FHE

hopefully this picture adds some variety to my long post. :)

Family Home Evening is a suggestion my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has given that is "a special time set aside each week that brings family members together and strengthens their love for each other, helps them draw closer to Heavenly Father, and encourages them to live righteously." (click here to learn more about it)

Monday is the day we traditionally set aside for our Family Home Evening (FHE from here on out). We try to include an opening song, opening prayer, lesson, game, closing song, closing prayer, and a treat (because food is very, very important).

Sometimes we do something different like write letters, go bowling, etc (last week we went on a hike and played CLUE). The kids LOVE family home evening and would do it every night. They love to give the lessons (which we've decided need to be approved and practiced with mom). The lessons. . . well, they are hit and miss success-wise. Short and simple is usually most effective. We try to base these on holidays, life-events (we've been doing a lot on the importance of baptism, as Logan is getting baptized next month), and principles that need some work. Logan and Madison will often give lessons based on things they learned in primary. One of my favorites is the time we invited the missionaries and had a talent show. Favorite songs: "I am a child of God," "Do as I'm Doing," and "As I Have Loved You." Favorite games: "Hide and Seek," "Simon Says," "UNO," "Old Maid," and many more. This is the easiest part of FHE. :)

Sometimes I feel frustrated when no one is listening. Like. . . two weeks ago Madi gave the lesson and walked around and around the room. I ended up basically doing her lesson for her (on the brother of Jared) and she got upset about it. Grant just wanted to play with toys. And Logan just kept jumping up and down trying to take over Madison's lesson.

I loved Elder Bednar's description of FHE in his talk "More Diligent and Concerned at Home." He says:

Sometimes Sister Bednar and I wondered if our efforts to do these spiritually essential things were worthwhile. Now and then verses of scripture were read amid outbursts such as “He’s touching me!” “Make him stop looking at me!” “Mom, he’s breathing my air!” Sincere prayers occasionally were interrupted with giggling and poking. And with active, rambunctious boys, family home evening lessons did not always produce high levels of edification. At times Sister Bednar and I were exasperated because the righteous habits we worked so hard to foster did not seem to yield immediately the spiritual results we wanted and expected.

Today if you could ask our adult sons what they remember about family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening, I believe I know how they would answer. . . . What they would say they remember is that as a family we were consistent.

Sister Bednar and I thought helping our sons understand the content of a particular lesson or a specific scripture was the ultimate outcome. But. . . the consistency of our intent and work was perhaps the greatest lesson.

I think my growing-up family was pretty consistent at FHE, but two FHE's in particular stand out. Don't judge.

The Family Shower

I don't really know WHY we had this FHE, but there must have been a reason. I don't know how old I was, but old enough to know that this was a little strange (12?). My parents told us to get on our swimming suits, and then all SEVEN of us squished into the bathtub and took a shower (we had swimming suits on). They told us how important it was to use soap and shampoo and why it was important to have clean bodies. Kind of weird. . . someone must have not been smelling too good or something. :)

Kicking Satan out the Door

I must have been a little older for this one, too. . .like 18? Close to that anyway. And sometimes I didn't think that sitting down and having FHE was really that cool. Anywho. . . we kids were all being bratty and arguing and finally my dad got up really mad and fast. I think we all kind of held our breath and watched to see what he would do. Well he got up and opened the front door and started kicking his leg out the door and yelling, "Satan--you get out of my house. You are not allowed here and I will not put up with you in this house." He went on saying that for a few minutes and then quietly closed the door and sat down. Needless to say, we were all very quiet and attentive for the rest of the evening. We still like to laugh about that day. But it worked.

What are your favorite family home evenings?