Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Being Thankful


wow! I have been blogger absent because of a lack of time and a decision to be more present with my girls, but there has been so much that's been rolling around in my mind to post about. Sometimes I don't write more out of the feeling of being overwhelmed by all I want to share more than anything: ) But here is my quick attempt to get some thoughts and feelings out there. Sorry if it's choppy, sorry if it's missing detail and pizazz...I just want to finally write something in the small amount of time I have to do so: ) Here it goes....

Sometimes for my scripture study time I'll look up a talk on byubroadcasting.org and listen to it. This works exceptionally well if I'm rocking Brinley to sleep and end up with a sleeping baby in my arms. The other day I came across this talk, "Pressing Forward as Parents" by Scott and Angelle Anderson (which I totally recommend by the way). And after
soaking it all in, we decided to start this little project for the month of November.

Our Thankful November

-Teach the principle of being thankful this month.

-Have all our Family Home Evenings revolve around being thankful.

-Have all of our Family Prayers this month be “Thankful for...” prayers.

-Every evening after dinner write something we’re thankful for on our Thankful Calendar.

-Decorate our Thankful Calendar.

-Write Thankful posts everyday on my blog; as well as an everyday entry on how I

have seen God in my life that day. (mom)

-Everyday “Thankful for…” face book update. (mom and dad)

-Write Thank You cards every Sunday this month to give to someone we want to thank.

-Do some Thanksgiving crafts; teach about the first thanksgiving; have a mock 1st thanksgiving feast with pilgrim and Indian hats,etc.

-Memorize our Thankful Scripture (Alma 34:38 "...live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you."

-Study being thankful from the scriptures and talks throughout the month. (Mom & Dad)

-End the month with a "Being Thankful" final experience. (I have yet to come up with exactly what this will be yet...but probably a service project or an "I'm thankful for... video or something to send to our families. I'll let you know: )

Anway, we started everything yesterday for family home evening and we're pretty excited about it. We taught emyri about the first thanksgiving, what it means to be thankful, ways she can show people she's thankful. We sent a monk-e-mail thankyou note to Grandma Beus (funny), made hand turkey's, and took turns writing what we were thankful for on our Thankful For Calendar. I'm probably just geeky, but I get excited about projects like this and excited about teaching our children these kinds of values and principles. I like to do things to make it fun for them, and I just hope that maybe something will sink in and stick and be meaningful for them. We love our little family so much and want to teach them all we can to help them be the most happy and successful they can be; to help them reach their potential. Hopefully someday they'll look back and realize that despite all their parents geeky goofiness that we were just trying to teach them about life and love and Christ. It's hard to know if the things you do make a difference most of the time (especially when all your big plans don't turn out nearly as smoothly as you'd like them to and you stumble through it all), but then you'll get glimpses of the things you teach coming out in your child and it makes it all worth it: )

3 comments:

Jake and RaNette Free said...

I am THANKFUL for this post!

Henderson Family said...

I love all the cute ideas!!! I think I'll try and do something along those lines with KM.

Karrianne said...

These are all such wonderful ideas! Sometimes I feel like I'm trying so hard to help the boys understand and feel the spirit. It's completely nerve-wracking sometimes wondering if they're getting anything out of my little teaching moments! It was very nice to hear another mom's thoughts and ideas on teaching their children about 'life and love and Christ'. :) I think I will use some of your Thankful November ideas, too. :)