family night

I've learned a lot about the Mormon faith this year.  We've had several neighbors and now a baby-sitter who is Mormon.  I've never thought much about it, but one thing I have greatly admired about each of them, is their family life.  The women (generally speaking and from my quite limited experience) seem so joyful, the kiddos obedient and kind, their family units as a whole, seem so welcoming.

A few months back, one of these friends mentioned that they have a Family Night.  I didn't think much of it, assuming it consisted of the typical playing board games and such.  Then a few weeks ago her girls told my girls some of the fun details from the Family Night gathering they were anticipating that night.  Maria asked if we could do it.  Then our baby-sitter commented that her family had always had Family Night as well.  Apparently it's a highly encouraged tradition in the Mormon Church.  

I was definitely feeling the Holy Spirit push me in the direction of this idea.  I asked tons of questions and fell in love with the whole idea!  I adapted the concept to fit our little family.  We've only just started, but it is a complete success!

Sometimes our Family Night looks like this.

Most of the time it looks more like this.

Here's a basic run down of the Family Night concept::

We always begin with a prayer and there's always a fun snack.  Then there's some sort of little lesson - from the Bible, about the Traditions of our Faith, or one about morals in general.  Then there's some sort of fun activity that we all participate in (which can be tricky with littler ones).  We close with a silly sweet song about being a family.

For example ::

This week I wanted to take advantage of our unusually warm weather so we started a little early.  We picked Dada up from work and headed to our favorite park.  (We recently watched a documentary about Fall which explained how different animals hibernate... including turtles.  I knew Maria would be curious about what was happening with the turtles we often feed.)  We fed the turtles - which weren't yet hibernating, hooray! - then headed into the woods for a picnic supper.  Once there, Maria had the idea to build a tent/teepee so we all jumped in to help.  While Camille enjoys all of the above, none it is quite her cup of tea.  With that in mind, we tried to focus on some more Camille/toddler friendly activities by singing silly songs during the drive home.

Once home, it was off to bed for Lila.  Then I set up a cozy little space for our snack, lesson, and activity.  This week Family Night happened to fall of the Feast of the Guardian Angel, so I focused on that.  We had a little lesson on how Daniel's angel helped him in the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den.  We first used Camille's little Baby Bible (which had funny motions to act out), then adding more details from Maria's Bible, and finally from mine.  For our activity I printed off some free coloring sheets featuring Guardian Angels and St. Therese (since we had celebrated her feast day the day before).  The girls chose their favorites and then we all colored together.  It's a simple activity - coloring together - but one that brings such delight to their little hearts, especially when Dada and I join in with them.  When Camille decided she wanted to color a picture of 'Maid Mary' instead (see dress up post to follow!), Maria drew a quick picture of Maid Marian for her to color.

And that little exchange between Maria and Camille pretty much captures the spirit of the night.  The greatest desire of my heart, has always been to be a mom.  We want our girls to know that family is the more important to us than anything else, we want them to know how special they are, and we want them to serve each other with love and kindness.  It's a pretty 'fluffy' sounding concept, but for one night a week, we do our best to create said 'fluffy' environment.  Because it's not fluffy - it's important.  And it's definitely not easy.  

Family Night is a chance to refocus on what's important... and to have fun doing it.  It's a special night that goes deeper than just eating supper together and the usual nightly routine.  I'm sure there will be weeks where it feels rushed or unsuccessful.  The point is that we choose to gather.  We choose to serve.  We choose to love.

And whew that's a LOT of writing from me!  But I'm just so excited and so enjoying the fruits of this little idea!