BRIGHT

Do you love the Friend magazine as much as I do? I mean, I really, really do. Because of some awesome ideas I found in January's issue, I actually managed to pull off a pretty decent Family Home Evening last night.

Allow me to brag momentarily.

They had the directions on how to make Chinese paper lanterns (super simple) and told a little bit about how they are used to celebrate the New Year. They also had this picture and one of my favorite President Monson quotes:


I decided to combine the two ideas and add a little twist of my own. We each made a paper lantern and wrote one goal we have for 2010 on it. Then, we talked about how our goals, like the lanterns, can light our paths and help us reach our destination. We also must have faith in ourselves and in each other to achieve those goals.

We strung the lanterns across one corner of the playroom and put the poster at the end to help remind us of this all year long.


I was really proud of the goals the kids set for themselves. Cameron has the goal to be potty trained by the end of the year (okay, so it's really my goal). I hope we are at least working on this by next January. Baker's goal is to learn to read in the next year. I think he will have no problem with this since he has already taken the first pre-reading steps. After much thought and deliberation, Lauren chose to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover. By the end of this year, she will only be a few months away from being baptized, so we thought this would be a good way to prepare for that.

Brian and I set similar goals for ourselves. Let's just say 2010 will include much less ice cream and much more exercise than 2009 did for the both of us. I still have mixed feelings about this one but I am willing to give it a shot.

I am so grateful that the church offers so many materials to help us as parents. Lauren loved discussing that, even though we cannot see the future, we can have faith that it will be bright and happy. (Baker was mostly disappointed that our paper lanterns didn't actually light up). We know that setting reasonable goals and giving ourselves something to improve and achieve is a great way to make our future what we want it to be.

Happy 2010!