Can I tell you how much I love my family? My husband and my children are the world to me. I love all of their different personalities, talents, and quirks. I am also very lucky to have a great extended family. My own parents, brothers and sisters, as well as Mr. Ferrero Rocher’s parents and siblings add so much to our children’s lives. They fill in the gaps so to speak.

Our Mormon faith places a high priority on families. We believe families are eternal, that the bonds we share here can extend beyond the grave. The Family Proclamation is an inspired document teaching us how to protect and strengthen families in a world of decaying values and misplaced priorities which threaten to destroy the most important unit of society. Part of the proclamation reads “the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” I believe that to be true. 

Joseph F. Smith said: “There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from the home, and every effort made to sanctify and preserve its influence is uplifting to those who toil and sacrifice for its establishment. Men and women often seek to substitute some other life for that of the home; they would make themselves believe that the home means restraint; that the highest liberty is the fullest opportunity to move about at will. There is no happiness without service, and there is no service greater than that which converts the home into a divine institution, and which promotes and preserves family life” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 382).

The nature of living on a farm, miles away from the nearest town, and the fact that we homeschool means we get to spend a lot of time together as a family. Do we always get along? Nope. There are days when we all seem to wake up on the wrong side of the bed. We plow ahead anyway. We work together, learn together, play together. We enjoy being together.  If you ask my children what they like to do as a family the top three answers would be:

◘ go shooting
◘ go for rides up in the hills (we used to all fit on one 4-wheeler now we go in the van)
◘ just stay home: to talk, to read, to bake cookies – whatever as long as we are all doing it.

This list probably looks very different from yours. That’s okay! I know deep down you are jealous of our hick-ish ways. {wink} 😉

Seriously though, I realize we are lucky because we do get to spend so much time together building our family relationships. And for that I am grateful. We want to “give our children an identity stronger than what they can find with their peer group or at school or anyplace else.” (M. Russell Ballard, “What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest,” Liahona, Nov 2005, 41–44) We want them to grow up like we did – surrounded by loving parents and siblings who are there for them no matter what, safe in a home that is truly a haven from the evils of the world.

Join us for Wordfull Wednesday by writing about today’s topic:

Wholesome Recreational Activities – What are those activities your family just LOVES to do together? Are there traditions you have? How did they get started? “Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” (Family Proclamation, paragraph7)

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