.  we don't want this to happen in our family.  we need the protection of the scriptures, daily prayer that is not rushed, and trying to listen to the holy ghost to help us!  my thoughts on this were only solidified when elder erekson visited our ward that morning.  instead of missionary work, like i thought he would be speaking on (since we now are the nampa mission with lots of changes), he spoke on the family and recognizing the needs of each member...and of getting them and us to the temple.

we came home and cleaned up all the mess.  emerson thought emily the chicken was just sleeping.  just the day before when she came up to water them with me, she said 'i love emily the chicken and i love aunt emily'.  we buried fred, wanda, and emily and put a big rock over them.  bentley made them a marker for their grave.  rest in peace girls.  lesson learned.