Dan had to give the 5th Sunday lesson in churh on Nov. 29. It just so happened that it was the day of our Homecoming and Farewell so I was home feeding a house full of people and didn't get to hear him. Danielle had helped him create a nice handout and develop his subject of developing strong families and marriages. She shared a scripture reference that she had pondered while on her misison found in the first verses of Mosiah 18:
1 And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship.
2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.
3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.
4 And it came to pass that after I had finished the ship, according to the word of the Lord, my brethren beheld that it was good, and that the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine; wherefore, they did humble themselves again before the Lord.
He made the connection that in raising our families we should not do it after the manner of men, but after the manner that the Lord has shown us. How do we get those blue prints of parenting? By following the words of the prophets and His word in His holy scriptures.
We are often asked how we have raised such great kids. I believe that the best answer I can give is that we have tried to raise them after the manner of God, not following the ways of the world. We are far from perfect, but we have a strong testimony that if we follow the commandments and promises of the Lord and his mouthpieces upon this latter-day earth, we will be blessed.
Some of our "secrets to raising great kids":
1. Hold daily family prayer
2. Read the scriptures daily as a family and individually
3. Hold regular Family Home Evening
4. Eat dinner as a family every night gathered around the table
5. Get all the education that you can
6. Exercise
7. Serve others
8. Learn from the mistakes of others so you don't have to go through the pain and suffering yourself
9. Go to church and worship every Sunday
10. Attend the temple often
11. Cherish your family roots and history
A few other things that we have done as parents that are different from the ways of men:
We do not have cable TV and watch very little TV (basically just the news occasionally).
We have never owned a gaming system for the TV.
We very seldom go out to the movies because we usually find questionable material.
If we watch movies at home, we do it as a family event.
So what do we do with our time instead? See numbers 1-11 above!
