A Month of Family Home Evenings

We used to have a family journal where we would record family events, experiences, etc. In this family journal, we would also record our Family Home Evening lessons and activities. Well, I haven't really kept up with the family journal since I started this blog so I thought I'd record our Family Home Evenings on the blog. It may be boring for you few readers I have, but I hope you bare with it. When I make a record of what our lessons are about, it makes our family more accountable for what we are teaching at Family Home Evening. I hope to make a short post each Monday night after FHE, but since I got really behind when our computer was broken an entire month of FHEs is included in this post.

*March 10 - Katelyn (9 years old) did the lesson all by herself. She wanted us to get in the right spirit about Easter. She asked us the following multiple choice questions she wrote herself:

1. On Easter, is it about candy or Jesus? a) candy b) Jesus c) none

2. Is it better to take candy and be selfish or share and be kind? a) share and be kind b) none c) taken candy and be selfish (Katelyn spelled "selfish" like "shellfish")

3. Should you think about Jesus on Easter or chow down on candy? a) none b) chow down on candy c) think about Jesus

4. Should you be kind to others on Easter or brag about your candy? a) be kind to others b) brag about your candy c) none

5. What's more important Jesus or candy? a) none b) Jesus c) candy

Katelyn also hid clues in Easter eggs to find a candy treasure. Here are the clues:

1. Great Job! You found #1. Is this fun? Now find #2. It is tricky, but don't be picky.

2. Now you found two! To look for three, look next to the letter "E."

3. Great, you found three. To find four, look on the floor.

4. Wow! You found four a dinosaur couldn't find four. To find five, here's a hint, it's in something.

5. You stayed alive to find five! Now the treasure is buried! You have to dig for it.

We all enjoyed Katelyn's FHE. The multiple choice questions and treasure hunt clues were very cute.

*March 17 - Kylie had the lesson this day. It was St. Patrick's Day! We had a nice dinner with corned beef, green mashed potatoes, lime jello, green beans, Irish bread, and green Kool Aid. Then we went on a treasure hunt to find a pot of gold. The kids tied it in to FHE by likening each step on the hunt to a step we take here in life (ie birth, baptism, mission, married in the temple, etc.) We had to find different objects that went along with St. Patrick's Day - a leprechaun, a shamrock, a green hat, etc. My mom always made holidays fun and we try to continue the tradition.

The pot of "gold" and other objects from the hunt.

*March 24 - Courtney had the lesson this day. It was actually the day after Easter, but she wanted to do an Easter FHE we do every year. Many of you probably have this one too. If any on you would like a copy let me know. We really like it. Inside Easter eggs are various objects that represent the Savior's last week of His life, His death, and His resurrection. Some of the objects in the eggs are a sacrament cup, nails, a tiny cross, thorns, a red robe, spices, etc. There are 12 eggs and the last one is empty to represent the empty tomb. Each egg also has a scripture in it. The children love handling all the objects and it's a great way to teach about Jesus.

*March 30 - I had the lesson and felt like we needed to focus on having more love and harmony in our home. I read the book I'll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. We talked about being more kind to each other even when we are frustrated. Each of us made a goal on how we could create more peace in our family. We didn't write the goals down, which we probably should have. I made a goal to not raise my voice at the kids. I don't think I yell too much, but I'd like to do better.

*April 7 - We decided the first Monday of each month would be a FHE devoted to food storage/emergency prep. Lloyd had the lesson. He shared with us some stuff from the pamphlet "All Is Safely Gathered In." We set some goals to accomplish by next month. They are to use $10 from every pay check to get a cash reserve at home. to get a water pump for our water storage, to get a trash can on wheels to store our 72 hour kits, and to order a food storage starter kit from the church website. We are trying to do better in this area. I hope we can accomplish these goals by next month.

*April 14 - We had a group FHE with some families from our ward. We had a bunch of taco salad left from our ward Family Temple Day (will describe in another post) so it was an easy dinner for all of us. We started at the park, but it was too windy so we ended up at the church.