Focus on Family Faith

To my kids, 

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Faith is such a big part of our family life. I appreciate that none of you (so far) gave us any problems about going to church each week. I know there are families that have to deal with that, but it hasn't been a problems for us. I'm glad that you guys know how important it is for us to worship together as a family.

We haven't always done everything that we've needed to do in our family. FHE has been a hard thing for us to be consistent with. We did much better when Grandma and Grandpa Ray were here to give us a boost with that. Family scripture study has also been something that we struggle with. It is hard to find a time that will work for everyone's schedule. I know some families do their scripture time before their older kids leave for seminary, but I am just not coherent enough that early in the morning. We have done a pretty good job having our family prayers, at least at night, so that's a plus for us. :-)

I want you to know that your dad and I have worked hard to have our couple scripture study and prayer each day. Some days it is really hard, but we know it's important for our family. We read in the Book of Mormon every night before we go to bed and then we have our couples prayer together. I know that this had helped us feel closer to one another and to you guys.

From my text book, it says, 

"Kind, loving behavior by parents seems to facilitate the ability of a child to conceive of (and believe in) a loving God, while hostile parenting practices seem to dispel a child's faith in the benevolent supreme being."

I hope that your dad and I have been able to show you, through our example, the love that your Heavenly Father has for you. I'm sure it doesn't always come across like it should, but you should know that we love you and your Heavenly Father loves you, too!

One thing we need to work on, and that our church leaders have been focusing on lately, is doing a better job at keeping the Sabbath day holy. It's not like we are doing anything wrong, but we could be doing better. There are so many ideas out there of things that we could do on the Sabbath that would help to bring the spirit into our home more fully. I have made some half-hearted attempts to do them, but nothing every sticks. I found this list of "fun" Sunday activities on a blog and have pasted it her. There are some great ideas! I know it's hard now that we got switched to 1pm church (at least it wasn't 3pm, right Sami?) so maybe we can work on doing some of these things. I know that working harder to keep the Sabbath day holy will help all of us be closer to one another and closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

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There are a lot of ideas out there on what you can't do on Sunday. I know when you're young it's easy to focus on the "can'ts" but I challenge you to think about all the things you can do on the Sabbath. I'd bet you come up with a much longer list! (trust me...just look on pinterest!)

Never forget that your dad and I love you!