New Year, New Theme

For the last year, every time we have done Scripture Time or held family prayer, we have ended in a huddle, with everyone's hands in the middle {or at least with all the hands of those willing to participate -- son number one was notoriously difficult to get on board}, and on the count of 3, shouted out the cheer -- "HOLD TO THE ROD!!"  Which, as you may recall, was our Family Motto/Theme for 2014-2015.

Last year's theme came to me in a flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants stroke of inspiration while doing a Family Home Evening lesson the week school started.  THIS year, I wanted to put a little more thought and prayer and deliberation into the matter, and enlisted Scott to help me as well.  The quote we ended up going with for THIS year, is from a talk in April's General Conference, by Elder Kevin W. Pearson, entitled "Stay by the Tree."  We were both really struck by the talk and, in particular, this one phrase that just seemed to jump out at us each time we read or listened to the address -- "Every day, every day, every day!"  Elder Pearson is specifically talking about the importance of studying the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every single day, but what I like so much about this mantra is that it is applicable to SO MANY different aspects of life!

 2015-2016 Theme

I also really like how this talk, and thus the quote, is the perfect segue from last year's theme of "Hold to the Rod."  In the Book of Mormon, in his vision of the Tree of Life {which is a parable of sorts}, Lehi sees an iron rod leading to a tree, laden with fruit which has the power to fill one's soul with joy and happiness.  In order to get through the mists of darkness and other distractions and make it to the tree, it was necessary to cling to a rod of iron so as not to be lost along the way.  In this parable, the iron rod represents the word of God, and the tree represents Christ.  The fruit -- with it's potential to fill the soul with "exceedingly great joy" -- is a representation of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  By applying this symbolism, it is easy to see that "Staying by the tree" is the next big step after "Holding to the Rod" to get there.  

Along with our new motto for the year, we introduced two specific family goals that we want to accomplish "every day" for this year {and hopefully for life :) }.  The first, is family prayer at the end of each day.  Which is something that we have admittedly been TERRIBLE at.  The end of the day is just hard.  There's no escaping it.  Children are usually spiraling out of control by that point, parents' moods are also deteriorating, and the crunch is on to eat dinner, get the younger ones in bed, and get the older ones started on homework.  But, where there's a will, there's a way.  And we CAN make this happen.  :)  Our second family goal for the year, is to read the Book of Mormon every day.  Not necessarily all together as a family -- I still don't think we're quite ready for that.  But individually we can make this goal happen, too.  We've been reading at night with the kids already, but now we are trying to be more purposeful and committed in our attempts.  Ethan is old enough to read on his own, and Alex is certainly old enough to listen to me read from the "Book of Mormon Stories" reader.  Jane, meanwhile, is a good enough reader that {with Scott's help} she can read one verse a night from her paperback copy of the Book of Mormon, and mark it off with any color of the rainbow.  :)  And with me still reading a column or two a night to Grace and Sophie, we've got all the kids covered.  As for me and Scott, well, surely if we can make it happen for all 5 kids, we can make it happen for us, too.  Hahaha.

Along with those two family goals for the year, we decided that each month in Family Home Evening, it would be a good idea to have everyone come up with an individual goal for the month (to do every day, every day, every day) that would help to make them a better person or improve their lives in one way or another.  Here are the results from month one:

Ethan -- brush teeth
Grace -- put on deodorant
Sophie -- say prayers, with a special prayer on Saturday night to help everyone be reverent on Sunday
Jane -- read scriptures
Alex -- brush teeth
Scott -- listen to Conference talks
Me -- find at least one thing to be truly grateful for each day

It's always interesting to see the way the kids' brains work.  Hahahaha.  For Family Home Evening THIS week, we had the kids finally listen to the talk "Stay by the Tree" while taking notes or drawing pictures of what stood out to them.  As always, it was hilarious and fantastic to see what they came up with:

 Ethan -- "Satan's most powerful tools are distraction and deception.  Don't forget to pray.  Every day, every, day, every day."

 Grace -- I'm not sure if she was actually listening to the talk or just drawing pictures of things we should be doing every single day.  Either way, the picture made me laugh out loud when I saw it.  Specifically for the "shower" and "brush hair" pictures, and the pretzel arms folded in prayer.  Hahahaha.

 Sophie -- "The iron rod is the word of God." Along with a picture of a person by the tree of life.

 Jane -- a picture of the Tree of Life, the Iron Rod, and our orange "Every day every day every day" poster.  And a squirrel.  Hahahaha.

 Alex -- the Tree of Life

Clearly, we can't expect Rome to be built in a day, but I'm hopeful and optimistic that we can really make a difference this year and create some better habits in our home!  And yes, we DO end each family prayer and Scripture Time now with a "Ready, set -- 'Every day, every day, every day!' -- Woooo!"  :)