FHE Check-In

It's been far too long since I've posted an update about our deliberate Family Home Evening attempts.  The summer was hard- we seemed to have a lot of family fun and good times together all the time, so carving out a special lesson or activity for Family Home Evening didn't seem as essential as it was during the school year.  We still had FHE regularly, just not with a monthly theme like we were doing at the beginning of the year.  Not surprisingly, FHE fell back into it's regular old habit of becoming a Monday afternoon scramble instead of something that we were planning and preparing for well ahead of time. 

Now that we are back in school and nearing the end of the year, I am recommitting myself to more deliberate Monday nights.  This will be tricky because Leah has dance class on Mondays from 5:00 to 6:00.  After we get home around 6:30 we have dinner, FHE, and bedtime to squeeze in before bedtime at 8:00.  We had a fun FHE tonight, but the kids weren't in bed until after 8:30.  Keeping the night smooth and enjoyable will require more effort than I have been putting into it recently.

We haven't had a monthly theme lately, but in recent lessons we have talked about service to each other and how we are really serving Jesus Christ in all that we do.  We put together silly clues that said things like "I can help Aunt Mabel... set the table" and told the scripture story from Matthew 25- "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  Last week we talked about the Creation and made a great visual of the 7 days of the Creation.  This lesson helped build up our Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy theme in October. 

Tonight we asked Leah to share a favorite scripture story for our lesson.  She chose a story from the Book of Mormon- Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah are struck down by an angel for preaching against the church of God.  (the exact same scripture story she shared the last time she was in charge of the lesson). 

We had a great time picking out costumes and playing the parts.  At the end of the acting out portion of the lesson we talked about how we all make mistakes and how we can always repent and try again to be better and do better than we have done in the past.

Emma Grace is getting the hang of conducting "announcements, announcements, annoooooouuncements!"

Adam loved being in charge of "de refweshments"- and of, course, his costume of choice was Buzz Lightyear.  "It's the only costume I have!"

I love Family Home Evening.  I love that we have a chance to come together as a family and talk about things that are important to us- the gospel of Jesus Christ, the opportunity to live with Him and with each other together in heaven some day.  I love that our kids are excited to have Family Home Evening, and I'm grateful for the tradition that it is in our home.  It invites the Spirit into our home and makes us a stronger little family.

And, in an effort to keep myself accountable, our themes for the rest of the year are- 

October-  General Conference and Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
November- Service and Gratitude
December- The Life of Jesus Christ- Christmas and I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus

This continues to be one of my favorite websites for FHE lesson ideas.  I can take one of the lessons and break it down to two or three lessons that will match my kids attention spans.  I'm always looking for good new resources, so if you have any, send them my way!