Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Family Night

Every Monday night, we get together as a family, sing songs and learn about a story from the scriptures. A friend was asking me how I did this, and how I kept my two young children excited about it. Although it might be embarrassing on my part - I had Shawn record my song and dance that has become tradition to begin our FHE. ENJOY!



I thought I would post this video too. A few weeks ago, we learned about Rebecca and her willingness to draw water for Abraham's servant and his 10 camels. We each took a turn drawing water from our "well".




Also - here is a copy of the letter I wrote my little brother and parents who are all serving a mission for our church. My little brother is in Chile and my parents are in Russia. I shared with them another FHE we had last week. It was so fun!


Hey Fellow Missionaries,

I wanted to let you all know that after receiving mom's letter last week, I obtained 2 fresh blue copies of the Book of Mormon from our neighbor's (the Elder's) and printed off your letter. For family night, we talked about the Book of Mormon and why it was important and also about Jesus. I gave Shawn and I a new Book of Mormon and then read mom's letter.

We were excited for the challenge. I started that night - read the introduction of PMG and then read through the introduction of the book of mormon as well as 1 Nephi 1. It is AMAZING how much just the introduction, the testimonies from the witnesses and chapter one talk about Christ. I could had spent so much time reading and studying - I loved it. I was so tempted to mark all the doctrines and princlipes too - they are just ALL together - but I didn't, waiting for round 2.

Anyways, I just wanted to say, it is amazing how the study of scriptures can be magnified when you are reading with a purpose and not just reading to check it off the list. I need to get Shawn a red pencil...he has been reading, but hasn't been marking yet.

We sure love you all and know that this will strengthen our family and our testimonies of the gospel. It will be fun to see and hear everyone's experiences and growth.

Here is one more story. Tonight for family night, Andie chose from our bucket a candle. The lesson was on letting your light so shine. I told Shawn to get a flash light, but hide it until I was ready. We turned out the lights and lit a candle and talked about how we can see with the light of the candle and how it is important to let people see our light. Andie held up the "birthday candle" from the FHE box and wanted to light it. I took that and said, "Good Andie" (I was holding the original candle). I lit her candle and explained how we can lite other people light when we share our light. We read from Matthew 5:14-16 and talked about ways we can share our light - being nice to our sisters, helping clean up when asked, being nice to our friends, etc.

After the lesson, we played a game with the flash light. Shawn went first. He went and hid and we had all the lights out. (It was raining and thundering so Ali was a little scared.) We looked for "Dad" and when we couldn't find him we said, "Dad - let your light so shine!" He turned on the flashlight to help us find him. Again, Ali was scared when she saw just a light and the shadows. But, as we each took turns, they loved it. When it was Andie's turn to go and hide we said, "Andie, let your light so shine." We then heard, "Oh No! It's broken!!" I showed her how to turn on the flashlight and she said, "Andie's light so shining." It was funny.

After the game, the girls colored a picture of 2 candles and put them up on the fridge. It has been so fun having FHE with them, and seeing their excitement every Monday night. We sing songs, have a lesson, play a game and color a picture. The picture is then on the fridge all week and Andie always points it out and usually remembers what we talked about. Sometimes when we don't have anything to do (on other week nights or weekends) I will say, "What should we do?" and Andie ususally says, "I know.....FAMILY NIGHT!" it is great.

We sure love you all and know what you are doing is pleasing unto our Heavenly Father. This gospel is great - we sure love it and are so grateful for it in our lives.

Have a great week!

Molly

7 comments:

Brandon and Jen Jensen said...

Okay, your little song and dance was too cute for words! Made us want to join you. P.S. Tanner is home from school today, and is now singing the song and made me play it again! What a great idea!

Pratt Fam said...

Molly your amazing! What great ideas!

Grandma Tii said...

superb!!! loved it!!!

Natalie said...

I love your song and dance. You are so fun. And Shawn was so obedient in the 2nd video :) I love your ideas, especially your light one! What all do you have in your FHE box? I'd love your ideas! This is my favorite part about blogs (besides keeping in touch), getting new ideas to help us all be better! Hannah loves FHE too and was just asking this morning if we could have Family Night.

Brandon, Emily & Sydney Wilson said...

Thanks for sharing that. I was very impressed with your FHE ideas and inspired to reach a little higher for family night. I appreciate your help with the "enrichment support" as well. I love your blog and might just have to implement one for the good ole' Waco 2nd ward. Thanks again. So glad we can still keep in touch this way. Ahhh...how I love to blog!

ALYN said...

You're very brave to share the dance! : p

Anyhow, good work establishing those habits while the kids are young. What are you marking in the BofMormon? Is in the marking all references to Christ? Maybe I need to find a red pencil...

P.S. If you want to teach primary...
(I'm quite impressed with your lesson ideas/skills!)

Ranay said...

Love it Molly! Great ideas-I'm going to have to copy since I'm always looking for new ways to spruce our FHE up. Thanks for sharing. And I admit, I watched your family night song twice!