Then it wasn’t until we moved to Arizona and there is a huge Mormon community there that I learned a little more about this religion. Now, I’m not saying I am converting to the Mormon religion I’m just saying that I admire their faith. They seem so true and dedicated to faith and their beliefs. They have Family Home Evening where the entire family learns a lesson and they plan different activities around it to get the entire family involved. The incorporation of the entire family is what appealed to me. This is what got to me to start thinking of changes. So now, back to my story about how this all started. Scott and I talked about it and we came up with a few ideas to direct our family on a path to becoming better parents, better to each other and closer to our faith.
- Instead of Family Home Evening (like the Mormon religion), we are doing Family Night. This means that each kid gets to choose a night (at home) where we do something of their choosing. It could be watching a movie together, making something together, playing a game, etc. This will be done each month.
- We are also making lists of Family Projects to do together. This will be something that the entire family will have a hand in and we decided to do this on a Quarterly basis.
- This has been a long time coming…Chores. Yes, I know, it’s sad that my kids have never had to lift a hand around the house but not anymore. We’ve come up with a chore list for us all! The kids are not happy but they’ll get over it. And heck, I’m sure they will like having their own money to spend. Yes, they will get an allowance…something they’ve never had.
- Family Budgeting – we are going to sit down with the kids a couple of times a year and show them the costs of things. I will be the first to admit it, my kids are spoiled. They don’t know what anything costs. They think it’s ok to ask for laptops for their birthdays. Yes, I want them to have nice things but come on….it’s getting a little out of hand. Kids have the best cell phones, ipods, laptops and they’ve never had to earn anything. I realize this is not the lessons I want to teach my children. We want to incorporate them in planning vacations as well. I want us to re-focus on creating memories and not materialistic things.
- Family Prayer Journal – I went to a Women’s Conference in April at my church and was given this idea. You get a regular notebook and keep it in a central location. At any time, any one can write a prayer for any body in the family. I am excited about this one. I believe it will be so neat to read all the entries after it’s filled up. We will have to plan a special family night just for this!
- Service – this has been a hard lesson for me and I’m still learning about how I can serve. I tend to make excuses in my head about why I can’t/don’t have time to serve. Well, no more. I have been told over and over in more ways than one that service is the best way to become closer to Jesus Christ and I want that. I want our children to understand this firsthand also. I’m not sure what we will do but I want us to do something together to serve someone else. We’ll come up with something. It reminds me of this picture: Also, do you see Love in there? Might have to get this picture printed for our house like Shawni did. I love her blog. She’s inspiring as a wife, mother, daughter, photographer and Christian. Check her out at: http://www.71toes.blogspot.com/
So there’s my little spill about the Smith’s journey to becoming better. I will keep you posted of our progress. I’m sure there will be ups and downs like anything else and we may fall off the path from time to time but we will all be in this together and can help steer each other to the right path again. After all, isn’t that what family is for?
