When I had about three months left in this last pregnancy, Family Home Evening was going really well, and I wanted to make sure that continued when Baby #3 arrived (yup, that's three babies in three years time!) I knew life would be crazy, so I planned all of my FHEs in advance. I printed out a calendar I found online and started filling in my Monday nights with FHE topics that I knew we needed to cover and fun things I wanted to do as weather/season permitted. I then created a folder filled with articles and activities from the Friend. They were tagged with a post-it, so I knew which week/topic they were for. I planned in July for each FHE August through December 2008.This all really helped to keep FHE running smoothly and ensured that we always had SOMETHING planned. We could supplement or change it, but we were never without. Also, I know people do FHE groups...but this is a lot less labor intensive. And when you are talking about kids who are three and under, the lessons aren't that long anyway!
As a result of planning ahead for this very important night of the week, I gained a testimony that the Lord will guide our efforts. As I was planning my FHEs in July, I thought that I'd really like to go out and fly kites with my kids in September. Not knowing if we'd have a day with wind to suit such an activity, I just picked one Monday in September and wrote "Fly Kites" down for our FHE activity. The lesson would be about limits/rules and why they are important.
Well, the Sunday evening before that "Kite Flying" Monday, a wildly windy storm blew in through Cleveland and arrived in our area of Pennsylvania the next day. So all day on Monday, we had THE PERFECT kite-flying weather. It was sunny and beautiful and windy enough to fly kites all day with the kids...and they loved it!
Sister Julie B. Beck said in her RS talk two years ago that Mothers who know "plan for the future of their organization." I truly believe that when we plan for these glorious organizations we lead - our families - the Lord blesses our efforts and sends tender mercies, like sunny windy Mondays, to make our plans succeed!
4 comments:
thank you for sharing your story! i'm so impressed with your planning and dedication!!
I love the idea of planning that far ahead. I will definitely be taking this idea to heart. Our main problem is Monday night rolls around and we don't have anything planned. I'm going to print out a calendar and fill it in this evening.
What a great idea. Thanks. I have a friend who has an FHE Box. It comes with a binder with a page for each lesson and then in the box are baggies of the "accessories" needed, like a baggie of little animals for Noah's ark or a baggie of play money to learn about tithing.
THis is awesome.
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